Learning                                     

Learning is any relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience. We can say that the changes in the behaviour indicate that learning has taken place and that learning is a change in behaviour.

Factors Influencing Learning

There are lots of factors that influence learning. Some of the most common are explained briefly.

1. Psychological factors: The psychological factors that influence learning includes an individual’s interest, values, perception, beliefs, needs and motives etc. Therefore, the organization must be familiar about individual psychological factors in order to make learning more effective.

2. Physiological factors: Another influencing factor of learning is human physiological difference. This includes intelligence, age, sex, health, and memory power. It is well known fact that healthy and intelligent people can learn more than dull and physically unfit people.

3. Learning method: Learning principles and methods followed by organization play vital role in learning. Learning depends on fund, qualified resource person, two-way communication between trainee and trainer, etc.

4. Environmental factors: Environmental factors consist of sound healthy organizational environment. A clean, bright and environment plays a dominant role in learning. The major barriers for learner are noise and air pollution. Likewise, massive hot or cold weather and peaceful that influence learning.

5. Appropriate feedback system: These should be set of feedback rules to enhance learning. Some examples are, be specific, non judgmental, express your own feeling etc. With the application of these sets of effective feedback, one can learn in the organization.

Principles of Learning

The major principles of learning are explained as follows:

1. Principles of reinforcement:

Reinforcement is the attempt to develop or strengthen desirable behaviour by either bestowing positive consequences or withholding negative consequences. Positive reinforcement results from the application of a positive consequence following a desirable behaviour. Bonuses paid at the end of successful business years are an example of positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement results from withholding a threatened negative consequence when a desirable behaviour occurs. For example, the boss imposing a penalty, employee for coming late is an example of negative reinforcement.

2. Principles of punishment: Punishment is yet another way of changing human behaviour. It is an inverse of the reward. The purpose on punishment is to eliminate or weaken an undesirable behaviour. It is done in two ways. One way to punish a person is through the application of negative consequence following an undesirable behaviour. For example, football player who is excessively offensive to the referee on the football ground (undesirable behaviour) may be rejected from a game (negative consequence). The second way to punish the person is through the withholding of a positive consequence following in undesirable behaviour. For example, sales representative who makes few visits to companies and in turn, make sales well below quota (undesirable behaviour) is given less commission (positive consequence).

3. Principles of motivation: Whether it is learning in the classroom or workplace, if people themselves are not sufficiently motivated to learn for goal achievement and development, there will be no productivity, career development and other forms of development. However, one can not be forced to learn. Learning needs motivation on the part of the learner in order to exert a high level of effort.

4. Principles of practice: The most useful way to learn is implicit learning i.e. the experiential way. We acquire information about relationships in the environment without any conscious attempt to do so. Implicit learning occurs when we directly interact with the environmental forces- competitors, customers, supervisors and so on. One popular form of practice learning is action learning.

Significance of Learning in Organization

Learning is any relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience. We can say that the changes in the behaviour indicate that learning has taken place and that learning is a change in behaviour. In organizational setting, learning is significant for the following reasons:

1. For effective human resource development:

Learning is the key to developing skills and potential of employees. Managers can foster desirable behaviour and check undesirable behaviours through learning. Learning also helps managers to develop effective training programmes.

2. To understand and predict behaviour of the people at work: One of the key objectives in the field of organizational behaviour is to understand and predict behaviours of people at work. Understanding people’s behaviour is very tough and requires a set of skills. These skills are acquired through learning.

3. To facilitate organizational change and development: Learning facilitates organizational change and development. There are different forces in the external environment for change in the organizations. Some of these forces globalization, technology and demographics. Such changes force managers and workers to learn to reconfigure organizations to adapt to are such situations.