Chapter 9

Question 1

What is learning?

Answer 1

learning reflects relatively permanent changes in an employee’s knowledge or skill that result from experience

Question 2

How does learning affect decision making?

Answer 2

The more knowledge and skills employees possess, the more likely they are to make accurate and sound decisions

Question 3

What types of knowledge can employees gain as they learn and build expertise?

Answer 3

• explicit knowledge
• tacit knowledge

Question 4

What are the methods by which employees learn in organizations?

Answer 4

• Reinforcement
• Observation
• Goal Orientation

Question 5

What two methods can employees use to make decisions?

Answer 5

1. programmed decisions
2. non-programmed decisions

Question 6

What decision-making problems can prevent employees from translating their learning into accurate decisions?

Answer 6

• limited information
• faulty perceptions
• faulty attributions
• escalation of commitment

Question 7

How does learning affect job performance and organizational commitment?

Answer 7

• learning has a moderate positive effect on performance.
• learning has a weak positive effect on organizational commitment

Question 8

What steps can organizations take to foster learning?

Answer 8

• training
• knowledge transfer
• behaviour modelling training
• communities of practice
• transfer of training
• climate for transfer

Question 9

What is decision making?

Answer 9

the process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve a problem.

Question 10

What is bounded rationality?

Answer 10

the notion that decision makers simply do not have the ability or resources to process all available information and alternatives to make an optimal decision

Question 11

What is tacit knowledge?

Answer 11

what employees can typically learn only through experience. Described as the “know-how”, “know-what”, and “know-who”.

Question 12

What is explicit knowledge?

Answer 12

information that’s relatively easily communicated and a large part of what companies teach during training sessions. The information or knowledge in a manual or written down for someone else.

Question 13

What are the four specific contingencies of reinforcement?

Answer 13

1. positive reinforcement
2. extinction
3. punishment
4. negative reinforcement

Question 14

Which two contingencies will increase desired behaviours?

Answer 14

1. positive reinforcement (reward)
2. negative reinforcement (avoid)

Question 15

Which two contingencies will decrease unwanted behaviours?

Answer 15

1. extinction (remove)
2. punishment (punish)

Question 16

What is social learning theory?

Question 17

What does the rational decision-making model assume?

Answer 17

people are rational, evaluate all possible decisions to optimize outcomes