Management's role

There are six steps to the effective implementation of a positive reinforcement program: describe existing behavior, develop expectations, determine needed behavior, reinforce this behavior, create employee feedback, and develop supervisory feedback.

The starting point is an audit of existing performance in behavioral terms. Let us take sales of rooms and other facilities at the front desk as an example. From detailed observation, we may note that front-desk clerks, when asked the price of rooms, quote only the cheapest one available. When asked to describe the difference between the most and least expensive rooms, they are unable to do so. They do not offer to make reservations for incoming guests at the hotel's dining facilities.

At this point, it is necessary to set objectives. Objectives should be reasonable, specific, and within a set time period. The ideas developed in the chapter on management by objectives can be incorporated into this process. The difference in approaches is that the emphasis here is on the behavior necessary to achieve the objectives, as well as the consequences of that behavior. Objectives without feedback and positive reinforcement are unlikely to work.

We may decide at this point that we wish to increase the average room rate each desk clerk books by USD 10 and require each clerk to make dinner reservations for 20 guests within the next month.

The next step is to identify the behavior necessary to achieve the objectives. To increase the average rate of rooms booked, it is necessary when asked the price of available rooms to mention the most expensive rate first. If price resistance is met, the clerk can mention the next most expensive room. When asked the difference between the room rates, it is necessary to describe in attractive detail the advantages of the higher-priced room. To reserve tables in the hotel dining facility, it is necessary to offer to make reservations for each incoming party on arrival. If asked, it is necessary to be able to describe the type of cuisine offered and the price range of the hotel restaurant. By engaging in these actions, the front-desk clerk will increase his or her average booked room rate and will increase business in the dining room.

The key to this program is the reinforcement of behavior. Several types of reinforcement are possible. Continuous reinforcement involves reacting to the behavior each and every time it occurs. This is the type of reinforcement received when we put coins in a soda machine. Every time the correct amount of money goes into the slot, a can of soda appears. Continuous reinforcement is necessary to establish a new behavior. If we want an employee to greet guests with a smile, every time we see that smile we must reinforce it, with praise or some other reward.

Intermittent reinforcement, on the other hand, involves reinforcing the behavior only sometimes. A common example is a slot machine. We may put coins in without getting a payoff.

Related to this is the idea of fixed and variable reinforcement. Fixed reinforcement involves getting feedback on a set schedule in terms of either time or number of actions. The most obvious example of fixed reinforcement is the weekly or biweekly paycheck. Because that check comes each week, it becomes expected and, as a consequence, can lose its effectiveness as a motivator. Variable reinforcement is given on an irregular basis.

In terms of motivation, variable or intermittent reinforcement is more effective in sustaining already established behavior. Consider the soda machine compared to the slot machine. If you put coins in the soda machine and nothing happens, you may give up and leave, muttering under your breath; or you may kick the machine; or, if you are thirsty enough, you may put more coins in the slot. But if nothing still happens, will you put more change in? Not likely. We are used to a continuous schedule of reinforcement. When we go from continuous reinforcement to no reinforcement, the behavior stops.

Managers will often work with employees to improve their behavior. After lots of work, lots of coaching, and lots of reinforcement, an employee's behavior begins to improve. But then the manager goes to work with another employee whose behavior needs to be improved. Getting no more reinforcement, the first employee's new behavior may disappear.

Consider now the slot machine. We put in some coins, but get no response. Do we put in more? Of course! The behavior is continued far longer than we would feed the soda machine because we know that sometime there will be a worthwhile payoff. The intermittent, variable response of the slot machine keeps the behavior going.

In fact, research on animals has shown that once developed, behavior will be repeated with relatively infrequent reinforcement. Continuous reinforcement is necessary to get a new behavior started; intermittent reinforcement is necessary to keep it going.

The fifth step is to allow employees to keep a record of their own work. This self-assessment is crucial in that it generates its own continuous reinforcement.

Every time the desk clerk makes a reservation in the hotel dining room, he or she makes a note of it. The reinforcement is immediate. In this way, the clerk sees the relationship between the behavior and the consequence. The success interval, or the distance between the behavior and the measurement, is shortened. It would be somewhat impractical, for example, to attempt to improve employee tardiness by having a monthly drawing for on- time workers. The success interval here is about thirty days. If an employee is late the second day, there is no positive incentive to participate further.

Another point is that the perceived difficulty of the objective can be reduced by shortening the success interval. Selling 60 bottles of wine a month may sound intimidating to a young server. Selling two bottles a night sounds easier to accomplish.

In this sixth step, the supervisor looks at the performance of the employee and praises the positive aspects. Following Skinner's work, it would be unnecessary to comment on the negative aspects of performance. Neglecting them will encourage the employee to improve in order to receive more positive feedback. In fact, drawing attention to negative behavior may give the employee the attention desired. Teachers and managers are aware of the person who does something wrong in order to get attention. The punishment that results is better than the neglect the employee, student, or child usually gets. The One Minute Manager talks about catching the employee doing something right.

For reinforcement to work, the employee has to see the relationship between the behavior and the consequence. With continuous reinforcement, it has to be as immediate as possible. It also has to be meaningful to the employee. A waitress struggling as a single parent to raise two children has different priorities than the college student working part-time for "fun money".

Praise is not enough. When employees perform the way management wants and sales and profits increase, employees rightfully expect to share in the results of their efforts. People can handle only so many "'Atta boys". The smart manager realizes that the welfare of the company is intertwined with the welfare of the employees. By distributing the fruits of the employee's labor in the form of higher wages and fringe benefits, the manager ensures that everyone benefits.