Page 31 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

2 Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work

that employees are actually motivated by the particular carrot
being offered.

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning refers to specific behavioral strategies
developed by B. F. Skinner to change behavior. Terms associ-
ated with Skinner’s approach, such as positive reinforcement,
negative reinforcement, and punishment, are often bantered
about among human resources managers, business leaders, and
consultants as they seek to motivate employees. Unfortunately,
these terms have become widely misunderstood and misused.
Reinforcement—both positive and negative—refers to con-
sequences that increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring
in the future. Common forms of positive reinforcement include
praise, privileges, money, and various rewards. Negative rein-
forcement refers to the removal of an aversive stimulus. For
example, when a mother picks up a crying baby and the baby
stops crying, the mother is negatively reinforced and thus more
likely to pick up the baby when it cries in the future. Although it
is possible to use negative reinforcement as a motivational strat-
egy in the workplace, it is highly uncommon.
Punishment refers to adverse consequences that decrease
the likelihood of the behavior occurring again in the future.
Common forms of punishment include ignoring, penalties, fines,
and taking away privileges. In the workplace, suspending an
employee without pay is an example of using punishment to
change behavior.
Here’s the important part: in order for a consequence to
be considered reinforcing or punishing, it must impact the