Chapter 7 Positive Organizational Behavior Video Assignment

Melissa is an engineer at Acme Consulting. She used to work from 8:30am to 5:30pm, but her boss told her she could come in at 9am because of her great performance last year. However, this year Melissa is constantly arriving late to work. Her supervisor is looking to utilize extinction to remedy this behavior. Which of the following would be an example of extinction in this situation?

having Melissa go back to working from 8:30am to 5:30pm **Explanation Extinction weakens a behavior by not providing a positive reinforcement, or actually removing a positive reinforcement that existed. Here, Melissa received positive reinforcement by being allowed to come to work 30-minutes later. However, her supervisor is now removing that positive reinforcement to weaken her constant tardiness.

Shawn is required to be in the office Monday through Friday, but would really value the ability to work from home one day a week. Based on Shawn's above-average performance last year, his boss is allowing him to work from home on Fridays. This is an example of which of the following?

negative reinforcement **Explanation Negative reinforcement strengthens a behavior by withdrawing something that is displeasing. Here, working five days a week in the office was displeasing to Shawn; so his boss allowed him to work from home one of these days in order to reinforce his above-average performance last year.

Reducing an employee's compensation because of poor performance is known as negative reinforcement. TRUE OR FALSE

FALSE **Explanation Reducing an employee's compensation because of poor performance is known as punishment. Punishment weakens a behavior by presenting some sort of a displeasing consequence, such as a demotion or pay cut, for the employee. Negative reinforcement strengthens a behavior by withdrawing something that is displeasing, which is not the case with a pay cut.