How well did it work?
Consequences may be positive, as with praise or recognition, or negative. Positive reinforc- ers are used for the express purpose of increasing a desired behavior.
Kyle, a staff nurse, offered a creative idea to redesign work flow on the unit. His manager supported the idea and helped Kyle implement the new process. In addition, the man- ager praised Kyle for the extra effort and publicly recognized him for the idea. Kyle was encouraged by the outcome and sought other solutions to work-flow problems.
230 PART 3 • MANAGING RESOURCES
Negative reinforcers are used to inhibit an undesired behavior. Punishment is a common technique.
To get Rose to chart adequately, the manager required her to come to his office daily with her patient charts, and they reviewed her charting together. She was required to do this until she achieved an acceptable level of charting. Rose found the task laborious and humiliating. As a result, Rose was soon charting appropriately.
Because punishment is negative in character, an employee may fail to improve and also may avoid the manager and the job, as well. The effects of punishment are generally temporary. Undesirable behavior will be suppressed only as long as the manager monitors the situation and the threat of punishment is present. Conversely, positive reinforcement is the best way to change behavior.
Extinction is another technique used to eliminate negative behavior. By removing a positive reinforcer, undesired behavior is extinguished.
Consider the case of Jasmine, a chronic complainer. To curb this behavior, her man- ager chose to ignore her many complaints and not try to resolve them. Initially, Jasmine complained more, but eventually she realized her behavior was not getting the desired response and stopped complaining.
A problem with operant conditioning (behavior modification) is that there is no sure way to elicit the desired behavior so that it can be reinforced. In addition, staff and the manager may view consequences differently.