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The impact of Positive Reinforcement on Employees’ Performance in

Organizations

Article  in  American Journal of Industrial and Business Management · January 2014

DOI: 10.4236/ajibm.2014.41002

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American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 2014, 4, 9-12 9
Published Online January 2014 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ajibm)
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ajibm.2014.41002

The impact of Positive Reinforcement on Employees’

Performance in Organizations
Leong Teen Wei, Rashad Yazdanifard
Center for Southern New Hampshire University Programs, HELP College of Arts and Technology, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Received June 15th, 2013; revised July 15th, 2013; accepted July 22nd, 2014

Copyright © 2014 Leong Teen Wei, Rashad Yazdanifard. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited. In accordance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2014 are reserved for SCIRP and the
owner of the intellectual property Leong Teen Wei, Rashad Yazdanifard. All Copyright © 2014 are guarded by law and by SCIRP as
a guardian.

ABSTRACT
Each employee’s performance is important in an organization. A way to motivate it is through the application of
reinforcement theory which is developed by B. F. Skinner. One of the most commonly used methods is positive
reinforcement in which one’s behavior is strengthened or increased based on consequences. This paper aims to
review the impact of positive reinforcement on the performances of employees in organizations. It can be applied
by utilizing extrinsic reward or intrinsic reward. Extrinsic rewards include salary, bonus and fringe benefit
while intrinsic rewards are praise, encouragement and empowerment. By applying positive reinforcement in
these factors, desired positive behaviors are encouraged and negative behaviors are eliminated. Financial and
non-financial incentives have a positive relationship with the efficiency and effectiveness of staffs.

KEYWORDS
Positive Reinforcement; Employees’ Performance; Motivation

1. Introduction to something intangible such as praise and acknowl-

edgement while extrinsic reward is salary, promotion,
Over the years, managers are more concerned on em-
freedom in office and job security. Both types of rewards
ployees’ performances in terms of productivity and effi-
are closely associated with staffs’ accomplishments with-
ciency. It is very important as it affects an organization
in an organization [3,4].
as a whole. One of the ways to provide motivation is
through the application of reinforcement theory. B. F.
Skinner introduced the reinforcement theory, also known 3. Extrinsic Reward
as learning theory. It refers to the stimuli used to produce One of the basic motivations for employees to work is
desired behaviors with different occurrences and sched- salary. Linz and Semykina [5] revealed that personal in-
ules [1]. This paper aims to examine the productivity of come is positively correlated to job satisfaction. A study
employees as a result of the implementation of rein- of Taiwan R&D professionals in technology sector found
forcement theory, specifically in positive reinforcement. out that monetary incentives based on output has a posi-
tive relationship with their work performance. Besides,
2. Positive Reinforcement the monitoring cost is reduced and it became more com-
Positive reinforcement is a technique to elicit and to petitive among the staffs [6]. According to Liu [7], Hua-
strengthen new behaviors by adding rewards and incen- wei, a Chinese information technology company offers a
tives instead of eliminating benefits [2]. It can be applied high basic salary and the amount is still going up every
in workplace through fringe benefit, promotion chances year. In comparison to other new undergraduates and
and pay. Rewards can be classified into two categories graduates, Huawei pays at least RMB 4000 higher than
which are intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic reward refers the average rate. Huawei’s reward strategy to their em-

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10 The impact of Positive Reinforcement on Employees’ Performance in Organizations

ployees greatly increased the organization’s productivity. employees is used to reinforce own capability and also
On the other hand, engineers in Huawei earns from enhance decision making skills at work. A study con-
$ 6600 to $ 22,000 annually, depending on their per- ducted in Golestan Telecommunication Company located
formance. The performance based technique can greatly in Iran showed that empowerment significantly improved
increase the attentiveness and alertness of staffs [8]. the work performance [18]. Ritz-Carlton, a chain hotel is
The United States Postal Service (USPS) executed the well-known for its gold class service. If there is a com-
pay-for-performance since 1995 and it made a significant plaint or request from customer, the management allows
impact to the organizations. The program counterbal- their staffs to use up to $ 2000 without manager’s per-
anced the consistent net loss for the past 24 years which mission and with an approval, the amount will go higher.
summed up to ten billion dollars. With the implementa- Ritz-Carlton demonstrated the trust and confidence to
tion of the program, the USPS not only improved drasti- empower their staffs in order to make each of the cus-
cally in financials, but in delivery punctuality, workplace tomers satisfied [19]. In return, employees feel more sat-
safety and also efficiency [9]. When a portion of wages isfied with their jobs and heighten their commitment
are reliant on performance, employees tend to work level to the company. When they give their best to the
harder. However, it may lead to a vast impact to some of company, customers will be pleased and as a result, there
them because they stopped performing when pay was will be a positive growth in revenues and profits [20,21].
only reliant on their attendances in work [10].
Fringe benefit is also another instrument used in rein- 5. Punishments
forcing staffs. In the year 2013, Google, Inc. ranked first
Punishment is a tool used to remove unwanted or unde-
in Fortune as the best company to work for. Google is
sired actions and it can be used to decrease the intensity
well-known for its benefits for the employees. Google
of behaviors [22]. Based on a study done on employees’
offers a variety of benefits such as complimentary food
punctuality to work, it was revealed that employees who
from cafeteria, childcare feature, healthcare, laundry ser-
are penalized for being late to work are effective. The
vices, shuttle bus, sports facilities, and a lot of holidays
percentage of employees who are late dropped 66% and
and even lessons for foreign languages [11]. When em-
55% of them actually reported to work earlier. It demon-
ployees are rewarded for their performances, they will
strated that employees who paid fines to their colleague
most likely to increase the behavior and perform better.
are more successful than paying to their employer in im-
Therefore, monetary or extrinsic rewards reinforced em-
proving their punctuality [23].
ployees’ work behavior positively [12].
6. Discussion
4. Intrinsic Reward
It is found that positive reinforcement, both intrinsically
Another type of positive reinforcement is intrinsic reward.
and extrinsically is positively linked with the perform-
It involves something other than financial motivation. It
ance of employees [24]. Positive reinforcement is highly
can be mere praise, delegation, empowerment or ac-
effective in strengthening and increasing behaviors. The
knowledgement, but it has an impact on employee’s per-
type of reinforcement tools incorporate salary, perform-
formance in a positive way [13,14]. When employees
obtain acknowledgement from managers or supervisors ance-based incentives and fringe benefits. All of these
as a result of their job well done, they will feel appreci- encourage employees to present their best to the corpo-
ated and have a sense of belonging to the company [15]. rate and to sustain at the peak. Balliet, Mulder and Van
This is highly valued by staffs and it is very likely that Lange [25] pointed out that rewards are more effective
they will strive to perform better [3]. when it is more expensive to operate. It seemed to be
In “The Carrot Principle” findings, it was shown that more valuable and more attractive, so it attains a better
65 percent of respondents did not receive any forms of response. Islam and Ismail [26] pointed out the six major
recognition and 79 percent reported that the lack of ap- motivation factors for employees incorporate high salary,
preciation is the main reason for quitting the organization. comfortable working condition, promotion, challenging
Those employees of highest enthusiasm, 94.4% re- work, job security and appreciation shown on work done.
sponded that managers have recognized their competence. Another research provided evidences that monetary re-
It showed a significant need for staffs to be recognized in wards offered a higher motivation to employees in com-
order for them to be more effective in their performances. parison with non-monetary reward [27]. However, an-
Organizations that successfully identify the brilliance other study suggested that financial incentives will only
have a propensity to be more lucrative and it is reported provide a short term positive behavior. Staffs do look for
that they can gain more than three times of return [16]. more incentives which are non-monetary in order to sus-
More than that, Wynter-Palmer and Jennifer [17] tain a long term positive performance in organizations
stated that empowerment or a sense of authority given to [4]. Bouxsein, Roane and Harper [28] reported that the

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 The impact of Positive Reinforcement on Employees’ Performance in Organizations 11

combination of positive reinforcement and negative re- Happy? Anticipated Rewards and Job Satisfaction,” In-
inforcement is most effective in modifying behaviors. dustrial Relations, Vol. 51, No. 4, 2012, pp. 811-844.
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7. Conclusion Attentional Effort in the Flanker Task,” Psychonomic
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