BEHAVIORAL CONSEQUENCES OF REWARD REGARDING EMPLOYEE ABSENTEEISM IN AN INDUSTRIAL SETTING AN OPERANT CONDITIONING APPROACH Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 8, 1981 58 BEHAVIORAL CONSEQUENCES OF REWARD REGARDING EMPLOYEE ABSENTEEISM IN AN INDUSTRIAL SETTING AN OPERANT CONDITIONING APPROACH Richard Kustin, Nova University ABSTRACT An attempt was made to alter the behavioral responses of twenty-one hourly industrial employees regarding their work attendance. This quasi-experiment provided a lottery incentive plan over a ten week period. Re- suits were analyzed in terms of absenteeism, production, and improvement in quality of life at work. In each area of evaluation, a positive result ensued. Reactions to behavioral implementation within the industrial setting are discussed. INTRODUCTION Numerous studies have been performed during the past fifteen years implementing a behavioral change concept for employees in an industrial and laboratory environment. Behavioral modification has been investigated in this Study in an industrial setting, in an effort to reduce absenteeism, increase production and improve the quality of work on the job. There have been a number of methods used to improve these several areas; of particular interest has been the reward or lottery approach, with variations resulting in continuous and variable reward reinforcement schedules. Varying degrees of participatory interaction have also been used, with corresponding results depending on the design and implementation. Certainly the work of B.F. Skinner (1953) has been the fountainhead for most of the studies using operant conditioning as a means to alter employee behavior (Nord, 1969). In addition, many other researchers have applied the concept of operant conditioning in. various studies as suggested by Walter Nord, 1969; Jablonsky and DeVries, 1972; Honig, 1966; Berger Cummings and Heneman, 1975. Using incentive plans and implementing them in terms of continuous and variable reward (Latham and Dossett, 1978) has proven quite successful, both for the employer and the employee. The Latham & Dossett study found that cost was reduced, productivity increased and the reaction by the employees, both managerial and subordinate, were positive regarding this plan. Other studies (Pedalino and Gamboa, 1974) used a lottery system incentive in a version of poker, which resulted in a lowering of absenteeism among industrial employees. The basis of this study is drawn from the studies by Latham and Dossett, 1976; and Pedalino and Gamboa, 1974, with these variations. This study attempts to rationalize the use of behavior modification in a realistic construct, in an industrial setting, while evaluating the comparative change of production, absenteeism and human resource reaction in the incentive plan. The study by Lawler and Hackman (1969), utilizing employee participation and incentive plans, established a guideline and provided further insight for the current study. vs. additional studies, Yukl, Wexley ant Seymore, 1972; and Yukl and Latham, 1975; provided further references, although both of these studies primarily researched variable and continuous reward as the explanatory variable in reducing employee absenteeism. METHOD Sample The study was conducted in an industrial moulding manufacturing site in Florida. The employees consisted of men and women (21), all of which had been with the company for at least a year prior to the start of this study. All were full time employees, all were experienced at their jobs and all were compensated based on a cost of living increase, adjusted quarterly to their current wage. Income was deemed average or slightly above for these positions. All employees were nonunion. Procedure Because of the limited number of employees at this site, and the physical set-up of the Site thereby preventing any separation among employees, the typical experimental and control group structure could not be utilized. Therefore, a comparative analysis procedure was constructed where all employees currently employed and active in the ten week study had to have been employed during the same period of time a year ago. From a total of 27 employees, 21 matched according to this requirement. me rate of absenteeism and production was established in the control period (first ten weeks of 1979) and compared with the experimental period (first ten weeks of 1980). Production was adjusted for inflationary variation and price differentials between the two periods. Absenteeism for these 21 employees were recorded during both periods. In order to establish a goal, the control period, absenteeism average was used as a base line (Pedalino and Gamboa, 1974), for comparative analysis. An employee not present at work, except for vacation, jury duty, bereavement, or paid holiday, was considered absent from the job. A reward system was presented in the form Of a poker game. The principal was to reinforce approved behavior, to modify or alter the existing behavior of these employees that was disapproved by management. The poker game was designed to permit, on the basis of chance, the employee with the perfect attendance to win. Each week an employee who had perfect attendance at work would qualify for a random selection of a playing card from a standard deck of 52 playing cards. At the end of five weeks, the employee with the best hand won a prize equal to $25.00. The names of those employees eligible for a card were posted conspicuously for all to see. Winners were also announced by posting their name in the same place. RESULTS The results of this study are outlined below in terms of the three criterias of absenteeism, production, and improvement of work life. Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 8, 1981 59 Absenteeism Criteria Figure 1 illustrates the results of this experiment. The control or baseline period of 1979. based on the total number of days absent, resulted in an absenteeism rate of 10.26%. During the experimental period, the rate of absenteeism was reduced to 8.28%, or a reduction of 19.29%. The result of this decrease between baseline, (which management decided was an unacceptable rate), and the experimental period was tested for statistical significance by a single- tailed t test (t 7.44, P <.05). A single-tailed test was implemented since a single direction was evaluated between the control period and the experimental period with regard to employee absenteeism. Production Criteria The second criterion for analysis was production. Here, a direct comparison was made between the control period (first 10 weeks of 1919) and the experimental period (first 10 weeks of 1980) in terms of orders shipped during each time period. In 1979, a total of 119 orders were shipped during the first 10 week period as compared to 130 orders shipped in the first 10 weeks of 1980. or an increase of 9.24%. A further examination of the type of orders shipped revealed that in 1980, there were 15 special moulds manufactured and shipped, compared to 56 of the same category manufactured and shipped in 1919, or an increase of 33.9% in this specific area. (Special moulds are more difficult to produce, take longer and are sold at higher prices than standard moulds). Behavior Criteria The final criterion, improvement of work life, was evaluated through responses made by these 21 employees, from a written questionnaire. This questionnaire was primarily designed to elicit positive or negative responses regarding the employee’s reaction to management, their job itself, and their feelings about their environment and the company. These employees were asked to rate the questions on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest rating. No attempt has been made, at this point, to validate or determine reliability of this questionnaire. The intention here is to record employee reactions only, and any generalization concerning these responses would be pure conjecture. Nevertheless, these results are summarized below. On the questions relating to management, these employees affirmed their positive reaction by 54.5% with 28.7% of the employees recording a negative feeling toward management. These employees had a very positive reaction toward the company (62.3%) and a relatively small negative feeling (14.3%). The number of employees who felt there was no change in their feelings toward the company was 23.4%. In a similar manner, their reaction toward their work environment represented a positive feeling (48.4%) with a negative of 24.2% and a no change in their feeling toward their environment of 27.3%. The evaluation of no change was determined by analyzing the rating scale in this manner. A rating score of and 5 was considered positive, 1 and 2 negative, and 3 was considered no change or uncommitted, (Thurston, 1928). The final questions referred to the job specifically, and here 38.2% reflected a positive feeling, with 35.2% expressing a negative feeling toward their job. Granted that there was no pre-experimental group questionnaire concerning the employees’ attitudes in these areas, the results of this post-questionnaire of the experimental group can be viewed as directional by management. DISCUSSION There are a number of limitations that should be identified in this research. First, no control group operated concurrently with the experimental group. Second, no pre-test was given prior to the study to determine the disposition of these employees to the company, management and their jobs specifically. And therefore, no comparison Could be made with the present questionnaire as it was applied in this study. Several results indicated in this Study have confirmed the conclusions drawn by other research. The decline in absenteeism was significant, Similar to that reported by Pedalino and Gamboa (1974), and the rate of productivity increase was also significant, and similar to the results discussed by Latham and. Dossett (1978). In the area of improvement in work life, several comments Should be made. As indicated by the results obtained, the most significant aspect was in responses directed toward the job itself and the company in general. These employees were almost divided equally in their positive and negative assessment of their jobs in the company. Even though 76.2% of all employees favored the program itself, this factor did not influence a majority of these employees toward a favorable feeling of their job. A major consideration of the incentive program was to improve work life (Hackman and Suttle, 1977) in this instance, perhaps, it did not succeed. At least there was no improvement as a comparison between positive over negative attitudes. Since there was not a pre-study on attitudes, there is no way to evaluate the post-study in terms of improvement over conditions that existed prior to the incentive program. A similar Situation could be stated for the responses toward the company. Although a majority (62.3%) had a positive feeling toward the company, a large percent (23. was uncommitted.. This non-committal group Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 8, 1981 60 could be viewed as a flaw in the incentive program, since a positive direction was the objective, and in effect no change occurred in this segment Several intriguing occurrences took place in this research that require further discussion. The basic principal of operant conditioning, as proposed by Skinner (1953, 1954) and Others (Honig, 1966), concerns the immediacy of the reward following the correct behavior. Further, several proposals by Skinner (1966) and others (Yukl, Wexley and Seymore, 1972; Yukl and Latham, 1975; Latham and Dossett, 1918), view variable reinforcement as a stronger inducer than continuous reinforcement. The present research really falls into neither category. That is, reinforcement must be Considered continuous, but Occurred only twice over the ten week period. Even with this minimal schedule, positive results developed. The incentive itself has to be evaluated as well. The monetary reward was paid after each five week period with a relatively small dollar incentive. Even under these conditions, employees perceived the reward as adequate. Interaction between employee and management did not change during the study, therefore negating any “Hawthorne effect’. Both the reward itself, and the schedule appear to be inadequate in light of current and past research. Yet the results of this research are positively directed, although no clear indication as to why this occurred has been discovered even after the questionnaire was thoroughly evaluated. The concept of operant conditioning, as a tool of management, has been developing for more than fifteen years. However, research must firmly establish whether the change in employee behavior is a temporary result, (Pedalino and Gamboa, 1974; Yukl, Wexley, and Seymore, 1972; Yukl and Latham, 1975) affected by a schedule of reinforcing incentives, or if the employee has Internalized and accepted the change as part of his perceived outlook in the business environment. Further research is needed to evaluate the consequences of operant conditioning with the concept of improving life at work for the employee. In both instances, the evaluation must lead to a positive direction in productivity and profit or the results only become interesting from a laboratory and not a practical aspect. REFERENCES (1) Berger, C.J., Cummings, L.L., and Heneman, E.G. "Expectancy theory and operant conditioning predictions of performance under variable and continuous schedules of reinforcement,” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 14, 1915, pp. 227-243. (2) Deci, Edward L. “Notes on the Theory and Mete- theory of Intrinsic Motivation,’ Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1975, 15, pp. 130- 145. (3) Hackman, J.R. , and Suttle, J.L. Improving Life at Work. (Santa Monica, California; Goodyear Publishing, 1977.) (4) Herbert, Theodore T. Dimensions of Organizational Behavior. (New York: McMillan Publishing Co., 1976.) (5) Honig, W.K. Operant Conditioning: Areas of Research and Application. (New York: Appleton- Century, Crofts, 1966.) (6) Jablonsky, Stephen F., and DeVries, David L. “Operant Conditioning Principles Extrapolated in the Theory of Management,” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1972, 7, pp. 340-358. (7) Latham, Gary P., and Dossett, Dennis L. “Designing Incentive Plans for Unionized Employees: A Comparison of Continuous and Variable Ratio Reinforcement Schedules.” Personnel Psychology, 1978, 31, pp. 47-61. (8) Lawler, Edward E. “Reward Systems," in J. Richard Hackman and J. Lloyd Suttle (Ed.). Improving Life at Work. (Santa Monica, California: Goodyear Publishing, 1977.) (9) Lawler, Edward E., and Hackman, J.R. ‘Impact of Employee Participation in the Development of Pay Incentive Plan,” Journal of Applied Psychology. 1969, 53, pp. 467-471. (10) Lawler, Edward E., and Hall, D.T. “The Relationship of Job Characteristics to Job Involvement, Satisfaction and Intrinsic Motivation,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 1970, 54. pp. 305-312. (11) Nord, Walter R. “Beyond the Teaching Machine: The Neglected Area of Operant Conditioning in the Theory and Practice of Management Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1969, 4, pp. 375- 401. (12) Pedalino, Ed. and Gamboa, Victor U. “Behavior Modification and Absenteeism: Intervention in One Industrial Setting,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 1974, 59, pp. 694-698. (13) Skinner, B.F. Science and Human Behavior. (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1953.) (14) Skinner, B.F. ‘Operant Behavior.” In W.K. Honig (Ed.), Operant Behavior: Areas of Research end Application. (New York: Appleton-Century- Crofts, 1966.) (15) Suttle, J.L. Improving Life and Work - “Problems and Prospects,” in J.R. Hackman and J.L. Suttle (Ed.), Improving Life at work. (Santa Monica, Cal.: Goodyear Publishing, 1977.) (16) Thurston, L.L. “Attitudes Can Be Measured,” American Journal of Sociology, 1928, 33, pp. 529- 554. (17) Wallin, Jerry A., and Johnson, Ronald D. “The Positive Reinforcement Approach to Controlling Employee Absenteeism,” Personnel Journal, 1976, August, pp. 390-392. (18) Yukl, Gary A., and Latham, Gary L. “Consequences of Reinforcement Schedules and Incentive Magnitudes for Employee Performance: Problems Encountered in an Industrial Setting,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 1975, 60, pp. 294-298. (19) Yukl, Gary A., Latham, Gary P., and Pursell, E.D. “The Effectiveness of Performance Incentives under Continuous and Variable Ratio Schedules of Reinforcement,” Personnel Psychology 1976, 29, pp. 221-232. Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 8, 1981 61 (20) Yukl, G.A., Wexley, K.N., and Seymore, .D. “Effectiveness of Pay Incentives under Variable and Continuous Reinforcement Schedules,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 1972, 56, pp. 19-23. Table of Contents Volume 8, 1981 The Promotion: Human Sexuality in Organization The Simulation of Chaos Leadership Development in a Simulated Urban/Suburban (U/S) Environment Tomed: A Computer Game Emphasizing Social Responsibility/or/why the Pop-Top Can? Integrated Brain Activity and the Manager's Job: Utilizing the Troika Model What does R2 Have to do with a Product Management Course? An Analysis of the Effects of Jungian Problem-Solving Style Dimensions on Marketing Decisions Bargaining Behavior in Personal Selling and Buying Exchanges Extending the Simulation Product Life Cycle A Generalized Algorithm for Designing and Developing Business Simulations Operationalizing a Test of a Model of the Use of Simulation Games and Experiential Exercises Pygmalion and Perception: An Experiential Exercise Behavioral Consequences of Reward Regarding Employee Absenteeism in an Industrial Setting: An Operant Conditioning Approach The Simlab Program: The Use of Experimental Simulation and Process Analysis for the Development of Management and Organizations Designs for Research on Simulation-Games, Cases, and Other Experiential Exercises The Role of Students in The Case Method Weaknesses in Research Design Critical Variables in Research on the Educational Value of Management Games Research Questions for Cases Research on the Learning Effectiveness of Business Simulation Games - A Review of the State of the Science The Effects of Valuation Techniques on Holding Cost During Inflationary Periods: A Simulation Exercise The Operations Simulation - A Study in Game Development Applying Guided Design to the Production/Operations Management Course: A Progress Report and Evaluation Terminal Data Entry and Retrieval Systems Simulations and Microprocessors Microcomputers and Related Technology for Simulation Gaming Microcomputers - A New Technology for Innovations in Business Simulations Microprocessor Controlled Interactive Video Simulation Business Game Design: From Theory to Practice The Success of a Computerized Simulation in Microeconomic Pedagogy The Test Preview Game: Applying the Game Show Format Providing a Real World View of the Personal Function: A Simulation Finding an Effective Means of Teaching Managerial Behavioral Skills: Two Different Experiential Teaching Methods Compared A Management Development Program Based on the Experiential Learning Model Participant Type Differences in Response to Experiential Methods: An Informal Look Preparing Student Groups to Participate in Experiential Group Projects: An Organizational Development Approach An Instrument for the Assessment of Learning Dimensions: A Progress Report of the Learning Dimension Scale (LDS) An Empirical Analysis Relating the Learning Style Inventory to Memory and Logical Ability Teaching Styles in Simulation Experiential Learning Versus Traditional Teaching Styles Student Perceptions of Effective Teaching Behaviors Problems in Evaluation of Experiential Learning in Management Education Students' Perceptions of Learning by Simulation A Relative Evaluation of Experiential and Simulation Learning in Terms of Perceptions of Effected Changes in Students Overview of Computer Based Business Games in Business Policy Classes Behavioral Decision Theory and Business Policy Giving Accounting Students Writing Experience as Job Preparation Getting to First Base with MBO: An exercise for Writing and Evaluating Objectives Dimensions of Conflict in Experiential Learning Consumer Alienation and Perceived Relevance of the Business Simulation Using the Self-Reference Criterion to Simulate Culture in Internationalized Business Course Experiential Learning in a Cross Cultural Setting- The Practice of Simulation Approach to Business Education in Japanese Universities Student' Perceptions of the Use of a Computerized Simulation in Teaching Management Information Systems Using the Case Study Approach to Develop a Microcomputer Bases, Fully Integrated, Data Base Driven, Management Information System The Case Study as a Tool for Organizational Change: Applying the Steel Ax to the Designers of Management Information Systems Toward a Theory of Teaching Business Policy A Case Study in the Use of Experiential Learning (A Management Game Simulation) to Enhance Student Understanding of Strategy Evaluation and Policy Formulation Suggestions for Integration of the Business Administration Core Publishing Opportunities and Requirements for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning Materials How do we Apply Experiential Learning Intercollegiate Case Competitions for M.B.A. Students: Initiation and Implementation Teaching Business Policy and Strategy Using the Incident Process The Learning Co-Op Approach to the Core Policy Course Meeting the Managerial Skill Shortage - Is Academia Up to It? An Empirical Analysis of Experiential Learning Reinforcement International Experiential Learning: Experience is the Best Teacher Encouraging Student Participation During International Academic Programs European Summer Study Program: Can you, Should you, What Does it Take? Travel Seminars in Europe: How can I Direct One? International Experiential Learning: Student Evaluation ABSEL: Empirical Findings on the State of the Association Sensitivity of Performance Scores in Business Simulations Improving the Learning of a Business Simulation Game by Increasing the Process Content Student Participation in Deciding Performance Criteria for Grading in an OB Course: An Exercise and a Case Study Markup for Profit: A Simulated Self-Administered Experience in Retail Pricing The Investment Decision Game: An Experiential Learning Approach to Stock Market Decisions Through Gaming CHIPS: A Marketing Channels management Game External Validation: An Experimental Approach to Determining the Worth of Simulation Games Teaching Performance Appraisal Skills: An Experiential Approach In Support of Experiential learning: Results of a Follow-Up Survey The Introductory Management Course: Taking Theory Application One Step Further Decision Efficiency and Effectiveness in a Business Simulation The Implications of Cognitive Processing Variables and the Complex Decision Simulating the Simulation for Enhanced Player Rationality Simulation/Experiential Learning Audit