Behavior concepts and applications

Behavior

Since the advent of man till today, human behavior has changed and evolved in some cases and in others it has modified but still is based on centuries old concepts and ideas. We all know what are the good things that should be done and what are the wrong things yet at times we find that good ideas just do not work and we find ourselves doing what we know is not supposed to be done. Why does such a concept exist in man and he prefers to opt for a behavior or an action which is within the scope of his knowledge to be wrong.

One of the elemental factors that decide the path a human's actions and behavior is motivation. If a person is inadequately motivated or not motivated at all then he would prefer not to carry out that particular action. This is not something that is uniquely found in some people but is purely human nature. A person not motivated enough is just not going to do what he is supposed to do. Further if a person is motivated for the wrong way, then regardless of his knowing the particular action to be wrong, he will still carry it out. A human is motivated by the rewards which he can associate to his actions. Rewarding for the right reasons is highly important because if you reward a person for something negative then he will do that negative rather than the positive. This is because he knows that his negative action would be beneficial for him and his positive action will be of no good. Incentives given for the results to be desired is very important and as Steven Kerr writes, that in World War II, soldiers wanted to go back home but the governments wanted to win the war. Therefore the reward or incentive given to the soldiers was that when they will win the war, they will go back home. This led to the result that whether a soldier was patriotic or not, he still gave his best to the war in order to win and receive his reward. He then related this to the war in Vietnam where he states that the soldiers were told that they will go home only when their tour is over. Thus an analysis by the soldiers showed that if they disobey the orders, it was more likely for them to be "assigned rest and rehabilitation" (Steven Kerr, 1995).

The above examples shows that giving an incentive is as important as giving the right incentive. A reward not wanted by a person might not motivate him enough to give all he has got. This even holds true for organizations trying to achieve their desired goals. It is highly important for an organization to reward their workforce for the positive reasons. This would enable them to be efficient and work hard for the organization's benefit whether they desire that benefit for the organization or not. They want their reward and will work hard to achieve it. This practice is also seen widely prominent in politicians. Before the elections, all talk about issues which the citizens want a government to deal with. Any politician to touch such issues during his campaigns is highly likely to attract more people and secure more votes.