PIC/NIC AnalysisOrganizing influences on behavior to gain an understanding of why people do what they do

In What Two Ways is Behavior is Changed?• By what comes before it• ANTECEDENTS

• By what follows it • CONSEQUENCES

• Everyone’s behavior makes sense to him or her at the time

• To begin to understand her/him -- • Step 1: Identify the problem

behavior• Step 2: Identify the antecedents• Step 3: Identify the consequences

from the perspective of the performer not the organization– positive or negative– happen immediately or in the future– consequences are certain or uncertain

Which consequences must a manager manage in order to avoid or solve problems?

Those for the organization or those for the employee?

Deciphering PIC/NICWhat can we use PIC/NIC to analyze?

Consequences to individuals

What is Positive or Negative?

•What does P stand for?•Positive

•What is the other option?•N for Negative

• The nature of the consequence

•What does I stand for?•Immediate

•What is the other option?•F for Future

What do Immediate/Future refer to?• The timing of the consequence

•What does C stand for?•Certain

•What is the other option?•U for Uncertain

What do Certain/Uncertain refer to?• The likelihood of the

consequence

What is the PIC/NIC Pattern for Problem Behavior that Persists?

• Many PICS for undesired behavior

• in the face of many NFUs

C = CertainU = Uncertain

I = ImmediateF = Future

P = PositiveN= Negative

What is the PIC/NIC Pattern for Desired Behavior that is Not Enacted?

• Many NICs• with PFUs

C = CertainU = Uncertain

I = ImmediateF = Future

P = PositiveN= Negative

How does PIC/NIC explain• Why people persist in harmful

behaviors?• Why people resist change?

C = CertainU = Uncertain

I = ImmediateF = Future

P = PositiveN= Negative

How does PIC/NIC explain• Why people persist in harmful

behaviors?– PIC/NFU

• Why people resist change?– NIC

C = CertainU = Uncertain

I = ImmediateF = Future

P = PositiveN= Negative

What Combination of PIC/NIC Consequences is Typical of the Way Organizations Motivate Employees?• PFUs & NFUs

C = CertainU = Uncertain

I = ImmediateF = Future

P = PositiveN= Negative

What are some examples?

• annual bonuses

• contests• promotions• salary

increases

• getting chewed out

• firing• embarrassment• demotion• loss of perks

What Combination of PIC/NIC Consequences Has the Strongest Influence on

Behavior?Why?

Most Powerful Least Powerful

C = CertainU = Uncertain

I = ImmediateF = Future

P = PositiveN= Negative

PFUNFU

PFCNFCNIU

PICNIC

PIU

In problem solving, what pattern of PIC/NIC do we create for the desired behavior?• PIC

• We can make the desired behavior more attractive immediately and thus much more likely to occur again

Why does this work?

Always keep in mind …• Whose Behavior Your Are Examining• Whose Consequences Your are

Evaluating

Behavior is Changed in Two Ways• By what comes before it• ANTECEDENTS

• By what follows it • CONSEQUENCES

The ABC ModelEvery behavior is affected by something

that comes before it and by what it produces.

The ABC Model

Antecedents

Behavior(Actions)

Consequences

Anything that promptspeople to act

What we doWhat we say

What happens to theperson as a result

of the behavior

Antecedents start behaviorConsequences maintain

behavior

When observing people in problem-solving situations …What do people believe (as evidenced by their behavior) is the most effective way to change behavior?• Antecedents

Useful Antecedents• Clarity• Appropriate decisions for

action• Hiring well• Training correctly• Setting up effective

measurement and consequence systems

By far the most common way to trying to implement change in organizations is to ...• Change antecedents rather

than consequences

What is the problem with focusing on antecedents?

• It violates the fact that the closest thing we have to a behavior law is that says ...

•behavior is a function of its consequences

•Thorndike’s law of effect: Behavior that is rewarded gets repeated.

What are behavioral consequences?

• Events that follow a behavior and change the probability that the behavior will recur in the future

What is the single most effective tool a manger has for

improving employee performance & morale?

Consequences

Do consequences wait for you as a manager to design them?

• Consequences affect performance whether you attempt to manage them or not

• If you don’t manage consequences, they will simply operate unsystematically and often in ways that are counterproductive because

•Consequences are always occurring and always impacting behavior

Are you as a manager the only “creator” of consequences?

What Forms Can Consequences Take?• What people do to us• What they say to us• What they give us• What they don’t give us

Both the presence of a consequence and the absence of a consequence affect behavior

Your behavior, especially as a person with authority in a hierarchy, ALWAYS functions as either an antecedent or a consequence for those around you

Just as their behavior functions as either an antecedent or consequence for yours.

To understand why people do what they do …

Instead of asking “Why did they do that?”

What should you ask?

• “What happens to them when they do that?”

The basic fact:

People do what they do for the positive consequences they receive

or the negative consequences they are able to escape or avoid

What determines the effect of consequences?

Their value to the performer …Different strokes for different folks

In management, and in life in general, to be effective with others we must know the consequences that they value rather than providing the consequences that are valuable to us.

Timing of Consequences• It is critical that consequence

follows behavior we want to affect

• Be ware of the squeaky wheel syndrome– If managers devote the majority

of their time to problems, they will never run out of work

• What role does the attention of managers play?

• It is a major positive consequence to the vast majority of the workforce.

What are the Two Types of Consequences?• Those that INCREASE behavior• Those that DECREASE behavior

Every behavior has a consequence that affects its future probability.

Consequences that INCREASE Behavior

R+ Positive Reinforcement

R- NegativeReinforcement

Get something youwant

Escape/avoid somethingyou don’t want

Consequences that DECREASE Behavior

P+ Punishment

P- Penalty

Get something you don’t want

Lose something youhave and want

Why aren’t punishment or penalties more effective at solving organizational problems?

• We hire people to do something (active) not to stop doing something (inactive)

The ABC Model

Antecedents

Behavior(Actions)

Consequences

Anything that promptspeople to act

What we doWhat we say

What happens to theperson as a result

of the behavior