motivational analysis of organizations

Another type of reinforcement contingency is punishment 1 —the administration of
an aversive stimulus contingent on a specific response. In leadership practice,
punishment typically is used to decrease the frequency of an undesirable behavior. In
work situations, leaders typically use oral reprimands or undesirable job assignments in
an attempt to eliminate behavior that is undesirable or detrimental to job performance.
Both positive reinforcement and punishment are actions of the leader that follow
subordinate behavior. Obviously, the behavior of the leader also can have a substantial
impact on the subordinate’s successive performance. Frequently, the type of behavior
that occurs before subordinate behavior can be considered a discriminative stimulus
(S D )—a cue that informs the subordinate of what behavior is expected in order to be
reinforced. An example of this is a goal or objective.
These three types of leader behavior (positive reinforcement, punishment, and
discriminative stimulus or goal specification) are basic elements in a leader’s behavioral
repertoire. Although these classes of behavior are not exhaustive, they form the key foci
for any operant-based theory of leadership.
PURPOSE OF THE INSTRUMENT
The Supervisory Behavior Questionnaire2 was developed for training purposes. The
instrument is designed to direct the participants’ attention to three types of leader
behavior: goal specification behavior (scale A), positive reward behavior (scale B), and
punitive reward behavior (scale C).
The instrument is self-scored, and most participants can determine their own scores
and derive a profile of the three scores with little or no assistance.
PROCEDURE FOR ADMINISTERING THE INSTRUMENT
Each participant is instructed to think about a job that he or she now holds or has held in
the past (and, more specifically, about the supervisor on that job) and then to complete
the questionnaire. Participants may need to be reminded that the questions refer to the
supervisor.
After completing the questionnaire, the participants are directed to complete the
self-scoring procedure and then to draw a profile of the scores of all three scales on the
graph.
1 “Punishment” is technically distinct from “negative reinforcement,” which involves the removal of an aversive stimulus in order to
increase a target behavior. However, punishment and negative reinforcement are both aversive control techniques.
2 The roots of this instrument can be traced to a leadership instrument originated by Ronald Johnson, William E. Scott, and Joseph
Reitz, and originally published in Johnson (1973). Other research using similar scales has been reported by Greene (1975), Reitz (1971), Sims
(1977), and Sims and Szilagyi (1975). In general, these scales have been found to possess acceptable construct validity and reliability. People
wishing to use these scales for research should not use the version reported here, which is intended to be a classroom exercise, but should
consult the sources listed above.
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The Pfeiffer Library Volume 19, 2nd Edition. Copyright © 1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer