Negative Reinforcement Examples In the Workplace

Negative reinforcement is the idea that by stopping an action or taking a negative consequence away, that you can strengthen a certain behavior. When you remove something unpleasant immediately following an action or behavior, you condition a person to believe that they must behave in a certain way. Following the removal of the unwanted condition, the behavior is much more likely to be repeated.

Employers can use this to develop and encourage certain behaviors in their employees. Employees can also use it to encourage specific behaviors of their co-workers. Negative reinforcement can be used in many different industries, including sales, education, retail, and information technology. Any industry in which a team works together toward goals or the completion of projects can benefit from negative reinforcement.

Negative reinforcement was first defined by psychologist B.F. Skinner as a part of operant conditioning. It, along with positive reinforcement, was used to condition people to respond based on the likely consequences. Negative reinforcement is the direct opposite of positive reinforcement, which involves the addition of a motivating or reinforcing factor used to encourage a specific type of behavior.

Both have advantageous uses in the workplace. Positive reinforcement could include offering a bonus to employees for completing a project by a certain date. In comparison, negative reinforcement would involve team members working hard to complete the project by the due date to avoid their manager’s disapproval. In many cases, it may be ideal to use both positive and negative reinforcement in the workplace.

Operant conditioning also includes punishment and extinction, with these having fewer uses in the workplace.

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Negative reinforcement can involve some type of discomfort, so it is hard to imagine its advantages. However, negative reinforcement actually leads to the removal of an unpleasant outcome, leading to a more positive experience.

A few advantages of negative reinforcement in the workplace include:

• Can strengthen desirable behaviors: When negative reinforcement closely follows a specific behavior, it can strengthen certain desirable behaviors.
• It can be used to motivate employees: Negative reinforcement can be an effective strategy for motivating employees because it gives them the chance to remove an unpleasant condition.
• Leads to long-term behavior changes: Over time, staff will learn to avoid the less than pleasurable outcome, replacing it with behaviors that are more desirable to the company. This could lead to improved productivity and efficiency.
• Can provide immediate results: As employees work to avoid the negative consequence, negative reinforcement can also lead to immediate results. This can be beneficial in workplaces where a faster turnaround of projects is needed.
• Most team leaders are capable of negative reinforcement: Learning how to use negative reinforcement does not require the development of special skills. Instead, it involves the identification of a negative behavior, while learning to replace it with something more desirable. This makes it an easy and cost-effective method to implement.

Due to its name, negative reinforcement can sometimes be mistaken as something negative. However, negative reinforcement can be used for positive change. The “negative” part simply refers to the concept of removing, or subtracting, something from a situation.

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While negative reinforcement has many benefits to a work environment, it is important to also be aware of the potential disadvantages when it is not used effectively.

A few disadvantages of negative reinforcement include:

• Can be ineffective if the timing is not right: Negative reinforcement works best when the removal of the negative consequence immediately follows the behavior. Otherwise, it can be difficult to develop a correlation between the two. For the best results, it is best to remove the negative consequence as soon and as frequently as possible. Infrequent removal of the consequence will also not lead to a direct correlation between the two.
• May lead to a minimal effort from employees: Employees may eventually learn where the threshold is for avoiding the undesirable behavior. Negative reinforcement does not always give them the motivation they need to go beyond that.
• Behavior may be considered compliant: Workplace compliance may lead to the completion of projects, but it does not encourage creativity among team members.
• Could decrease the team leader’s influence: A team leader who is regularly demanding more from their team members or who doesn’t encourage communication could lose influence with their team members.
• It can reinforce negative behaviors: Because negative reinforcement is designed to strengthen a behavior, it can also lead to the strengthening of negative or less than desirable behaviors.
• It can be difficult to repeat: Repetition and frequency are important elements needed to make negative reinforcement work. It may be difficult to repeat some situations, making it difficult to lead to an operant conditioning of the two factors.

It is important to note that negative reinforcement is not the same as punishment. Punishment involves taking something away to prevent a specific behavior, whereas negative reinforcement is the concept of removing a negative condition. Negative reinforcement actually turns a less than desirable situation into a positive one. This is what makes it ideal in the workplace, as it leads to a favorable experience for everyone involved.

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Considering a few situations in which negative reinforcement can be used can help you evaluate how you can use it in your own workplace to encourage behaviors.

Here is a list of negative reinforcement examples:

• Before leaving for work, Dale double-checks that he has each piece of his presentation. This behavior is meant to avoid disappointment from team members who may blame him for slowing down the progression of the project.
• Lisa takes carefully handwritten notes during her work meeting to avoid missing any key details. This ensures that she knows what is expected from her, while also saving her from uncertainty during next week’s meeting.
• Brian’s co-worker complains to his manager that he always receives difficult assignments. The manager eases his workload and gives him easier assignments. In this example, the manager is reinforcing the negative behavior, by providing the co-worker with a result that they like instead. In return, the manager may find it difficult to assign all projects, making it an example of how negative reinforcement can also lead to negative behavior.
• Ally gets all her work turned in at the end of the day to avoid her boss emailing or calling her all night to check on her progress. These behaviors throughout the day are done to avoid the discomfort of frequent emails at night.
• Frank’s employer requires routine skills testing to ensure team members are keeping up with training requirements. Frank then makes an effort to update his training by attending all sessions and classes to avoid failing the tests.
• Larry is a manager who regularly reminds his team members of their productivity goals. He does this sometimes intentionally or unintentionally and verbally or nonverbally. The constant reminder can be considered unpleasant to team members, so in return, his team maintains the expected level of productivity to avoid the constant reminders.
• Dan is the manager of a car dealership. When there is a risk of not meeting this month’s sales quotes, he reminds his sales team of these goals, constantly reminding them of how close, or how far, they are from meeting them. His sales team may work harder to avoid these meetings or the constant reminder that they are not meeting their sales goals.
• Michelle’s employer implements a new policy that employees will be required to work weekends if projects are not completed by the end of the week. Most staff would prefer not to work on the weekends, so by giving them the chance of the weekend off, she and her co-workers may be more likely to complete all required tasks during the workweek.
• Andrew prefers to call off from work when school gets busy. But, he notices that his paycheck is reduced when he does that. To avoid a pay cut, he shows up on time for all his assigned shifts.

Negative reinforcement tends to lead to behaviors being repeated. Implementing negative reinforcement in the workplace can help you identify which behaviors are most useful. As with any method, negative reinforcement has both advantages and disadvantages, and it’s important to consider your work environment and how negative reinforcement can be successfully applied to it.

Most successful forms of operant conditioning in the workplace consider the combination of both negative and positive reinforcement. Some situations respond better to the addition of an action versus the removal of one.