Both ability and biological characteristics are helpful in predicting and explaining organizational behaviour. Ability refers to an individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks within a job. Abilities are comprised of two sets of factors: intellectual and physical. Number aptitude, verbal comprehension, perceptual speed, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, spatial visualization, and memory comprise general mental ability. Physical abilities include stamina, manual dexterity, leg strength, and similar talents.

Biographical characteristics are important in predicting both employee performance and job satisfaction. These include age, gender, race, and tenure, among others. Misconceptions surround each of these, particularly with respect to age and gender. Older workers for example are no less productive than younger workers; in addition, they exhibit high levels of judgment, a strong work ethic, and commitment to quality. They are also less likely to leave their organization. Contrary to some perceptions, there are no consistent male-female differences in problem-solving ability, analytical skills, competitive drive, motivation, sociability, or learning ability. Working mothers are, however, more likely to prefer part-time work, flexible working schedules, and telecommuting. Differences among employees related to race are particularly difficult to identify, as race is hard to define. In employment settings, there is a tendency for individuals to favour colleagues of their own race in performance evaluations, promotion decisions, and pay raises. Finally, with respect to tenure or seniority, employees with greater tenure are more productive and experience fewer absences than their less tenured counterparts.

Learning is generally defined as any relatively permanent change in behaviour as a result of experience. Current approaches to learning evolved from earlier research in classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and social-learning.

Classical conditioning research, pioneered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, used an unconditioned stimulus (meat), paired with an artificial or conditioned stimulus (ringing of a bell), to evoke salivation (an unconditioned response). After a time, when the dog heard the bell ringing (a conditioned stimulus), even when was no meat, it began to salivate (conditioned response).

Pioneered by B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning argues that reinforcement strengthens a behaviour and increases the likelihood that it will be repeated. Moreover, these rewards are most effective if they immediately follow the response.

Finally, social-learning theory is the view that we learn through both observation and direct experience. An extension of operant conditioning, social-learning theory recognizes the existence of observational learning and the importance of perception in learning. People respond to how they perceive and define consequences, not to the objective consequences themselves.

Managers attempt to shape behaviour through positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. Positive reinforcement is a reward for a job well done, while negative reinforcement is the termination of something unpleasant in response to the desired behaviour. Punishment is the application of a negative stimulus in response to an undesirable act and extinction is the elimination of any reinforcement whatsoever, or ignoring a given behaviour. Both positive and negative strengthen a response and increase the probability of its repetition and, thus, result in learning.

In addition, reinforcement can be continuous or intermittent. Evidence indicates that intermittent, or varied, form of reinforcement tends to promote more resistance to extinction than does the continuous form. Rewards may be characterized as fixed-interval, variable-interval, fixed-ratio, and variable-ratio. When rewards are spaced at uniform time intervals, the reinforcement schedule is described as fixed-ratio. If rewards are distributed in time so that reinforcements are unpredictable, the schedule is of the variable-interval type. In a fixed-ratio schedule, after a fixed or constant number of responses are given, a reward is initiated. Finally, when the reward varies relative to the behaviour of the individual, the organization has employed a variable-ratio schedule.

The application of behaviour modification strategies to shaping employee behaviour is popularly referred to as OB Mod. OB Mod is a five-step process, where managers:

1. identify the behaviours that are critical to the employee’s job performance,
2. collect baseline performance data,
3. identify the behavioural contingencies or consequences of performance,
4. develop and implement a strategy to increase desirable performance behaviour and decrease undesirable behaviours, and
5. evaluate the performance improvement.

OB Mod has been used by a number of organizations to improve employee productivity; to reduce errors, absenteeism, tardiness, and accident rates; and to improve friendliness towards customers.

There are a number of global implications. First, there is strong evidence to suggest that research about intellectual abilities generalizes across cultures. There are limited differences in intellectual ability across cultures. However, there has been limited research into the degree to which gender and other biological factors influence organizational behaviours in other countries. Similarly, there is little cross-cultural research into learning.

A number of conclusions for managers emerge from this analysis. First, a good fit between the abilities of the employee and the job is essential. To achieve a good ability-job fit, selection, promotion, and transfer decisions should reflect the abilities of the candidates. In addition, the fit can be improved by customizing the job to match the abilities of the employee. Second, although biological characteristics are readily visible, they are poor predictors of behaviour and should be a minor influence in management decision making. Finally, positive reinforcement is a powerful tool and is more effective than punishment in modifying employee behaviour.