B. F. Skinner contended that in order to motivate employees, there is no need to identify and meet needs. Instead, you need to understand the relationship between behaviors and their consequences and then reinforce desirable behaviors and discourage undesirable behaviors. People respond to consequences and will behave as you want them to if you find the right incentives. By changing our behavior through developing new habits, we can change our lives.

With reinforcement theory, consequences will motivate employees to behave in certain ways. It’s about teaching and learning behavior, and it is also called operant conditioning and is used to shape behavior. Employees learn what is and is not desired behavior as a result of the consequences for specific behaviors, which they engage in to meet their needs and self-interest. If you make something more (or less) attractive, people will do more (or less) of it.