INDIVIDUAL ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS AFFECT TURNOVER

Individual Attitudes and Behaviors

Poonnut Wutthigate
Organizational Behavior
Dominican University
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Abstract
This paper focuses on individual level of each employees attitude and behavior. Its objectives
are to find solutions and give advice to owners and managers of business about turnover rate in
employees. A small restaurant business often finds a big problem when faces with shortage of
employees. Luis Anda, a manager of a small restaurant, faced the problem in the management of
workers. The company was taking over by a new owner and bringing in new crew of employees
into workplace while hiring older employees to continue working causing the turnover rate has
increased. The new restaurants owner had to spend money on the cost of the turnover and
suffered from less profitable. Advising Luis understand more about individual attitudes and
behavior helped him recognize the feelings and behaviors of individual employees as well as he
would be able to identify the major work attitudes that affect work behavior. When that he
understands the key set of behaviors that matter for organizational performance the turnover rate
will be reduced, and so the company can expect higher rate of sale revenues.

Keyword: Turnover, Individual Attitude and Behaviors, Business

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Definition of Attitude
Attitude describes the way an employees feeling inside. There are various differences between
an attitude and behavior. These are employees feelings toward coworkers and position within
the company. Every employee has an attitude towards the environment - either good or bad. This
attitude can also influence how employee performs. Because attitude is an inward feeling, an
employee's bad attitude might remain hidden. But if an employee is not careful, the bad attitude
might show in actions. J.W. Marriott, Jr., President of Marriott Corporation, stated We have
found that our success depends more upon employee attitudes than any other single factor
(Robert Taylor, 1997).

Definition of Behavior
Behavior is the way your employee responds to his attitude. This response is either positive or
negative, depending on how the employee views his position and the company. For example, an
employee who disagrees with you might overstep boundaries or ignore office protocol. In
addition, an employee who dislikes another coworker or has little respect for a coworker might
display this attitude by speaking harshly to this individual, being biased or engaging in other
inappropriate acts, such as sexual harassment.

Turnover
Employee turnover has potentially harmful consequences, such as poor customer service and
poor companywide performance. When employees leave, the remaining works need to be
responsible by someone. Company must spend money and time recruiting, hiring, and training
new employees (Bauer and Erdoran, V 1.1, pg. 88-89, 2011). This cost estimates, however, are
useful as means of backing up a business case for taking action to reduce turnover. The
following factors should be considered when calculation costs (Armstrongs Handbook, 11th
edition, 2009).
Direct cost of recruiting replacements (advertising, interviewing, testing, etc.).
Direct cost of introducing replacements (induction cost).
Direct cost of training replacements in necessary skills.
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Leaving costs payroll and HR administration.

Opportunity cost of time spent by HR and line managers in recruitment, induction and
training.
Loss of output from those leaving before they are replaced.
Loss of output because of delays in obtaining replacements.
Loss of output while new starters are on their learning curves acquiring the necessary
knowledge and skills.

Work relation
Employee or employment relations are concerned with managing and maintaining the
employment relationship, which involves handling the pay-work bargain, dealing with
employment practices, terms and conditions of employment, issues arising from employment,
providing employees with a voice and communicating with employees (Armstrongs Handbook,
11th edition, pp. 878, 2009). The purpose of employee relations is to provide for effective and
consistent procedures for rule-making, consistency in dealing with employees relations issues
that can affect and improve employee behavior or mechanisms to resolve differences
(Armstrongs Handbook, 11th edition, pp. 879, 2009).

What is stress?
People react to external stimuli internally. Stress is an emotional and physical reaction tao
environmental activities and events. Stressors are situations in which people feel anxiety,
tension, and pressure (Lussier, Human Relations in Organizations, 4th edition, 1999). Too
much stress affects personal health, morale, productivity, organizational efficiency, absenteeism,
medical costs, and profitability (Schwartz, 1997). Stress also causes physical illness. It has been
linked to heart problems, ulcers, asthma, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and other maladies.

Stress management
Some stress management techniques can be used on and off the job. Four main steps are
involved: (1) Identify stressors; (2) Differentiate distressors to identify those causing the most
distress; (3) Resolve to yourself to do something about stress management; (4) Actually take
action to manage stress. This last step includes getting training or professional help in stress
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management, when necessary (Stan Kossen, 7th edition, 1998, pg.427).

The Script
From real experience, I had a chance to talk to Luis Anda, a manager of a small restaurant which
is now has faced with problems of shortage of staff. Due to the restaurant has been taken over by
a new owner, the gap of the change of the new ownership makes every work not smooth as it
should be. Because of this, there are serious issues that influence cost and profit margin, such as
the turnover rate has increased more than 30%, new cooks lack of experiences, or stress in their
employees.

The most commonly cited problems between the new and old workers are with settling in, and
communication issues Luis said. Bad attitudes have occurred among new and old employees,
and between employees and the owner.

It seems that happy workers have an inclination to be more engaged to work. They may want to
perform better. They may be more motivated (Bauer and Erdogan, V 1.1, pg. 83 2011). There are
ways to deal with negative attitude. You may meet with the employee in a private setting, and
tell the employee specifically what the problem is. You may allow the employee to speak
without interruption and give him a chance to explain. He may have a perfectly good reason for
his negative attitude. Then, explain your expectations. Let him know which job duties he is
expected to perform and the consequences he will face if he refuses to cease the behavior and
focus on his job. Finally, you may track the employee's progress. Keep a record of any further
incidences of negativity that occur after your meeting. (web)

Luis said Another problem that we are facing is stress at workplace. Employees fear of being
laid off because of the high expectation from the new owner. Every one works very hard to
impress the new owner. For the reason, the employees are so stressed and we still do not know
how to deal with this problem.
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Because since, the new owner took over the restaurant, there is no official meeting with the
workers. I recommend having a meeting with every employee in the restaurant. So, the meeting
will make all employees have a mutual understanding about the owners plan. First, let them
know that you are eager to build the business. Second, clarify that each one of them has a role to
play. Third, there are no major changes planned, so do not get nervous. Lastly, let them know
that you are available to speak to them at any time regarding any concerns they may have.

One last concern from the manager is hiring new cooks who are less experienced affects the
quality of the product does not meet expectations. Each dish made out was not reach the
standards that we aimed and customer satisfaction has been declined.

On this point, the owner-manager should aim to recruit potential employees by interview. Much
can be learned about a person in the interview. Does the individual have the right temperament
and personality for the job? How long have they been working as a cook? Also, training
programs can be very helpful in getting the greatest efficiency from employees. The owner-
manager should base such training programs on careful planning that includes (1) Establishing
training needs and goals, (2) Choosing the most practical training method, (3) Evaluating the
results.

Article support evidence

This article shows four primary objectives. First, they explain why scholars continue to study
voluntary turnover after more than 50 years of research attention and 1500 published articles on
the subject. Second, they illustrate the evolution of turnover research from its modest beginnings
to the multifaceted research stream, it has become. Third, they emphasize the recent trends in
turnover research and illustrate how these trends help us better understand why employees stay
or quit. Finally, they conclude by making recommendations regarding future research.
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This research contained a figure provides a summary of the major additions to the conceptual
framework for understanding turnover (1995-present).
This article is an important evidence to show that it is necessary to measure employee turnover
and calculate its costs in order to forecast future losses for planning purposes and to identify the
reasons that people leave the organization (Armstrongs Handbook, 11th edition, pp.497, 2009).

Limitations of The Study

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1. Some employees did not listen to the new owners order.

Because it is a small restaurant, fired the employees would have a serious impact on the
company. The owner is in a difficult position because he does not know whether he
should maintain these employees or not. If the owner gives these employees to continue
working, and since they only have negative attitude toward the owner, they would
perform poor performance. If the owner chooses to fired them, the restaurant will lack of
staff.
2. Two months are too short for screening potential employees and selecting employees.
After the new owner took over restaurant, 2 months were given to all employees to prove
that they can show their potential to the new owner. During the two-month period is short
It is difficult for employees to get to know each other and work together effectively. In
view of the new owner was a tough decision for the selection of people to stay because
some employees need time to gain more experience in order to show the true
performance.
3. Firing an appropriate number of employees who has worked before taking over.
Firing numbers of old employees seems not likely to be a good idea. It may affect the
feeling of the old employees who get qualified. Work environment of employees who
successfully complete training program will be dramatically changed. In some cases,
some employees may feel lonely and have the opportunity to voluntarily turnover.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Luis as a manager has taken the advice and applied to the restaurant. The results were very
impressed. Turnover of employees decreased. Reactions of their attitudes and behaviors were
better than before. Everyone started working together with happiness. Also, the productivities
were reached the standard, and customer satisfactions level has been increased. Net income of
the restaurant has been increased as well.

It is important for management to be fair to all employees and to give each individual a chance to
improve, but it is important to be decisive in removing any employees whose presence or
actions are having a negative impact on the workplace.

Reference
1. Robert Taylor, Its Your Attitude that Counts, The Financial Times, February 19,1997, p.35.
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2. Andrew E. Schwartz, How to Handle Conflict, The CPA Journal 67, no.4 (April 1997),
pp.72-73.

3. Lussier, Human Relations in Organizations, 4th edition, pg. 42, 1999.

4. Bauer and Erdoran, V 1.1, pg. 83, 88-89 2011.

5. Stan Kossen, 7th edition, 1998, pg.427.

6. Armstrongs Handbook, 11th edition, pp.497, 878-879, 2009

Behavior vs Attitude Employees

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/behavior-vs-attitude-employees-37187.html

Common causes of workplace stress

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-at-work.htm

Article support evidence

http://www18.georgetown.edu/data/people/bch6/publication-39524.pdf