Organizational

Organizational
Behavior
Behavior

Attitude,
Behavior
and
Job Satisfaction

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as Prentice Hall

3-1

Attitudes
Attitudes
Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects,
people, or events
Three components of an attitude:

The opinion
or belief
segment of
an attitude

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publishing as Prentice Hall

The
emotional or
feeling
segment of
an attitude
An intention to
behave in a
certain way
toward someone
See E X H I B I T 31
See E X H I B I T 31
or something
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Attitudes
Attitudes Defined
Defined
Briefly defined, an attitude represents a
predisposition to respond in a favorable or
unfavorable way to persons or objects in
ones environment.
For instance, when we say we like
something or dislike something, we are in
effect expressing an attitude toward the
person or object.
What are some examples of people or things
that you may have strong attitudes about?

Attitudes are evaluative statements either favorable or unfavorable

concerning objects, people, or events .
They reflect how one feels about
something.
For example when I say I like my job I
am expressing my attitude about work.
Attitude themselves are invisible , but
their traces are revealed through a
persons behavior on a series of
occasions.

Attitudes:
Attitudes: Three
Three Important
Important
Assumptions
Assumptions

Three important assumptions underlie the

concept of attitudes:
1) An attitude is a hypothetical construct we cannot actually see attitudes,
although we can often see their
consequences.
2) An attitude is a un-dimensional
construct - it usually ranges from very
positive to very negative.
3) Attitudes are believed to be somewhat
related to subsequent behavior,
although as well see, this relationship
can be unclear.

Components of Attitude

Cognitive
Opinion

Affective
Feeling

Behavior

Intention to behave

Sources of attitude
Teachers

Parents
Attitude

Friends

Living
Conditions

Popular person

Types of Attitude
Attitude
Positive
Negative
Job satisfaction

Organizational
Commitment
Psychological
Empowerment

Job involvement
Perceived Organizational Support (POS)

Employee Engagement

Relation between
Attitude & Behavior

Attitude

Output

Behavior

Work/Relation

Effects of attitude
Low productivity
Indiscipline
Poor Quality of work
Bad relations
Bad Career
Industrial Dispute

Ways
Ways of
of Changing
Changing
Attitudes
Attitudes
1. Providing New Information : New information will help

change attitudes. Negative attitudes are mainly formed

owing to lack of or insufficient information. Workers
generally become pro-union because of the ignorance
about the good intentions of the management. Once they
come to know how the management cares for the
welfare of the workers, they change their attitude and
might turn pro-management.
2. Use of Fear : Fear can change attitude. However, the
change depends on the degree of fear. For example, if
low levels of fear arousal are used, people often ignore
them. The warnings are not strong enough to warrant
attention. If moderate levels of fear arousal are used,
people often become aware of the situation and will
change their attitude.

SANDHYA ANIL

11

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Cont
Cont
3. Influence of Friends or Peers : Change of attitude
can come about through persuasion of friends or peers.
Credibility of the others, especially peers, is important
to effect change. Peers with high creditability shall
exercise significant influence on change. The same is
not true with peers who have low credibility.
4. The Co-opting Approach : Co-opting is another way
of changing attitude. This means taking people who are
dissatisfied with a situation and getting them involved
in improving things.
5. Others: Research has shown that an individual is
more likely to change a privately held attitude than one
he has stated publicly. It is, therefore, necessary that a
situation is avoided where the individual makes his
attitude public prior to change attempt.
SANDHYA ANIL

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03/29/16

Does
Does Behavior
Behavior Always
Always Follow
Follow from
from
Attitudes?
Attitudes?

Leon Festinger No, the reverse is sometimes true!

Cognitive Dissonance: Any incompatibility between two
or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes
Individuals seek to reduce this uncomfortable gap, or
dissonance, to reach stability and consistency
Consistency is achieved by changing the attitudes,
modifying the behaviors, or through rationalization
Desire to reduce dissonance depends on:
Importance of elements
Degree of individual influence
Rewards involved in dissonance
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3-13

Moderating
Moderating Variables
Variables
The most powerful moderators of the attitudebehavior relationship are:

Importance of the attitude

Correspondence to behavior
Accessibility
Existence of social pressures
Personal and direct experience of the attitude

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3-14

Predicting
Predicting Behavior
Behavior from
from Attitudes
Attitudes
Important attitudes have a strong relationship to
behavior.
The closer the match between attitude and
behavior, the stronger the relationship:
Specific attitudes predict specific behavior
General attitudes predict general behavior
The more frequently expressed an attitude, the
better predictor it is.
High social pressures reduce the relationship and
may cause dissonance.
Attitudes based on personal experience are
stronger predictors.
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3-15

What
What are
are the
the Major
Major Job
Job Attitudes?
Attitudes?
Job Satisfaction
A positive feeling about the job
resulting from an evaluation of its
characteristics

Job Involvement
Degree of psychological identification
with the job where perceived
performance is important to selfworth

Psychological Empowerment
Belief in the degree of influence over
the job, competence, job
meaningfulness, and autonomy
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3-16

Another
Another Major
Major Job
Job Attitude
Attitude
Organizational Commitment
Identifying with a particular organization and its goals, while
wishing to maintain membership in the organization.
Three dimensions:
Affective emotional attachment to organization
Continuance Commitment economic value of staying
Normative moral or ethical obligations

Has some relation to performance, especially for new

employees.
Less important now than in the past now perhaps more of
an occupational commitment, loyalty to profession rather
than a given employer.

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3-17

And
And Yet
Yet More
More Major
Major Job
Job Attitudes
Attitudes
Perceived Organizational Support (POS)
Degree to which employees believe the organization values
their contribution and cares about their well-being.
Higher when rewards are fair, employees are involved in
decision making, and supervisors are seen as supportive.
High POS is related to higher OCBs and performance.

Employee Engagement
The degree of involvement with, satisfaction with, and
enthusiasm for the job.
Engaged employees are passionate about their work and
company.

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3-18

Are
Are These
These Job
Job Attitudes
Attitudes Really
Really
Distinct?
Distinct?
No: these attitudes are
highly related.
Variables may be
redundant (measuring
the same thing under a
different name)
While there is some
distinction, there is also
a lot of overlap.
Be patient, OB researchers are working on it!
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3-19

Job
Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction
One of the primary job attitudes measured.
Broad term involving a complex individual summation of a
number of discrete job elements.

How to measure?
Single global rating (one question/one answer) - Best
Summation score (many questions/one average) - OK

See E X H I B I T 32
See E X H I B I T 32
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Prentice Hall

3-20

Measuring
Measuring Job
Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction
Single Global Rating Method
Only a few general questions
Remarkably accurate

Summation Score Method

Identifies key elements in the job
and asks for specific feeling about
them

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Factors
Factors influencing
influencing job
job satisfaction
satisfaction

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3-22

Causes
Causes of
of Job
Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction
Pay influences job satisfaction only to a point.
After about $40,000 per year (in the U.S.), there is no
relationship between amount of pay and job satisfaction.
Money may bring happiness, but not necessarily job
satisfaction.

Personality can influence job satisfaction.

Negative people are usually not satisfied with their jobs.
Those with positive core self-evaluation are more satisfied
with their jobs.

See E X H I B I T 33
See E X H I B I T 33
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3-23

Employee
Employee Responses
Responses to
to
Dissatisfaction
Dissatisfaction Active

Destructive

Constructive

Passive
See E X H I B I T 34
See E X H I B I T 34
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3-24

Outcomes
Outcomes of
of Job
Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction
Job Performance
Satisfied workers are more productive AND more
productive workers are more satisfied!
The causality may run both ways.

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Satisfaction influences OCB through perceptions of
fairness.

Customer Satisfaction
Satisfied frontline employees increase customer
satisfaction and loyalty.

Absenteeism
Satisfied employees are moderately less likely to miss
work.
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More
More Outcomes
Outcomes of
of Job
Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction
Turnover
Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.
Many moderating variables in this relationship.
Economic environment and tenure
Organizational actions taken to retain high performers and to
weed out lower performers

Workplace Deviance
Dissatisfied workers are more likely to unionize, abuse
substances, steal, be tardy, and withdraw.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of the impact of job

satisfaction on the bottom line, most managers are either
unconcerned about or overestimate worker satisfaction.
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Global
Global Implications
Implications
Is Job Satisfaction a U.S. Concept?
No, but most of the research so far has been in the U.S.

Are Employees in Western Cultures More Satisfied With

Their Jobs?
Western workers appear to be more satisfied than those in
Eastern cultures.
Perhaps because Westerners emphasize positive emotions and
individual happiness more than do those in Eastern cultures.

See E X H I B I T 35
See E X H I B I T 35
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Summary
Summary and
and Managerial
Managerial
Implications
Implications
Managers should watch employee attitudes:
They give warnings of potential problems
They influence behavior

Managers should try to increase job satisfaction and

generate positive job attitudes
Reduces costs by lowering turnover, absenteeism, tardiness,
theft, and increasing OCB

Focus on the intrinsic parts of the job: make work

challenging and interesting
Pay is not enough

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publishing as Prentice Hall

3-28

How
How Can
Can You
You Be
Be Happier
Happier at
at
Work?

Have a positive attitude about it.

Work?
A good fit with the job and company is
important to your happiness.
Get accurate information about the job
and the company.
Develop good relationships at work.
Pay is important, but job characteristics
matter more to your job satisfaction.
Be proactive in managing
organizational life.
Know when to leave.
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as Prentice Hall

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