ATTITUDE AND VALUES

ATTITUDE
Attitude is defined as relatively lasting feelings, believes and behavioral tendencies directed towards specific people, groups, ideas, issues or objects.

NATURE OF ATTITUDES
1. Attitude is a continuous tendency to feel and behave in specific way towards some object. 2. Every person holds attitude towards an object/person irrespective of their intelligence level. 3. Attitudes tend to continue unless something is done to change them. 4. Attitude generally fall any where alone a continuum between extremely favorable to extremely unfavorable.

COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES
Attitudes can be broken down into 3 basic components. 1. Emotional- Emotional component involves the persons feels. 2. Informational- Informational component of an attitude consist of beliefs and information the individual has about the object. 3. Behavioral -Behavioral component of an attitude consist of a persons tendencies to behave in a particular way toward an object.

Attitude essentially stems from 3 underlying components:

1. Cognitive Component is the opinion or belief segment of an attitude. 2. Affective Component is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude. 3. Behavioral Component is an intention to behave in a certain way towards someone or something.

TYPES OF ATTITUDES
A person can have thousands of attitudes, but OB focuses our attention on a very limited number of job-related attitudes. Most of the OB research has been concerned with 3 attitudes:

1. Job SatisfactionJob Satisfaction refers to an individuals general attitude to his or her job.

Responses to Job Dissatisfaction

Exit-Behavior directed toward leaving the organization. Voice-Active and constructive attempts to improve conditions. Neglect-Allowing conditions to worsen. Loyalty-Passively waiting for conditions to improve

2. Job involvementJob involvement is a more recent addition to the OB literature. A workable definition states that job involvement measures the degree to which a person identifies psychologically with his/her job and considers his/her perceived performance level important to self worth.

3. Organizational commitmentThe manner in which the employee identifies with the organization, its goals and vision and his attitude towards the organization.

EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE

Employee performance Turnover Absences and Tardiness Violence Theft

FUNCTION OF ATTITUDES
Utilitarian Function: use to obtain rewards and avoid punishments. Ego-Defensive Function: self-protection, e.g., smokers Knowledge Function: simplifies decisions, e.g., brand loyalty Value-Expressive Function: express identify to others. e.g., t-shirts.

Sources of Attitudes:
Acquired from parents, teachers, and peer group members. There are genetic predispositions. Observations, attitudes that we imitate. Attitudes are less stable than values.

The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes. Desire to reduce dissonance Importance of elements creating dissonance Degree of individual influence over elements Rewards involved in dissonance

An Application: Attitude Surveys

Attitude Surveys Eliciting responses from employees through questionnaires about how they feel about their jobs, work groups, supervisors, and the organization

Hierarchies of Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behaviors

Decision-Making Hierarchies Experiential Hierarchy Behavioral Influence Hierarchy

Decision making hierarchies

High involvement: beliefs Low involvement: beliefs attitudes behavior behavior attitudes

Experiential
Affect behavior beliefs

Behavioral influence hierarchy

Behavior beliefs affect

Attitude Point # 1
It is our attitude that tells the world what we expect in return. A cheerful expectant attitude communicates to everyone we come in contact with that we EXPECT THE BEST in our dealings with our customers.

Attitude Point # 2
It is our attitude toward life that determines lifes attitude toward us. A simple cause and effect.

It is your attitude toward others that determines others attitude toward you.

Attitude Point # 3
To achieve and find the life you want, you must think, act, talk, and conduct yourself as would the person you want to become. For example, if one wants to be successful, he or she must think, act, talk, and conduct himself as would a successful person.

Attitude Point # 4
The higher you go up in any organization of value, the greater the attitude you will find. A great attitude is not the result of success; rather success is the result of a great attitude The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being CAN alter his life by changing his attitude. -William James And so it is with you you are in charge of your attitude.

VALUES
Values represent basic conviction that, A specific mode of conduct or end state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end state of existence. Values differ between generations. Values differ between regions. Values differ between cultures Values contain a judgmental element in that they carry an individuals ideas as to what is right, good or desirable. It contains both content and intensity attribute. value system is a hierarchy based on a raking of an individuals values in terms of their intensity. Values are relatively stable and enduring.

If you want to understand a persons behavior, you must understand his or her values.
Source of our Value Systems: A significant portion is genetically determined. Other factors include national culture, parents, teachers, friends, and similar environmental influences. If we know an individuals values, we are better able to predict a behavior in a particular situation.

IMPORTANCE OF VALUES
o Important to the study of organizational behavior. o Values cloud objectivity and rationality.

o Provide understanding of the attitudes, motivation, and behaviors of individuals and cultures. o Influence our perception of the world around us. o Represent interpretations of right and wrong. o Values generally influence attitudes and behavior.

TYPES OF VALUES
Milton Rokeach created the Rokeach value survey. The RVS consists of the two sets of values, with each set containing 18 individual items. 1. Terminal value:- Refers to desirable end states of existence. the goals that a person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime 2. Instrumental value:- Refers to preferable mode of behavior or the means of achieving the terminal values. RVS values vary among groups. People in same category hold similar values

Terminal and Instrumental value in Rokeach survey

TERMINAL VALUES A comfortable life. An exciting life A sense of accomplishment Family security Freedom Happiness Social recognition INSTRUMENTAL VALUES Ambitious Broad minded Capable Clean Courageous Forgiving Helpful Honest

Hofstedes Framework for Assessing Cultures IndividualismThe degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than a member of groups.

CollectivismA tight social framework in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect them.

Long-term Orientation
A national culture attribute that emphasizes the future, thrift, and persistence.

Short-term Orientation
A national culture attribute that emphasizes the past and present, respect for tradition, and fulfilling social obligations.

Relationship between Values and Attitudes

1. Attitudes are less stable than values. 2. Attitudes derived from values, but also to express values , values is the core of attitudes . 3. Value dont have a direct impact on behavior, values strongly influence a person's attitudes. 4. Attitude is the way we reflect value. 5. Values are reflected through the way we treat people, the approach we give to our work, and in our basic work ethics and Attitude is the way we reflect value. 6. 6.If you want to understand a persons behavior, you must understand his or her values.

conclusion
Employee attitudes are important to monitor, understand and manage. Attitudes are feelings and moods that affect behavior and may change frequently. Values are the basic notion/convictions of what is right and wrong and values are fairly stable over time. Cognitive dissonance is a conflict between two values or between values and behavior.