Chapter 4

Attitudes, Values, &

Ethics

Joyce Lynn C. Esparaguera

Attitude
Attitude - a psychological tendency
expressed by evaluating an entity
with some degree of favor or disfavor

Should poor performance be

blamed on bad attitude?
The Main Component of
Attitudes
Component Measured by Example

C ognitive Attitude scales I believe my

Verbal statements boss plays
about beliefs favorites.
M.J. Rosenberg and C. I. Hovland, Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Components
of Attitude, in M.J. Rosenberg, C.I. Hovland, W.J. McGuire, R.P. Abelson, and J.H.
Brehm, Attitude Organization and Change, 1960
Differences in Personal
Disposition
Positively Affective personal
characteristics of employees that inclines
them to be predisposed to be satistied at
work, they are optimistic, upbeat,
cheerful and courteous.

Negatively Affective employees that are

inclines them to be predisposed to be
dissatisfied at work, they are generally
pessimistic, downbeat, irritable and
sometimes, abrasive.
How Attitudes Are Formed

Direct Experience - are the most

accesible

Indirect means of Social Learning - the

process of deriving attitudes from
family, peer groups, religious
organizations, and culture
Most Important Attitudes in
the Workplace

Job Satisfaction
Job Involvment
Organizational Commitment
Work Attitudes: Job
Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction - a pleasurable or
positive emotional state resulting from
the appraisal of ones job or job
experience
Factors Associated with Job Satisfaction
Salary
Work itself
Promotion opportunity
Quality of supervision
Relationship with co-workers
Working conditions & Job security
Work Attitudes: Job Involvement

Job Involvement a positive

employee attitude. The degree to
which a person identifies with the
job, actively participates in it and
considers performance important to
self-worth.
 Work Attitudes: Organizational
Commitment
Affective Commitment
Organizational
Commitment
The strength of an
Continuance Commitment
individuals
identification with
an organization
Normative Commitment
Effects of Employees Attitudes

Employee attitudes may be classified

as either:

Positive job attitudes job

satisfaction and are performing
excellently in all aspects of their
jobs.

Negative job attitudes undesirable

behavior, dissatisfied with their job,
low commitment to the organization
and have strong negative words.
Values
Values - enduring beliefs 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
How People Learn
Values
Values are not inborn, they are learned.
-modeling
parents, teachers, friends, and other
people become models to persons who
would later exhibit good behavior.
-communication of attitudes
one way of which values are learned.
-Unstated but Implied
values may alsobe affected by attitudes
that are not stated but implied by way of
action.
-Religion
values are also learned through
religion.
Type of Work Values
-Achievement (career advancement)
-Concern for others (compassionate behavior)
-Honesty (provision of accurate information)
-Fairness (impartiality)
Individual versus
Organizational Values
Espoused versus Enacted
Values
Espoused
are what members of the
organization say they value.

Enacted
are reflected in the actual
behavior of the individual members
of the organization
Instrumental and
Terminal Values
Instrumental - values that
represent the acceptable
behaviors to be used in
achieving some end state
Terminal - values that
represent the goals to be
achieved, or the end states of
existence
Ethics
Ethics set of moral choices a
person makes based on what he or
she ought to do.
Organizational Ethics - moral
principles that define right or
wrong behavior in organization
Ethical Behavior - acting in ways
consistent with ones personal
values and the commonly held
values of the organization and
society.
What constitutes right or wrong
behavior in organization is determined
by:

-The Public
-Interest groups
-Organizations
-The individuals personal morals and
values
Qualities Required for Ethical
Decision-making
The competence to identify ethical issues and
Evaluate the consequences of alternative courses
of action
The self-confidence to seek out different opinions
About the issue and decide what is right in terms
of a situation

Tough-mindedness--the willingness to make

Decisions when all that needs to be known canno
be known and when the ethical issue has no
established, unambiguous solution
Ethical Issues
There are important ethical
issues that confront
organizations:
- Conflict of interest
- Fairness and honesty
- Communication
- Relationship within the
organization
Reference book: