ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

HANDOUT

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION

Instructor:
Dr. S. Sahney
Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur

Source: Luthans, Robbins, Daft, and Lenge, McShane and Glinow

1
ATTITUDES:

- Define attitudes

- Contrast the three components of an attitude

- Characteristics of attitudes

- Sources of Attitude Formation

- Strategies for bringing about Attitudinal Change

- Attitudes in Work setting

DEFINITION OF ATTITUDES:

- An attitude is how positive or how negative, favorable or

unfavorable, or pro or con, a person feels towards an object.

An attitude is a learned predisposition to respond to an object

or class of objects in a consistently favorable or unfavorable
way.

A persistent tendency to behave and feel in a particular

manner towards an object is an attitude.
 Differences between Work Values and Attitudes.

Values Attitudes
-Nature of work itself -Current job or organization

-Stable over a long time -Moderately stable

-Determines choice of a job, Determines absenteeism,

career, happiness with a turnover, organizational
job, etc. citizenship behaviors.
COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES:

Three components of attitude :

 COGNITIVE - Value Part

 AFFECTIVE - Emotional Part

 BEHAVIOURAL - Action Part

Attitudes affect behaviour.

ATTITUDES
Attitudes Cognitive component
The opinion or belief
Evaluative segment of an attitude.
statements or
judgments
concerning Affective Component
objects, people, The emotional or feeling
or events. segment of an attitude.

Behavioral Component
An intention to behave in a
certain way toward someone or
something.
I. Knowledge/Information component:
-this includes the cognitive process and gradually leads to
attitudes.
- based on information, experience and concept of generalization.
- The knowledge component develops the emotional component.

II. Emotional component:

- This is attitude itself.
- This involves the person’s feelings, positive, neutral or negative
about an object.

III. Behavioral component:

- This is the outcome or the result when expressed.
-This component consists of a person’ tendencies to behave in a
particular way about an object.

The knowledge component and the emotional component

cannot be seen, they can only be inferred; It is only the
behavioral component which can be seen or is observed.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTITUDES:

1. Attitudes are directed towards some objects about which a

person has feelings and beliefs.

2. They have direction- positive or negative.

3. They vary in degrees and intensity: (e.g. may be high,

medium, low).

4. They are multidimensional. They can fall anywhere along a

continuum from very favorable to very unfavorable.

5. They have structure: they are stable and do not change

frequently.

6. They tend to persist unless something is done to change

them.

7. They are learned.

SOURCES OF ATTITUDE FORMATION:

1. Family; friends; colleagues, superiors; and all those with whom

we come in contact.

2. Influential people with whom we do not come in contact – like

film stars, business leaders, politicians etc.

3. Own day to day experiences.

4. Instructions which we receive from parents /elders

/teachers/bosses etc.

5. Society and culture.

STRATEGIES FOR BRING ATTITUDINAL CHANGE:

1. By removing barriers to change: these barriers include, prior

commitments, and insufficient information.

2. By providing more and sufficient information.

3. By use of fear.

4. By resolving discrepancies between attitudes and behavior.

5. Group pressure.

6. By contacts with influential people/friends/anyone.

Culture, society.
ATTITUDES IN THE WORK SETTING:

Attitudes influence

- Job satisfaction

- Job involvement

- Organizational commitment
 Determinants of Work attitudes

Personality
The enduring ways a person
has of feeling, thinking and
behaving
Work situation Attitudes to work Values
The work itself The collection of feelings, Intrinsic
Coworkers, work values
beliefs and predispositions to
supervisors and
subordinates Physical
behave in one’s job or Extrinsic
working conditions organisation work values
Working hours, pay
and job security Social
influence
Coworkers
Groups
Culture
 Work-related example of the three components of
attitudes:

Cognitive Component Affective Component Behavioral component

Antecedent:
Attitude: Result:
Belief & That
Values Create Feelings Intended
influence
Behavior
“Multiculral “I like “I am going
workplace is multicultural contiue
challenging” environment.” Working here.”

(source: SHO, 2003)

a. Job Satisfaction:
- A collection of positive and/or negative feelings that an individual holds
toward his or her job.
Job satisfaction derives out of attitude to the job.
High level of job satisfaction co-relates to positive attitude towards
the job and vice-versa.

B. Job Involvement:
- Identifying with the job, actively participating in it, and considering
performance important to self-worth.
- It is the measure of the degree to which a person identifies
psychologically with his/her job and considers his/her perceived
performance level important to self-worth.
- It reflects job commitment.
- High levels of job involvement are thought to result in fewer absences
and lower resignation rates.
- Job involvement more consistently predicts turnover than absenteeism
III. Organizational Commitment:
- Identifying with a particular organization and its goals, and wishing to
maintain membership in the organization.

Organisational Commitment reflects the intensity of a person’s

identification to the organization.

Hence it reflects identification and loyalty to the organization.

Organizational commitment is most often defined as:

a. a strong desire to remain a member of a particular organization;
b. a willingness to exert high levels of effort or behavior to the
organization; and
c. a definite belief in and acceptance of the values and goals of the
organization.

High job involvement = identifying with one’s specific job

High organizational commitment = identifying with one’s employing
organization.
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.
Sample Attitude Survey
III. JOB SATISFACTION:

- Definition of Job Satisfaction

- Influences on Job Satisfaction

- Outcomes of Job Satisfaction

- State the relationship between job satisfaction and work

performance

- Responses to Job Dissatisfaction

INFLUENCES ON JOB SATISFACTION
-The Work Itself
-Pay
-Promotions
-Supervision
-Work Group
-Working Conditions

OUTCOMES OF JOB SATISFACTION

-Satisfaction and Performance
-Satisfaction and Turnover
-Satisfaction and Absenteeism
-Other Effects and Ways to Enhance Satisfaction
The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance:

Satisfaction and Productivity - Is there a relationship? If so,

how to measure it?

Satisfaction and Absenteeism - Is there a relationship? If so,

how to measure it?

Satisfaction and Turnover - Is there a relationship? If so, how

to measure it?
a) Satisfaction and Productivity
 Satisfied workers aren’t necessarily more productive.
 Worker productivity is higher in organizations with more satisfied
workers.
 while there is no large positive relationship between satisfaction
and individual performance improvement, recent research
indicates that satisfaction may lead to organizational level
improvement.

b) Satisfaction and Absenteeism

 Satisfied employees have fewer avoidable absences.
 Research indicates only a weak negative relationship between
satisfaction and absence.
 People who believe that their work is important tend to have lower
absenteeism than those who don’t.
 It is important to remember, however, that high job satisfaction will
not necessarily result in low absenteeism, but low job satisfaction
is likely to bring about high absenteeism.
c) Satisfaction and Turnover
-Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.
-Organizations take actions to retain high performers and to weed out
lower performers.
-there is a moderate negative relationship between satisfaction and
turnover.

d) Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

(OCB)
Satisfied employees who feel fairly treated by and are trusting of
the organization are more willing to engage in behaviors that go beyond
the normal expectations of their job.

e) Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction:

Satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction because:
-They are more friendly, upbeat, and responsive.
-They are less likely to turnover which helps build long-term customer
relationships.
-They are experienced.

Dissatisfied customers increase employee job dissatisfaction.

f) Satisfaction and other effects:
- there appears to be a positive relationship between satisfaction and
physical health, and negative relationship between satisfaction and
perceived stress, grievances, and on-the-job accidents.

Another outcome of satisfaction receiving attention is pro-social

behaviors which includes things like helping coworkers and customers,
being cooperative, etc.
The following guidelines are offered as ways to help enhance
job satisfaction:

a. make jobs more fun;

b. have fair pay, benefits and promotion opportunities;

c. match people with jobs that fit their interests and skills; and

d. design jobs to make them exciting and satisfying.

Responses to Job Dissatisfaction
How Employees Can Express Dissatisfaction

Exit Voice
Behavior directed toward Active and constructive
leaving the organization. attempts to improve
conditions.

Loyalty Neglect
Passively waiting for Allowing conditions to
conditions to improve. worsen.