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Lesson 4 - Values, Attitudes, and Job Satisfaction

Accountancy (STI College)

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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

OCCIDENTAL MINDORO STATE COLLEGE
Brgy. Labangan, San Jose, Occidental Mindoro 5100
Website: www.omsc.edu.ph Email Address: omsc_9747@yahoo.com
Tele/Fax: (043) 457-0231 CERTIFIED TO ISO 9001:2015
CERT. NO.: 50500779 QM15

College of Business, Administration and Management

CHAPTER IV

Values, Attitudes, and Job

Satisfaction
 Values
o How People Learn Values
o Types of Values
o Individual versus Organized Values
o Espoused versus Enacted Values
o Instrumental and Terminal Values

 Attitudes
o The Main Components of Attitudes
o Differences in Personal Disposition
o How Attitudes Are Formed
o Most Important Attitudes in the Workplace
o Effects of Employee Attitudes
o Making Positive Attitudes Work for the Organization

 Job Satisfaction
o Factors Associated with Job Satisfaction
o Ways of Measuring Job Satisfaction

 Job Involvement
 Organizational Commitment

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CHAPTER IV

VALUES, ATTITUDES, AND JOB SATISFACTION

A company which advertises that is milk products come from contented cows implies
that the products are of good quality. It is easy to understand the logic behind it. In the
same light, when someone says “workers who are satisfied with their jobs tend to
produce quality outputs,” it is also easy to understand why it is so.

Job satisfaction is an important concern for both employer and employee. This is so
because of the benefits it brings to the both.

This chapter is an attempt to explain job satisfaction and the various concerns that
make it happen, such as values and attitudes.

Values generally influence attitudes and behaviour. In turn, attitudes form the basis for
determining how satisfied people are with their jobs.

JOB
SATISFACTION

ATTITUDES

VALUES

Figure 10
VALUES, ATTITUDES, AND JOB SATISFACTION

VALUES

Values refer to the importance a person attaches to things or ideas that serves as guide
to action. Values are enduring beliefs that one’s mode of conduct is better that the
opposite mode of conduct. An example of belief is the importance placed by a person
on academic titles or degrees and the doubt casted on the ability of a person without
sufficient academic qualifications.

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The definition implies that values are made of a set of beliefs. Values may be attached
to things or ideas like loyalty (to the company or friends), teamwork, honor, obedience,
honesty, and the like.

How People Learn Values

Values are not inborn, they are learned. As they grow, people learn values through any
or all of the following:

1. modelling
2. communication of attitudes
3. unstated but implied attitudes
4. religion

Modelling

Parents, teachers, friends and other people oftentimes become models to persons who
would later exhibit good behaviour in the workplace. For instance, a person who worked
as a mechanic for many years in his own yard was a stickler for cleanliness and getting
up early to work. He saw to it that his customers were happy with the service he
provided, and he never charged them with unreasonable service fees. His son saw him
in action almost everyday. The son did not notice that he was slowly imitating the good
work ethic of his father. It is no wonder that he behaves much like his father when he is
doing his work as a mechanic in a large automotive sales and service firm.

Communication of Attitudes

One of the ways in which values are learned is through communication of attitudes.
When a person often hears form acquaintances the risk of buying products imported
from a certain country, the person may develop negative values about that country.

Unstated but Implied Attitudes

Values may be also be affected by attitudes that are not stated but are implied by way
of action. For instance, if a person sees joy and happiness in every member of his
family whenever another member graduates from college, the person will develop the
same values impliedly exhibited.

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Religion

Values are also learned through religion. For example, the just and fair treatment of
people is a value that is taught by priests and ministers of various religious sects.
Persons who are exposed to the teachings develop values that support such beliefs.

Types of Values

Values may be classified in various ways. A classification that is most relevant to the
workplace indicates that values are of the following types:

1. Achievement- this is a value that pertains to getting things done and working
hard to accomplish goals;
2. Helping and concern for others- this value refers to the person’s concern with
other people and providing assistance to those who need help;
3. Honesty- this is a value that indicates the person’s concern for telling the truth
and doing what he thinks is right; and
4. Fairness- this is a value that indicates the person’s concern for impartiality and
fairness for all concerned.

Individual versus Organizational Values

Organizations have values that may or may not be compatible with the values of the
individual workers. There is value incongruence if the individual’s value is not in
agreement with the organization’s value. As a result of such incongruence, conflicts
may arise over such things as goals or the manner in which the goals will be achieved.
For instance, a person who values honesty will find it hard to work in an organization
where graft and corruption is a common practice. If the person stays in that
environment, he will be susceptible to experience the difficulty of “person-role conflict”
which may be briefly described as the condition that occurs when the demands made by
the organization or a manager clash with the basic values of the individual.

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ORGANIZATIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL
VALUES VALUES

when when
congruent incongruent
with with

THE THE
INDIVIDUAL’S INDIVIDUAL’S
VALUES VALUES

equals equals

POSITIVE
CONFLICTS
FEELINGS

Figure 11
EFFECTS OF VALUE CONGRUENCE AND INCONGRUENCE

Espoused versus Enacted Values

What the company promotes as its own values may be different from what is practiced
by the organization’s individual members. As such, values may be classified as either
(1) espoused, or (2) enacted values.

Espoused values are what members of the organization say they value. A business
organization, for instance, may state that it highly values its good relationship with
customers. However, if the employees of the said company give priority to calls from
relatives and friends rather than responding immediately to customer’s inquiries, they
are not actually practicing the values espoused by the company. Those that are
reflected in the actual behaviour of the individual members of the organization are
referred to as enacted values.

Instrumental and Terminal Values

Another classification of values may be presented as follows:

1. terminal values, and

2. instrumental values

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Terminal values represent the goals that a person would like to achieve in his or her
lifetime. Examples of terminal values are happiness, love, pleasure, self-respect, and
freedom.

Instrumental values refer to preferable modes of behaviour or means of achieving the

terminal values. Examples of instrumental values are ambition, honesty, self-sufficiency,
and courageousness.

TERMINAL
INSTRUMENTAL
VALUES
VALUES

-ambition -happiness
-honesty -pleasure
-self-sufficiency -self-respect
-courage -freedom
-forgiving nature -world peace
-self-control -equality
-independence -achievement
-obedience -inner peace
-open-mindedness -beauty in art and nature
-cleanliness -family security
-affection/love -salvation
-politeness -friendship
-rationality -mature love
-responsibility -wisdom
-competence -prosperity
-cheerfulness -national security
-intelligence -social respect
-imagination -exciting, active life

Figure 12
INSTRUMENTAL AND TERMINAL VALUES

ATTITUDES
Attitudes are important in the study of human behaviour. This is so because they are
linked with perception, learning, emotions, and motivation. Attitudes also form the basis
for job satisfaction in the workplace. Attitudes are feelings and beliefs that largely
determine how employees will perceive their environment, commit themselves to

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intended actions, and ultimately behave. Attitudes reflect how one feels about
something. For instance, a person may think working over-time is necessary if the
situation requires it, or may consider work as an important ingredient of one’s physical
and mental well-being.

The Main Components of Attitudes

Attitudes consist of the following components:

1. cognitive
2. affective
3. behavioural

The cognitive component of an attitude refers to the opinion or belief segment of an

attitude. An example is the opinion indicated in the statement “my boss is fickle-minded;
he cannot stick to his decision.”

The affective component of an attitude refers to the emotional or feeling segment. The
bad feeling insinuated in the statement “I hate my boss” is an example.

The behavioural component of an attitude refers to the intention to behave in a certain

way toward someone or something. An example is the action indicated in the statement
“I have requested a transfer to another department from my superiors.”

COGNITIVE
(evaluation)
my boss is fickle-minded
he cannot stick to his
decision

negative
AFFECTIVE
attitude
(feeling) toward boss
I hate my boss

BEHAVIORAL
(action)
I am requesting for a
transfer

Figure 13
THE COMPONENTS OF AN ATTITUDE

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Differences in Personal Disposition

People differ in their personal disposition. Some have attitudes that are positively
affective, while some have negatively affective attitudes.

Positive affectivity refers to personal characteristics of employees that inclines them to

be predisposed to be satisfied at work. People who have positive affectivity are
optimistic, upbeat, cheerful, and courteous.

Negative affectivity is a personal characteristic of employees that inclines them to be

predisposed to be dissatisfied at work. People who have negative affectivity are
generally pessimistic, downbeat, irritable, and sometimes, abrasive.

Managers and supervisors will benefit from knowing the personal disposition of their
subordinates. Their decisions regarding training hiring, and promotion could be made
better.

How Attitudes Are Formed

Attitudes are formed through learning. The two methods that mostly influence attitude
formation are direct experience and indirect means of social learning. Among the
information stored in the human mind, those that were gathered through direct
experience are the most accessible. So if one had an unpleasant experience with
another person, his attitude regarding that person would be negative regardless of any
information obtained from indirect means. Although indirect means affect the formation
of attitudes. Their influence is not as strong as direct experience.

Attitudes that are formed in an indirect way are the result of social interactions with the
family, peer groups, religious organizations, and culture. For instance, if parents behave
in a manner showing disdain towards smokers, the children will have a strong tendency
to adapt an attitude of indifference toward smokers.

Most Important Attitudes in the Workplace

Work behaviour is of utmost importance to managers and superiors. Since work

attitudes affect work behaviour, the requisite concerns are focused on them.

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The most important attitudes in the workplace are:

1. Job satisfaction
2. Job Involvement; and
3. Organization commitment.

Effects of Employee Attitudes

Attitudes provide clues to the behavioural intentions or inclination of an employee. The

manner in which a person will act can be gleaned from his attitudes.

Employee attitudes may be classified as either:

1. Positive job attitudes; or

2. Negative job attitudes.
EMPLOYEE
ATTITUDES

POSITIVE NEGATIVE

job
low
involvement lack of job
organizational
involvement
commitment

job
satisfaction
organizational job
commitment dissatisfaction

day dreaming

performing
excellently in all unauthorized absences,
job aspects early departures
extended breaks,
work slowdowns

serving customers
beyond working
hours
verbal abuse,
dangerous actions
against another
employee

Figure 14
EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES
(Partial indication)

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Positive job attitudes indicate job satisfaction and are useful in predicting constructive
behaviours like serving customers beyond official working hours, and performing
excellently in all aspects of their jobs. An example of a positive job attitude is “I enjoy
wearing my office uniform.”

Negative job attitudes are also useful in predicting undesirable behaviour. Negative job
attitudes include those concerning job dissatisfaction, lack of job involvement, low
commitment to the organization, and strong negative words like “the office assigned to
me does not speak well of my position.”

When employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, they will have a strong tendency to
engage in any or all of the following:

1. psychological withdrawal like daydreaming on the job;

2. physical withdrawal like unauthorized absences, early departures, extended
breaks, or work slowdowns; and
3. aggression, like verbal abuse or dangerous actions against another employee.

Making Positive Attitudes Work for the Organization

People with positive work attitudes make it easy for the organization to achieve its
objectives. As such, recruitment officers must require positive work attitudes before
employment offers are made. Those who are already employed by the organization but
whose attitudes are negative must be made to participate or become beneficiaries of
programs designed to change negative work attitudes of employees to positive work
attitudes.

In the process of recruiting people to fill the various job vacancies in the organization,
proven methods of selection must be made. Applicants found to have positive work
attitudes should be considered for hiring if other job requirements are met.

There are various ways of changing employee attitudes. One is making the reward
system closely tied to individual or team performance.

JOB SATISFACTION

The attitude people have about their jobs is called job satisfaction. In a strict sense,
however, job satisfaction refers to the positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an

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evaluation of its characteristics. When the feeling about one’s job is not positive, the
appropriate term is job dissatisfaction.

When people are satisfied with their jobs, the following benefits become possible:

1. high productivity
2. a stronger tendency to achieve customer loyalty
3. loyalty to the company
4. low absenteeism and turnover
5. less job stress and burnout
6. better safety performance
7. better life satisfaction

Factors Associated with Job Satisfaction

There are certain factors associated with job satisfaction. They are the following:

1. Salary- adequacy of salary and perceived equity compared with others;

2. Work itself- the extent to which job tasks are considered interesting and provide
opportunities for learning and accepting responsibility;
3. Promotion opportunity- chances for further advancement;
4. Quality of supervision- the technical competence and the interpersonal skills of
one’s immediate superior;
5. Relationship with co-workers- the extent to which co-workers are friendly,
competent, and supportive;
6. Working conditions- the extent to which the physical work environment is
comfortable and supportive of productivity; and
7. Job security- the beliefs that one’s position is relatively secure and continued
employment with the organization is a reasonable expectation.

Ways of Measuring Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction may be measured by using any of the following approaches:

1. the single global rating method; and

2. the summation score method.

The single global rating method refers to that approach where individuals are asked to
respond to a single question, such as, “How satisfied are you with your job?” The

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respondents indicate their answers by putting a check () before any of the numbers
from 5 to 1 as indicated below:

__________ 1. highly satisfied

__________ 2. moderately satisfied
__________ 3. indifferent
__________ 4. moderately dissatisfied
__________ 5. highly dissatisfied

The summation score method is an approach where individuals indicate their feelings
regarding each key factors of their job. The factors would normally consist of the work,
supervision, current salary, promotion opportunities, and relations with co-workers. A
standard scale is used to rate the factors and then the overall job satisfaction score is
derived. An illustration of the summation score method is provided below.

Exhibit 1
A SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE SUMMATION SCORE METHOD OF JOB
SATISFACTION

Please indicate on the blanks provided below how satisfied you are (in terms of
percentage) in each of the following factors of your job:

___________% 1. work itself

___________% 2. salary (or pay)
___________% 3. promotion opportunities
___________% 4. supervision
___________% 5. co-workers
Note: To be filled by the enumerator:
____% overall percentage score

JOB INVOLVEMENT

Job involvement is another positive employee attitude. It refers to the degree to which a
person identifies with the job, actively participates in it, and considers performance
important to self-worth. People who are really “involved” in their jobs view work as a
central part of their overall lives.

A positive self-image is a result of a person’s holding a meaningful job and actively

performing it.

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People with a high degree of job involvement will seldom be late or absent. They are
willing to work long hours if necessary, and they will strive to be high performers.

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

Organizational commitment is the third positive employee attitude. It refers to the

degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and
wishes to maintain membership in the organization.

Organizational commitment often reflects the employee’s belief in the mission and goals
of the organization, willingness to expend effort in accomplishing them, and intentions to
continue working in the organization. Employees who are organizationally committed
have good attendance records, show willingness to adhere to the firm’s policies, and
lower turnover rates.

Organizational commitment may be categorized into three dimensions.

They are as follows:

1. affective commitment;
2. continuance commitment; and
3. normative commitment.

Affective commitment refers to the employee’s emotional attachment to the organization

and belief in its values. For example, an employee may be affectively committed to his
company because of its employment policy of hiring people regardless of their
educational attainment.

Continuance commitment refers to the employee’s tendency to remain in an

organization because he cannot afford to leave. In fact, many employees continue to be
committed to the firm because they feel they could not get better employment
elsewhere. The reasons why employees choose to continue employment with the firm
may be classified as either (1) economic; or (2) non-economic. Economic factors refer
to salary, allowances, and retirement pension. Non-economic benefits include
participation in decision making, job security, and certain job characteristics such as
autonomy, responsibility, and interesting work.

Normative commitment refers to an obligation to remain with the company for moral or
ethical reason. For example, an employee working in a zoo may remain with his
employer because he feeds most of the animals under his care would respond only to

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him and it would be hard to find a suitable replacement for him. He thinks that the
existence of the zoo would be in jeopardy if he leaves.

SUMMARY

Values, attitudes, and job satisfaction are important concerns for managers and
employees. When employees are satisfied with the work they do, it is expected that
their work performance would be highly satisfactory.

Job satisfaction, however, is possible if the employees possess the right value and
attitudes.

Values are guidelines and beliefs that a person uses when confronted with a situation in
which a choice must be made.

Values may be learned through modelling, communication of attitudes, unstated but

implied attitudes, and religion.

Values may be classified as (1) achievement, (2) helping and concern for others, (3)
honesty, and (4) fairness.

The person’s values are different from organizational values. They may be compatible
or not.

Values may also be classified as espoused (or what member of the organization say
they value) or enacted (those reflected in the actual behaviour of employee).

Values may also be terminal (those representing the goals that a person would like to
achieve in his lifetime) or instrumental (those that are used in achieving the terminal
values).

Attitudes reflects how one feel about something. They consist of cognitive, affective,
and behavioural components.

The most important attitudes in the workplace are those concerning job satisfaction, job
involvement, and organizational commitment.

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