Chapfer 4

VALUES, ATTITUDES, AND JOB SATISFACTION

A company which advertises that its 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 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 behavior. In turn, attitudes form the basis for
determining how satisfied people are with their jobs.

VALUES
Values refer to the importance a person attaches to things or ideas that serves as guide
to action. Values are enduring beliefs tha one's made of conduct is better than the
opposite mode of conduct. An example of a 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.

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. modeling
2. communication of attitudes
3. unstated but implied attitudes
4.religion

Modeling
Parents, teachers, friends, and other people oftentimes become models to persons who
would later exhibit good behavior 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 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.

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 impartially 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 or
the individual.

EFFECTS OF VALUE CONGRUENCE AND INCONGRUENCE

Espoused versus Enacted Values

What the company promotes as its own values may be different from what is praciced 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 behavior 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

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 behavior or means of achieving the

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

ATTITUDES
Attitudes are important in the study of human behavior. 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
intended actions, and ultimately behave. Attitudes reflect how one feels about something.
For instance, a person may think working overtime 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. behavioral

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 behavioral 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."

Differences in Personal Disposition

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

Positive affectivity refers to personal characteristic 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 other 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 towards smokers.

Most Important Attitudes in the Workplace

Work behavior is of utmost importance to managers and superiors. Since work attitudes
affect work behavior, the requisite concerns are focused on them.
The most important attitudes in the workplace are:
1. job satisfaction;
2. job involvement; and
3. organizational commitment.
Effects of Employee Attitudes
Attitudes provide clues to the behavioral intentions or inclinations 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.

Postive job, attitudes indicate job satisfaction and are used in predicting constructive
behaviors like serving customers beyond oficial working hours and performing excellently
in all aspects of their jobs. An example of a positive job atitude is "I enjoy wearing my
office uniform.

Negative job attitudes are also useful in predicting undesirable behavior. 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 evaluation of its characteristics. when the feeling about one's job is not
positive, the appropriate term is job dissatisfaction.
become possible:

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. 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 coworkers 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:6
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
respondents indicate their answers by putting a check (V) before any of the numbers from
5 to 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.

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.

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 feels most of the animals under his care would respond only to 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.

Attitudes are feelings and beliefs that largely determine how employees will perceive their
environment, commit themselves to intended actions, and ultimate behavior.

Values may be learned through modeling, 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 behavior 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 behavioral components.

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