Attitude

THE NATURE AND DIMENSIONS

OF ATTITUDES
 “Attitudes”
 Persistent tendency to feel and behave in a
particular way towards some object

 Characteristics of Attitudes
 They tend to persist unless something is
done to change them.
 They can fall anywhere along a continuum
from very favorable to very unfavorable.
 They are directed toward some object
about which a person has feelings and
beliefs.
 ATTITUDE MODEL

Informational/
Cognitive
(i.e. beliefs)

Attitude Behavior

Affective
(i.e. emotions)
 Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person,
place, thing, or event-- this is often referred to as the attitude
object.

 It can also be defined as,” A complex mental state involving

beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain
ways.”
For example, if someone says that “I like my Job”. This
statement expresses his attitude towards his Job.
 TYPES OF ATTITUDES
 Job Satisfaction
 A collection of positive and or negative feelings
that an individual holds toward his or her job.
•For example, a person who is satisfied with his job
will always be punctual, absenteeism will be
minimum, performance will be high, In case of a
dissatisfied person, he will generally be late for
office, on small pretexts he will absent himself from
the job, turnover will be high, performance level will
be poor
 Job Involvement
•A general definition of job involvement states that job
involvement measures Job involvement is the degree to which
a person identifies psychologically with his or her job and
considers his or her perceived performance level important to
self worth.
•Employees who have a high level of job involvement very
strongly identify with their jobs and really care about the kind
of work they do. High degree of involvement just like job
satisfaction will lead to less absenteeism and lower resignation
rates.
 Organizational Commitment
 Identifying with a particular organization and its goals, and
wishing to maintain membership in the organization.
 Sometimes an employee may be involved or attached to his
job but may not be committed to the organisation and its
objectives. Turnover and absenteeism are low when an
employee has organisational commitment. In fact, studies
have indicated that organisational commitment is a better
indicator of turnover than the far more frequently used job
satisfaction predictor.
 THE NATURE AND DIMENSIONS
OF ATTITUDES

 Components of Attitudes

Behavioral
Informational – tendencies to
Emotional
– beliefs and behave in a particular
– feelings about an
information about the manner towards an
object
object object (usually
behavioral intentions)

• Only behavioral can

be directly observed
 COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES

 Attitudes structure can be described in

terms of three components.

 Affective component: this involves a

person’s feelings / emotions about the
attitude object. For example: “I am scared
of spiders”.
 Behavioral (or cognitive) component: the
way the attitude we have influences how
we act or behave. For example: “I will
avoid spiders and scream if I see one”.
 Cognitive component: this involves a
person’s belief / knowledge about an
attitude object. For example: “I believe
spiders are dangerous”.
This model is known as the ABC model of
attitudes. The three components are usually linked.
However, there is evidence that the cognitive and
affective components of behavior do not always
match with behavior.
They evaluative statements in an attitude are either
favorable or unfavorable. They reflect how one feel
about something.
A person can have thousands of attitudes. But OB
focuses on a limited number of job-related attitudes.
 These include job satisfaction,
 job involvement (the degree to which person
identifies
 with his or her job and actively participates in it)
 And organizational commitment (an indicator of
loyalty to, and, identification with the
organization).
 FORMATION OF ATTITUDE
 How attitudes are formed? How do you develop your attitude? Essentially
attitudes are the outward manifestation of your inner values and beliefs.
 These develop over time. As you grow you watch the significant people
around you behaving in a particular way; you are being told to cherish
certain things over others and you learn from your teachers and peers and
come to value certain thins over other, thus forming your value system.
These in turn give rise to development of your attitudes.
 Attitudes help predict work
behavior
 The following example might help to
illustrate it. After introducing a
particular policy, it is found from an
attitude survey, that the workers are
not too happy about it.
 During the subsequent week it is
found that the attendance of the
employees drops sharply from the
previous standard. Here
management may conclude that a
negative attitude toward new work
rules led to increased absenteeism.
 Attitudes help people to adapt
to their work environment
 An understanding of attitudes is
also important because attitudes
help the employees to get
adjusted to their work. If the
management can successfully
develop a- positive attitude
among the employees, they will
be better adjusted to their work
 FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDE
 According to Katz, attitudes serve four important functions from
the viewpoint of organizational behavior. These are as follows.
 The Adjustment Function. Attitudes often help people to adjust
to their work environment. Well-treated employees tend to
develop a positive attitude towards their job, management and
the organization in general while berated and ill treated
organizational members develop a negative attitude. In other
words, attitudes help employees adjust to their environment
and form a basis for future behavior.
 Ego-Defensive Function. Attitudes help people to retain their
dignity and self- image. When a young faculty member who is
full of fresh ideas and enthusiasm, joins the organization, the
older members might feel somewhat threatened by him. But
they tend to disapprove his creative ideas as ‘crazy’ and
‘impractical’ and dismiss him altogether.
 The Value-Expressive Function. Attitudes
provide individuals with a basis for
expressing their values. For example, a
manager who values hard and sincere
work will be more vocal against an
employee who is having a very casual
approach towards work.
 The Knowledge Function. Attitudes
provide standards and frames of
reference that allow people to
understand, and perceive the world
around him. If one has a strong negative
attitude towards the management,
whatever the management does, even
employee welfare programmes can be
perceived as something ‘bad’ and as
actually against them.
 CHANGING ATTITUDES

 Employees’ attitudes can be changed and sometimes it is in

the best interests of managements to try to do so. For
example, if employees believe that their employer does not
look after their welfare, the management should try to
change their attitude and help develop a more positive
attitude in them.

 However, the process of changing the attitude is not always

easy. There are some barriers which have to be overcome if
one strives to change somebody’s attitude. There are two
major categories of barriers that come in the way of
changing attitudes:
 There are two major categories of barriers that come in
the way of changing attitudes:
 Prior commitment when people feel a commitment
towards a particular course of action that have already
been agreed upon and thus it becomes difficult for them
to change or accept the new ways of functioning.
 Insufficient information also acts as a major barrier to
change attitudes. Sometimes people simply see any
reason to change their attitude due to unavailability of
adequate information.
 SOME OF THE POSSIBLE WAYS OF
CHANGING ATTITUDES
 Providing New Information. Sometimes
a dramatic change in attitude is possible
only by providing relevant and adequate
information to the person concerned.
Scanty and incomplete information can
be a major reason for brewing negative
feeling and attitudes.
 Use of Fear. Attitudes can be changed
through the use of fear. People might
resort to change their work habit for the
fear of fear of unpleasant consequences.
However, the degree of the arousal of
fear will have to be taken into
consideration as well.
 Resolving Discrepancies: Whenever
“people face “a dilemma or conflicting
situation they feel confused in choosing
a particular course of action.

 Like in the case where one is to choose

from” between two alternative courses
of action, it is often become difficult for
him to decide which is right for him.
Even when he chooses one over the
other, he might still feel confused. If
some one helps him in pointing out the
positive points in favor of the chosen
course of action, he person might
resolve the his dilemma.
 Influence of friends and peers A very effective way of
changing one’s attitude is through his friends and colleagues.
Their opinion and recommendation for something often
proves to be more important. If for example, they are all
praise for a particular policy introduced in the work place,
chances are high that an individual will slowly accept that
even when he had initial reservations for that.

 Co-opting. If you want to change the attitude of some body

who belongs to a different group, it is often becomes very
effective if you can include him in your own group. Like in the
case of the union leader who are all the time vehemently
against any management decision, can be the person who
takes active initiative in implementing a new policy when he
had participated in that decision making process himself.
 Difference between attitude and
behaviour
Basis for Comparison Attitude Behavior

Attitude refers to a person's Behavior implies the actions,

mental view, regarding the moves, conduct or functions
Meaning
way he/she thinks or feels of an individual or group
about someone or something. towards other persons.

Based on Experience and observation Situation

Trait Human Inborn

Outward expression of
What is it? A person's mindset.
attitude.

Reflects What you think or feel? What you do?

Defined by Way we perceive things. Social Norms

 THE EFFECT OF JOB SATISFACTION ON
EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE
 Satisfaction and Productivity
 Satisfied workers aren’t necessarily
more productive.
 Worker productivity is higher in
organizations with more satisfied
workers.
 Satisfaction and Absenteeism
 Satisfied employees have fewer
avoidable absences.
 Satisfaction and Turnover
 Satisfied employees are less likely to
quit.
 Organizations take actions to cultivate
high performers and to weed out lower
performers.
 REFERENCES

 Attitudes Influence on Behavior. (n.d.). Retrieved from boundless -

Better than your assigned text books:
https://www.boundless.com/management/organizational-
behavior/drivers-of-behavior/attitudes-influence-on-behavior/

 Luthans, F. (2008). Organizational Behavior. Mc Graw Hill

International Edition.

 ORGANISATION BEHAVIOUR – ATTITUDE. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://mbanotesravi.com/2012/11/27/organisation-behaviour-
attitude/.
 What Are Attitudes? (n.d.). Retrieved from Pearson Education :
http://wps.pearsoned.ca/ca_ph_johns_ob_7/67/17350/4441642.
cw/index.html
 WORKPLACE EMOTIONS. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://highered.mcgraw-
hill.com/sites/dl/free/0070876940/355897/sample_ch04.pdf.

 www.ftms.edu. (n.d.). Values, Attitudes, and Job Satisfaction.

Retrieved from

 Values, Attitudes, and Job Satisfaction:

http://www.ftms.edu.my/pdf/Download/PostgraduateStudent/OB
-
lecture%202%20values,%20attitude%20and%20job%20satisfaction.
pdf

 McLeod, S. A. (2009). Attitudes and Behavior - Simply Psychology.

Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/attitudes.html

 Hogg, M., & Vaughan, G. (2005). Social Psychology (4th edition).

London: Prentice-Hall .