What is Attitude?

Attitude is considered to be the most important determinant of employee behavior.

Managers therefore, are virtually interested in the nature of the attitudes of their
employees toward their jobs, toward their careers and toward the organization itself.
What, then an attitude? Generally, attitudes are an expression of inner feelings
that refect whether a person is favorably or unfavorably predisposed to some
objects. owever, in an organizational behavior context, attitudes are the feelings
or beliefs that largely determine how employees will perceive their environment,
commit themselves to intended actions and ultimately behave.
David Richard and Egerton have de!ned "attitudes are an individual#s enduring
favorable or unfavorable evaluations, emotional feelings and action tendencies
toward some object or idea.$
%hus, an attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favorable or
unfavorable way with respect to a situation or object. %hat means, it is the refection
of how one feels about something. &or example, when ' say "' li(e my job$ ' am
expressing my positive attitude about wor(.
Element of Attitude:
)ehavioral scientists have identi!ed three important components of employee
attitude*
Cognitive Element: 't refers to the (nowledge or perception that an
individual holds with respect to the attitude object. %hese are ac+uired by
either direct experience with the object or by information from various
sources. ,ay, an employee may disli(e wor(, because the supervisor is not so
e-cient.
Afective Element: An employee#s emotional reactions or feelings about the
wor( situation constitute the e.ective component of an attitude. %hese
emotions or feelings are evaluative in nature i.e. the extent to which the
employee rates or evaluates the situation as favorable or unfavorable. &or
example, an employee may disli(e the supervisor because of his discriminate
behavior.
Behavioral Element: 't refers to the action tendency or the actual behavior
itself. 't is concerned with the action tendency or intention to behave in a
certain way toward the attitude object. &or example, an employee may avoid
the supervisor because of his feelings about him.
Types of Attitudes:
A person can have thousands of attitudes, but organizational behavior focuses our
attention on a very limited number of job related attitudes. Managers are
particularly concerned with three types of attitudes*
Job satisfaction: /ob satisfaction refers to an individual#s general attitude
toward his or her job. 't is a set of favorable or unfavorable feelings and
emotions with which employees view their wor(. A person with a high level of
job satisfaction holds positive attitude toward the job, while a person who is
dissatis!ed with his job holds negative attitudes.
Job involvement* /ob involvement is the degree to which a person identi!ed
0..
rgani!ational Commitment: 1rganizational commitment or employee
loyalty, is the degree to which an employee identities with the organization
and wants to continue actively participating in it. ,o high job involvement
means identifying with one#s speci!c job, while high organizational
commitment means identifying with one#s employing organization.
Efects of Employee Attitudes:
2ndoughtly, attitudes are reasonably good predictors of behavior. )asically they
provide clues to an employee#s behavioral inclinations to act in a certain way.
3hen employees show negative attitudes i.e. when employees are dissatis!ed
with their jobs, lac( of job involvement and are low in their commitment to the
organization, a wide variety of conse+uences may follow. owever, the major
e.ects of employee attitudes, i.e. satisfaction or dissatisfaction, are summarized
below*
Employee "erformance: /ob satisfaction is the favorable attitude with
which employees view their jobs. 1bviously, job satisfaction and performance
are related to each other. )ut there is a +uestion whether job satisfaction
leads to performance or performance leads to job satisfaction.
istorically it was assumed that high job satisfaction leads to high
performance. %hat means, if management could (eep employees happy,
good performance would automatically follow. )ut later research indicated
that this was an incorrect assumption. ,atis!ed wor(ers may be high,
average or even low performers. %hus, the satisfaction performance
relationship is more complex.
%he famous management experts 4dward 5awler and 6orter have developed
a model that suggests that "igh performance contributes to high job satisfaction.$
%he se+uence is shower in the following !gure*
#ig: The performance$satisfaction relationship
%he above !gure shows that better performance typically leads to higher rewards
7economic, sociological, psychological8. 'f these rewards are perceived as fair and
justi!ed than higher satisfaction develops. 1n the other hand, if rewards are seen as
inade+uate for the level of performance, dissatisfaction tends to arise. %he
dissatis!ed employees might exhibit negative behavior such as turnover,
absenteeism, tardiness, violence etc.
Turnover: As might be expected, higher job satisfaction is associated with
lower employee turnover. %he more satis!ed employees are less li(ely to
search for a new job or show their intention to +uit. ,imilarly, as shown in the
!gure, those employees who have lower satisfaction usually have higher
rates of turnover.
igh
%urnover
6erforman
ce
9ewards 7intrinoic :
4xtrinsic8
6erformance of e+uity
in the rewards 7&air or
2nfair8
,atisfaction
or
dissatisfacti
on
Greater or lesser
commitment
Greater or lesser
e.ort
%urnover
Absenteeism
%ardiness
;iolence
6oor
organizational
citizenship
Absences
5ow
5ow %urnover and Absences igh
Absences* &igure also shows that those employees who have low job
satisfaction tend to be absent more often. )ut the relationship is not always
sharp<igh, because of some reasons*
,ome absences are caused by legitimate reasons, these a satis!ed
employee may have a valid absence
=issatis!ed employees do not necessarily plan to be absent, but they
seem to !nd it easier to respond to the opportunity to do so.
Tardiness* Another way in which employees exhibit their negative attitudes
or dissatisfaction is through tardiness. A tardy employee is one who comes to
wor( but arrives beyond the designated starting time. 'i is a type of short
period absenteeism.
Theft* ,ome employees steal prodiects and use company resources without
authorization. 'n their own minds, employees may justify this unethical
behavior as a way to reestablishing a perception of lost e+uity, or even
gaining revenge for what they consider treatment.
%iolence* 1ne of the extreme conse+uences of employee dissatisfaction is
exhibited through violence, i.e. various forms of verbal or physical aggression
at wor(. Managers must increasingly be on the loo(out for signs that
employee dissatisfaction might turn into violence, and they must ta(e
appropriate preventive actions.
Changing employee attitudes:
>hanging employee attitudes is a (ey strategy consideration for all managers,
since they have an important infuence on employee#s positive behavior. )ut the
tas( is not so easy. owever, there are some guidelines that managers may
adopt it they desire to change employee attitudes in a more favorable direction.
Manipulate the reward system by ma(ing it more closely tied to individual
or group performance.
,et challenging goals with employee#s participation. ,o that they can get
the opportunity for satisfaction through their accomplishment.
=e!ne clear role expectation. ,o that employees with su.ering ambiguity
or confusion can overcome these.
6rovide fre+uent feedbac( about performance level.
4xhibit a caring, considerate orientation by showing concern for employee
feelings.
6rovide opportunities for employees to participate in decision ma(ing.
,how appreciation for appropriate e.ort and supportive behavior.