Positive Attitude at Work

suchitra@ximb.ac.in
Attitude in General
You carry your attitude around with you, like a pair of glasses
that tints your perception of the world. The great
philosophers sometimes talk about how there is no such thing
as truth, because we all have a slightly different perception of
it, so how can there be an unbiased reality?
Attitude in General
In its extreme, there is no world at all, just our interpretation
of it. Think of Descartes famous quote: I think, therefore I
am.
How does this relate to attitudes? Well, the fact is that your
view of the world is limited by your perception of it.Your
experiences, education and personality shape your attitude to
everything around you.
So, depending on how you perceive the world, you will
interpret and react differently to situations than someone
who has a different view.Your tinted glasses (your attitude)
will affect how you think, how you behave and even how you
feel.
Attitude: A definition
Different people may have different view about their jobs.
Some people may find their jobs highly interesting, while
others may complain about boredom. Views held are also
complex.
Attitude: A definition
Regard less of how one might feel, the attitude expressed
may be recognized as consisting of three major components:
1. A evaluative component
2. A cognitive component
3. A behavioral component
A evaluative component
It has been suggested that attitudes have a great deal to do
with how we feel about something. The evaluative
component refers to our feelings of like or dislike towards a
particular person, item or event.
You may for example feel positively or negatively towards
your boss, you may not like the painting hanged in your
office.
 A Cognitive Components
How ever attitude involves more than feelings, they also
involve knowledge, that what you feel about an attitude
object. For example you might believe that one of your co-
workers gets paid much more than you or that your
supervisor does not know too much about the job. These
beliefs, whether completely accurate or false, comprise the
cognitive components of the attitudes.
A cognitive components
As you might imagine, the things you believe about
something (e.g., My Boss is embezzling company funds) and
the way you feel about it (e.g., I cant stand working for
him) may have some effect on the way you are predisposed
to behave (e.g., I think I am going to look for a new job).
A Behavioural Component
In other words attitudes also have a behavioural component-
a predisposition to act in a certain way. It is important to
note that certain predisposition may not actually be
predictive of ones behaviour.
For example you may be interested in talking a new job; you
might not actually take one if a better position is not available
or if there are other aspect of your job you like enough to
compensate for the negative feelings.
Changing our own attitudes: The
Process of cognitive Dissonance
For example you got two job offers. After much thinking you
finally select one. Specifically, your attitude towards the job
accepted will become more positive (Its a great place, I am
fortunate to be working here) and your attitude towards the
job you did not take will become more negative (Its really
not such a great company to work.
The same process may occur after you select a car to
purchase.
Changing our own attitudes: The
Process of cognitive Dissonance
Peoples attitude towards selected alternatives become
positive and the attitude towards rejected alternative
becomes more negative. Why does this happens? This is
called cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive Dissonance is a process in which
inconsistency between the attitudes leads to
dissonance and in the process of overcoming
dissonance, that is a change in the attitude of the
person.
Changing others Attitude
People sometime change their own attitude so as to make it
consistent with others. There are situations in which we
purposely attempt to change others attitudes.
In particular, we may be interested in improving peoples
work related attitudes, because their negative attitude may be
linked to undesirable behavior (absenteeism and turnover).
Persuasion is a process, a target person is given a message in
which the information presented is designed to change
attitude.
Positive attitude at work
Positive attitude relate directly to performance
Negative attitude
Where negativity exists in a workplace, people are quick to
blame each other and feel a sense of injustice. With a negative
attitude, you are less likely to be accountable and reliable.
Resilience
Resilience Bouncing back from adversities is quicker and
easier if you view failure as a learning experience and look
for new approaches, rather than blaming yourself or others
and thinking that the task is too hard or the world is unfair.
Confidence
Confidence Confidence stems from optimism. If you are
confident, you believe in your own abilities and think you
have the ability to impact your environment.Your confidence
remains steady during setbacks, because you see them merely
as challenges, and are ready to take new risks.
Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution - If you pause and think, you can
probably think of dozens of examples of where differing
attitudes have caused problems or conflict in your personal
and professional relationships. Conflict arises because we
expect everyone to have the same attitude as ourselves. But,
with a positive attitude you can build your empathy and can
more readily see how other people think and feel.
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence Once you have the attitude, you
will find your emotional intelligence moving into overdrive.
This will enable you to better manage and express your
emotions and understand others.
Achievement drives
Achievement drives The attitude of achievement, i.e.
the will to get results, enables you to set challenging goals,
take calculated risks and learn how to improve performance.
Motivation
Motivation Surveys show that most peoples motivation
in their job comes from stimulation and challenge the
chance to learn. Bringing an optimistic attitude to the
workplace will create a culture of innovation. The creativity
and stimulation of ideas will keep you and your workforce
motivated and keen to learn.
Focus
Focus If you are focused, you are committed to tasks, take
responsibility for them and are able to align your goals with
the companys goals.
Building a Positive Work Place Culture
Good leadership will promote positive attitudes from
employees. A negative culture will dampen the mood and
result in more employees calling in sick, feeling unhappy and
unmotivated and eventually handing in their letter of
resignation.
Building a Positive Work Place Culture
Managers who get the best from their teams inspire a positive
workplace culture. Some of the positive influences include:
Fair and equal treatment of all employees
Achievements recognized and rewarded
Open management style
Regular feedback
Open and honest communication
Clear goals set out
Regular training
Equal opportunities for all employees
SMART ATTITUDE
S self Awareness
M managing Emotions & Impulses
A attitude of Optimism
R reading the Emotions of Others
T teaming up with Others