ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR I

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION

SESSION: 3
O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L B E H A V I O R I
Have the right attitude at work- Metro Cash and Carry India
Tuesday, March 04, 2014
Most of the learning is done on the job but what you cant teach someone is the right
attitude. While business related qualifications and experience are a given, we look for
people who demonstrate extraordinary authenticity, enthusiasm and an entrepreneurial
spirit.
Saagarika Ghosal, Director, Human Resources, Metro Cash and Carry India

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L B E H A V I O R I
A SIMPLE MODEL TO BEGIN WITH.
Beliefs Feelings

Attitudes

Intentions Behavior

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L B E H A V I O R I
WHAT IS AN ATTITUDE?

Social psychology is the study of attitudes (Allport, 1935)

Attitude is defined as tendencies to evaluate an entity [attitude object] into some

degree of favor or disfavor, ordinarily expressed in cognitive, affective and behavioral
responses (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993).

Attitudes are evaluations of various objects that are stored in memory (Judd et al.,
1991)

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TRIPARTITE MODEL
Attitude object: Beer

Cognitive Affective
Belief based e.g. Emotion based e.g.
Beer kills my brain cells Harmful-Beneficial
Beer helps me to relax Relaxing-Stressful
Beer tastes good after a hard days work Tasty-Bitter

Behavioral
Intention based e.g.
I will cut down on my beer drinking
I intend to drink beer when Im stressed
I plan to drink more beer after work
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WHAT ARE ATTITUDES USED FOR?

Attitudes serve as conscious and unconscious motives and have four functions (Katz,
1960):
They assist in helping us make sense of our world and to organize the information we
encounter (c.f. cognitive economy) (KNOWLEDGE FUNCTION)
They help us make behave in socially acceptable ways to gain positive and avoid negative
outcomes (UTILITARIAN/ADJUSTIVE FUNCTION)
They act as a guide to behavior in social situations and help us in self- and social-
categorization (SOCIAL IDENTITY/VALUE-EXPRESSIVE FUNCTION)
They allow use to preserve a positive sense of self (EGO-DEFENSIVE FUNCTION)

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L B E H A V I O R I
INTER-STRUCTURAL COMPOSITION OF
ATTITUDES
The Associative Germany
Network Model Order Airtel
Bosch
Style
Reliable
Luxury Engg.
Skills
Mercedes Stable

Strength

God Feminine Symmetry

Perfect
Ambuja
Ritu Cement
Grand Kumar Status Jaipur
Chola Palace
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 FISHBEIN &
THE THEORY OF REASONED ACTION

AJZEN, General orientation towards the behaviour

good-bad, useful-useless, harmful-beneficial
1975)
Measure of actual
Attitudes behaviour

Stated volitional plans

I plan/I intend.../ I expect... Intentions Behaviour

Subjective
Norms

Evaluation of others evaluation my parents think,my teacher

thinks

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THE THEORY OF PLANNED
BEHAVIOUR (TPB) AJZEN , 1989)
Attitudes

Intentions Behaviour

Subjective
Control
Norms
Beliefs
X
Perceived Perceived Evaluation of capacities/barriers/ abilities self-
Power Control efficacy/easy-difficult

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L B E H A V I O R I
DOES BEHAVIOR ALWAYS FOLLOW
FROM ATTITUDES?

People often change what they say so that it doesnt contradict what they do!!
People seek consistency in their attitudes and behavior.
This is done by changing attitudes or behavior or by rationalization.

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THE THEORY OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual
who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is
confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.
Focuses on how humans strive for internal consistency. An individual who experiences
inconsistency (dissonance) tends to become psychologically uncomfortable, and is
motivated to try to reduce this dissonanceas well as actively avoid situations and
information likely to increase it. Leon Festinger

Desire
Desiretotoreduce
reducedissonance
dissonance
Importance
Importanceofofelements
elementscreating
creatingdissonance
dissonance
Degree
Degreeofofindividual
individualinfluence
influenceover
overelements
elements
Rewards
Rewardsinvolved
involvedinindissonance
dissonance
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REDUCING COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L B E H A V I O R I
 MEASURING THE A-B RELATIONSHIP
Recent research indicates that the attitudes (A) significantly predict behaviors (B)
when moderating variables are taken into account.

Moderating Variables
Importance of the attitude
Specificity of the attitude
Accessibility of the attitude
Social pressures on the individual
Direct experience with the attitude

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L B E H A V I O R I
ACHIEVING CONSISTENCY- AN
EXERCISE
Mrs. Gupta strongly believes that no company should pollute the air or
water. Unfortunately, for her as the Head of a chemical factory she knows that
dumping wastes into a nearby river is in the best economic interest of her
company.
What can she do to reduce her dissonance ?

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SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY

Attitudes are used after the fact to Attitude in line

make sense out of an action that has Behavior
with action
already occurred.

All frequent flier programs of Airline companies.

Loyalty programs

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"Individuals come to know their own attitudes, emotions and internal
states by inferring them from observations of their own behavior and
circumstances in which they occur. When internal cues are weak,
ambiguous, or un-interpretable, the individual is in the same position as
the outside observer".

Bem, D. J., Self Perception Theory, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol 6,
1972.

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JOB SATISFACTION

A person's evaluation of his or her job and work context.

A collection of attitudes about specific facets of the job.

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4-17
 MEASURING JOB SATISFACTION

Single Global rating scale

Critical Incidents Technique: A procedure for measuring job satisfaction in
which employees describe incidents relating to their work that they find
especially satisfying or dissatisfying.
Interviews: Questioning people in person about their attitudes in order to
explore them more deeply.

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 JOB SATISFACTION & EMPLOYEE
PERFORMANCE
Satisfaction and Productivity
Satisfied workers arent 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.

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L B E H A V I O R I
EVLN: RESPONSES TO DISSATISFACTION
Leaving the situation
Exit Quitting, transferring

Changing the situation

Voice Problem solving, complaining

Patiently waiting for the situation to

Loyalty improve

Reducing work effort/quality

Neglect Increasing absenteeism

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4-20
BUILDING (AFFECTIVE) COMMITMENT
Apply humanitarian values
Justice/
Justice/ Support
Support
Support employee wellbeing
Shared
Shared Values
Values congruence
congruence
Values
Values
Employees
Employees trust
trust org
org leaders
leaders
Trust
Trust Job
Job security
security supports
supports trust
trust
Organizational
Organizational Know firms past/present/future
Comprehension
Comprehension Open and rapid communication

Employee
Employee Employees feel part of company
Involvement
Involvement Involvement demonstrates trust
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4-21
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Managers should watch employee attitudes:
They influence behavior
They give warnings of potential problems
Managers should try to increase job satisfaction and generate positive job
attitudes
Reduces costs by lowering turnover, absenteeism, tardiness, theft, and
increasing OCB
Focus on the intrinsic parts of the job: make work challenging and interesting
Pay is not enough

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L B E H A V I O R I
NAMES TO KNOW

Dr Martin Fishbein
Dr Leon Festinger

Dr Icek Ajzen

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L B E H A V I O R I
 REFERENCES
Allport, Gordon W. "Attitudes." (1935).
Eagly, Alice H., and Shelly Chaiken. The psychology of attitudes. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers,
(1993).
Festinger, L. (1962). "Cognitive dissonance". Scientific American 207 (4): 93107.
Judd, Charles M., Eliot R. Smith, and Louise H. Kidder. "Research methods in social relations." (1991).
Katz, Daniel. "The functional approach to the study of attitudes." Public opinion quarterly 24.2 (1960): 163-204
Fishbein, Martin, and Icek Ajzen. Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research
(1975).
Ajzen, Icek. "Attitude structure and behavior." Attitude structure and function (1989): 241-274
Leon, Festinger. "A theory of cognitive dissonance." Evanston, Il: Row, Peterson (1957).
Bem, D. J., Self Perception Theory, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol 6, (1972).

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 QUESTIONS
&
THANK YOU
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