Chapter 3

Attitudes and Values

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
S T E P H E N P. R O B B I N S
E L E VTWELFTH
E N T HEDITION
E D I T I O N
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All rights reserved. by Charlie Cook
 Attitudes

Attitudes Cognitive component

The opinion or belief segment
Evaluative of an attitude.
statements or
judgments Affective Component
concerning The emotional or feeling segment
objects, of an attitude.
people, or
events. Behavioral Component
An intention to behave in a certain
way toward someone or something.

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 The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance
Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes
or between behavior and attitudes.

Desire to reduce dissonance

• Importance of elements creating dissonance
• Degree of individual influence over elements
• Rewards involved in dissonance

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 Measuring the A-B Relationship
 Recent research indicates that 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

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 Types of Attitudes

Job Satisfaction
A collection of positive and/or negative feelings that
an individual holds toward his or her job.

Job Involvement
Identifying with the job, actively participating in it,
and considering performance important to self-worth.

Organizational Commitment
Identifying with a particular organization and its
goals, and wishing to maintain membership in the
organization.
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 Types of Attitudes
Perceived Organizational Support (POS)
Degree to which employees feel the organization cares
about their well-being.

Employee Engagement
An individual’s involvement with, satisfaction with, and
enthusiasm for the organization.

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 An Application: Attitude Surveys

Attitude Surveys
Eliciting responses from employees through
questionnaires about how they feel about their jobs,
work groups, supervisors, and the organization.

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 Sample Attitude Survey

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 Attitudes and Workforce Diversity
 Training activities that can reshape employee
attitudes concerning diversity:
– Participating in diversity training that provides for self-
evaluation and group discussions.
– Volunteer work in community and social serve centers
with individuals of diverse backgrounds.
– Exploring print and visual media that recount and
portray diversity issues.

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 Values
Values
Basic convictions that a specific
mode of conduct or end-state of
existence is personally or socially
preferable to an opposite or
converse mode of conduct or
end-state of existence.

Value System
A hierarchy based on a ranking of
an individual’s values in terms of
their intensity.
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 Importance of Values

 Provide understanding of the attitudes,

motivation, and behaviors of individuals and
cultures.
 Influence our perception of the world around us.
 Represent interpretations of “right” and “wrong.”
 Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are
preferred over others.

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 Types of Values –- Rokeach Value Survey

Terminal Values
Desirable end-states of
existence; the goals that a
person would like to achieve
during his or her lifetime.

Instrumental Values
Preferable modes of behavior
or means of achieving one’s
terminal values.

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 Values in
the
Rokeach
Survey

Source: M. Rokeach, The Nature of Human

Values (New York: The Free Press, 1973).

E X H I B I T 3–1

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 Values in
the
Rokeach
Survey
(cont’d)

Source: M. Rokeach, The Nature of Human

Values (New York: The Free Press, 1973).

E X H I B I T 3–1 (cont’d)

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 Mean Value Rankings of
Executives, Union
Members, and Activists

Source: Based on W. C. Frederick and J. Weber, “The Values of

Corporate Managers and Their Critics: An Empirical Description and
Normative Implications,” in W. C. Frederick and L. E. Preston (eds.)
Business Ethics: Research Issues and Empirical Studies (Greenwich,
CT: JAI Press, 1990), pp. 123–44.

E X H I B I T 3–2

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 Sources of Values
 1. Family Factors-Process of Socialization is
learnt.(e.g.Child rearing practices,how to behave)

 2. Social Factors-School has a major role to play

in the development of values.(Discipline)

 3. Personal Factors (Intillegence,Education

Level,ability)

 4.Cultural Factors –It is learned and passed from

generation to generation.

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 Classification of Values
 1.Human Values-Universally applicable to all people.(Truth,
love, generous, ethical, non-violence)

 2.Social Values-It includes all those values which people

living in society and having common need and
desires.(Tolerance,Co-operation,understanding)

 3.Business Values(Ethical in gaining profits)

 4.Family Values (respect, helpful, courtesy, discipline)

 5.National Values-Performing rights and civic duties

 6.Professional Values-Code of conduct, ethical behaviour,

patterns and norms as per professions
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