chapter 3 the experience of work: values, attitudes, and moods

chapter

33THE EXPERIENCE OF WORK:

VALUES, ATTITUDES,AND MOODS

CHAPTER 3 The Experience of Work: Values, Attitudes, and Moods

Copyright © 2002 Prentice-Hall

Work Values• A worker’s personal convictions about what

outcomes one should expect from work and how one should behave at work.

• The most general and long-lasting feelings and beliefs people have that contribute to how they experience work.

• Values can be intrinsic (i.e., related to the nature of work itself) or extrinsic (i.e., related to the consequences of work).

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Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Work Values(Table 3.1)

Intrinsic Values• Interesting work• Challenging work• Learning new things• Making important

contributions• Responsibility and

autonomy• Being creative

Extrinsic Values• High pay• Job security• Job benefits• Status in wider

community• Social contacts• Time with family• Time for hobbies

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Work Attitudes• Collections of feelings, beliefs, and thoughts about

how to behave that people currently hold about their jobs and organizations.

• Compared to values, attitudes are– More specific– Not as long lasting

• Specific work attitudes:– Job satisfaction is the collection of feelings and beliefs

that people have about their current jobs.– Organizational commitment is the collection of feelings

and beliefs that people have about their organizations as a whole.

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Work Moods• How people feel at the time they actually

perform their jobs.• More transitory than values and attitudes.• Can generally be categorized as positive or

negative.• Determining factors:

– Personality– Work situation– Circumstances outside of work

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Advice to Managers

• Do not assume that most workers have strong intrinsic work values just because you do.

• Realize that any attempt you make to improve attitudes, motivation, or performance will be most effective when the change you implement is consistent with workers’ values.

• Make the work environment pleasant and attractive to help promote positive moods.

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Theories of Job Satisfaction• Each theory of job satisfaction takes into account

one or more of the four main determinants of job satisfaction and specifies, in more detail, what causes one worker to be satisfied with a job and another to be dissatisfied.

• Influential theories of job satisfaction include– The Facet Model– Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene Theory– The Discrepancy Model– The Steady-State Theory

• These different theoretical approaches should be viewed as complementary.

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The Facet Model• Focuses primarily on work situation factors by

breaking a job into its component elements, or job facets, and looking at how satisfied workers are with each.

• A worker’s overall job satisfaction is determined by summing his or her satisfaction with each facet of the job.

• Sample job facets (see Table 3.2):– Ability utilization: the extent to which the job allows one

to use one’s abilities.– Activity: being able to keep busy on the job.– Human relations supervision: the interpersonal skills of

one’s boss.

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Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene Theory• Every worker has two sets of needs or

requirements: motivator needs and hygiene needs.

• Motivator needs are associated with the actual work itself and how challenging it is.– Facets: interesting work, autonomy, responsibility

• Hygiene needs are associated with the physical and psychological context in which the work is performed.– Facets: physical working conditions, pay, security

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Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene Theory• Hypothesized relationships between

motivator needs, hygiene needs, and job satisfaction:– When motivator needs are met, workers will be

satisfied; when these needs are not met, workers will not be satisfied.

– When hygiene needs are met, workers will not be dissatisfied; when these needs are not met, workers will be dissatisfied.

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The Discrepancy Model• To determine how satisfied they are with

their jobs, workers compare their job to some “ideal job.” This “ideal job” could be– What one thinks the job should be like– What one expected the job to be like– What one wants from a job– What one’s former job was like

• Can be used in combination with the Facet Model.

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The Steady-State Theory• Each worker has a typical or

characteristic level of job satisfaction, called the steady state or equilibrium level.

• Different situational factors or events at work may move a worker temporarily from this steady state, but the worker will eventually return to his or her equilibrium level.

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Advice to Managers• Realize that some workers are going to be more satisfied than others with

the same job simply because they have different personalities and work values. Also realize that you can take steps to increase levels of job satisfaction because it is determined not only by personality but also by the work situation.

• Try to place newcomers in work groups whose members are satisfied with their jobs.

• Ask workers what facets of their jobs are important to them, and do what you can to ensure that they are satisfied with these facets.

• Because job satisfaction has the potential to impact workers’ behaviors in organizations and their well-being, use existing measurement scales to periodically survey your subordinates’ levels of job satisfaction. When levels of job satisfaction are low, follow the advice in the preceding step.

• Recognize that workers’ evaluations of job facets, not what you think about them, determine how satisfied workers are and that changing some facets may have longer-lasting effects on job satisfaction than changing others.

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Potential Consequencesof Job Satisfaction

• PerformancePerformance: Satisfied workers are only slightly more likely to perform at a higher level than dissatisfied workers.– Satisfaction is most likely to affect work behaviors

when workers are free to vary their behaviors and when a worker’s attitude is relevant to the behavior in question.

• AbsenteeismAbsenteeism: Satisfied workers are only slightly less likely to be absent than dissatisfied workers.

• TurnoverTurnover: Satisfied workers are less likely to leave the organization than dissatisfied workers.

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Determinants of Absence from Work(Table 3.3)

Motivationto Attend Workis Affected by

• Job satisfaction• Organization’s

absence policy• Other factors

Abilityto Attend Workis Affected by

• Illness and accidents• Transportation

problems• Family responsibilities

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Potential Consequencesof Job Satisfaction

• Organizational citizenship behaviorOrganizational citizenship behavior (OCB): Satisfied workers are more likely to engage in this behavior than dissatisfied workers.– OCB: Behavior that is above and beyond the call of

duty but is nonetheless necessary for organizational survival and effectiveness

• Helping coworkers, spreading goodwill

• Worker well-beingWorker well-being: Satisfied workers are more likely to have strong well-being than dissatisfied workers.– Worker well-being: How happy, healthy, and

prosperous workers are

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Advice to Managers• Do not assume that poor performers are dissatisfied with their jobs or that

good performers are satisfied with their jobs.• Do not assume that workers who are absent are dissatisfied or that they

were not motivated to come to work. Absence is also a function of ability to attend.

• Manage absenteeism. Don’t try to eliminate it, and keep in mind that a certain level of absence is often functional for workers and organizations.

• Realize that turnover has both costs and benefits for an organization and that you need to evaluate both. In particular, before becoming concerned about worker turnover, examine the performance levels of those who quit.

• If workers do only what they are told and rarely, if ever, exhibit organizational citizenship behavior, measure their levels of job satisfaction, identify the job facets they are dissatisfied with, and make changes where possible.

• Even if job satisfaction does not seem to have an effect on important behaviors in your organization, keep in mind that it is an important factor in worker well-being.

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Organizational Commitment• Affective commitmentAffective commitment exists when workers are

happy to be members of an organization, believe in and feel good about the organization and what it stands for, are attached to the organization, and intend to do what is good for the organization.

• Continuance commitmentContinuance commitment exists when workers are committed not so much because they want to be but because they have to be; the costs of leaving the organization are too great.

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Advice to Managers

• Adopt socially responsible policies and programs such as supporting protection of the environment and helping out the community in which your organization is located.

• Be committed to your employees by, for example, showing concern for their well-being, helping them when they have hard times, and soliciting their input on decisions that will affect them.

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