lesson 3 - attitudes and job satisfaction

8/12/2019 Lesson 3 - Attitudes and Job Satisfaction

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ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION

Robbins & Judge, Organizational Behavior, 14thed

2-0Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.publishing as Prentice Hall


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Chapter Learning Objectives

Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

Contrast the three components of an attitude.

Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior.

Compare and contrast the major job attitudes. Define job satisfaction and show how it can be measured.

Summarize the main causes of job satisfaction.

Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction.

Show whether job satisfaction is a relevant concept in

countries other than the United States.


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Attitudes and Consistency

Did you ever notice how people change what they

say so it doesnt contradict what they do?

Perhaps a friend of yours has consistently argue

that the quality of Malaysian cars isnt up to that of

the import brands and that hed never own anything

but a Japanese or German car.

But his dad gives him a Proton Persona andsuddenly Malaysian cars arent so bad.

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Or when going through sorority rush, a new

freshman believes that sorority are good and that

pledging a sorority is important.

If she fails to make a sorority, however she may say,I realized that sorority life isnt all its cracked up to

be, anyway

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Research have generally concluded that people

seek consistency among their attitudes and their

behavior.

This means individuals seek to reconcile or aligntheir attitudes and behavior so that they appear

rational and consistent.

Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as

Prentice Hall

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Attitudes

3-5 Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects,

people, or events

Three components of an attitude:

Attitude

Behavioral

Cognitive Affective

The emotional or

feeling segment of

an attitudeThe opinion or

belief segment of

an attitudeAn intention to behave

in a certain way toward

someone or something

See E X H I B I T 31


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Does Behavior Always Follow from

Attitudes?3-6

Leon FestingerNo, the reverse is sometimes true!

Cognitive Dissonance: Any incompatibility between two or more

attitudes or between behavior and attitudes

Individuals seek to reduce this uncomfortable gap, or dissonance,to reach stability and consistency

Consistency is achieved by changing the attitudes, modifying the

behaviors, or through rationalization

Desire to reduce dissonance depends on:

Importance of elements

Degree of individual influence

Rewards involved in dissonance


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Cognitive dissonance is the theory sought to explain

the linkage between attitudes and behaviors.

Dissonance means an inconsistency.

Cognitive dissonance refers to any incompatibility

that an individual might perceive between two or

more of his or her attitudes .

Any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and thatindividual will attempt to reduce the dissonance and

hence the discomfort.


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Therefore, individuals will seek a stable state, in

which there is a minimum of dissonance.

No individual, can completely avoid dissonance.

You know that by cheating on your income tax is

wrong, but you fudge the numbers a bit every

year and hope that youre not audited.

Or you tell your children to floss their teetheveryday, but you dont.

So how do people cope?


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It is proposed that the desire to reduce dissonance

would be determined by the importance of the

elements creating the dissonance, the degree of

influence the individual believes he or she has overthe elements, and the reward that may be involved

in dissonance.


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Example

A corporate manager- Mrs Baker believes strongly

that no company should pollute the air or water.

Unfortunately, Mrs Baker is placed in the position of

having to make decisions that would trade off hercompanys profitability against her attitudes on

pollution.

She knows that dumping the companys sewage into

local river (which we assume is legal) is in the best

economic interest of her firm. What will she do?


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Clearly Mrs Baker is experiencing high degree of

dissonance.

There are few alternatives on what she can do:

1. She can change her behavior (stop polluting the

river)

2. Reduce dissonance by concluding that the

dissonant behavior is not so important after all (Ivegot to make a living and my role as corporate

manager)


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3. Changer her attitude (There is nothing wrong with

polluting the river).


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Moderating Variables3-13

The most powerful moderators of the attitude-behaviorrelationship are:

Importance of the attitude

Correspondence to behavior

Accessibility

Existence of social pressures

Personal and direct experience of the attitude

BehaviorPredictAttitudes

Moderating Variables


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Predicting Behavior from Attitudes3-14

Important attitudes have a strong relationship to

behavior.

The closer the match between attitude and

behavior, the stronger the relationship:

Specific attitudes predict specific behavior

General attitudes predict general behavior

The more frequently expressed an attitude, the

better predictor it is.

High social pressures reduce the relationship and

may cause dissonance.

Attitudes based on personal experience are

stronger predictors.


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What are the Major Job Attitudes?3-15

Job Satisfaction

A positive feeling about the jobresulting from an evaluation of itscharacteristics

Job Involvement

Degree of psychological identificationwith the job where perceivedperformance is important to self-worth

Psychological Empowerment

Belief in the degree of influence overthe job, competence, jobmeaningfulness, and autonomy


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Job Satisfaction

The term job satisfaction refers to a collection of

feelings that an individual holds toward his or her

job.

A person with high level of job satisfaction holdspositive feelings about the job, while a person who

is dissatisfied with his or her job holds negative

feelings about the job.


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Job involvement

Employees with a high level of job involvement

strongly identify with and really care about the

kind of work they do.

A high level of job involvement is positively relatedto organizational citizenship and job performance.

In addition, high job involvement has been found to

be related to fewer absences and lower resignationrates.


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Another Major Job Attitude3-18

Organizational Commitment

Identifying with a particular organization and its goals,

while wishing to maintain membership in the organization.

Three dimensions:1. Affectiveemotional attachment to organization

2. Continuance Commitmenteconomic value of staying

3. Normativemoral or ethical obligations

Has some relation to performance, especially for newemployees.

Less important now than in the pastnow perhaps more of

an occupational commitment, loyalty to profession rather

than a given employer.


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Organizational Commitment

Organizational commitment is defined as a state in

which an employee identifies with a particular

organizations and its goals and wishes to maintain

membership in the organization. It appears there is a positive relationship between

organizational commitment and job productivity.

Studies demonstrates that an individuals level oforganizational commitment is a better indicator of

turnover.


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Are These Job Attitudes Really Distinct?3-21

No: these attitudes arehighly related.

Variables may beredundant (measuringthe same thing under a

different name)

While there is somedistinction, there is alsoa lot of overlap.

Be patient, OB researchers are working on it!


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Job Satisfaction3-22

One of the primary job attitudes measured.

Broad term involving a complex individual summation

of a number of discrete job elements.

How to measure? Single global rating (one question/one answer) - Best

Summation score (many questions/one average) - OK

Are people satisfied in their jobs? In the U. S., yes, but the level appears to be dropping.

Results vary by employee facets of the job.

Pay and promotion are the most problematic elements.


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Causes of Job Satisfaction3-23

Pay influences job satisfaction only to a point.

After about $40,000 per year (in the U.S.), there is no

relationship between amount of pay and job satisfaction.

Money may bring happiness, but not necessarily jobsatisfaction.

Personality can influence job satisfaction.

Negative people are usually not satisfied with their jobs.

Those with positive core self-evaluation are more satisfied

with their jobs.


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Employee Responses to Dissatisfaction3-24

Exit

Behavior directed

toward leaving theorganization

Voice

Active andconstructive

attempts toimprove conditions

NeglectAllowing conditions

to worsen

Loyalty

Passively waitingfor conditions to

improve

See E X H I B I T 34

Active

Passive

Constructiv

e

Destructiv

e


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Outcomes of Job Satisfaction3-25

Job Performance

Satisfied workers are more productive AND more productive

workers are more satisfied!

The causality may run both ways. Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Satisfaction influences OCB through perceptions of fairness.

Customer Satisfaction

Satisfied frontline employees increase customer satisfaction and

loyalty.

Absenteeism

Satisfied employees are moderately less likely to miss work.


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More Outcomes of Job Satisfaction3-26

Turnover Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.

Many moderating variables in this relationship.Economic environment and tenureOrganizational actions taken to retain high performers

and to weed out lower performers

Workplace Deviance Dissatisfied workers are more likely to unionize, abuse

substances, steal, be tardy, and withdraw.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of the impact of jobsatisfactionon the bottom line, most managers are eitherunconcerned about or overestimate worker satisfaction.


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Global Implications3-27

Is Job Satisfaction a U.S. Concept?

No, but most of the research so far has been in the U.S.

Are Employees in Western Cultures More SatisfiedWith Their Jobs?

Western workers appear to be more satisfied than thosein Eastern cultures.

Perhaps because Westerners emphasize positive emotionsand individual happiness more than do those in Easterncultures.


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Summary and Managerial Implications3-28

Managers should watch employee attitudes:

They give warnings of potential problems

They influence behavior

Managers should try to increase job satisfaction andgenerate positive job attitudes

Reduces costs by lowering turnover, absenteeism, tardiness,theft, and increasing OCB

Focus on the intrinsic parts of the job: make workchallenging and interesting

Pay is not enough

lesson 3 - attitudes and job satisfaction

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