HND - 3. Attitudes & Job satisfaction Lim Sei Kee @ cK

ATTITUDES Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people or events. Reflection of how one feels about something.

Three components of an attitude: Affective Cognitive Behavioral Attitude The emotional or feeling segment of an attitude The opinion or belief segment of an attitude Attitudes are evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events. Attitudes are made up of three components. The cognitive component is made up of the belief in the way things are. The affective component is the more critical part of the attitude as it is calls upon the emotions or feelings. The behavioral component describes the intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something. These three components work together to aid in our understanding of the complexity of an attitude. An intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Types of attitudes: Job satisfaction – Collection of feelings that an individual holds toward his or her job. Job involvement – The degree to which a person indentifies with his or her job, actively participates in it, and considers his or her performance important to self-worth. Organizational commitment – The degree to which an organization identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organization.

Attitudes and Consistency Did you ever notice how people change what they say so it does not contradict what they do? Research has generally concluded that people seek consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes and their behavior. Individuals seek to reconcile divergent attitudes and align their attitudes and behavior so they appear rational and consistent.

Can we also assume from this consistency principle that an individual’s behavior can always be predicted if we know his or her attitude on a subject? Unfortunately, the answer is more complex than merely a “Yes” or “No.”

Cognitive Dissonance Theory. Dissonance : inconsistency. Cognitive Dissonance : Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes. 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 over the elements and the rewards that maybe involved in dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance is a very powerful motivator which will often lead us to change one or other of the conflicting belief or action. To release the tension we can take one of three actions:  Change our behavior.  Justify our behavior by changing the conflicting cognition.  Justify our behavior by adding new cognitions.

Example 1: Knowing that smoking is harmful (First cognition) while liking to smoke (second cognition). The Cognitive dissonance theory's conditions were met because those cognitions are dissonant Example 2: Believing that lying is bad (First cognition) and being forced to lie (second cognition) Example 3: Liking a friend (first cognition) while knowing that he hates your brother (second cognition)

Example 1: In such a case a person could create a new cognition by claiming that lots of old people smoke since they were young and they are still healthy Example 2: In this case the person might change his behavior by not lying or even change his attitude by claiming that he believes in the lie Example 3: In such a case the person can claim that his friend doesn't like his brother because he didn't have time to know him well.

Self-Perception Theory People decide on their own attitudes and feelings from watching themselves behave in various situations. This is particularly true when internal cues are so weak or confusing they effectively put the person in the same position as an external observer.

Self-Perception Theory provides an alternative explanation for cognitive dissonance effects. For example Festinger and Carlsmith's experiment where people were paid $1 or $20 to lie. Cognitive dissonance says that people felt bad about lying for $1 because they could not justify the act. Self-perception takes an 'observer's view, concluding that those who were paid $1 must have really enjoyed it (because $1 does not justify the act) whilst those who were paid $20 were just doing it for the money.

Note that this indicates how changing people's attitudes happens only when two factors are present:  They are aroused, feeling the discomfort of dissonance.  They attribute the cause of this to their own behaviors and attitudes. Example If you hear a lot of rock music and do not particularly dislike it, you will probably conclude that you do like it.

Job Satisfaction How do we measure job satisfaction? An employee’s assessment of how satisfied or dissatisfied he or she is with his or her job is a complex summation of a number of discrete job elements.

JOB SATISFACTION Determinant : Mentally Challenging work Equitable Rewards Supportive Working Conditions Supportive Colleagues Personality – Job Fit

Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance Satisfaction And Productivity Happy workers are not necessarily productive workers. Productivity is likely to lead to satisfaction. Organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than organizations with fewer satisfied employees. Happy organizations are more productive.

Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance Satisfaction And Absenteeism Although it certainly makes sense that dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work, other factors have an impact on the relationship.

Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance Satisfaction And Turnover Satisfaction is negatively related to turnover. Other factors: labor-market conditions, expectations about alternative job opportunities, and length of tenure with the organization.

Effect of Job Satisfaction: Productivity Absenteeism Turnover

The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance Satisfaction and Productivity Satisfied workers aren’t 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 retain high performers and to weed out lower performers.

Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction Satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction because: They are more friendly, upbeat, and responsive. They are less likely to turnover which helps build long-term customer relationships. They are experienced. Dissatisfied customers increase employee job dissatisfaction.

What about employee dissatisfaction? Expressing dissatisfaction: Exit : Dissatisfaction expressed through behavior directed toward leaving the organization. Voice : Dissatisfaction expressed through active and constructive attempts to improve conditions. Loyalty : Dissatisfaction expressed by passively waiting for conditions to improve. Neglect : Dissatisfaction expressed through allowing conditions to worsen.

Employee Responses to Dissatisfaction Active Exit Behavior directed toward leaving the organization Voice Active and constructive attempts to improve conditions Neglect Allowing conditions to worsen Loyalty Passively waiting for conditions to improve Destructive Constructive When employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, they have four basic responses they can utilize. These options are divided into active and passive choices. The active options are exit and voice. If employees select to exit, they choose to leave or move in a direction of leaving the organization. In voice, the employees will work toward active and constructive attempts to improve conditions. The passive options are neglect and loyalty. Employees may choose to neglect their work and just allow conditions to worsen or they may choose to remain loyal to the organization and just wait for change. Passive (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Presentation Q What is cognitive dissonance and how is it related to attitudes? What is the relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism? Turnover? Which is the stronger relationship? Contrast exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect as employee responses to job dissatisfaction. Do you agree that managers can create satisfied employees? Explain.