1. What do you want from your job?
Rank these in order of importance to you:
Appreciation for good work
Possibility for promotion
Feeling “in” on things
Job security
Help with personal problems
Good wages
Interesting work
Loyalty of management to workers
Tactful discipline
Good working conditions

2. Results of a national poll on these factors:
How supervisors How workers
ranked what they ranked what
Factor thought workers they thought
wanted was important
Appreciation for good work
Possibility for promotion
Feeling “in” on things
Job security
Help with personal problems
Good wages
Interesting work
Loyalty of Mgt. to workers
Tactful discipline
Good working conditions

3. Dominant Values in Today’s American Workforce
Career
Stage
Entered the
Workforce
Approximate
Current Age
Dominant
Work Values
1. Protestant
Work Ethic
2. Existential
3. Pragmatic
4. Generation X
Mid-1940s to
Late 1950s
1960s to
Mid-1970s
Mid-1970s to
Mid-1980s
through 1990s
60 to 75
45 to 60
35 to 45
Under 35
Hard working; loyal to
firm; conservative
Nonconforming; seeks
autonomy; loyal to self
Ambitious, hard worker;
loyal to career
Flexible, values leisure;
loyal to relationships
Workers who grew up influenced by the Great Depression, World War II, U.S. leadership in world manufacturing, the Andrews sisters, and the Berlin blockade entered the workforce from the mid-1940s to the late 1950s. They believed in the Protestant work ethic. Once hired, they tend to be loyal to an employer. They are likely to value family security and a comfortable life.
Employees who entered the workforce from the 1960s to the mid-1970s were influenced by John F. Kennedy, the civil rights movement, the Beatles, and the war in Vietnam. They brought with them a large measure of the “hippie ethic” and existential philosophy. Quality of life is more important to them than money and possessions. They value autonomy, freedom, and equality.
Those who entered the workforce from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s reflect society’s return to more traditional values but with a greater emphasis on achievement and material success. They were influenced by Ronal Reagan, the defense build-up, dual-career households, and $150,000 starter homes. They are pragmatists who believe that ends can justify means. A sense of accomplishment and social recognition rank high for them.
The lives of the members of Generation X have been shaped by globalization, the fall of Communism, MTV, AIDS, and computers. They value flexibility, life options, job satisfaction, family, and relationships. Money is important as an indicator of career performance, but they are willing to trade off leisure time for increases in salary, titles, security, and promotions.
Prentice Hall, 2000
Chapter 2

4. Values Across Cultures
Power Distance
Individualism
Quantity of Life
Uncertainty Avoidance
Long-Term or Short-Term
One of the most widely referenced approaches for analyzing variations across cultures was done by Geert Hofstede. After surveying 116, 000 IBM workers in 40 countries, he found that managers and employees differ on the following five value dimensions of national culture:
Power distance is the degree to which people accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. The range is from relatively equal (low power distance) to very unequal (high power distance). Individualism is the degree to which people in a country prefer to act alone rather than as members of groups. Collectivism is the equivalent of low individualism. Quantity of life is the degree to which people value assertiveness, competition, and the acquisition of money and possessions. Quality of life is the degree to which people value relationships and show sensitivity and concern for others. Uncertainty avoidance is the degree to which people prefer structured over unstructured situations. People who score high on uncertainty avoidance have an increased level of anxiety. People in long-term orientation countries look to the future and value thrift and persistence. A short-term orientation values the past and present and emphasizes respect for tradition and social obligations.
People in the United States have the following scores: power distance (low), individualism (high), quantity of life (high), uncertainty avoidance (low), and long-term orientation (low). People in China have the following scores: power distance (high), individualism (low), quantity of life (moderate), uncertainty avoidance (moderate), long-term orientation (high). See page 19 in the text for more examples.
Most of the concepts that make up the body of knowledge called organizational behavior have been developed by Americans using subjects within domestic contexts. Therefore, not all OB concepts and theories are universally applicable to managing in a global context, especially in countries where work values are considerably different from those in the United States. So cultural values should be considered when trying to understand behavior.
Prentice Hall, 2000
Chapter 2

5. Key Variables Affecting Behavior
Values
Motivation
Attitudes
Perception
Behavior
Personality
The model above summarizes our discussion of individual behavior.
An individual enters an organization with a relatively entrenched set of values and an established personality. Even though they are not permanently fixed, individual attitudes, values, and personality are essentially “givens.” How employees interpret their environment will influence their level of motivation, what they learn on the job, and their on-the-job behavior. We have also added “ability” to the model to acknowledge that an individual’s behavior is influenced by the talents and skills that he or she holds when joining the organization. Learning, of course, will alter this variable over time.
Learning
Ability
Prentice Hall, 2000
Chapter 2