1. Attitudes Can Shape Your Life

2. List and explain the ways people acquire attitudes.
Understand the impact of employee attitudes on the success of individuals as well as organizations.
List and explain the ways people acquire attitudes.
Describe attitudes that employers value.
Learn how to change your attitudes and help others change their attitudes.
Understand what adjustments organizations are making to develop positive employee attitudes.
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

3. The Importance of Attitudes
Attitude Defined:
A thought, accepted as true, that leads one to think, feel or act positively or negatively toward a person, idea or event
An emotional readiness to behave in a particular way
You learn them and can change them
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

4. The Relationship Among Core Values, Attitudes, and Behaviors
FIGURE 5.1
The Relationship Among Core Values, Attitudes, and Behaviors
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

5. Core Values Revisited Core Values
Are unique values that an individual consistently ranks higher than other values
Are the building blocks of personality
Provide answers to questions:
What are the highest priorities in my life?
Of these priorities, which do I value most
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

6. The Powerful Influence of Attitudes
People with positive attitudes are more likely to achieve personal and professional goals
People with negative attitudes find it difficult to achieve contentment or satisfaction in life
How do attitudes have an impact in the workplace?
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

7. The Information Age Mandates Attitude Change
Quick, accurate information and advanced technology is not enough to retain customers
Empathizers provide the balance between “high tech” and “high touch” as we move from the information age to the conceptual age
Competitive advantage is now based on superior customer service
What attitudes are important for strong customer service personnel to have?
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

8. How Attitudes Are Formed
Socialization
Process through which people are integrated into a society by exposure to actions and opinions of others
Media Influences
How does the presentation of messages in the news by the media affect our attitudes?
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

9. How Attitudes Are Formed
Peer Groups
Have a powerful influence on attitude during adolescence, possibly stronger than adults
Reference Groups
Share a common interest that can influence behavior, provide a point of comparison and serve as a source of information
In what reference groups do/could you belong?
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

10. How Attitudes Are Formed
Rewards and Punishment
Attitudes are developed to minimize punishment and maximize rewards
Role Model Identification
Someone that you admire or are likely to emulate such as managers in organizations
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

11. How Attitudes Are Formed
Cultural Influences
The sum total of knowledge, beliefs, values, and customs that we use to adapt to our environment
What attitudes have you adopted from your:
-national culture? -ethnic culture?
-regional culture? -state culture?
-school culture? -work culture?
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

12. Attitudes Valued by Employers
Valued Attitudes
Self-Motivation
Openness to Change
Basic Interpersonal Skills
Appreciation of Coworker Diversity
Personal honesty
Team Spirit
Health Consciousness
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

13. How to Change Your Attitude
Attitudes are hard but not impossible to change; they foster achieving positive results by helping a person:
Choose happiness
Embrace optimism
Think independently
Keep an open mind
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

14. How to Change Your Attitude
Choose Happiness
Happiness is the state of mind that permits us to live life enthusiastically
Perceptions of the situation are critical
Happy people Unhappy people
more sociable – self-focused
flexible – socially withdrawn
creative – antagonistic
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

15. How to Change Your Attitude
Embrace Optimism
Optimistic thoughts give rise to good moods, which help develop positive attitudes
Avoid pessimism which leads to cynicism
Is “reality” all relative?
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

16. How to Change Your Attitude
Think for Yourself
Avoid “group think” by not intermixing personal and professional relationships
Evaluate situations based on your values
Keep an Open Mind
Know that attitudes can persist in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary
Grow more flexible by exposing yourself to new experiences and information
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

17. FIGURE 5.2 Serenity Prayer
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18. Helping Others Change Attitudes
Change attitudes by:
Changing conditions that precede the behavior
Changing the positive or negative consequences that follow when the person exhibits the behavior
Do you believe it’s possible to change others’ attitudes? If so, under what conditions?
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

19. Organizations’ Efforts Toward Improving Employees’ Attitudes
Employees’ attitudes and performance cannot be separated
Workers’ attitudes are positively affected by:
Respect and recognition
Interesting work
Skill development
Does pay affect attitude?
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

20. attitudes empathizer socialization peer group reference group
role model
culture
cynicism
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.