2. OrganizationalBehavior
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Defining Attitudes
Attitude is a hypothetical construct
Cannot be directly observed – inferred from what
people say and do
Attitude objects are concrete, abstract, about people,
groups of people and inanimate objects
Behaviour towards objects is dependent upon attitude
towards objects
Attitudes tend to persist unless something is done to
change them
Attitudes can fall anywhere along a continuum from
very favourable to very unfavourable.
Attitudes are directed towards some object about which
a person has feelings or affect and beliefs
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Evaluative statements or
judgments concerning objects,
people, or events.
Three components of an attitude:
The emotionalThe emotional
or feelingor feeling
segment of ansegment of an
attitudeattitude
The opinion orThe opinion or
belief segment ofbelief segment of
an attitudean attitude An intention toAn intention to
behave in a certainbehave in a certain
way toward someoneway toward someone
or somethingor something
7. THREE COMPONENTS OF
ATTITUDES
Cognitive Component – The opinion
or belief segment of an attitude.
Affective Component – The
emotional or feeling segment of an
attitude.
Behavioral Component – An
intention to behave in a certain way
towards someone or something.
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Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance: Any incompatibility between
two or more attitudes or between behavior and
attitudes
People’s attitudes or beliefs can be consonant (in line),
dissonant (at odds), or not related to each other
If dissonant, we experience psychological discomfort
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
9. MODERATING VARIABLES
The most powerful moderators of the attitude-
behavior relationship are:
Importance of the attitude
Correspondence to behavior
Accessibility
Existence of social pressures
Personal and direct experience of the
attitude.
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10. CHANGING ATTITUDES
Barriers to changing attitudes:
1. Prior commitment
2. Insufficient information
Methods to overcome barriers and change
attitudes:
1. Providing new information
2. Use of fear
3. Resolving Discrepancies
4. Influence of friends and peers
5. The co-opting approach
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11. WHAT ARE THE MAJOR JOB ATTITUDES?
Job Satisfaction
A positive feeling about the job resulting from an
evaluation of its characteristics
Job Involvement
Degree of psychological identification with the
job where perceived performance is important to
self-worth
Psychological Empowerment
Belief in the degree of influence over the job,
competence, job meaningfulness, and autonomy
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12. ANOTHER MAJOR JOB ATTITUDE
Organizational Commitment
Identifying with a particular organization and its
goals, while wishing to maintain membership in
the organization.
Three dimensions:
Affective – emotional attachment to
organization
Continuance Commitment – economic value of
staying
Normative - moral or ethical obligations
Has some relation to performance, especially for
new employees.
Less important now than in past – now perhaps
more of occupational commitment, loyalty to
profession rather than a given employer. 12
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13. AND YET MORE MAJOR JOB ATTITUDES…
Perceived Organizational Support (POS)
Degree to which employees believe the organization values
their contribution and cares about their well-being.
Higher when rewards are fair, employees are involved in
decision-making, and supervisors are seen as supportive.
High POS is related to higher OCBs and performance.
Employee Engagement
The degree of involvement with, satisfaction with, and
enthusiasm for the job.
Engaged employees are passionate about their work and
company.
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14. OUTCOMES OF JOB SATISFACTION
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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15. MORE OUTCOMES OF JOB SATISFACTION
Turnover
Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.
Many moderating variables in this relationship.
Economic environment and tenure
Organizational 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 job satisfaction on the bottom line, most
managers are either unconcerned about or
overestimate worker satisfaction. 15
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16. VALUES
Basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-
state of conduct or end-state of existence is personally
or socially preferable to an opposite or converse
mode of conduct or end-state of existence.
Attributes of Values:
Content Attribute – that the mode of conduct or end-
state is important
Intensity Attribute – just how important that content is.
Value System
A person’s values rank ordered by intensity
Tends to be relatively constant and consistent 16
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17. IMPORTANCE OF VALUES
Provide understanding of the attitudes, motivation,
and behaviors
Influence our perception of the world around us
Represent interpretations of “right” and “wrong”
Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are preferred
over others
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18. CLASSIFYING VALUES –
ROKEACH VALUE SURVEY
Terminal Values
Desirable end-states of existence; the goals that a
person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime
Instrumental Values
Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving
one’s terminal values
People in same occupations or categories tend to hold
similar values
But values vary between groups
Value differences make it difficult for groups to negotiate
and may create conflict 18
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19. VALUES IN THE ROKEACH SURVEY
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20. VALUES
Values differ across cultures.
Hofstede’s Framework for assessing
culture – five value dimensions:
Power Distance
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Masculinity vs. Femininity
Uncertainty Avoidance
Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation
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21. HOFSTEDE’S FRAMEWORK:
POWER DISTANCE
The extent to which a society accepts that power in
institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.
Low distance
Relatively equal power between those with
status/wealth and those without status/wealth
High distance
Extremely unequal power distribution between those
with status/wealth and those without status/wealth
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22. HOFSTEDE’S FRAMEWORK:
INDIVIDUALISM
Individualism
The degree to which people prefer to act as
individuals rather than a member of groups
Collectivism
A tight social framework in which people expect
others in groups of which they are a part to look
after them and protect them
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23. HOFSTEDE’S FRAMEWORK:
MASCULINITY
Masculinity
The extent to which the society values work roles
of achievement, power, and control, and where
assertiveness and materialism are also valued
Femininity
The extent to which there is little differentiation
between roles for men and women
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24. HOFSTEDE’S FRAMEWORK:
UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE
The extent to which a society feels threatened by
uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to
avoid them
High Uncertainty Avoidance:
Society does not like ambiguous situations and tries to avoid
them.
Low Uncertainty Avoidance:
Society does not mind ambiguous situations and embraces
them.
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25. HOFSTEDE’S FRAMEWORK:
TIME ORIENTATION
Long-term Orientation
A national culture attribute that emphasizes the
future, thrift, and persistence
Short-term Orientation
A national culture attribute that emphasizes the
present and the here and now
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26. HOFSTEDE’S FRAMEWORK: AN
ASSESSMENT
There are regional differences within countries
The original data is old and based on only one
company
Hofstede had to make many judgment calls while
doing the research
Some results don’t match what is believed to be true
about given countries
Despite these problems it remains a very popular
framework
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