Attitudes

Beliefs ,Values and Attitudes

• Beliefs refer to the way in which an individual organizes

his/her perceptions and cognitions
Ex- Belief in God

• Values refer to the cognition of an individual that a certain

mode of conduct or style of behavior is socially preferable to
the other possible modes of conduct or style of behavior
Ex- Personal discipline, kindness, meaning in life, etc

• Attitude is defined as a tendency to feel and behave in a

particular way towards objects, people or events
Ex- Tendency towards taking or giving a bribe
 Example of Values
• In Tata:
– Integrity
– Responsibility
– Excellence
– Pioneering
– Unity
• At Reliance, we believe that any business conduct can be
Ethical only when it rests on the core values of Customer
Value, Ownership Mindset, Respect, Integrity, One Team &
Excellence. Strong commitments to these values have long
been the guiding principles for Reliance.
 Types of Values

• Terminal Values: Desirable end-states of existence; the goals a

person would like to achieve during his/her lifetime
Ex- True Friendship , Comfortable life, etc

• Instrumental Values: Preferable modes of behavior or means

of achieving one’s terminal values
Ex- Being responsible, Being ambitious, etc
Examples of Terminal and Instrumental
Values
 Ex-1

Prosperity and Economic Success

 Ex-1-Key

Prosperity and Economic Success- Terminal Value

 Ex-2

Freedom
 Ex-2-Key

Freedom- Terminal Value

 Ex-3

Autonomy and Self-Reliance

 Ex-3-Key

Autonomy and Self-Reliance- Instrumental

Value
 Ex-4

Health and Well-being

 Ex-4-Key

Health and Well-being- Terminal Value

 Ex-5

Personal Discipline
 Ex-5-Key

Personal Discipline- Instrumental Value

 Ex-6

World Peace
 Ex-6-Key

World Peace-Terminal Value

 Ex-7

Meaning in Life
 Ex-7-Key

Meaning in Life- Terminal Value

 Ex-8

Kindness
 Ex-8-Key

Kindness- Instrumental Value

 Ex-9

Goal Orientation
 Ex-9-Key

Goal Orientation-Instrumental Value

 Sources of Attitudes
• Genetic make-up of a child
• Parents and siblings
• Relatives and Friends
• Schooling
• Society
• Popular personalities
• Colleagues
• Coercion or Threat
• New information
• Resolving differences
• Involving people in problem solving
• Feedback
 Components of Attitude
• Cognitive Component: The opinion or belief segment of an
attitude
Ex- My supervisor is unfair

• Affective Component: The emotional or feeling segment of an

attitude
Ex-I dislike my supervisor

• Behavioral Component: An intention to behave in a certain

way towards someone or something
Ex- I have complained about my supervisor to someone who
would listen
Components of Attitude
Examples of Components of Attitude
 Ex-1

I am angry over how little I am paid

My pay is low

I am going to look for another job that pays me

better
 Ex-1-Key

I am angry over how little I am paid- Affective

My pay is low-Cognitive

I am going to look for another job that pays me

better-Behavioral
 Ex-2

I believe spiders are dangerous

I am scared of spiders

I will avoid spiders and scream if I see one

 Ex-2-Key

I believe spiders are dangerous-Cognitive

I am scared of spiders-Affective

I will avoid spiders and scream if I see one-

Behavioral
 Ex-3

May dislike welfare recipients

Welfare recipients are lazy

Might want to keep welfare recipients out of our

neighborhood
 Ex-3-Key

May dislike welfare recipients-Affective

Welfare recipients are lazy-Cognitive

Might want to keep welfare recipients out of our

neighborhood-Behavioral
 Major Job Attitudes

• Job satisfaction

• Job involvement

• Organizational Commitment

• Perceived Organizational Support

• Employee Engagement
 Job Satisfaction
• It is defined as the pleasurable or positive emotional state that results
when an individual evaluates his/her job or job experience and
perceives that his/her job provides him/her with what is important to
him/her. The dimensions are:
 Job satisfaction is an emotional response to a job
 Job satisfaction that an individual derives from his/her job depends on
the extent to which outcomes meet his expectations
 Job satisfaction reflects other attitudes of employees

• The sources of job satisfaction are:

 The work itself
 Pay
 Promotion opportunities
 Supervision
 Coworkers
 Working Conditions
 Outcomes of Job Satisfaction

• productivity

• turnover

• absenteeism

• Other effects of job satisfaction like enthusiasm in learning job

related tasks, high morale, helping fellow employees, low
stress levels, less on- the-job accidents and fewer grievances
 Job involvement and Organizational Commitment

• Job involvement refers to the extent to which a person identifies

himself/herself psychologically with his/her job, actively participates in it
and considers that his/her performance in the job contributes to his/her self
worth

• Employees who are highly involved with their jobs strongly identify
themselves with the kind of work they do and strive to deliver quality work

• Organizational Commitment refers to an employee’s satisfaction and

strong inclination towards a particular organization and its values and goals

• Organizational Commitment is affected by employee’s age, tenure,

attitude, job design, leadership style, state of job market and other career
options available to the employee
 Components of Organizational Commitment
• Affective Commitment: Employee’s emotional attachment and
involvement with the organization
Ex- I am not leaving the job because of company’s employee friendly
culture

• Continuance Commitment: Influenced by costs that could accrue to

the employee if he/she leaves the organization
Ex- I am not leaving the job because I am paid well and feel it would
hurt my family expenses

• Normative Commitment: Extent to which an employee feels

obligated to continue in the organization for ethical reasons
Ex- I am not leaving the job because I feel that it would leave the
employer in the lurch
 Perceived Organizational Support and
Employee Engagement
• Perceived Organizational Support: It is the degree to which
employees believe an organization values their contribution
and cares about their well- being
Ex-An employee perceives that his/her organization would
forgive an honest mistake on his/her part if he/she had a child
care problem

• Employee Engagement: It is an individual’s involvement with,

satisfaction with and enthusiasm for the work he/she does
Ex-Some employees work with passion and feel a deep
connection while some employees put time but not energy and
attention into work
 Functions of Attitudes

• Adjustment function: Adjusting to the work environment

Ex- Adapting to the unfavorable work environment

• Ego defensive function: Defending the self image

Ex- Not taking a junior employee’s feedback on own mistakes

• Value expressive function: Expressing the values, traditions and

expectations
Ex- Expecting the employees to work hard

• Knowledge function: A standard of reference to understand and explain

their environment
Ex- Union leader interpreting a management promise on the basis of
reference of past bad experience
 Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• Cognitive Dissonance refers to the incompatibility that an
individual may perceive between two or more of his/her attitudes,
or between his/her behavior and attitude

• An individual’s desire to reduce dissonance depends on:

 The importance of the elements that cause dissonance,
 The degree to which the individual can influence these elements
and
 The rewards that the individual is likely to lose as a result of such
dissonance

• The desire of individuals to reduce dissonance also depends on

the extent of control they have over the elements causing
dissonance
 Respond in yes/no on the following:

1. World hunger is a serious problem that needs

attention.
2. Our country needs to address the growing
number of homeless.
3. The right to vote is one of the most valuable
rights of American citizens.
4. Our government should spend less money on
nuclear weapons and more on helping citizens
better their lives.
 Whether or not they perform each of the
following actions on a “regular basis” (Yes/no):
1. Do you personally do anything to lessen
world hunger?
2. Do you personally do anything to help the
homeless?
3. Did you vote in the last election for which
you were eligible?
4. Do you personally convey your feelings to the
government?
Is there any difference between what you
think and what you do?
Hofstede’s Value dimensions of National Culture
Managers and Employees vary on five value dimensions of national
culture
• Power Distance: It is the extent to which a society accepts that power
in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally

• Individualism Vs Collectivism:
 Individualism is an extent to which people prefer to act as individuals
rather than as members of groups
 Collectivism is a tight social framework in which people expect others
in groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect them

• Masculinity Vs Femininity:
 Masculinity is an extent to which culture favors traditional masculine
work roles of achievement, power and control
 Femininity is relating to the quality of life
 Hofstede’s Value dimensions of National Culture
(Continued)
• Uncertainty avoidance: It is the extent to which society feels
threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to
avoid them

• Long-term Vs Short-term orientation:

 Long term orientation emphasizes the future, thrift and
persistence

 Short-term orientation emphasizes the past and present,

respect for tradition and fulfillment of social obligations

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