ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR

LECTURE NOTES BPA 208

UNIT 5
WORKPLACE VALUES AND ATTITUDES
 OBJECTIVES

 Define values and attitudes

 Assess the relevance of key workplace values
in the organization
 Show understanding of how attitudes are
formed and how they can be changed
 VALUES
• Values
• Represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or
end – state is personally or socially preferable to an opposite
or converse mode of conduct or end - state of existence.
• Values contain a moral flavour in that they carry an individual’s
ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad desirable or
undesirable. Values can be prioritised in any given situation.
• Importance of Values
• Values are important to the study of OB because they lay the
foundation for the understanding of attitudes, perceptions,
personality and motivations.
• Values generally influence behavior.
 VALUES Cont…
• Characteristics of Values
• Values are relatively stable and enduring.
• They will remain the same over time.
• They are also learned.
• Questioning values may result to change.
• Value Hierarchy
• Individuals can be categorized by their values. It is
believed that values exist in a hierarchy and
individuals can be categorized according to which
level they belong to in the value hierarchy
• There is a seven – level hierarchy that describes
personal values and life styles.
 VALUES Cont…
• Level 1: Reactive
• These individuals are unaware of themselves or others
as human beings and react to basic physiological needs.
Such individuals are rarely found in organizations. This is
most descriptive of newborn babies.
• Level 2: Tribalistic
• These individuals are characterized by high dependence
on tradition or tradition authority figures within society.
• They are strongly influenced by tradition and the power
exerted by authority figure.
• This is characteristic of many developing countries or
organizations where tradition has got a very huge
influence
 VALUES Cont…
• Level 3: Egocentric
• These persons believe in rugged individualism.
• They are very aggressive and selfish. They
respond primarily to power instinct.
• In other words, what drives them is the need
for power or acquisition of power.
• Level 4: Conforming
• These individuals have a low tolerance for
ambiguity, have difficult in accepting people
whose values are different from their own,
and desire that others accept their values.
 VALUES Cont…

• Level 5: Manipulative
• These individuals strive to achieve their goals
by manipulating things and people.
• They are materialistic and actively seek higher
status and recognition.
• Level 6: Sociocentric
• These individuals consider it more important to
be liked and to get along with others than to
get ahead. They are repulsed/disgusted by
materialism, manipulation and conformity.
 VALUES Cont…
• Level 7: Existentialism
• These individuals have a high tolerance for
ambiguity and people with differing values.
• They are outspoken against inflexible systems,
restrictive policies, status symbols and
arbitrary use of authority.
• DOMINANT WORK PLACE VALUES
• Scholars such as Robbins and Judge (2013),
have identified three dominant values in
todays workforce and these are:
 VALUES Cont…

STAGE ONE (1): PROTESTANT WORK ETHICS

• Within this stage, you find individuals who
entered the workforce in the 1940 through to
the 1950 and whose approximate current age
ranges from 45-70 years
• The dominant work values in this stage are
hard work, loyalty to the organization and
being conservative
• This stage is related to level two and four in
the value hierarchy.
 VALUES Cont…
STAGE TWO (2): EXISTENTIALISM
• Within this category, you find individuals who
joined the workforce from 1960-1970.
approximate age ranges from 30 years to 45
years
• Dominant values are quality of life, non-
conforming behavior and autonomy.
• This stage is related to level 6 and 7 in the
value hierarchy
 VALUES Cont…
STAGE 3: PRAGMATISM
• Individuals in this stage entered the workforce in the 1980s.
Approximate age in this category are those under 30 years.
• Dominant values under this stage are success, achievement,
ambition, hard work, loyalty etc.
ATTITUDES
• Attitudes relate to beliefs and feelings that people have
about specific ideas, situations, or other people.
• Attitudes are evaluative statements—either favorable or
unfavorable—about objects, people, or events.
• They reflect how we feel about something. When you say “I
like OB,” You are expressing your attitude about OB. For
example, An employee’s statement that he feels underpaid
by an organization reflects his feelings about his pay.
 ATTITUDES
Attitudes formation
• Attitudes are formed by a variety of forces, and
they include the following: personal values, our
experiences, and our personalities.
• For example, if we value honesty and integrity,
we may form especially favorable attitudes
toward a manager whom we believe to be very
honest and moral. Similarly, if we have had
negative and unpleasant experiences with a
particular coworker, we may form an
unfavorable attitude toward that person.
 ATTITUDES Cont…
Main Components of Attitudes
• Researchers have assumed that attitudes have three
components: cognition, affect, and behavior.
• 1). Cognition is the knowledge a person presumes to
have about something. This “knowledge” may be
true, partially true, or totally false.
• For example, you may intend to vote for a particular
candidate because you think you know where the
candidate stands on several issues. In reality,
depending on the candidate’s honesty and your
understanding of his or her statements, the
candidate’s thinking on the issues may be exactly the
same as yours, partly the same, or totally different.
 ATTITUDES Cont…
• 2) Affect: A person’s affect is his or her
feelings toward something. In many ways,
affect is similar to emotion-it is something
over which we have little or no conscious
control.
• It is the more critical part of an individual.
Other scholars have argued that, affect is the
emotional or feeling segment of an attitude
• For example, most people react to words such
as “love,” and “hate,” in a manner that reflects
their feelings about what those words convey.
 ATTITUDES Cont…
• 3) Intention guides a person’s behavior. If you like
your lecturer, you may intend to take another class
from him or her next semester.
ATTITUDE CHANGE
• Attitudes are not as stable as personality attributes.
For example, new information may change attitudes.
A manager may have a negative attitude about a
new colleague because of the colleague’s lack of job-
related experience. After working with the new
person for a while, however, the manager may come
to realize that he is actually very talented and
subsequently develop a more positive attitude.
 ATTITUDES Cont…

• Attitudes can also change when the object of

the attitude becomes less important or less
relevant to the person.
• For example, suppose an employee has a
negative attitude about his company’s reward
system. When his spouse gets a new job with
an organization that has outstanding reward
system, his attitude toward his company’s
reward system may become more moderate
simply because he no longer has to worry
about it.
 ATTITUDES Cont…

KEY WORK RELATED ATTITUDES

• There are basically two key related work
attitudes and these are
• 1) Job Satisfaction and
• 2) Organizational commitment
• Job satisfaction: When people speak of
employee attitudes, they usually mean job
satisfaction , which describes a positive feeling
about a job, resulting from an evaluation of its
characteristics.
 ATTITUDES Cont…
• Research on job satisfaction shows that
personal factors such as an individual’s needs
and aspirations determine this attitude, along
with group and organizational factors such as
relationships with coworkers and supervisors
and working conditions, work policies, and
compensation
• Therefore, job satisfaction is the extent to
which a person is gratified or fulfilled by his or
her work.
 ATTITUDES Cont…
• A satisfied employee tends to be absent less often, to
make positive contributions, and to stay with the
organization.
• In contrast, a dissatisfied employee may be absent
more often, may experience stress that disrupts
coworkers, and may be continually looking for
another job
• Organizational commitment is a person’s
identification with and attachment to an organization.
• It is the degree to which an employee identifies with
a particular organization and its goals and wishes to
maintain membership in the organization.
 ATTITUDES Cont…
• A highly committed person will probably see herself
as a true member of the firm, for example, referring
to the organization in personal terms such as “we
make high quality products”, overlook minor sources
of dissatisfaction, and see herself remaining a
member of the organization.
• In contrast, a less committed person is more likely to
see herself as an outsider, for example, referring to
the organization in less personal terms such as “they
don’t pay their employees very well”, to express
more dissatisfaction about things, and to not see
herself as a long-term member of the organization.
END