Chapter 9 Employee Attitudes and Their Effects 219

FIGURE 9.9
Some Issues in  Should participation be voluntary or mandated?
Survey Design  Should sample or the total population be used?
and  Should responses be signed or anonymous?
Administration
 Should be norms to be used for comparison?
 Should the forms be returned to the supervisor or to an independent consulting firm?
 Should the survey be designed and conducted by internal staff or by external consultant?
 Should a deadline be stated for return of the surveys or should no date be set?
 Should a standardized instrument be used or should one be created for this situation?
 How should feedback be given to employees?
 How frequently should survey be administered?
 Should a paper survey or Web-based format be used?

resulting data require skilled management judgment . It is the final important step in a jobsatisfaction
survey . When appropriate action is taken, results can be excellent.
Communication the Results The first step in using job satisfaction information is to communicate it to all
Managers
managers so that they can understand it and prepare to use it. This document is known as a survey report.
require
Managers will be the ones to make any changes suggested by the data, and they will want to see the
evidence evidence in order to make their own judgments. The recommendation of job satisfaction specialist are
helpful, but managers must make the final decisions.
Comparative Data In larger organizations, comparisons among departments are an effective way to
Survey encourage managers to sit up and take note of satisfaction data. Just as a lagging baseball team makes
data every effort to pass other teams in its league, managers whose departments do not show high job
spur satisfaction will be spurred to improve their employees attitudes by the time next study is made.
competit Comparisons of this type must be handled with skill so that the lower performers will not feel intimidated.
ion comparisons and correlation can be made if the evidence looks promising. For example, do those who say
their supervisor is a good manager say also that they take more pride in their organization as a place in
which to work? Ultimately, all the questions and job satisfaction categories can be compared with one
another in a search for meaningful relationships.
The managers interests in job satisfaction statistics are heightened by asking them to predict their
subordinates attitudes toward various item and then to compare their predictions with actual survey results.
Wherever their prediction misses its mark, they are forced to ask themselves why they misjudged this
condition. Even if a prediction is accurate, it may still encourage soul searching. Consider a case of a
department head who predicted his employees would report dissatisfaction with grievance handling. They
did report dissatisfaction, which forced him to ask: "If I knew about this condition before the survey and
apparently I did why didn't I do something about it?"
Committee Work Follow-Up One way to get managers to introduce change in their departments following a
survey is to set up working committees(task forces) whose responsibility is to review the survey data and
develop plans for corrective action
 220 Part Four Individual and Interpersonal Behavior
In one company the president appointed a special executive committee to follow up a survey and
recommend changes . Then the general manager appointed supervisory committees in each department to
discuss how the survey applied to local departmental problems. This supervisory committees worked out
their own solutions on departmental matters , but if their proposed action affected other departments, it had
Committees to be forwarded to the executive committee for approval.
recommend The human resource director chaired each committee, which usually met monthly . At each
action meeting a separate part of the survey was discussed in some depth. Meetings continued for more than a
year, ensuring an extended follow-up of the information uncovered by the survey. This long-run approach
kept executives thinking about the survey and allowed time for the information to sink in.
The long run approach to using job satisfaction information is important . Too many employers
make the mistake of giving a survey immense publicity and interest for a few weeks and then forgetting
Gras celebration----- but when Mardi Gras has passed they return to their old way of living.
Feedback to Employees When corrective action is taken as the result of a survey, details of what was
learned about what was done should be shared with employees as soon as possible.
Only in this way will the people who participated feel that management listened to them and took action on
the basis of their ideas. Providing feedback also assures employees that their ideas really wanted----and
are wanted still. In fact, good publicity to managers and employees is essential from start to finish in a job
satisfaction study in order to explain what the study intends to accomplish , to report the information
gathered, and to announce what corrective action has been taken. This type of publicity is the essence of
effective feedback.
Feedback and One thing is sure: If a job satisfaction survey is made , management should be prepared to take
action are their action on the results. Employees feel that if they cooperate in stating their feelings, management
required should try to make some of the improvements they suggest or at least explain why the changes are not
feasible. A sure way to close off future expressions of employee opinion is to fail to take action on opinions
already given. Since management asked employees for their ideas, employees are justified in believing that
action will be taken on at last some of them.

CHANGING EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES

Inducing attitudes shifts is not always easy, but the potential gains can make it worthwhile
to try. If management desires to change employee attitudes in a more favorable direction, there are many
routes to pursue as shown by the following guidelines:
 Make the reward system closely tied to individual or team performance.
 Set challenging goals with employees so that those with achievement drives can experience the
opportunity for satisfaction through their accomplishment.
 Define role expectations so that employees struggling with ambiguity can overcome that concern.
 Refrain from attacking the employee's attitude. Use active listening skills instead, because an
undefended attitude is more receptive to change .
 Provide frequent feedback to satisfy the need for information about performance levels.
 Exhibit caring, considerate orientation by showing concern for employee feelings.
 Provide opportunities for employees to participate in decision making
 Show appreciation for appropriate effort and citizenship behaviors.
 Advice to Future

1.Pay attention to employee attitudes; where possible, hire new staff who exhibit positive affectivity.
2.Remember the work life satisfaction spillover effect; take time to explore and monitor employees' non-
work environment.
3.Consider your role as a manager of performance , and recognize how dramatically the administration of
rewards affects employees attitudes.
4.View employee attitudes as multidimensional ; differentiate among satisfaction, involvement, commitment
and work mood when discussing them.
5.Create different programs and actions to impact turnover, absenteeism, tardiness ,theft and citizenship
behaviors.
6.Commit yourself to a regular and systematic process of measuring employee satisfaction ; promptly follow
through to make changes based on the results.
7.Involve employees in the purpose , design, administration and interpretation of survey results.
8.Recognize that attitudes can be changed , including your own. Substantial time, effort and persistence
may be required to do so.
9.Monitor both absenteeism and presenteeism phenomena ; take actions to ensure that neither one is too
high.
10.Search for ways to reduce both employee theft and actions that bend the rules of personal gain ; educate
employees on the direct and indirect effects of these actions.

Many other ideas exist that provide clues on changing attitudes. Sometimes misinformation exists, and
simply providing new data(e.g., telling insecure individuals about the organization's projected economic
future) is useful. It can also be revealing to have an employee's co-workers share their attitudes; this tactic
can create implicit peer pressure to fall into line. Even a simple series of open meetings for group
discussion can be useful as a forum for allowing employees vent their emotions and then begin exploring
ways to change a situation. Finally, it would be naive to assume that attitudes only influence behavior, for
these is a reciprocal relationship between them such that behavior also influences attitudes. Sometimes,
then, it is advisable to get employees to change their behavior first, and let the desired attitude shift follow
later.

Summary

Employee attitudes are important to monitor, understand and manage. They develop as the
consequences of the feeling of equity or inequity in the reward system(discussed in Chapter 6) as well as
from supervisory treatment(addressed in Chapter 8). Managers are particularly concerned with four types
of attitudes---- job satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment and work mood.
Job dissatisfaction may lead to increase absenteeism, turnover, and other undesirable behaviors, so
employers want to develop satisfaction among their employees. A substantial number of workers in the
United States report that they are satisfied with their job, although may also be dissatisfied with specific
aspects of them .
Higher job involvement leads to higher levels of dedication and productivity in workers. High performance
and equitable rewards encourage high satisfaction through a performance -satisfaction-effort loop.
 Higher job satisfaction usually is associated with lower turnover and fewer absences. Committed
employees are more likely to embrace company values and beliefs(its culture).
Managers can obtain useful attitudinal information by using questionnaires and interviews, as well as by
examining human resource data. Information is communicated to managers through survey feedback that
uses summary data, makes relevant comparisons, and supports the conclusions with actual employee
comments. Follow up is accomplished.

221

222 Part Four Individual and Interpersonal Behavior

by committees to assure employees that appropriate action is taken after a survey. Ultimately, information
on employee attitudes is useful only if it influences managers to improve their own behavior and reward
systems.

Terms and Concepts for Review

Absences, 2/2 Negative Affectivity, 203 Psychological

Aggression, 208 Open-end questions, 2/8 withdrawal, 208
Attitudes, 203 Organizational citizenship Reliability, 2/8
Behavioral intentions, 204 behaviors, 2/4 Rule-bending, 2/3
Closed-end Organizational Spillover effect, 204
questions, 2/7 commitment, 207 Tardiness, 2/2
Job involvement, 206 Performance satisfaction- Theft, 2/3
Job satisfaction, 204 effort loop, 209 Turnover, 209
Job satisfaction Physical withdrawal, 208 Validity, 2/8
survey, 2/5 Positive affectivity, 203 Violence, 2/4
Morale, 204 Presenteeism, 212 Work moods, 207

Discussion 1. Explain in your own word, why you feel that employee attitudes are important. Do you think that
Questions today's managers overemphasize or underemphasize attitudes? Why?
2. Assume that a survey of the 20 employees in your department found that 90 percent of them were
basically satisfied with their jobs. What are the implications for you as a manager?
3. "A happy employee is a productive employee." Discuss this statement.
4. Think of a job have held. List the areas of your job in which you were most satisfied and those
which satisfied you least. Note each case the degree to which management had some control over
the item mentioned. What could the managers have done to improve your satisfaction?
5. Assume that job satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment, and work moods are
independent of one another such that any one may be present without the others. Describe a
 situation in which an employee might be committed but not satisfied or involved. What would you
do with such an employee?
6. How would you begin to assess whether presenteeism is a problem in your organization? If it i,
what could you do to discourage employees from coming to work when they shouldn't?
7. Select an industry,(e.g, financial institutions or hospitals), and contact three organizations within
that industry to learn of their absenteeism and turnover rates. What have they done to reduce
them?
8. Construct a short questionnaire using objective questions, and survey the members of a small work
team about their job satisfaction. Tabulate and analyze your results; include a list of
recommendations for change.
9. Prepare a plan for using the data from a job satisfaction survey in an insurance office to provide
feedback to managers and employees.
10. Contact a local fast-food restaurant, and ask the manager to estimate the proportion of turnover
that can be attributed to effective employees leaving of their own choice. What suggestions could
you make to reduce this voluntary turnover problem?

Chapter 9 Employee and Their Effects 223

Assess Your How well do you exhibit good employee attitude-management skills?
Own Skills Read the following statement carefully. Circle the number on the response scale that most
closely reflects the degree which each statement accurately describes you when you empower
employees. add up your total points and prepare a brief action plan for self-improvement. Be ready
to report your score for tabulation across the entire group.

Good Poor
Description Description

1. I pay as much attention to

employee attitudes as I do to
employee performance 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
2. I am aware that my attitude
may easily be reflected in the
attitudes of my employees 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
3. I listen carefully to differentiate
among the feeling, thought, and
behavioral intention components
of employee attitudes. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
4. I recognize that employee
satisfaction is dynamic;
I continually monitor and
manage it. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
5. I recognize the high costs and
high likelihood of employee
 turnover, and therefore actively
work to increase employee
commitment/loyalty. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
6. I could easily describe to my
boss thee research-based set of
relationship among performance,
rewards, satisfaction, and various
products of satisfaction. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
7. I observe the workplace for evidence
of organizational citizenship behaviors
and provide appropriate recognition
for people who display them. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
8. I conduct periodic survey of
employee satisfaction and introduce
changes based on the results. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
9. I regularly monitor existing indicators
of employee satisfaction and search
for explanations where these data
differ from survey results. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
10. I understand the need for
reliability and validity of
survey processes and take
measures to assure those exist. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

224 Part Four Individual and Interpersonal Behavior

Scoring and Interpretation

Add up your total points for the 10 questions. Record that number here, and report it when it is requested.
______ Finally, insert your total score into the "Assess and Improve Your Own Organizational Behavior
Skills" chart in the appendix.
 If you scored between 81 and 100 points, you appear to have a solid capability for demonstrating
good employee attitude-management skills.
 If you scored between 61 and 80 points, you should take a close look at the items with lower self-
assessment scores and explore ways to improve those items.
 If you score under 60 points, you should be aware that a weaker skill level regarding several items
could be detrimental to your future success as a manager. We encourage you to review relevant
sections of the chapter and watch for related material in subsequent chapters and other sources.

Now identify your three lowest scores, and write the question numbers here: ____, ____, ____.
Write a brief paragraph, detailing to yourself an action plan for how you might sharpen each of these skills
 Incident
Barry Niland
Barry Niland, supervisor of a small sales department, noticed that one of his industrial sales
representatives, Henry Hunter ,had a problem. Among other signs, Hunter's sales had declined in the last
six months, although most other sales representatives regularly were exceeding their quotas. Niland
decided to try to boost his sales representative's performance by reminding him of the many opportunities
for satisfaction in sales job.
Niland explained his actions as follows:

I appointed out that in his customer's eye he alone is the company. He has the opportunity to help
his customer . He has the opportunity to show his ability and knowledge to many types of people.
He has the opportunity through his own efforts to help many types of people. He has the
opportunity to support the people who make our products to reward and stockholders, and to
control his financial return through his own know-how. He has the opportunity of testing his
creative
ideas with immediate feedback about their value. He has the opportunity to meet constantly
changing condition, so there is no boredom in his job. There is no quicker way to achieve
personal satisfaction than sales work.

Questions
1. Comment on Niland's approach in dealing with his sales representative.
2. Suggest approaches for increasing Hunter's
a) Job satisfaction
b) Job performance
c) Job involvement
d) Organizational Commitment

Experiential Attitudes in the Classroom

The discussion of attitudes that is presented in this chapter can also be related to the college classroom.
Exercise
1) Working individually, class members should rate, on scale from 1 to 10 (1=low, 10= high) their
a) Overall satisfaction with the course
b) Feeling of involvement in the educational process
c) Commitment to the college
2) .The instructor should predict the average ratings of the class on each of the three items.
3) Share the ratings obtained in step 1, and compute averages for each.
4) Working on groups of four or five persons, discuss the reasons for the overall level of satisfaction,
involvement, and commitment in the class. Is there a possible social desirability bias? Assess the
accuracy of the instructor's predictions. Develop a realistic action plan for improving the level of each of
the three dimensions.
5) Discuss the probable reliability and validity of the data gathered in steps 1 and 2. Suggest ways in
which you could gather evidence of the data's reliability and validty.
6) What is the impact of using single item response scale? Working in a small groups, develop at least
three response items for each of the three scales. Share these with other class members for their
reactions.
 Chapter 9 Employee Attitudes and their Effects 225
Generating An insight is a new and clear perception of a phenomenon, or an acquired ability to "see" clearly something
OB Insight that you were unaware of previously. It is sometimes simply referred to as an " ah ha! moment," in which
you have a mini revelation or reach a straight forward conclusion about a topic or issue.
Insights need to necessarily be dramatic, for what is an insight to one person may be less important to
another. The critical feature of insights is that they are relevant and memorable for you; they should
represents new knowledge, new framework, or new ways of viewing things that you want to retain and
remember over time.
Insights, then, are different from the information that you find in the "Advice for Future Managers" boxes
within the text. That advice is prescriptive and action-oriented; it indicates a recommended courses of
action.
A useful way to think of OB insight is to assume that you are the only person who has read Chapter (.
You have been given the assignment to highlight, in your own words, the major concepts (but not just
summarize the whole chapter) that might stand out for a naive audience who has never read of the topic
before. What 10 insights would you share with them?

1) (Example) Happy employees are not necessarily going to be productive ones .

2) ______________________________________________________________.
3) ______________________________________________________________.
4) ______________________________________________________________.
5) ______________________________________________________________
6) ______________________________________________________________.
7) ______________________________________________________________.
8) ______________________________________________________________
9) ______________________________________________________________.
10) ______________________________________________________________.