NORTHERN LUZON ADVENTIST COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS EDUCATION

COURSE: HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATION

LESSON 4: VALUES, ATTITUDE, AND JOB SATISFACTION

I. Introduction
This chapter is an attempt to explain job satisfaction and the various
concerns that make it happen, such as values and attitudes.

II. Learning Outcomes

After reading this chapter, the students should be able to:

 Explain the importance of values in an organization
 Discuss what the factors and benefits of job satisfaction
 Understand attitude in the workplace

III. Integration of Faith:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is

right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything
is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have
learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.
And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8 – 9

IV. Topics for Reading:

Book/Reference: Human Behavior in Organization
Pinoy Human Behavior in Organization
 TOPIC: VALUES, ATTITUDE, AND JOB SATISFACTION

A company which advertises that its milk products come from contented cows
implies that the products are of good quality. It is easy to understand the logic behind
it. In the same light, when someone says ―workers who are satisfied with their jobs tend
to produce quality outputs,‖ it is also easy to understand why it is so.

Job satisfaction is an important concern for both employer and employee; This is
so because of the benefits it brings to both.

Values generally influence attitudes and behavior. In turn, attitudes form

the basis for determining how satisfied people are with their jobs.

VALUES
Values refer to the importance a person attaches to things or ideas that serves
as guide to action. Values are enduring beliefs that one’s mode of conduct is better
than the opposite mode of conduct. An example of a belief is the importance placed
by a person without sufficient academic qualifications.

The definition implies that values are made of a set of beliefs. Values may be
attached to things or ideas like loyalty (to the company or friends), teamwork, honor,
obedience, honesty, and the like.

How People Learn Values

Values are not inborn, they are learned. As they grow, people learn values
through any or all of the following:

1. modelling
2. communication of attitudes
3. unstated but implied attitudes
4. religion

Modeling

Parents, teachers, friends, and other people oftentimes become models to

persons who would later exhibit good behavior in the workplace. For instance, a
person who worked as a mechanic for many years in his own yard was a stickler for
cleanliness and getting up early to work. He saw to it that his customers were happy
with the service he provided, and he never changed them with unreasonable
service fees. His son saw him in action almost every day. The son did not notice that
he was slowly imitating the good work ethic of his father. It is no wonder that he
behaves much like his father when he is doing his work as a mechanic in a large
automotive sales and service firm.
 Communication of Attitudes

One of the ways in which values are learned is through communication of

attitudes. When a person often hears from acquaintances the risk of buying
products imported from a certain country, the person may develop negative values
about that country.

Unstated but Implied Attitudes

Values may also be affected by attitudes that are not stated but are implied by
way of action. For instance, if a person sees joy and happiness in every member of
his family whenever another member graduates from college, the person will
develop the same values impliedly exhibited.

Religion

Values are also learned through religion. For example, the just and fair treatment
of people is a value that is taught by priests and ministers of various religious sects.
Persons who are exposed to the teachings develop values that support such beliefs.

Types of Values

Values may be classified in various ways. A classification that is most relevant to

the workplace indicates that values are of the following types:

1. Achievement – this is a value that pertains to getting things done and working
hard to accomplish goals;
2. Helping and concern for others – this value refers to the person’s concern with
other people and providing assistance to those who need help;
3. Honesty – this is a value that indicates the person’s concern for telling the truth
and doing what he thinks is right; and
4. Fairness – this is a value that indicates the person’s concern for impartiality and
fairness for all concerned.

Individual versus Organizational Values

Organizations have values that may or may not be compatible with the values
of the individual workers. There is value incongruence if the individual’s value is not in
agreement with the organization’s value. As a result of such incongruence, conflicts
may arise over such things as goals or the manner in which the goals will be achieved.
For instance, a person who values honesty will find it hard to work in an organization
where graft and corruption is a common practice. If the person stays in that
environment, he will be susceptible to experience the difficulty of ―person-role conflict‖
which may be briefly described as the condition that occurs when the demands made
by the organization or a manager clash with the basic values of the individual.
Espoused versus Enacted Values

What the company promotes as its own value may be different from what is
practiced by the organization’s individual members. As such, values may be classified
as either (1) espoused, or (2) enacted values.

Espoused values are what members of the organization say they value. A
business organization, for instance, may state that it highly values its good relationship
with customers. However, if the employees of the said company give priority to calls
from relatives and friends rather than responding immediately to customer’s inquiries,
they are not actually practicing the values espoused by the company. Those that are
reflected in the actual behavior of the individual members of the organization are
referred to as enacted values.

Instrumental and Terminal Values

Another classification of values may be presented as follows:

1. Terminal values, and

2. Instrumental values

Terminal values represent the goals that a person would like to achieve in his or
her lifetime. Examples of terminal values are happiness, love, pleasure, self-respect, and
freedom.

Instrumental values refer to preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving

the terminal values. Examples of instrumental values are ambition, honesty, self-
sufficiency, and courageousness.

ATTITUDES
Attitudes are important in the study of human behavior. This is so because they
are linked with perception, learning, emotions, and motivation. Attitudes also form the
basis for job satisfaction in the workplace. Attitudes are feelings and beliefs that largely
determine how employees will perceive their environment, commit themselves to
intended actions, and ultimately behave. Attitudes reflect how one feels about
something. For instance, a person may think working overtime is necessary if the
situation requires it, or may consider work as an important ingredient of one’s physical
and mental well-being.

The Main Components of Attitudes

Attitudes consist of the following components:

1. cognitive
2. affective
3. Behavioral
 The cognitive component of an attitude refers to the opinion or belief segment
of an attitude. An example is the opinion indicated in the statement ―my boss is fickle-
minded; he cannot stick to his decision.‖

The affective component of an attitude refers to the emotional or feeling

segment. The bad feeling insinuated in the statement ―I hate my boss‖ is an example.

The behavioral component of an attitude refers to the intention to behave in a

certain way toward someone or something. An example is the action indicated in the
statement ―I have requested a transfer to another department from my superiors.‖

Differences in Personal Disposition

People differ in their personal disposition. Some have attitudes that are positively
affective, while some have negatively affective attitudes.

Positive affectivity refers to personal characteristic of employees that inclines

them to be predisposed to be satisfied at work. People who have positive affectivity
are optimistic, upbeat, cheerful, and courteous.

Negative affectivity is a personal characteristic of employees than inclines them

to be predisposed to be dissatisfied at work. People who have negative affectivity are
generally pessimistic, downbeat, irritable, and sometimes, abrasive.

Managers and supervisors will benefit from knowing the personal disposition of
their subordinates. Their decisions regarding training, hiring, and promotion could be
made better.

How Attitudes Are Formed

Attitudes are formed through learning. The two methods that mostly influence
attitude formation are direct experience and indirect means of social learning. Among
the information stored in the human mind, those that were gathered through direct
experience are the most accessible. So if one had an unpleasant experience are the
most accessible. So if one had an unpleasant experience with another person, his
attitude regarding that person would be negative regardless of any other information
obtained from indirect means. Although indirect means affect the formation of
attitudes, their influence is not as strong as direct experience.

Attitudes that are formed in an indirect way are the result of social interactions
with the family, peer groups, religious organizations, and culture. For instance, if parents
behave in a manner showing disdain towards smokers, the children will have a strong
tendency to adapt an attitude of indifference towards smokers.
Most Important Attitudes in the Workplace

Work behavior is of utmost importance to managers and superiors. Since work

attitudes affect work behavior, the requisite concerns are focused on them.

The most important attitudes in the workplace are:

1. Job satisfaction
2. Job involvement
3. Organizational commitment

Effects of Employee Attitudes

Attitudes provide clues to the behavioral intentions or inclinations of an

employee. The manner in which a person will act can be gleaned from his attitudes.

Employee attitudes may be classified as either:

1. positive job attitudes; or

2. negative job attitudes.

Positive job attitudes indicate job satisfaction and are useful in predicting
constructive behaviors like serving customers beyond official working hours, and
performing excellently in all aspects of their jobs. An example of a positive job attitude is
―I enjoy wearing my office uniform.‖

Negative job attitudes are also useful in predicting undesirable behavior.

Negative job attitudes include those concerning job dissatisfaction, lack of job
involvement, low commitment to the organization, and strong negative words like ―the
office assigned to me does not speak well of my position.‖

When employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, they will have a strong tendency
to engage in any or all of the following:

1. psychological withdrawal like daydreaming on the job;

2. physical withdrawal like unauthorized absences, early departures, extended
breaks, or work slowdowns; and
3. aggression, like verbal abuse or dangerous actions against another employee.
Making Positive Attitudes Work for the Organization

People with positive work attitudes make it easy for the organization to achieve
its objectives. As such, recruitment officers must require positive work attitudes before
employment offers are made. Those who are already employed by the organization
but whose attitudes are negative must be made to participate or become
beneficiaries of programs designed to change negative work attitudes of employees to
positive work attitudes.

In the process of recruiting people to fill the various job vacancies in the
organization, proven methods of selection must be made. Applicants found to have
positive work attitudes should be considered for hiring if other job requirements are met.

There are various ways of changing employee attitudes. One is making the
reward system closely tied to individual or team performance.

JOB SATISFACTION
The attitude people have about their jobs called job satisfaction. In a strict sense,
however, job satisfaction refers to the positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an
evaluation of its characteristics. When the feeling about one’s job is not positive, the
appropriate term is job dissatisfaction.

When people are satisfied with their jobs, the following benefits become
possible:

1. high productivity
2. a stronger tendency to achieve customer loyalty
3. loyalty to the company
4. low absenteeism and turnover
5. less job stress and burnout
6. better safety performance
7. better life satisfaction

Factors Associated with Job Satisfaction

1. Salary – adequacy of salary and perceived equity compared with others;

2. Work itself – the extent to which job tasks are considered interesting and
provide opportunities for learning and accepting responsibility;
3. Promotion opportunity – chances for further advancement;
4. Quality of supervision – the technical competence and the interpersonal skills
of one’s immediate superior;
 5. Relationship with co-workers – the extent to which co-workers are friendly,
competent, and supportive;
6. Working conditions – the extent to which the physical work environment is
comfortable and supportive of productivity; and
7. Job security – the belief that one’s position is relatively secure and continued
employment with the organization is a reasonable expectation.

JOB INVOLVEMENT
Job involvement is another positive employee attitude. If refers to the degree to
which a person identifies with the job, actively participates in it, and considers
performance important to self-worth. People who are really ―involved‖ in their jobs view
work as a central part of their overall lives.

A positive self-image is a result of a person’s holding a meaningful job and

actively performing it.

People with a high degree of job involvement will seldom be late or absent. They
are willing to work long hours if necessary, and they will strive to be high performers.

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
Organizational commitment is the third positive employee attitude. It refers to the
degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and
wishes to maintain membership in the organization.

Organizational commitment often reflects the employee’s belief in the mission

and goals of the organization, willingness to expend effort in accomplishing them, and
intentions to continue working in the organization. Employees who are organizationally
committed have good attendance records, show willingness to adhere to the firm’s
policies, and lower turnover rates.

Organizational commitment may be categorized into three dimensions.

They are as follows:

1. Affective commitment;
2. Continuance commitment; and
3. Normative commitment.

Affective commitment refers to the employee’s emotional attachment to the

organization and belief in its values. For example, an employee may be
affectively committed to his company because of its employment policy of
hiring people regardless of their educational attainment.

Continuance commitment refers to the employee’s tendency to remain in an

organization because he cannot afford to leave. In fact, many employees
continue to be committed to the firm because they feel they could not get
better employment elsewhere. The reasons why employees choose to continue
employment with the firm may be classified as either (1) economic; or (2) non-
economic. Economic factors refer to salary, allowances, and retirement pension.
Non-economic benefits include participation in decision making, job security,
and certain job characteristics such as autonomy, responsibility, and interesting
work.

Normative commitment refers to an obligation to remain with the company for

moral or ethical reason. For example, an employee working in a zoo may remain
with his employer because he feels most of the animals under his care would
respond only to him and it would be hard to find a suitable replacement for him.
He thinks that the existence of the zoo would be in jeopardy if he leaves.