Bachelor of Science in Indusrial Technology

MODULE 4

VALUES, ATTITUDES, AND

JOB SATISFACTION

Introduction

This chapter is explains job satisfaction and the various concerns that make it happen,
such as values and attitudes. It also discusses the ways on how employees satisfied their job,
values formation and importance of attitudes towards work.

Learning Outcome
 Discuss the meaning of values, attitudes and job satisfaction
 Differentiate values and attitudes
 Identify the factors in learning values
 Discuss the components and importance of Attitudes
 Understand how attitudes are formed
 Analyze the effect of attitude in employee
 Identify and explain the different factors in satisfying job
 Discuss the meaning of motivation
 Determine the different theories in motivation

a. Values
b. Types of Values
c. Attitudes
d. Job Satisfaction
e. Job Involvement

A. Values
Refers to the importance a person attaches to things or ideas that serves as guide to
action. Values are enduring belief 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 on academic titles or
degrees and the doubt casted on the ability of a person without sufficient academic qualification.

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

How People Learned Values

Values are not inborn, they are learned. As they grow, people learn values through any
or all of the following:
1. modeling
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 stickler for cleanliness and getting up early to
work. He saw to it that his costumers were happy with the services fee. His son saw him in
almost every day.

Communication of Attitudes
One of the ways in which values are learned is through communication of attitudes.
When a person often hears form acquaintance the risk of buying product 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 instances, 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 priest and minister
of various religious sects. Person who are exposed to the teachings develop values that support
such belief.

B. Types of Values

Values are also 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.

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4. Fairness- this is a value that indicates the person’s concern for impartiality and
fairness for all concerned.

Individuals versus Organizational Values

Organizations have values that may or may not be compatible with the values of the
individual worker. 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 basic values of the individual.

Espoused versus enacted values

What the company promotes as its own values may be different from what is practiced by
the organization’s individual members.
Values may be classified as either
1. Espoused
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;
1. Terminal values
2. Instrumental values

Terminal Values- represent the goals that a person would like to achieve in his or her lifetime.

Example: happiness, love, pleasure, self-respect, and freedom.

Instrumental Values- refer to preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving the terminal
values.

Example: ambition, honesty, self-sufficiency, and courageousness

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INSTRUMENT TERMINAL
AL VALUES VALUES

 Ambition  Happiness
 Honesty  Pleasure
 Self-Sufficiency  Self-Respect
 Courage  Freedom
 Forgiving Nature  World Peace
 Helpfulness  Equality
 Self-Control  Achievement
 Independence  Inner Peace
 Obedience  Beauty In Art And Nature
 Open-Mindedness  Family Security
 Cleanliness  Salvation
 Afffection  Friendship
 Politeness  Mature Love
 Rationality  Wisdom
 Responsibility  Prosperity
 Competence  National Security
 Cheerfulness  Social Respect
 Intelligence  Exciting
 Imagination  Active Life

C. 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

1. Cognitive
2. Affective
3. Behavioral

1. Cognitive Component

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-Refers to the opinion or belief segment of an attitude.

Ex; “my boss is fickle-minded; he cannot stick to his decision.”

2. Affective Component
-Refers to the emotional or feeling segment. The bad feeling.
Ex; “I hate my boss”

3. Behavioral Component
-Refers to the intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.
Ex; “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 that 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 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; and
3. Organizational commitment.

Effects of Employee Attitudes

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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 used in predicting constructive
behaviors like serving customers beyond official working hours, and performing excellently in all
aspects of their jobs. An example of positive job attitudes 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 in 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

D. Job Satisfaction

The attitude people have about their jobs is 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 fallowing 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

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

2. Work it- 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 i
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.
7. Job security- the beliefs that one’s position is relatively secure and continued
employment with the organization is a reasonable expectation.

Ways of Measuring Job Satisfaction

1.The single global rating method refers to that approach where individuals are asked to
respond to a single question, such as, “how satisfied are you with your job?” the respondents
indicate there answers by putting a check() before any of the numbers from 5 to 1 as indicated
below:
_______1.highly satisfied
_______2.moderately satisfied
_______3.indifferent
_______4.moderately dissatisfied
_______5.highly dissatisfied

2. The summation score method.

-is an approach where individuals indicate their feelings regarding each key factors of
their job. The factors would normally consist of the work, supervision, current, salary, promotion
opportunities, and relations with co-workers. A standard scale is used to rate the factors and
then the overall job satisfaction score is derived.

A Sample Questionnaire For The Summation Score Method Of Job Satisfaction

Please indicate on the blanks provided below how satisfied you are (in terms of
percentage) in each of the following factors of your job;
_______% 1.work itself
_______% 2.salary (or pay)
_______% 3.promotion opportunities
_______% 4.supervision
_______% 5.co-workers

Note: To be filled by the enumerator:

____% Overall percentage score

E. Job Involvement
Job involvement is another positive employee attitude. It 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.

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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.

OC May Be Categorized Into Three Dimensions.

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

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

organization and belief in its values.
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
reason why the employees choose to continue employment with the firm may be classified as
either (1) Economic; or non-economic. Economic factors refer to salary, allowances, and
retirement pension. (2) 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 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

Summary
Values, attitudes and job satisfactions are important concerns for managers and
employees. When employees are satisfied with the work they do, it is expected that their work
performance would be highly satisfactory.
Job satisfaction, however, is possible if the employees possess the right value and
attitudes.
Values are guidelines and beliefs that persons uses when confronted with situation in
which a choice should be made.
Attitudes are feelings and beliefs that largely determine how employees will perceive
their environment, commit themselves to intended actions, and ultimate behavior.
Values may be learned through modeling, communication of attitudes, unstated but
implied attitudes and religion.
Values may be classified as: (1) achievement (2) Helping and concern for other (3)
honesty and (4) fairness.
The person’s values are different from organizational values. They may be compatible or
not.
Values may also be classified as espoused (or what member the member of the
organization values) or enacted (those reflected in the actual behavior of employee)
Values may also be terminal (those who representing the goals that a person would like
to achieve in his lifetime) or instrumental (those that are used in achieving the terminal values).

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Attitudes reflects how one feels about something. They consist of cognitive, affective,
and behavioral components.
The most important attitudes in the workplace are those concerning job satisfaction, job
involvement, and organizational commitment.

Additional readings/ video information

Attitude, Perception, Values video links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5eY6v2fVbY

Online (synchronous)

Google classroom

Facebook group

Messenger

Zoom

Google meet

Remote (asynchronous)

Module

Exercises

REFERENCES
Book:

Medina, R. 2011. Human Behavior In Organization Copyright by Rex Book Store, Inc.

Internet sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5eY6v2fVbY

Prepared by:

MA. THERESA R. RESPICIO

Instructor

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