ATTITUDE & HOW IT AFFECTS RELATIONSHIPS AT WORK

Attitude is a predisposition or tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a

certain idea, object, person or situation. Attitude influences an individuals choice of
action and responses to challenges, incentives and rewards called stimuli. Attitude is
therefore the mental state of how an individual thinks and act under different
circumstances. I will borrow a few quotes from Charles windoll, pastor, author and
educator, and I quote !"he longer I live, the more I reali#e the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than
education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other
people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will
make or break a company... a church... a home.
$e are what we repeatedly do and if we have positive attitude and portray it in our life
and at work, the environment that we share will be transformed positively and be more
peaceful, and productive. %owever, if we or our team members have a bad attitude then
the reverse action will occur
&et us put a scenario in play, if we have persons or group of persons at work who have
positive attitudes the work environment will be fun, persons will be jovial and
productivity will be the order of the day. "his happy and productive environment will be
as a direct result of the positive attitude enjoyed and shared by team members.
'n the contrary if persons or group of persons at work have bad attitudes and does not
interact well with the rest of the team, the work environment will be tense and
productivity will be lost. It is important that there is harmonious relationship and good
work ethics and attitude in the work environment for productivity is to be ma(imi#ed.
&et us look at a situation where bad attitude will cause animosity and breakdown of the
love in the office. "he energy department of )"*) now have a vacancy for a senior
energy analyst, there are a few persons who can be deemed qualified for the position.
Instead of hiring from the pool of employees on hand the *nergy )inister hire someone
from a different unit with little or no knowledge of the area in which they are now being
assigned. "he new senior energy analyst )ary Clarke is attractive, well groomed, stylish
you may add and well organi#ed but very in+e(perience in the position that she now
occupy. Although very intelligent )ary is still a little shy, and suspicious of her
colleagues. %er colleagues on the other hand are also jealous of her thinking to
themselves that they were more qualified for the job and this girl out of nowhere just
appear and get the job that they deserve. ,ased on this fact no one wanted to teach )ary
the rudiments of the job and )ary on the other hand has not gone to seek her colleagues
assistance in teaching her about the job.
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-ue to bad attitude from all concerned, there seems to be a standoff in the office and
essentially a decline in productivity. .o one /the general staff0 was now willing to step
forward and resolve what has naturally become a conflict in the office. "he team was
now de+motivated and demorali#ed because of the negative attitude displayed by all
parties and a solution must now come from an outside source. "his outside source can
either be the minister, or any other senior officer who is a team player, motivator and a
person with a positive attitude.
"he negative factors and forces that had taken over was spotted by a team player with
positive attitude and the person was able to bring all parties together have dialogue, listen
to all sides and was able to bring a solution to the stalemate and all well ends well.
&et me end with another quote from Charles windoll, !"he remarkable thing is we have
a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. $e cannot change
our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. $e cannot
change the inevitable. "he only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and
that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 123 what happens to me and 423 how I
react to it.5
And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.