Chapter 10:

Organizational Attitudes and Behavior

History of Job Attitudes

Based in history of Job Satisfaction Formal research began in mid-1930s
1932 I/O textbooks had no mention of job satisfaction or organizational commitment By 1972 over 3000 articles published specifically exploring worker attitudes

Why interest developed

Methodological breakthroughs Survey methods Statistical techniques

Attitudes Defined
Briefly defined, an attitude represents a predisposition to respond in a favorable or unfavorable way to persons or objects in ones environment. For instance, when we say we like something or dislike something, we are in effect expressing an attitude toward the person or object.

Attitudes: Three Important Assumptions

Three important assumptions underlie the concept of attitudes: 1) An attitude is a hypothetical construct 2) An attitude is a unidimensional construct

3) Attitudes are believed to be somewhat related to subsequent behavior, although as well see, this relationship can be unclear

Job Attitudes: Three Related Components

The job attitude is the middle component in a belief-evaluation-behavior chain: 1) Beliefs about aspects of the job.
My work has long stretches with nothing to do.

2) The evaluative component, i.e., the attitude itself.

I am dissatisfied with my job.

3) Work-related behavioral intentions that follow

from the attitude. Im intending to quit my job.

Job Attitudes and Actual Behavior

The belief, attitude, intention sequence is presumably followed by actual behavior. This traditional model suggests that behaviors (including job performance) are largely influenced by job attitudes. Recently, this traditional model has been questioned as being too simple and some more comprehensive alternatives have been developed.

Job Attitudes and Behavior Overview

Job Satisfaction Job Involvement Organizational Commitment Organizational Justice Organizational Citizenship Behaviors Antisocial Behavior

What is Job Satisfaction?

Job Satisfaction: The degree of pleasure an employee derives from his or her job. 2 levels of Job Satisfaction: Global Job Satisfaction - Overall Good Feelings Job Facet Satisfaction - Selected Dimensions
pay promotions work tasks coworkers supervisors

Antecedents to Job Satisfaction

What causes satisfaction
Environment/Job Features
Skill variety Task significance Feedback Task identity Autonomy

Role Variables
Ambiguity Work-family conflict Conflict

Person variables
Negative affectivity Gender Culture Life satisfaction Locus of Control Age Genetics

How do Americans feel about going to work?

Most Americans like their jobs overall People are relatively satisfied with the nature of the work itself: How interesting it is Having lots of contact with people People less happy with rewards Pay Benefits Chances for promotion

Why all the fuss?

Cultural interest
Something most of us believe we are entitled to or at least desire from our work

Functional (practical) reasons

Link to important organizational outcomes
Performance Turnover Absenteeism Counterproductive behaviors

Job Satisfaction and Performance

Is a happy worker a productive worker? Correlations positive and low to moderate
.16 with overall satisfaction in individual studies .30 with overall satisfaction in metaanalytic studies .10 with specific facets

Why is the association not larger?

Some Possible Explanations:

1) Research and Measurement Issues:

Is job performance defined correctly? Can you predict specific behaviors from a general attitude toward the job.

Some Possible Explanations:

2) Moderator Effects: Sat-performance relationship is highly complex (Katzell, Thompson & Guzzo, 1992) For example, the relationship may be limited by constraints on performance (e.g., group norms for performance, environmental variables such as the speed of an assembly line) 3) Dispositional Effects: Some research has found a substantial amount of the variability in job satisfaction may relate to trait affect

Job Satisfaction and Turnover

Negative relationship Moderate level = -.40 Unlike satisfaction, turnover is well thought out Why not higher People leave jobs for lots of reasons Better opportunities Health reasons More interesting work

Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism

Absenteeism costs organizations in lost time and productivity General satisfaction with absenteeism Low negative correlation r = -.25 Facets of job satisfaction (e.g., Career future, Supervision, Financial rewards) with absenteeism Correlate better (moderate to high) range - .46 to -.60 Why so low? Not all absenteeism due to satisfaction Company policies, Personal work habits, Ability to attend (illness, transportation, etc)

Job Satisfaction

Positive Affectivity

Interpretation of job circumstances

Objective job circumstance

Job Satisfaction

Brief (1998)

Job Satisfaction: Is It Genetic?

People have stable traits that predispose them to be satisfied or dissatisfied (positive vs negative affectivity)
Happy people are happy workers

Emotions There is evidence that as much as 30% of the variability in job satisfaction is due to genetics

Specific Tools to Assess Satisfaction

Job Descriptive Index (JDI) Measure of 5 facets of job satisfaction
Pay, promotions, coworkers, supervisors, work itself 9 to 18 items on each facet

Pros
Extremely easy to use with all types of respondents Most commonly used measure of job satisfaction Normative data available from hundreds/thousands of studies No racial differences in assessment

Cons
Shouldnt sum across facets Is there more to job satisfaction than just the 5 facets?

YOUR PAY AND PROMOTIONS

What are YOUR PAY AND PROMOTION OPPORTUNITIES like? Circle YES if the item describes your PAY AND PROMOTIONS, NO if the item does not describe your PAY AND PROMOTIONS, and ? if you cannot decide. Choose a response for each item.
Pay UNDERPAID......................................................... INCOME ADEQUATE FOR NORMAL EXPENSES........ BARELY LIVE ON INCOME.................................... INCOME PROVIDES LUXURIES.............................. BAD.................................................................... HIGHLY PAID.......................................................
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No No No No No No No No No No No No

Promotions GOOD OPPORTUNITY FOR ADVANCEMENT.............. Yes PROMOTION ON ABILITY........................................ Yes DEAD-END JOB........................................................Yes GOOD CHANCE FOR PROMOTION............................ Yes UNFAIR PROMOTION POLICY................................... Yes INFREQUENT PROMOTIONS......................................Yes

Specific Tools to Assess Satisfaction

Minnesota Satisfaction Survey
2 forms (Long form (100 items) & Short form (20 items) Assesses 20 facets Uses a 5-point scale Good measure of General satisfaction and Intrinsic vs. extrinsic satisfaction Pros Reliable, valid measure of job satisfaction Cons Very long Are there really 20 different facets and/or is it meaningful to have info on each of them

Specific Tools to Assess Satisfaction

Job In General Scale (JIG)
Developed as a global measure of job satisfaction Similar to JDI Pros Quick and easy to use Cons Doesnt give information regarding specific factors

YOUR JOB IN GENERAL

What is your JOB like MOST OF THE TIME? Choose YES if the item describes your JOB, NO if it does not describe your JOB, and ? if you cannot decide.

PLEASANT.............................. BAD......................................

Yes Yes

? ?

No No

IDEAL..............................................
WASTE OF TIME.................................. GOOD............................................. UNDESIRABLE......................................

Yes
Yes Yes Yes

?
? ? ?

No
No No No

WORTHWHILE...............
WORSE THAN MOST................ ACCEPTABLE.... MAKES ME CONTENT.........

Yes
Yes Yes Yes

?
? ? ?

No
No No No

INADEQUATE...........................
ROTTEN......

Yes
Yes

?
?

No
No

Theres More to it than just General Job Satisfaction

Other commonly measured job attitudes include: Attitudes toward specific job features Job Involvement Organizational Commitment Organizational Justice Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Job Involvement
Job Involvement: The degree to which a person identifies psychologically with his or her work and the importance of work to ones self-image

Job satisfaction
Job Involvement Performance Turnover Conscientiousness

.45
.09 -.13 .53

Organizational Commitment
Organizational Commitment: The degree to which an employee feels a sense of allegiance to his or her employee 3 components (Allen and Meyer, 1990): Affective Continuance Normative Commitment can be to different focal points (e.g., job, organization, occupation).

Organizational Commitment
Organizational Commitment has been related to many different job outcomes
Overall job satisfaction Performance Turnover Conscientiousness Job involvement .53 .11 -.28 .67 .50

Organizational Commitment

Think of a time youve been unfairly treated at work

Were you ever treated rudely or disrespectfully? Were you up for a promotion / raise / job, and didnt get it when you thought you should have? Why was it unfair? How did you know? How did you react? Did you take action? Why or why not?

Organizational Justice
Organizational Justice: The overarching theoretical concept pertaining to the fair treatment of people in organizations.
Three types: Distributive (equity, equality, need) Procedural

Interactional (interpersonal, informational)

Organizational Justice: Distributive Justice

Distributive Justice: The fairness with which the outcomes or results are distributed among members of an organization. Rules for allocating resources Equity resources are distributed to employees
with respect to their abilities or contributions

Equality resources are distributed so each

person gets the same outcome, regardless of their contributions

Need resources are distributed to the person

who needs them more

Organizational Justice: Procedural Justice

Procedural Justice: The fairness by which means are used to achieve results in an organization. What are some things that lead to a procedure being seen as fair?
Voice getting a say in things Consistency Bias Suppression Accuracy Correctability Representativeness Ethicality

Organizational Justice: Interactional Justice

Interactional Justice: The fairness with which people are treated within an organization and the timeliness, completeness, and accuracy of the information received in an organization. Interpersonal component treating people with dignity and respect; refraining from improper remarks or comments Informational component providing adequate explanations for decisions

Organizational Justice: Relationships

Justice Perceptions in organizations have been found to be related to: Job Satisfaction Organizational Commitment Job Performance Withdrawal Behaviors Counterproductive behaviors Self-perceptions

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: The contributions that employees make to overall welfare of the organization that go beyond required duties of their job. Also referred to as extra-role behavior, prosocial behavior, and contextual performance.
5 Dimensions of Citizenship Behaviors: 1. Altruism 2. Conscientiousness 3. Courtesy 4. Sportsmanship 5. Civic virtue

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Why do people perform citizenship behaviors?
Disposition: Agreeableness Conscientiousness Situations: Fairness

Research (Lam, Hui & Law, 1999) found that more employees in Hong Kong and Japan regarded some facets of OCBs as part of their job than employees from USA and Austria

Psychological Contract
Psychological Contract: The implied exchange relationship that exists between an employee and the organization.
Transactional Antisocial behaviors Violence Threats Negligence Negativism Indifferent social behaviors Compliance Relational Prosocial Behaviors Conscientiousness Sportsmanship Courtesy Civic virtue Altruism Commitment

Alienation

Psychological Contract: Violations of the Psychological Contract

The psychological contract is violated when one party in a relationship perceives another as failing to fulfill promised obligations. Pattern of responses to psychological contract:
Voice Silence Retreat Destruction Exit

Downsizing
Downsizing is a deliberate organizational decision to reduce the workforce that is intended to improve organizational performance. The individuals most affected by downsizing are those who lose their jobs. The surviving employees are also affected by downsizing. Teams and groups are impacted by downsizing.

Downsizing: Contingent workers

Many organizations are using temporary or contingent workers.
Contingent workers perform tasks for a specific time period.

Contingent workers usually are:

- staffed through an agency

- paid less
- receive few benefits - younger, female and minorities

Mergers and Acquisitions

Merger: The joining or combining of two organizations of approximately equal status and power. Acquisition: The process by which one organization acquires or subsumes the resources of a second organization.

Usually organizations are more concerned about strategic fit (shared business strategies, financial goals) than organizational fit (culture and match between workforce).

Antisocial Behavior at Work

Antisocial Behavior: Any behavior that brings harm or is intended to bring harm to an organization or its members. Examples: insults, threats, lying, theft, sabotage, physical violence, workplace homicide.

Antisocial Behavior at Work: Violence in the Workplace

Perceived Injustice Physical Violence

Perpetrators often see them selves as the victims of workplace injustice. Perpetrators usually want more from the organization in terms of personal identity and purpose than the organization can provide.