attitude

1. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery
©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016
Explaining The Term ‘Attitude’
• Attitudes - evaluative statements
(either favorable or unfavorable)or
judgments relating to people, events
or objects

2. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery
©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016
Characteristics of Attitudes
They tend to persist unless
something is done to change
them.
They can fall anywhere along
a continuum from very
favorable to very unfavorable.
They are directed toward
some object about which a
person has feelings and
beliefs.

3. © 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All
rights reserved.
3–3
Attitudes
Attitudes
Evaluative
statements or
judgments
concerning
objects,
people, or
events.
Affective Component
The emotional or feeling segment
of an attitude.
Cognitive component
The opinion or belief segment
of an attitude.
Behavioral Component
An intention to behave in a certain
way toward someone or something.

4. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery
©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016
Affective component: this involves a person’s
feelings / emotions about the attitude object.
For example: “I amscared of spiders”.
Behavioral (or cognitive) component: the way
the attitude we have influences how we act or
behave. For example: “I will avoid spiders and
scream if I see one”.
Cognitive component: this involves a person’s
belief / knowledge about an attitude object. For
example: “I believe spiders are dangerous”.

5. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery
©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016
Connecting Attitudes and Behaviour
• Attitudes and behaviour are closely linked, but it is a complex
relationship but they help in predicting behavior.
• Attitudes help people to adapt to their work environment.
Managers should be interested in their employees’ attitudes
because attitudes give warning signs of potential problems
and because they influence behavior.
• Managers should also be aware that employees will try to
reduce cognitive dissonance. Managers can manage cognitive
dissonance….

6. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery
©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016
Connecting Attitudes and Behaviour
Cognitive Dissonance
• Cognitive dissonance (Festinger 1957)
• Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior
and attitudes.
– An unpleasant cognitive state that motivates an individual to resolve
perceived conflict among beliefs, attitudes and behaviours
– For example, people often value their health, yet they smoke
– The dissonance is an uncomfortable or stressful feeling that one often
experiences with perceived inconsistency between cognitions and
behaviour
– This unpleasant feeling can be resolved by changing one element of
the structure to restore consonance
– For example, giving up smoking (behavioural) or rationalising that
smoking light cigarettes is less harmful (belief)

7. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery
©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016
Attitude Change
• Cognitive Response Theory
– A Cognitive Response is a thought created in response to
persuasive communication
– Often the thoughts generated trigger an attitude change
– An individual interprets the message using pre-existing
thoughts they already hold about the subject
– An attitude is then changed (or not changed) depending
on the degree of incentive to generate their attitude in the
first place (Greenwald, 1968)
– Cognitive Response Theory highlights the importance of
initial thoughts to a message in triggering an attitude
change

8. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery
©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016
Work-Related Attitudes
• Job satisfaction according to Locke (1976) is a pleasurable or
positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s
job or job experiences
– When an employee has a high level of job satisfaction they
tend to view their job in a positive light
– When dissatisfied with their job they tend to hold a
negative attitude towards it

9. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery
©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016
Attitudes Towards The Organisation
• Job involvement The degree to which a person
identifies with his or her job, actively
participates in it, and considers his or her
performance important to self-worth
• Organizational commitment An individuals
orientation toward the organization in terms
of loyality, identification and involvement.

10. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery
©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016
Work-Related Attitudes and Behaviour in
Organisations
• Employee engagement is the degree to which an individual is
attentive and absorbed in the performance of their roles
– Associated with intention to stay with the firm, Organisational
Citizenship Behaviours, efficiency and task performance
• Job involvement is the extent to which an employee
psychologically identifies with their job
– Associated with organisational outcomes such as performance
and attendance

11. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery
©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016
Summary
• What is ‘positive discrimination’? What are your thoughts on
the criticism that it restricts the recruitment process to find
the best candidate?
• Is it easy to change an attitude? Can a person learn to be
prejudiced? Can a person unlearn their prejudice?
• Can you explain what is meant by the term ‘the ABCs’ of
attitude formation?
• How are values different to attitudes? How do they influence
behaviour in organisations?