Attitude Lecture

1. ATTITUDE
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Sadique Nayeem
Asst. Professor
Dept. of CSE
Sitamarhi Institute of Technology, Sitamarhi

2. Attitude
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 Attitude is a tendency to act/think in certain ways either
favorably or unfavorably concerning objects, people or
situation.
 For example, If I say I am satisfied with my job, what
actually I am doing is expressing my attitude towards the
job.
 An attitude is the way a person feels about a person, a
place, a thing, a situation or an idea.
 Attitude could be positive or negative.
 Attitude can be measured either by observing the action
of the individual or simply asking him the questions
about how he would behave in a particular situation.

3. Attitude – Formal Definition
 According to G.W. Allport, “Attitude is a mental and
neutral state of readiness organized through
experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence
upon individual’s response to all objects and
situations with which it is related.”
 Krech and Crutchfield defined “attitude as an enduring
organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual
and cognitive processes with respect to some aspect
of the individual’s world”
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4. FORMATION OF ATTITUDE
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Individuals acquire attitudes from several sources, but the point to be
stressed is that the attitudes are acquired, but not inherited. The most
important sources of acquiring attitudes are:
 Direct experience with the object: Attitudes can develop from a
personally rewarding or punishing experience with an object.
Employees form attitudes about jobs on their previous experiences.
 Classical conditioning and attitude: One of the basic processes
underlying attitude formation can be explained on the basis of learning
principles. People develop associations between various objects and
the emotional reactions that accompany them. For e.g., many soldiers
who were stationed in the Persian Gulf during the war with Iraq
reported that, they never wanted to sit on a sandy beach again. This is
the soldiers formed negative attitudes towards sand. Similarly, positive
associations can develop through classical conditioning.

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 Operant conditioning and Attitude acquisition: Another learning
process, operant conditioning, also underlies attitude acquisition.
Attitudes that are reinforced, either verbally or non-verbally, tend to be
maintained. Conversely, a person who states an attitude that elicits
ridicule from others may modify or abandon the attitude. But it is not
only direct reinforcement or punishment that can influence attitudes.
 Vicarious learning: In which a person learns something through the
observance of others, can also account for attitude development —
particularly when the individual has no direct experience with the
object about which the attitude is held. It is through vicariously learning
processes that children pick up the prejudice of their parents.

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 We also learn attitudes vicariously through television, films and
other media.
 Family and Peer groups
 Neighborhood
 Economic status and occupations
 Mass communication

7. TYPES OF ATTITUDES
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Individuals possess hundreds of attitudes. But in organizational behavior, we are
concerned with work related attitudes which are mainly three:
i. Job Satisfaction: Job satisfaction refers to one’s feeling towards one’s job. An
individual having satisfaction is said to possess positive attitude towards the job.
Conversely, a dissatisfied person will have negative attitude towards his other job.
When people speak of employee attitudes they invariably refer to job satisfaction.
In fact, the two terms are used interchangeably, though subtle difference does
exist between the two.
ii. Job Involvement: Job involvement refers to the degree with which an
individual identifies psychologically with his or her job and perceives his or her
perceived performance level important to self-worth. High degree of job
involvement results in fewer absence and lower resignation rates.
iii. Organizational Commitment: The last job attitude refers to organizational
commitment. It is understood as one’s identification with his or her organization
and feels proud of being its employee. Job involvement refers to one’s attachment
to a job whereas organizational commitment implies an employee’s identification
with a particular organization and its goals. Needless to say, it is to state that, an
individual may be attached to his or her job but may be indifferent to the
organization and its objectives. Turnover and absenteeism are low when

8. FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDE
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Why do we hold on to certain attitudes towards individuals
or objects? It is because these attitudes help us respond to
the individuals or objects in a meaningful way.
Attitudes serve four important functions:
 Utilitarian (To be useful or practical)
 Ego-defense
 Value Expressive
 Knowledge

9. CHANGING ATTITUDE
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Attitudes of employees can be changed and it is in the best interest of the
organization to try for the change. But change is difficult as there are
barriers to it. Barriers to Change are:
 First obstacle to the change of attitude is the attitude theory of balance
and consistency.
 The second barrier to change of attitude is prior commitments. This
occurs when people feel a commitment to a particular course of action
and are unwilling to change.
 The third barrier results from insufficient information. Sometimes people
see no reason why they should change their attitudes. The boss may
not like a subordinate’s negative attitude, but the latter may be quite
pleased with his behavior. Unless the boss can show the individual why
a negative attitude is detrimental to career progress or salary increases
or some other personal objective, the subordinate may continue to have
negative attitude.

10. WAYS OF CHANGING
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A few important ways of changing attitudes have been described below:
i. Providing new information: New information will help change
attitudes. Negative attitudes are mainly formed owing to lack of or
insufficient information. Workers generally become pro-union because of
the ignorance about the good intentions of the management. Once they
come to know how the management cares for the welfare of the workers,
they change their attitude and might turn pro-management.
ii. Use of Fear: Fear can change attitude. However, the change depends
on the degree of fear. For e.g., if low levels of fear arouses are used,
people often ignore them. The warnings are not strong enough to warrant
attention. If moderate levels of fear arousals are used, people often
become aware of situation and will change their attitudes. However, if high
degrees of fear arousal are used, people often reject the message,
because it is too threatening and thus not believable. On the contrary, high
degrees of fear may prove counterproductive. On being threatened too far,
people tend to become stubborn in their attitudes and may refuse to

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iii. Influence of friends or peers: Change of attitude can come about
through persuasion of friends or peers. Credibility of the others,
especially peers, is important to effect change. Peers with high
creditability shall exercise significant influence on change. The same is
not true with peers who have low credit abilities.
iv. The co-opting approach: Co-opting is another way of changing
attitude. This means taking people who are dissatisfied with a situation
and getting them involved in improving things.

12. JOB SATISFACTION
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Some of the few definitions of job satisfaction:
 Job satisfaction is defined as a “pleasurable or positive
emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or
job experience”.
 Job satisfaction is a set of favorable or unfavorable feeling
with which employees view their work.
 Job satisfaction will be defined as the amount of overall
positive affect (or feeling) that individual have towards
their jobs.

13. Important Dimensions to Job
satisfaction
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 Job satisfaction refers to one’s feeling towards one’s job. It can only be
inferred but not seen.
 Job satisfaction is often determined by how well outcomes meet or
exceed expectations. Satisfaction with one’s job means increased
commitment in the fulfillment of formal requirements. There is greater
willingness to invest personal energy and time into job performance.
 The terms job satisfaction and job attitudes are typically used
interchangeably. Both refer to effective orientation on the part of
individuals towards their work and roles which they are presently
occupying. Positive attitudes towards the job are conceptually
equivalent to job satisfaction and negative attitudes towards the job
dissatisfaction.

14. Consequences of satisfaction
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High job satisfaction may lead to:
 Improved productivity
 Increased turnover
 Improved attendance
 More job security
 Less job stress
 Lower unionization

15. Sources of job satisfaction
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Several job elements contribute to job satisfaction. The
most important amongst them are:
 Wage structure,
 Nature of work,
 Promotion chances,
 Quality of superior,
 Work group
 Working conditions

16. The End
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