O.B Case Studies

VALUES, ATTITUDES, AND JOB SATISFACTION LEARNING OBJECTIVES After consider this chapter, students should be able to 1. Contrast rod and instrumental determine 2. call the controlling set in todays hands 3. direct the five revalue dimensions of national culture 4. Contrast the three components of an pose 5. Summarize the birth amid military strengths and carriage 6. Identify the component that physical structure p countersinks in carriages 7. State the relationship betwixt furrow blessedness and behavior 8.Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction CHAPTER OVERVIEW Why is it in-chief(postnominal) to fill in an item-by-items values? Although they do non confuse a direct impact on behavior, values strongly deviate a persons carriages. acquaintance of an individuals value remains roll in the hay provide sharpness into his/her attitudes. addicted that commonwealths values differ, managers can use the Rokeach order Survey to assess potential e mployees and determine if their values align with the dominant values of the scheme. An employees deed and satisfaction be same(p)ly to be prouder if his/her values fit well with the organization.For instance, the person who places high brilliance on imagination, independence, and exemption is the likes ofly to be poorly matched with an organization that seeks congruity from its employees. Managers be to a greater extent(prenominal) likely to appreciate, evaluate positively, and allocate rewards to employees who fit in, and employees atomic number 18 to a greater extent(prenominal) likely to be satisfied if they perceive that they do fit. This argues for c are to strive during the selection of new employees to find argumentation candidates who not wholly catch the ability, experience, and motivation to perform, solely too a value system that is ompatible with the organizations. Managers should be interested in their employees attitudes because attitudes give warnings of potential problems and because they influence behavior. Satisfied and committed employees, for instance, have lower rates of turnover and absenteeism. Given that managers motive to keep capitulations and absences downespecially among their more than productive employeesthey pull up s maintains want to do those things that testament generate positive occupation attitudes.Managers should also be aware that employees will try to dress cognitive interference. more grandly, racquet can be managed. If employees are required to engage in activities that egress in un disparateiated to them or are at odds with their attitudes, the pressures to lower the resulting dissonance are less(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal)ened when the employee perceives that the dissonance is externally imposed and is beyond his/her control or if the rewards are real enough to off ensnare the dissonance. meshing EXERCISESAt the end of each chapter of this instructors manual, you will find sug gested feats and ideas for looking the entanglement on OB topics. The exercises Exploring OB Topics on the Web are set out up so that you can simply photocopy the pages, distribute them to your class, hold back assignments accordingly. You may want to assign the exercises as an out-of-class activity or as lab activities with your class. Within the talk of the town notes the graphic will note that there is a WWW activity to support this substantial.The chapter opens introducing Marge Savage, a Microsoft market analyst who is gathering information about the Nexters generation flock innate(p) after 1977. They are the first group of community to never know a world without computers and the mesh take a shit. She bring that this group values integrity, teamwork, moral support, responsibility, and freedom to pursue their dreams. They want to work for a gild that supports their needs, and where they can have significant influence in shaping society.They see technology and th e Internet as a major force for changing the world slap-up news for Microsoft. CHAPTER OUTLINE value Notes set represent basal convictions that a detail mode of post or end- declare of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence. There is a judgmental element of what is right, good, or desirable. determine have two content and intensity train attributes. The content attribute says that a mode of conduct or end-state of existence is important. The intensity attribute specifies how important it is. Ranking an individuals values in terms of their intensity equals that persons value system. Values are not commonplacely fluid and flexible. They tend to be relatively stable and enduring. A significant portion of the values we hold is established in our early long timefrom parents, teachers, friends, and otherwises. The process of questioning our values, of course, ma y result in a change, but more often, our questioning acts to reinforce the values we hold. A. Importance of Values 1.Values lay the launchation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation because they influence our perceptions. 2. Individuals enter organizations with notions of what is right and slander with which they interpret behaviors or outcomesat times this can cloud objectiveness and rationality. 3. Values generally influence attitudes and behavior. B. Types of Values 1.Rokeach Value Survey (Exhibit 3-1) It consists of devil sets of values, with each set containing 18 individual value items. One setterminal valuesrefers to desirable end-states of existence, the goals that a person would like to give during his/her vivificationtime. The otherinstrumental valuesrefers to preferable modes of behavior, or means of achieving the terminal values. 2. Several studies confirm that the RVS values vary among groups. the great unwashed in the very(prenominal) occupations or categories tend to hold similar values. Contemporary Work Cohorts 1.The uncommon value of different cohorts is that the U. S. manpower can be segmented by the era they entered the workforce. (Exhibit 3-3) Contemporary Work Cohorts (cont. ) Notes 2.VeteransWorkers who entered the workforce from the early 1940s finished the early 1960s Influenced by the Great Depression and World contend II Believe in dense work Tend to be loyal to their employer store values Comfortable life and family security 3. BoomersEmployees who entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid-1980s Influenced heavily by John F.Kennedy, the civil rights and libber movements, the Beatles, the Vietnam War, and baby-boom competition Distrust authority, but have a high violence on achievement and material success Organizations who employ them are vehicles for their careers Terminal values awareness of ac complishment and social recognition 4.Xersbegan to enter the workforce from the mid-1980s Shaped by globalization, both-career parents, MTV, AIDS, and computers Value flexibility, life options, and achievement of play satisfaction Family and relationships are important and enjoy team-oriented work Money is important, but will trade off for increased leisure time Less ordain to make personal sacrifices for employers than previous generations Terminal values true friendship, happiness, and pleasure 5. Nexters well-nigh recent entrants into the workforce. Grew up in prosperous times, have high expectation, believe in themselves, and confident in their ability to succeed everlasting search for ideal project see nothing wrong with line of reasoning-hopping essay financial success Enjoy team work, but are extremely self-reliant Terminal values freedom and comfortable life Individuals values differ, but tend to reflect the societa l values of the period in which they grew up. This can be a valuable aid in justifying and predicting behavior. Employees in their 60s, for instance, are more likely to accept authority than coworkers 15 age younger. 7. Workers under 35 are more likely than the other groups to balk at having to work overtime or weekends, and are more wedded over to leave a job in mid-career to pursue another that provides more leisure time. OB IN THE NEWS American Workers Rethink Priorities Values are relatively permanent, but dramatic shocks can realign them. For example, the terrorists attacks on September 11 may have importantly reprioritized many Americans values. The sign response to the terrorist attacks for many peck was a reevaluation of choices related to jobs, family, and career success. In some cases, this led to a rethinking of career paths, cutting back on grueling schedules, and deciding to pursue work that baron pay less but seem more meaningful.For instance, in California, young workers who once talked of dot-com millions are now asking Is it worth it? Some employees appear less concerned about putting in face time, making deadlines, and acquiring on the fast track. They seem more concerned about family and misgiving less about time at the office. CEOs say some of their employees are talking more earnestly about work/life balance, mortality, and other questions once considered taboo in the office. Said one consultant, The event de-emphasized what most people valuethe money and the luxuries. People are questioning whats really important theyre questioning work. Its happening crosswise the board. It has now been more than a year since the terrorist attacks on New York and capital of the United States D. C.That provides a more meaningful lieu on whether this event has had long implications on workplace values, or whether any reprioritizing was merely a knee-jerk response to a traumatic event, followed by a return to occupation as u sual. Do you think a significant portion of Americans have permanently reprioritized their values as a result of 9-11? Class Exercise 1. prepare students break into clear groups to discuss the question Do you think a significant portion of Americans have permanently reprioritized their values as a result of 9-11? Ask them to list examples of why or why not they think the way they do. 2. As a class, share what was discussed in the small groups. 3. Ask if they think Americas values have changed, or were they just reawakened? 4.Ask if they think organizations values have changed or reprioritized as a result of the events. 5. Ask them to relate this question to themselves. Have they reprioritized their lives as a result of the 9-11 events? (They may not want to share this information with the accurate classits map is just to get them thinking. ) A. Values, Loyalty, and Ethical Behavior Notes umteen people think there has been a tumble in business ethics since the late 1970s. T he four-stage model of work cohort values might explain this perception. Exhibit 3-2) Managers consistently report the action of bosses as the most important factor influencing ethical and unethical behavior in the organization. by dint of the mid-1970s, the managerial ranks were dominated by Veterans whose loyalty was to their employer their decisions were made in terms of what was best for the employer. Boomers entered the workforce at this time and by the 1990s had go into the majority of management positions. Loyalty was to their careers. Self-centered values would be consistent with a decay in ethical values. Did this really happen? new-fashioned entrants to the workforceXersare now moving into middle management. Loyalty is to relationships, therefore they may be more likely to consider the ethical implications of their actions on others around them. teacher Note At this come in in the lecture you may want to introduce the Ethical Dilemm a Is it a spoil or a Gift? Exercise found in the text. The purpose of the exercise is to provide the opportunity for students to understand that ethical situations are not always b deprivation or white and must be given consideration as business decisions are made. B. Values Across Cultures Notes Values differ across cultures, therefore, understanding these differences helps to explain and to predict behavior of employees from different countries.One of the most widely referenced approaches for analyzing variations among cultures has been done by Geert Hofstede. Hofstedes A framework for assessing cultures five value dimensions of national culture (Exhibit 3-4) a.Power surpass The academic degree to which people in a country accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. Individualism versus collectivism Individualism is the degree to which people in a country prefer to act as individuals rather than as membe rs of groups. socialism equals low individualism. Quantity of life versus quality of life Quantity of life is the degree to which values such as assertiveness, the acquisition of money and material goods, and competition prevail. Quality of life is the degree to which people value relationships and channelize sensitivity and concern for the welfare of others. Uncertainty avoidance The degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations. Long-term versus short-term orientation Long-term orientations look to the future and value thrift and persistence. Short-term orientation values the past and present and emphasizes pry for tradition and fulfilling social obligations. Conclusions Asian countries were more collectivist than individualistic. US stratified highest on individualism. German and Hong Kong be highest on quality of life Russia and The Netherlands were low. chinaware and Hong Kong had a long-term orientation France and US were low. 3. Hofstedes work is the basic framework for assessing cultures. However, it is intimately 30 old age old. In 1993, the Global leading and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) has begun updating this research with date from 825 organizations and 62 countries. a.GLOBE Framework for Assessing Cultures Assertiveness The expiration to which a society encourages people to be tough, confrontational, assertive, and competitive versus modest and tender Future Orientation The extent to which a society encourages and rewards future-oriented behaviors such as planning, investing in the future and delaying enjoyment Gender differentiation The extent to which a society maximized gender role differences Values Across Cultures (cont. Notes Uncertainly avoidance Societys trust on social norms and procedures to alleviate the unpredictability of future events Power distance T he degree to which members of a society expect power to be unequally shared Individualism/Collectivism The degree to which individuals are encouraged by societal institutions to be integrated into groups within organizations and society In-group collectivism The extent to which societys members take pride in membership in small groups such as their families and circles of close friends, and the organizations where they are employed military operation orientation The degree to which society encourages and rewards group members for performance improvement and virtue Humane orientation The degree to which a society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and sympathetic to others b. Conclusion The GLOBE study had extended Hofstedes work rather than step ind it. It confirms Hofstedes five dimensions are serene valid and provides updated measures of where countries are on each dimension. For example, th e U. S. in the 70s led the world in individualismtoday, it is in the mid-ranks of countries. Instructor Note At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce the Team Exercise Challenges in Negotiating with Chinese Executives found in the text. The purpose of this exercise is to give the students an opportunity to develop sense of how to effectively work with another culture when doing business. C. Implications for OB Americans have unquestionable organisational behavior within domestic contextsmore than 80 pct of the articles published in journals were by Americans. Follow-up studies continue to confirm the lack of cross-cultural considerations in management and OB research. From a cultural perspective this means Not all OB theories and concepts are universally applicable. You should take into consideration cultural values when trying to understand the behavior of people in different countries. Attitudes Attitudes are evaluative lines that are ei ther easy or unfavorable concerning objects, people, or events. Attitudes are not the same as values, but the two are interrelated. Three components of an attitude Cognition change Behavior The belief that discrimination is wrong is a value statement and an example of the cognitive component of an attitude. Attitudes (cont. ) Notes Value statements set the stage for the more critical part of an attitudeits affective component. Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude. eccentric I dont like Jon because he discriminates again minorities. The behavioural component of an attitude refers to an intention to pack in a certain way toward someone or something. Example I chose to avoid Jon because he discriminates. Viewing attitudes as made up of three components helps with understanding of the potential relationship amidst attitudes and behavior, however, when we refer to attitude essentially we mean the affect part of the three components. In seam to values, your attitudes are less stable. Advertisements are directed at changing your attitudes and are often successful. In organizations, attitudes are important because they affect job behavior. A. Types of Attitudes OB focuses our attention on a very limited number of job-related attitudes.Most of the research in OB has been Notes concerned with three attitudes job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational loyalty. Job satisfaction Definition It is an individuals general attitude toward his/her job. A high level of job satisfaction equals positive attitudes toward the job and vice versa. Employee attitudes and job satisfaction are frequently used interchangeably. lots when people speak of employee attitudes they mean employee job satisfaction. Job involvement A workable definition the measure of the degree to which a person identifies psychologically with his/her job and considers his/her perceived performance level important to self-worth. High levels of job involvement is thought to result in fewer absences and lower resignation rates. Job involvement more consistently predicts turnover than absenteeism. Organizational commitment Definition A state in which an employee identifies with a situation organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organization. Research evidence demonstrates negative relationships between organizational commitment and both absenteeism and turnover. An individuals level of organizational commitment is a better indicator of turnover than the far more frequently used job satisfaction predictor because it is a more global and enduring response to the organization as a substantial than is job satisfaction. This evidence, most of which is more than two decades old, needs to be hooked to reflect the changing employee-employer relationship. A. Type s of Attitudes (cont. ) Notes Organizational commitment is probably less important as a job-related attitude than it once was because the unwritten loyalty thin in place when this research was conducted is no longer in place. In its place, we might expect occupational commitment to become a more relevant variable because it better reflects todays fluid workforce. Instructor Note At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce the exercise Point-Counter Point Mangers Can Create Satisfied Employees exercise found in the text. The purpose of the exercise is to replace ordinaryly held notions with research-based conclusions. B. Attitudes and union Notes People sometimes change what they say so it does not play off what they do. Research has generally concluded that people seek consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes and their behavior. Individuals seek to reconcile divergent attitudes and align their attitudes and behavior so they appear rational and consistent. When there is an inconsistency, forces are initiated to return the individual to an equilibrium state where attitudes and behavior are again consistent, by altering either the attitudes or the behavior, or by developing a rationalization for the discrepancy. C. Cognitive racquet speculation Leon Festinger, in the late 1950s, proposed the guess of cognitive dissonance, seeking to explain the linkage between attitudes and behavior. He argued that any form of inconsistency is awkward and that individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance. Dissonance means an inconsistency. Cognitive dissonance refers to any incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more of his/her attitudes, or between his/her behavior and attitudes. No individual can completely avoid dissonance. The desire to reduce dissonance would be determined by The importance of the elements creating the dissona nce. The degree of influence the individual believes he/she has over the elements. The rewards that may be involved in dissonance. Importance If the elements creating the dissonance are relatively unimportant, the pressure to correct this imbalance will be low. Influence If the dissonance is perceived as an uncontrollable result, they are less likely to be receptive to attitude change. While dissonance exists, it can be rationalized and justified. Rewards The inherent tension in high dissonance tends to be reduced with high rewards. Moderating factors suggest that individuals will not ineluctably move to reduce dissonanceor consistency. C. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (cont. ) Notes Organizational implications Greater predictability of the propensity to engage in attitude and behavioral change The greater the dissonanceafter it has been moderated by importance, choice, and rewards factorsthe greater the pressures to reduce it. D. quant ity the A-B Relationship Early research on attitudes and common sense anticipate a causal relationship to behavior. In the late 1960s, this assumed relationship between attitudes and behavior (A-B) was challenged. Recent research has demonstrated that attitudes significantly predict future behavior. The most powerful moderators Importance Specificity Accessibility friendly pressures Direct experience Importance Reflects fundamental values, self-interest, or identification with individuals or groups that a person values. Specificity The more specific the attitude and the more specific the behavior, the stronger the link between the two. Accessibility Attitudes that are easily remembered are more likely to predict behavior than attitudes that are not accessible in memory. Social pressures Discrepancies between attitudes and behavior are more likely to legislate where social pressures to behave in certain ways hold portento us power. Direct experience The attitude-behavior relationship is likely to be much stronger if an attitude refers to an individuals direct personal experience. E. Self-perception theory Researchers have achieved still high correlations by pursuing whether or not behavior influences attitudes. Self-perception theory argues that attitudes are used to make sense out of an action that has already occurred rather than devices that precede and guide action. Example Ive had this job for 10 years, no one has forced me to stay, so I must like it Contrary to cognitive dissonance theory, attitudes are just casual verbal statements they tend to create plausible answers for what has already occurred. While the traditional attitude-behavior relationship is generally positive, the behavior-attitude relationship is stronger particularly when attitudes are vague and ambiguous or little thought has been given to it previously. An Application Attitude Survey s The most popular regularity for getting information about employee attitudes is through attitude surveys. slang Exhibit 3-5) Using attitude surveys on a unvarying cornerstone provides managers with valuable feedback on how employees perceive their working conditions. Managers present the employee with set statements or questions to obtain specific information. Policies and practices that management views as objective and fair may be seen as inequitable by employees in general or by certain groups of employees and can lead to negative attitudes about the job and the organization. Employee behaviors are often based on perceptions, not reality. Often employees do not have objective data from which to base their perceptions. The use of regular attitude surveys can alert management to potential problems and employees intentions early so that action can be taken to prevent repercussions. G. Attitudes and Workforce transmutation A survey of U. S. organizations with 100 or more employees found that 47 pct or so of them sponsored some sort of mutation training. These diversity programs include a self-evaluation phase where people are pressed to examine themselves and to confront ethnic and cultural stereotypes they might hold. This is followed by discussion with people from diverse groups. Additional activities designed to change attitudes nclude arranging for people to do volunteer work in community or social portion centers in order to meet face to face with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds, and employ exercises that let participants feel what it is like to be different. Job merriment Measuring Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is an individuals general attitude toward his/her job. Jobs require interaction with co-workers and bosses, following organizational rules and policies, meeting performance standards, living with working conditions that are often less than i deal, and the like. This means that an employees assessment of how satisfied or dissatisfied he or she is with his/her job is a complex summation of a number of discrete job elements. The two most widely used approaches are a mavin global rating and a summation score made up of a number of job facets. a. The single global rating method is nothing more than asking individuals to respond to one question, such as All things considered, how satisfied are you with your job? Measuring Job Satisfaction (cont. ) Notes A summation of job facets is more sophisticated It identifies key elements in a job and asks for the employees feelings about each one ranked on a standardized scale. Typical factors that would be included are the nature of the work, supervision, present pay, promotion opportunities, and relations with co-workers. Comparing these approaches, simplicity seems to work as well as complexity. Comparisons of one-question global ratin gs with the summation-of-job-factors method indicate both are valid. How Satisfied Are People in Their Jobs? Most people are satisfied with their jobs in the true countries surveyed. However, there has been a decline in job satisfaction since the early 1990s. In the US nearly an eight percent drop in the 90s. Surprisingly those last years were ones of growth and economic expansion. What factors might explain the decline despite growth Increased productivity through heavier employee workloads and tighter deadlines Employees feeling they have less control over their work While some segments of the market are more satisfied than others, they tend to be higher paid, higher skilled jobs which gives workers more control and challenges. Instructor Note At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce the exercise found in the MYTH OR SCIENCE How Satisfied Are People in Their Jobs? box found in the text.The purpose of the exercise is to replace p opularly held notions with research-based conclusions. MYTH OR SCIENCE? Happy Workers Are amentiferous Workers This statement is generally false. The myth that happy workers are productive workers developed in the 1930s and 1940s, due to the Hawthorne studies at Western Electric. A elaborated review of the research indicates that, if there is a positive relationship between happiness (i. e. , satisfaction) and productivity, the correlations are low no more than two percent of the variance in output can be accounted for by employee satisfaction. The evidence, however, is for the airliftproductive workers are likely to be happy workers.That is, productivity leads to satisfaction rather than the other way around. If the organization rewards productivity, these rewards, in turn, increase your level of satisfaction with the job. Class Exercise 1. Brainstorm with students about situations where they knew workers/employees were unhappy with the company or their jobs, but still did a re asonably good job. perchance have them share insights into their own feelings about their school, or a particular class they disliked but still tried very hard. 2. question why someone who is unhappy with his/her job might work hard at it and do good work. 3. Why would someone who is happy with his/her job not perform at a higher level than the dissatisfy worker? 4.Students should come to realize that most effort comes from internal drive, not external motivation. As a result, a highly internally propel individual might perform well in any scene whereas his/her organizational environment would not positively affect a non-internally motivated individual. C. The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance Notes Managers interest in job satisfaction tends to center on its effect on employee performance. oft research has been done on the impact of job satisfaction on employee productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. Satisfaction and productivity