Im 03

Robbins: Organizational Behavior Chapter Three

VALUES, ATTITUDES, AND JOB SATISFACTION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, students should be able to:

1. Contrast terminal and instrumental values2. List the dominant values in today’s workforce3. Identify the five value dimensions of national culture4. Contrast the three components of an attitude5. Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior6. Identify the role that consistency plays in attitudes7. State the relationship between job satisfaction and behavior8. Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Why is it important to know an individual’s values? Although they do not have a direct impact on behavior, values strongly influence a person’s attitudes. Knowledge of an individual’s value system can provide insight into his/her attitudes.

Given that people’s values differ, managers can use the Rokeach Value Survey to assess potential employees and determine if their values align with the dominant values of the organization. An employee’s performance and satisfaction are likely to be higher if his/her values fit well with the organization. For instance, the person who places high importance on imagination, independence, and freedom is likely to be poorly matched with an organization that seeks conformity from its employees. Managers are more likely to appreciate, evaluate positively, and allocate rewards to employees who “fit in,” and employees are more likely to be satisfied if they perceive that they do fit. This argues for management to strive during the selection of new employees to find job candidates who not only have the ability, experience, and motivation to perform, but also a value system that is compatible with the organization’s.

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 want to keep resignations and absences down—especially among their more productive employees—they will want to do those things that will generate positive job attitudes.

Managers should also be aware that employees will try to reduce cognitive dissonance. More importantly, dissonance can be managed. If employees are required to engage in activities that appear inconsistent to them or are at odds with their attitudes, the pressures to reduce the resulting dissonance are lessened when the employee perceives that the dissonance is externally imposed and is beyond his/her control or if the rewards are significant enough to offset the dissonance.

WEB EXERCISES

At the end of each chapter of this instructor’s manual, you will find suggested exercises and ideas for researching the WWW on OB topics. The exercises “Exploring OB Topics on the Web” are set up so that you can simply photocopy the pages, distribute them to your class, make assignments accordingly.

You may want to assign the exercises as an out-of-class activity or as lab activities with your class. Within the lecture notes the graphic will note that there is a WWW activity to support this material.

The chapter opens introducing Marge Savage, a Microsoft marketing analyst who is gathering information about the “Nexters” generation—people born after 1977. They are the first group of people to never know a world without computers and the Internet. She found that this group values integrity, teamwork, moral support, responsibility, and freedom to pursue their dreams. They want to work for a company that supports their needs, and where they can have significant influence in shaping society. They see technology and the Internet as a major force for changing the world—good news for Microsoft.

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CHAPTER OUTLINE

Values Notes:

1. Values represent basic convictions that “a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.”

2. There is a judgmental element of what is right, good, or desirable.

3. Values have both content and intensity 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 individual’s values in terms of their intensity equals that

person’s value system.

4. Values are not generally fluid and flexible. They tend to be relatively stable and enduring.

A significant portion of the values we hold is established in our early years—from parents, teachers, friends, and others.

The process of questioning our values, of course, may result in a change, but more often, our questioning acts to reinforce the values we hold.

A. Importance of Values

1. Values lay the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation because they influence our perceptions.

2. Individuals enter organizations with notions of what is right and wrong with which they interpret behaviors or outcomes—at times this can cloud objectivity and rationality.

3. Values generally influence attitudes and behavior.

B. Types of Values

1. Rokeach Value Survey (Exhibit 3-1)

It consists of two sets of values, with each set containing 18 individual value items.

One set—terminal values—refers to desirable end-states of existence, the goals that a person would like to achieve during his/her lifetime.

The other—instrumental values—refers to preferable modes of behavior, or means of achieving the terminal values.

2. Several studies confirm that the RVS values vary among groups.

People in the same occupations or categories tend to hold similar values.

Contemporary Work Cohorts

1. The unique value of different cohorts is that the U.S. workforce can be segmented by the era they entered the workforce. (Exhibit 3-3)

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Contemporary Work Cohorts (cont.) Notes:

2. Veterans—Workers who entered the workforce from the early 1940s through the early 1960s Influenced by the Great Depression and World War II Believe in hard work Tend to be loyal to their employer Terminal values: Comfortable life and family security

3. Boomers—Employees who entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid-1980s

Influenced heavily by John F. Kennedy, the civil rights and feminist movements, the Beatles, the Vietnam War, and baby-boom competition

Distrust authority, but have a high emphasis on achievement and material success

Organizations who employ them are vehicles for their careers Terminal values: sense of accomplishment and social recognition

4. Xers—began to enter the workforce from the mid-1980s

Shaped by globalization, two-career parents, MTV, AIDS, and computers Value flexibility, life options, and achievement of job satisfaction Family and relationships are important and enjoy team-oriented work Money is important, but will trade off for increased leisure time Less willing to make personal sacrifices for employers than previous

generations Terminal values: true friendship, happiness, and pleasure

5. Nexters—most recent entrants into the workforce.

Grew up in prosperous times, have high expectation, believe in themselves, and confident in their ability to succeed

Never-ending search for ideal job; see nothing wrong with job-hopping Seek financial success Enjoy team work, but are highly self-reliant Terminal values: freedom and comfortable life

5. Individuals’ values differ, but tend to reflect the societal values of the period in which they grew up. This can be a valuable aid in explaining and predicting behavior. Employees in their 60s, for instance, are more likely to accept authority than coworkers 15 years younger.

7. Workers under 35 are more likely than the other groups to balk at having to work overtime or weekends, and are more prone to leave a job in mid-career to pursue another that provides more leisure time.

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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 significantly reprioritized many Americans’ values.

The initial response to the terrorist attacks for many people 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 might 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 getting on the fast track. They seem more concerned about family and worry 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 value—the money and the luxuries. People are questioning what’s really important; they’re questioning work. It’s happening across the board.”

It has now been more than a year since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. That provides a more meaningful perspective on whether this event has had long-term implications on workplace values, or whether any reprioritizing was merely a knee-jerk reaction to a traumatic event, followed by a return to “business as usual.” Do you think a significant portion of Americans have permanently reprioritized their values as a result of 9-11?

Class Exercise:

1. Have students break into small 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 America’s 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 entire class—its purpose is just to get them thinking.)

A. Values, Loyalty, and Ethical Behavior Notes:

1. Many people think there has been a decline in business ethics since the late 1970s. The four-stage model of work cohort values might explain this perception. (Exhibit 3-2)

2. Managers consistently report the action of bosses as the most important factor influencing ethical and unethical behavior in the organization.

3. Through 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.

4. Boomers entered the workforce at this time and by the 1990’s had risen into the majority of management positions. Loyalty was to their careers. Self-centered values would be consistent with a decline in ethical values. Did this really happen?

5. Recent entrants to the workforce—Xers—are 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.

Instructor Note: At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce the Ethical Dilemma: Is it a Bribe 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 black or white and must be given consideration as business decisions are made.

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B. Values Across Cultures Notes:

1. 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.

2. Hofstede’s A framework for assessing cultures; five value dimensions of national culture (Exhibit 3-4):

a. Power distance:

The degree to which people in a country accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.

b. Individualism versus collectivism:

Individualism is the degree to which people in a country prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups.

Collectivism equals low individualism.

c. 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 show sensitivity and concern for the welfare of others.

d. Uncertainty avoidance:

The degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations.

e. 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 respect for tradition and fulfilling social obligations.

f. Conclusions:

Asian countries were more collectivist than individualistic. US ranked highest on individualism. German and Hong Kong ranked highest on quality of life; Russia and The Netherlands were low. China and Hong Kong had a long-term orientation; France and US were low.

3. Hofstede’s work is the basic framework for assessing cultures. However, it is nearly 30 years old. In 1993, the Global Leadership 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 extent 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 gratification

Gender differentiation: The extent to which a society maximized gender role differences

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B. Values Across Cultures (cont.) Notes:

Uncertainly avoidance: Society’s reliance on social norms and procedures to alleviate the unpredictability of future events

Power distance: The 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 society’s members take pride in membership in small groups such as their families and circles of close friends, and the organizations where they are employed

Performance orientation: The degree to which society encourages and rewards group members for performance improvement and excellence

Humane orientation: The degree to which a society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others

b. Conclusion: The GLOBE study had extended Hofstede’s work rather than replaced it. It confirms Hofstede’s five dimensions are still valid and provides updated measures of where countries are on each dimension. For example, the U.S. in the 70s led the world in individualism—today, 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 awareness of how to effectively work with another culture when doing business.

C. Implications for OB

1. Americans have developed organizational behavior within domestic contexts—more than 80 percent of the articles published in journals were by Americans.

2. 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

1. Attitudes are evaluative statements that are either favorable or unfavorable concerning objects, people, or events.

2. Attitudes are not the same as values, but the two are interrelated.

3. Three components of an attitude:

Cognition Affect Behavior

4. The belief that “discrimination is wrong” is a value statement and an example of the cognitive component of an attitude.

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Attitudes (cont.) Notes:

5. Value statements set the stage for the more critical part of an attitude—its affective component. Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude. Example: “I don’t like Jon because he discriminates again minorities.”

6. The behavioral component of an attitude refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something. Example: “I chose to avoid Jon because he discriminates.”

7. Viewing attitudes as made up of three components helps with understanding of the potential relationship between attitudes and behavior, however, when we refer to attitude essentially we mean the affect part of the three components.

8. In contrast to values, your attitudes are less stable. Advertisements are directed at changing your attitudes and are often successful.

9. In organizations, attitudes are important because they affect job behavior.

A. Types of Attitudes

1. OB focuses our attention on a very limited number of job-related attitudes. Most of the research in OB has been concerned with three attitudes: job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment.

2. Job satisfaction

Definition: It is an individual’s 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.

Often when people speak of “employee attitudes” they mean “employee job satisfaction.”

3. 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.

4. Organizational commitment

Definition: A state in which an employee identifies with a particular 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 individual’s 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 whole than is job satisfaction.

This evidence, most of which is more than two decades old, needs to be qualified to reflect the changing employee-employer relationship.

Notes:

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A. Types of Attitudes (cont.) Notes:

Organizational commitment is probably less important as a job-related attitude than it once was because the unwritten “loyalty” contract 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 today’s 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 popularly held notions with research-based conclusions.

B. Attitudes and Consistency Notes:

1. People sometimes change what they say so it does not contradict what they do.

2. Research has generally concluded that people seek consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes and their behavior.

3. Individuals seek to reconcile divergent attitudes and align their attitudes and behavior so they appear rational and consistent.

4. 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 Dissonance Theory

1. Leon Festinger, in the late 1950s, proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance, seeking to explain the linkage between attitudes and behavior. He argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance.

2. Dissonance means “an inconsistency.”

3. 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.“

4. No individual can completely avoid dissonance.

a. The desire to reduce dissonance would be determined by:

The importance of the elements creating the dissonance. The degree of influence the individual believes he/she has over the

elements. The rewards that may be involved in dissonance.

5. Importance : If the elements creating the dissonance are relatively unimportant, the pressure to correct this imbalance will be low.

6. 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.

7. Rewards : The inherent tension in high dissonance tends to be reduced with high rewards.

8. Moderating factors suggest that individuals will not necessarily move to reduce dissonance—or consistency.

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Robbins: Organizational Behavior Chapter ThreeC. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (cont.) Notes:

9. Organizational implications

Greater predictability of the propensity to engage in attitude and behavioral change

The greater the dissonance—after it has been moderated by importance, choice, and rewards factors—the greater the pressures to reduce it.

D. Measuring the A-B Relationship

1. Early research on attitudes and common sense assumed 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.

2. The most powerful moderators:

Importance Specificity Accessibility Social pressures Direct experience

3. Importance : Reflects fundamental values, self-interest, or identification with individuals or groups that a person values.

4. Specificity : The more specific the attitude and the more specific the behavior, the stronger the link between the two.

5. Accessibility : Attitudes that are easily remembered are more likely to predict behavior than attitudes that are not accessible in memory.

6. Social pressures : Discrepancies between attitudes and behavior are more likely to occur where social pressures to behave in certain ways hold exceptional power.

7. Direct experience : The attitude-behavior relationship is likely to be much stronger if an attitude refers to an individual’s direct personal experience.

E. Self-perception theory

1. Researchers have achieved still higher correlations by pursuing whether or not behavior influences attitudes.

2. 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: I’ve had this job for 10 years, no one has forced me to stay, so I must like it!

3. Contrary to cognitive dissonance theory, attitudes are just casual verbal statements; they tend to create plausible answers for what has already occurred.

4. 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.

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F. An Application: Attitude Surveys

1. The most popular method for getting information about employee attitudes is through attitude surveys. (See Exhibit 3-5)

2. Using attitude surveys on a regular basis 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.

3. 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.

4. Employee behaviors are often based on perceptions, not reality. Often employees do not have objective data from which to base their perceptions.

5. 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 Diversity

1. A survey of U.S. organizations with 100 or more employees found that 47 percent or so of them sponsored some sort of diversity training.

2. 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.

3. Additional activities designed to change attitudes include arranging for people to do volunteer work in community or social service centers in order to meet face to face with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds, and using exercises that let participants feel what it is like to be different.

Job Satisfaction

A. Measuring Job Satisfaction

1. Job satisfaction is “an individual’s general attitude toward his/her job.”

2. 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 ideal, and the like. This means that an employee’s 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.

3. The two most widely used approaches are a single 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?”

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A. Measuring Job Satisfaction (cont.) Notes:

b. A summation of job facets is more sophisticated:

It identifies key elements in a job and asks for the employee’s 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.

4. Comparing these approaches, simplicity seems to work as well as complexity. Comparisons of one-question global ratings with the summation-of-job-factors method indicate both are valid.

B. How Satisfied Are People in Their Jobs?

1. Most people are satisfied with their jobs in the developed countries surveyed.

2. 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 one’s of growth and economic expansion.

3. 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

4. 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 popularly held notions with research-based conclusions.

MYTH OR SCIENCE? – “Happy Workers Are Productive 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 careful 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 reverse—productive 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 reasonably good job. Perhaps have them share insights into their own feelings about their school, or a particular class they disliked but still tried very hard.

2. Discuss 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 disgruntled worker?4. Students should come to realize that most effort comes from internal drive, not external motivation. As a

result, a highly internally motivated individual might perform well in any circumstance whereas his/her organizational environment would not positively affect a non-internally motivated individual.

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C. The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance Notes:

1. Managers’ interest in job satisfaction tends to center on its effect on employee performance. Much research has been done on the impact of job satisfaction on employee productivity, absenteeism, and turnover.

2. Satisfaction and productivity:

Happy workers are not necessarily productive workers—the evidence suggests that productivity is likely to lead to satisfaction.

At the organization level, there is renewed support for the original satisfaction-performance relationship. It seems organizations with more satisfied workers as a whole are more productive organizations.

3. Satisfaction and absenteeism

We find a consistent negative relationship between satisfaction and absenteeism. The more satisfied you are, the less likely you are to miss work.

It makes sense that dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work, but other factors have an impact on the relationship and reduce the correlation coefficient. For example, you might be a satisfied worker, yet still take a “mental health day” to head for the beach now and again.

4. Satisfaction and turnover

Satisfaction is also negatively related to turnover, but the correlation is stronger than what we found for absenteeism.

Other factors such as labor market conditions, expectations about alternative job opportunities, and length of tenure with the organization are important constraints on the actual decision to leave one’s current job.

Evidence indicates that an important moderator of the satisfaction-turnover relationship is the employee’s level of performance.

Instructor Note: At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce the Case Incident: Trilogy Software found in the text.

D. How Employees Can Express Dissatisfaction

1. There are a number of ways employees can express dissatisfaction (Exhibit 3-6):

Exit Voice Loyalty Neglect

2. Exit: Behavior directed toward leaving the organization, including looking for a new position as well as resigning.

3. Voice: Actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions, including suggesting improvements, discussing problems with superiors, and some forms of union activity.

4. Loyalty: Passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve, including speaking up for the organization in the face of external criticism, and trusting the organization and its management to “do the right thing.”

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D. How Employees Can Express Dissatisfaction (cont.) Notes:

1. Neglect: Passively allowing conditions to worsen, including chronic absenteeism or lateness, reduced effort, and increased error rate.

2. Exit and neglect behaviors encompass our performance variables—productivity, absenteeism, and turnover.

3. Voice and loyalty are constructive behaviors allow individuals to tolerate unpleasant situations or to revive satisfactory working conditions. It helps us to understand situations, such as those sometimes found among unionized workers, where low job satisfaction is coupled with low turnover.

E. Job Satisfaction and OCB

1. It seems logical to assume that job satisfaction should be a major determinant of an employee’s organizational citizenship behavior. More recent evidence, however, suggests that satisfaction influences OCB, but through perceptions of fairness.

2. There is a modest overall relationship between job satisfaction and OCB.

3. Basically, job satisfaction comes down to conceptions of fair outcomes, treatment, and procedures. When you trust your employer, you are more likely to engage in behaviors that go beyond your formal job requirements.

F. Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction

1. Evidence indicates that satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

2. Customer retention and defection are highly dependent on how front-line employees deal with customers. Satisfied employees are more likely to be friendly, upbeat, and responsive. Customers appreciate that.

3. Dissatisfied customers can also increase an employee’s dissatisfaction. The more employees work with rude and thoughtless customers, the more likely they are to be dissatisfied.

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QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW

1. Contrast the Veteran, Boomers, Xers, and Nexters classifications with the terminal values identified in the Rokeach Value Survey.Answer – The author has integrated a number of recent analyses of work values into a four-stage model. Exhibit 3-3 segments employees by the era in which they entered the workforce. Workers who entered the workforce from the early 1940s through the early 1960s: Their terminal values are a comfortable life and family security. Employees who entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid-1970s: Their terminal values are freedom and equality. Individuals who entered the workforce from the mid-1970s through the late 1980s: Their terminal values are a sense of accomplishment and social recognition. The Nexters’: Their terminal values are true friendship, happiness, and pleasure. An understanding that individuals’ values differ but tend to reflect the societal values of the period in which they grew up can be a valuable aid in explaining and predicting behavior.

2. Contrast the cognitive and affective components of an attitude.Answer – Attitudes are evaluative statements that are either favorable or unfavorable concerning objects, people, or events. A belief is a value statement and the cognitive component of an attitude. It sets the stage for the more critical part of an attitude—its affective component. Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude. Attitude essentially refers to the affect part of the three components. In contrast to values, attitudes are less stable. In organizations, attitudes are important because they affect job behavior.

3. What is cognitive dissonance, and how is it related to attitudes?Answer – Leon Festinger, in the late 1950s, proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance, seeking to explain the linkage between attitudes and behavior. 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. Festinger argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance. The organizational implications are a greater predictability of the propensity to engage in attitude and behavioral change. The greater the dissonance—after it has been moderated by importance, choice, and rewards factors—the greater the pressures to reduce it.

4. What is self-perception theory? How does it increase our ability to predict behavior?Answer – Self-perception theory argues that attitudes are used to make sense out of an action. Contrary to cognitive dissonance theory, attitudes are just casual verbal statements. Researchers achieve higher correlations by pursuing whether or not behavior influences attitudes. When asked about an attitude toward some object, individuals recall their behavior relevant to that object and then infer their attitude from their past behavior. While the traditional attitude-behavior relationship is generally positive, the behavior-attitude relationship is stronger.

5. What contingency factors can improve the statistical relationship between attitudes and behavior?Answer – Job satisfaction is an individual’s 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 ideal, and the like. This means that an employee’s 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.

Recent research has demonstrated that attitudes significantly predict future behavior. The most powerful moderators are: The importance of the attitude reflects fundamental values, self-interest, or identification with individuals

or groups that a person values. Its specificity. The more specific the attitude and the more specific the behavior, the stronger the link

between the two. Its accessibility. Attitudes that are easily remembered are more likely to predict behavior than attitudes

that are not accessible in memory. Whether there exist social pressures. Discrepancies between attitudes and behavior are more likely to

occur where social pressures to behave in certain ways hold exceptional power. Whether a person has direct experience with the attitude. The attitude-behavior relationship is likely to be

much stronger if an attitude refers to an individual’s direct personal experience.

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6. What explains the recent declines in employee job satisfaction?Answer – There has been a decline in job satisfaction since the early 1990’s—nearly an eight percent drop in the US alone. This happened despite that fact that those years were one’s of growth and economic expansion. Factors that might explain the decline despite growth: Increased productivity through heavier employee workloads and tighter deadlines and the general feeling by employees that they have less control over their work. While some segments of the market are more satisfied than others, they tend to be higher paid, have higher skilled jobs, which gives workers more control and challenges.

7. Are happy workers productive workers?Answer – Not necessarily. While happy workers are not necessarily productive workers, the evidence suggests that productivity is likely to lead to satisfaction. Organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than organizations with less satisfied employees. It might be true that happy organizations are more productive.

8. What is the relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism? Turnover? Which is the stronger relationship?Answer – Managers’ interest in job satisfaction tends to center on its effect on employee performance. Research shows a consistent negative relationship between satisfaction and absenteeism. It makes sense that dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work, but other factors have an impact on the relationship and reduce the correlation coefficient. Satisfaction is also negatively related to turnover, but the correlation is stronger than what we found for absenteeism. Again, other factors such as labor market conditions, expectations about alternative job opportunities, and length of tenure with the organization are important constraints on the actual decision to leave one’s current job. Evidence indicates that an important moderator of the satisfaction-turnover relationship is the employee’s level of performance.

9. How can managers get employees to more readily accept working with colleagues who are different from themselves?Answer – Managers can initiate diversity programs that include a self-evaluation phase. People are pressed to examine themselves and to confront ethnic and cultural stereotypes they might hold. Additional activities designed to change attitudes include arranging for people to do volunteer work in community or social service centers in order to meet face to face with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds and using exercises that let participants feel what it is like to be different.

10. Contrast exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect as employee responses to job dissatisfaction.Answer – Exhibit 3-6 reviews these four responses and how they differ from one another along two dimensions: constructiveness/destructiveness and activity/passivity. Exit: Behavior directed toward leaving the organization, including looking for a new position as well as

resigning. Voice: Actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions, including suggesting improvements,

discussing problems with superiors, and some forms of union activity. Loyalty: Passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve, including speaking up for the

organization in the face of external criticism and trusting the organization and its management to “do the right thing.”

Neglect: Passively allowing conditions to worsen, including chronic absenteeism or lateness, reduced effort, and increased error rate.

Exit and neglect behaviors encompass our performance variables—productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. Voice and loyalty constructive behaviors allow individuals to tolerate unpleasant situations or to revive satisfactory working conditions.

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QUESTIONS FOR CRITICAL THINKING

1. “Thirty-five years ago, young employees we hired were ambitious, conscientious, hardworking, and honest. Today’s young workers do not have the same values.” Do you agree or disagree with this manager’s comments? Support your position.Answer – This question represents the differences in perception and opinion among cohorts. Including nontraditional students or guests in this discussion will create an enlightening experience for both sides. Students should note the different influences on each of the cohorts and how those influences are demonstrated in their behavior.

An understanding that individuals’ values differ but tend to reflect the societal values of the period in which they grew up can be a valuable aid in explaining and predicting behavior. Employees in their late 30s and 60s, for instance, are more likely to be conservative and accepting of authority than their existential coworkers in their early 50s. Workers under 35 are more likely than the other groups to balk at having to work overtime or weekends and more prone to leave a job in mid-career to pursue another that provides more leisure time. See Exhibit 3-3.

2. Do you think there might be any positive and significant relationship between the possession of certain personal values and successful career progression in organizations like Merrill Lynch, the AFL-CIO, and the city of Cleveland’s police department? Discuss.Answer – The position of your text is yes, you would, for several reasons. People tend to gravitate toward jobs that are compatible with their interests, values, and abilities. Values lay the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation and because they influence our perceptions. Values generally influence attitudes and behavior.

3. “Managers should do everything they can to enhance the job satisfaction of their employees.” Do you agree or disagree? Support your position. Answer – Students will probably argue for yes, however, the reality is there may not be any productivity or bottom line positive reason for doing so. In the real world, managers’ interest in job satisfaction tends to center on its effect on employee performance. Happy workers are not necessarily productive workers, but evidence suggests that productivity is likely to lead to satisfaction. Also, organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than organizations with less satisfied employees. It might be true that happy organizations are more productive. Also, it makes sense that dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work, but other factors have an impact on the relationship and reduce the correlation coefficient. Reference the Sears, Roebuck study in the text.

4. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using regular attitude surveys to monitor employee job satisfaction.Answer – Using attitude surveys on a regular basis provides managers with valuable feedback on how employees perceive their working conditions. 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. Employee behaviors are often based on perceptions, not reality. 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. On the other hand, the use of surveys may create an expectation for change that may or may not actually come about.

5. When employees are asked whether they would again choose the same work or whether they would want their children to follow in their footsteps, typically less than half answer in the affirmative. What, if anything, do you think this implies about employee job satisfaction?Answer – This could indicate something relevant, such as attitude survey results are not accurate; it could reflect something totally irrelevant to what is being measured, i.e., parents desire for the children to “do better” than they are, so they wish for a better professional career for their children. Or it could reflect that, while the parents like their jobs, they know that their careers are not good matches for them. This question is too broad to draw accurate conclusions.

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POINT-COUNTERPOINT – Managers Can Create Satisfied Employees

PointA review of the evidence has identified four factors conducive to high levels of employee job satisfaction:

Mentally challenging work Equitable rewards Supportive working conditions Supportive colleagues

Studies generally find that employee satisfaction is increased when the immediate supervisor is understanding and friendly, offers praise for good performance, listens to employees’ opinions, and shows a personal interest in them.

Counter PointThe notion that managers and organizations can control the level of employee job satisfaction is inherently attractive. There is a growing body of evidence that challenges that idea. Evidence seems to show that employee job satisfaction is largely genetically determined.

You either have happy genes, or you do nt. Approximately 80 percent of people’s differences in happiness, or subjective well-being, have been found to be attributable to their different genes. Analysis of satisfaction data for a selected sample of individuals over a 50-year period found consistently stable results over time. This and other research suggests that an individual’s disposition toward life is established by his/her genetic makeup, holds over time, and carries over into his/her disposition toward work.

Given these findings, there is probably little that most managers can do to influence employee satisfaction. The only place where managers will have any significant influence will be through their control of the selection process.

Class Exercise: Do this exercise before having the students read Point-Counter Point.

1. Have students think about two to three jobs they have had, outside of family chores. [Working for a family business is okay.]

2. Ask them to list the jobs at the top of the sheet of paper.3. Next have them list what they really liked about the jobs and what they disliked about the jobs.4. Ask five-to-ten volunteers to write their job titles on the board and list 3–5 things they really like/disliked about

each job.5. With the class, look for commonalties across jobs and consolidate them into a list of things people like and do

not like about work.6. Have students then discuss what managers or supervisors could do to increase the likes and decrease the

dislikes.7. Ask if these changes would cause them or others to work harder. Have them explain why it would or would

not.8. Lead the students to draw conclusions about how much their supervisors or managers control things that

would increase their like or dislike, motivation or demotivation for the job.

[E.A. Locke, “The Nature and Causes of Job Satisfaction,” in M.D. Dunnette (ed.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Chicago: Rand McNally), 1976, pp. 1319–28. See, for instance, T.A. Judge and S. Watanabe, “Another Look at the Job Satisfaction-Life Satisfaction Relationship,” Journal of Applied Psychology, December 1993, pp. 939–48; R.D. Arvey, B.P. McCall, T.J. Bouchard, Jr., and P. Taubman, “Genetic Influences on Job Satisfaction and Work Values,” Personality and Individual Differences, July 1994, pp. 21–33; and D. Lykken and A. Tellegen, “Happiness is a Stochastic Phenomenon,” Psychological Science, May 1996, pp. 186–89.]

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TEAM EXERCISE – Challenges in Negotiating with Chinese Executives

Purpose – To demonstrate the power of power and negative reinforcement Time required – Approximately 50-60 minutesParticipant roles – Team members developing strategy

The Task

Form into teams of three to five members each. All your team’s members work for a company in the Midwestern part of the United States that manufactures bathroom fixtures such as sinks, toilets, and bathtubs. Your company’s senior management has decided to make a serious effort to expand sales of its fixtures into the Chinese market. To begin the process, your team has been chosen to make a 10-day trip to Beijing and Shanghai to meet with purchasing executives at half-a-dozen Chinese residential and commercial real estate construction developers.

Your team will be leaving for its trip in a week. You will have a translator in both cities, but your team wants to do whatever it can to make a good impression on the Chinese executives they will be meeting. Unfortunately, the members of your team have a relatively limited knowledge of Chinese culture. To help with the trip, one of your team members has found a brochure that summarizes some of the unique characteristics of the Chinese and that might prove valuable in opening negotiations. The highlights of that brochure included:

China is a group-oriented society and any negotiations must cover the interests of many different parties. Emphasis is placed on trust and mutual connections. The Chinese are interested in long-term benefits. The Chinese seem to have a compelling need to dwell on the subject of friendship. Initial business meetings are devoted to pleasantries, such as serving tea and chit chat. So as not to lose face, Chinese prefer to negotiate through an intermediary. Chinese expect reciprocal invitations—if a banquet is given in the honor of your team, they expect you to give

a banquet for their team. The Chinese are sensitive about foreigners’ comments on Chinese politics. The Chinese are punctual and expect others will arrive promptly on time for each meeting. The Chinese are well aware of Americans’ reputation for impatience. They will often take their time in decision

making to gain an advantage in negotiations. The Chinese do not like to be touched or slapped on the back or even to shake hands. A slight bow and a

brief shake of the hands are more appropriate. The Chinese generally believe that foreign business persons will be highly qualified technically in their specific

area of expertise. Chinese posture becomes rigid whenever they feel their goals are being compromised. Very often, several visits are necessary to consummate any business transaction. Foreigners should not focus on the individual Chinese person but rather on the group of individuals who are

working for a particular goal. Telephone calls and fax machines are a vital part of Chinese business, but they think important business is

conducted only face to face. In negotiations with the Chinese, nothing should be considered final until it has been actually realized.

Your team has 30 minutes to rough out a strategy for meeting with the Chinese purchasing executives. Be as specific as possible. When finished, be prepared to present your strategy to the entire class.

This exercise is based on information in R. Harris and R. T.Moran, Managing Cultural Differences, 4th ed. (Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing, 1996), pp. 252–57.

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ETHICAL DILEMMA – Is It a Bribe or a Gift?

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits U.S. firms from making payments to foreign government officials with the aim of gaining or maintaining business, but payments are acceptable if they do not violate local laws. For instance, payments to officers working for foreign corporations are legal. Most other countries do not have such legal guidelines.

Bribery is a common way of doing business in many underdeveloped countries. Government jobs there often do n0t pay very well, so it’s tempting for officials to supplement their income with bribes. In addition, in many countries, the penalties for demanding and receiving bribes is little or nonexistent. You are an American who works for a large European multinational computer manufacturer.

You are currently working to sell a $3 million system to a government agency in Nigeria. The Nigerian official who heads up the team that will decide who gets this contract has asked you for a payment of $20,000. He said this payment will not guarantee you get the order, but without it he could not be very encouraging. Your company’s policy is very flexible on the issue of “gifts” to facilitate sales. Your boss says that it is fine to pay the $20,000, but only if you can be relatively assured of the order.

You are not sure what you should do. The Nigerian official has told you specifically that any payment to him is not to be mentioned to anyone else on the Nigerian team. You know for certain that three other companies are also negotiating to get this contract. You have heard through the grapevine, but it’s unconfirmed, that two of those companies have turned down the payment request. What would you do? This exercise is based on M. Allen, “Here Comes the Bribe,” Entrepreneur, October 2000, p. 48.

Instructor Note:

There are several ways to approach the topic to this case. Some ideas are:

1. Ask students to interview three people about the scenario presented in this case. Ask them to question people with different backgrounds or beliefs than their own. For example, a manager or supervisor at work who is older or more experienced, an exchange student or other foreign national, a priest, rabbi or other religious official, a young child, etc. Ask them to write a short paper comparing their thoughts on how this should be handled and compare it with those they interviewed.

2. Ask them to write a memo to the supervisor mentioned in this scenario as to the pros and cons of paying the official and asking for specific direction as how to proceed. Discuss these memos in class. Did different students have different ideas as to the pros and cons?

3. Develop a list of pros and cons of paying the official on the board while discussing the issue as a class. Who in the class will pay the $20,000, and who will not?

Student’s responses to this exercise will vary, however, you may want to discuss the following questions when discussing the case.

1. Is the payment unethical if there is no law forbidding it?2. If so, who is the unethical party, the firm, the official, or both?3. Isn’t a payment like this the cost of doing business?4. What are viable alternatives to paying the $20,000 that would be acceptable to secure the contract?

CASE INCIDENT – Trilogy Software

Few industries have undergone as much turbulence in the past few years as those in Internet-related businesses. One of the leaders in this industry is Trilogy Software, based in Austin, Texas. Trilogy, founded in 1989, creates software to help e-businesses handle procurement, customer service, relationship management, and data integration. Its 1500 employees serve an impressive client base that includes Ford, FedEx, Land’s End, Charles Schwab, and Motorola.

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Trilogy’s president and CEO, Joe Liemandt, seeks to hire and keep employees who can flourish in a chaotic environment, who are willing to take risks, and are not afraid of working long hours. Liemandt has fashioned a strategy for Trilogy that encompasses maintaining the high energy of a start-up with the experience of an established company. An important part of that strategy is continually recruiting “only the best”—bright, dynamic individuals from the best universities, business schools, and industries. By hiring great people and giving them significant responsibilities from day one, Liemandt hopes his firm will be able to respond to competitive challenges, keep its entrepreneurial spirit alive, and achieve its goal of being a high-impact company.

New recruits are wooed to Austin with dinners, cultural and recreational outings, and competitive salaries. Once there, the recruits go through “boot camp”—an intensive training program conducted to turn rookies into Trilogians. In classes led by Liemandt and other Trilogy veterans, the first week is spent learning about programming languages, product plans, and marketing. Classes start at 8 A.M. and, in the first month at least, last until midnight. During the second week, the new hires are divided into small teams and given three weeks to complete projects, ranging from making an existing Trilogy product run faster to creating new products from scratch. Their performance on these projects will affect where the new hires are eventually placed and also determines whether they will be rewarded with a trip to Las Vegas at the end of boot camp.

This boot camp introduction to Trilogy is designed to instill the company’s values and shape new employees’ expectations. Recruits are told that effort will not be enough. In a presentation given by Liemandt about the team projects, the recruits are shown a slide that says, “No Reward for Trying.” He flatly states, “If you set a hard goal and do not make it, you do not win any points.” Some recruits fall out during this boot camp. But for those who survive, life at Trilogy can be very rewarding and satisfying.

The company’s atmosphere combines work and play. Trilogy gives employees ambitious responsibilities and the freedom and resources to fulfill them. The firm’s culture encourages maximizing employee passion, energy, and commitment. The company generously rewards its employees for their performance. Company benefits are intended to keep employees motivated and excited. For instance, it offers fully stocked kitchens, company trips, discounted memberships at local gyms, the use of company ski boats on two Austin lakes, and an on-site concierge service to take care of personal errands.

Questions

Note to Instructor: Student answers will vary, but could include the elements bulleted below each question.

1. Design an employee attitude survey that Trilogy’s managers might use. Remember to tailor it to tap the attitudes that Trilogy is looking for in its employees. Students should begin by identifying attitudes. Some might be: hard working, passionate, level of

involvement, commitment, etc.

2. What predictions, if any, could you make about job satisfaction at Trilogy? How might job satisfaction affect work outcomes at Trilogy? Students may believe this is great place once the program is completed, and may be for those who

do. However, what are the implications for those who have other responsibilities outside of work (e.g. families) or come from different cultures? Could this program be discriminatory even though on the face it does not appear to be so? Could there be a case made that burn-out may cause high turnover rates and a drop in satisfaction?

3. How might the collapse of many dot-com businesses since 2000 affect the attitudes of Trilogy employees? What, if anything, could management do to shape those attitudes positively? It could be demoralizing. However, management could communicate the company’s financial status

and market outlook to reassure employees. When times do get hard, they would need to be honest and up front as well.

Based on www.trilogy.com, March 6, 2002; E. Ramstad, “High Rollers,” Wall Street Journal, September 21, 1998,p. A1; and N. M. Tichy, “No Ordinary Boot Camp,” Harvard Business Review, April 2001, pp. 63-70.

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Exploring OB Topics on the World Wide Web

Search Engines are our navigational tool to explore the WWW. Some commonly used search engines are:

www.excite.com www.google.com

www.yahoo.com www.lycos.com

www.hotbot.com www.looksmart.com

1. Jeff Van Duzer wrote an excellent piece on ethics in business which can be accessed at http://www.ethix.org/essay.html . Write a two page paper relating his three pragmatic factors (speed, spin and stuff) to your life as a student or employee. Have you felt the pressure he talks about? Do you think they are contributors to ethical lapses as he suggests? Do you think the strategies he recommends are ones you could apply to your life as a student or employee? For example, you might find donating money at this time unpractical, but maybe you are donating time as a tutor or at other campus activities.

2. How satisfied are you with your job (or a job you had in the past)? Take a job satisfaction quiz at http://www.humanlinks.com/orgsn/job_satisfaction.htm .

3. Job satisfaction—what are people saying about their job satisfaction? Try these web sites to find out more about what American workers are saying:

http://www.inc.com/magazine/19980601/946.html http://www.computerworld.com/careertopics/careers/story/0,10801,61742,00.html http://www.humanlinks.com/orgsn/job_satisfaction.htm

Are you surprised at what you read? Write a paragraph or two on the three most important facts you learned from these web sites. Bring to class for further discussion.

4. What do American workers value? At Workforce.com you will find several articles on the topic. (You will need to complete a free registration.) Here is one article that gives an overview of what workers value: http://www.workforce.com/archive/article/21/97/39.php . The article states that values are changing and gives new trends. Are they really changes, or are we just more aware of them now? Write a paragraph or two stating why you agree or disagree with the article.

5. What is the state of employee loyalty? Do organizations even care if employees are loyal? What are the consequences if they are not? Conduct a web search on employee loyalty and write a two page paper answering the above questions. www.workforce.com has several excellent articles on the topic (you will need to complete a free registration to access them.)

6. Organizations often conduct attitude surveys of their employees. What is it that they want to know? Go to: http://www.hr-survey.com/EmployeeAttitude.htm to learn more about employee

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http://www.hr-survey.com/EmployeeAttitude.htm

http://www.workforce.com/

http://www.workforce.com/archive/article/21/97/39.php

http://www.humanlinks.com/orgsn/job_satisfaction.htm

http://www.computerworld.com/careertopics/careers/story/0,10801,61742,00.html

http://www.inc.com/magazine/19980601/946.html

http://www.humanlinks.com/orgsn/job_satisfaction.htm

http://www.ethix.org/essay.html

http://www.looksmart.com/

http://www.hotbot.com/

http://www.lycos.com/

http://www.yahoo.com/

http://www.google.com/

http://www.excite.com/


attitude surveys. Write a paragraph or two on what you think would be the three most important topics would be to include on an attitude survey and why.

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Im 03

Technology

Transcript of Im 03