MABALACAT CITY COLLEGE
Institute of Business Education
1st Semester, Academic Year 2020-2021
HBO
MODULE 4: Individual Attitudes and Behaviors
I. INTRODUCTION
Managers should be interested in their employees’ attitudes because attitudes give warnings of potential problems
and influence behavior. Creating a satisfied workforce is hardly a guarantee of successful organizational
performance, but evidence strongly suggests that whatever managers can do to improve employee attitudes will
likely result in heightened organizational effectiveness.
II. OBJECTIVES
Define Person's Attitudes
Discuss How Can You Be Happier at Work
Enumerate the Causes Positive Work Attitudes
Describe Stress
How Positivity Impacts a Workplace
How Negativity Impacts a Workplace
III. DISCUSSION
1. ATTITUDES
An attitude is generally defined as the way a person responds to his or her environment, either positively or
negatively
Attitude: A person’s attitude can be influenced by his or her environment, just as a person’s attitude affects
his or her environment.
2. HOW CAN YOU BE HAPPIER AT WORK?
a. Have a positive attitude about it. Your personality is a big part of your happiness. If you are always
looking for the negative side of everything, you will find it.
b. A good fit with the job and company is important to your happiness. This starts with knowing yourself:
What do you want from the job? What do you enjoy doing? Be honest with yourself and do a self-
assessment.
c. Get accurate information about the job and the company. Ask detailed questions about what life is like in
this company. Do your research: Read about the company, and use your social network to understand the
company’s culture.
d. Develop good relationships at work. Make friends. Try to get a mentor. Approach a person you admire and
attempt to build a relationship with this person. An experienced mentor can be a great help in navigating life
at a company. Your social network can help you weather the bad days and provide you emotional and
instrumental support during your time at the company as well as afterward.
e. Pay is important, but job characteristics matter more to your job satisfaction. Don’t sacrifice the job
itself for a little bit more money. When choosing a job, look at the level of challenge, and the potential of the
job to make you engaged.
f. Be proactive in managing organizational life. If the job is stressful, cope with it by effective time
management and having a good social network, as well as being proactive in getting to the source of stress. If
you don’t have enough direction, ask for it!
g. Know when to leave. If the job makes you unhappy over an extended period of time and there is little hope
of solving the problems, it may be time to look elsewhere.
3. WHAT CAUSES POSITIVE WORK ATTITUDES?
Personality
Interestingly, some experts have shown that job satisfaction is not purely environmental and is partially
due to our personality. Some people have a disposition to be happy in life and at work regardless of
environmental factors.
Person–Environment Fit
When our abilities match job demands and our values match company values, we tend to be more
satisfied with our job and more committed to the company we work for (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, &
Johnson, 2005; Verquer, Beehr, & Wagner, 2003).
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Job Characteristics
The presence of certain characteristics on the job seems to make employees more satisfied and more
committed. Using a variety of skills, having autonomy at work, receiving feedback on the job, and
performing a significant task are some job characteristics that are related to satisfaction and commitment.
Psychological Contract
A psychological contract is an unwritten understanding about what the employee will bring to the work
environment and what the company will provide in exchange. When people do not get what they expect,
they experience a psychological contract breach, which leads to low job satisfaction and commitment.
Organizational Justice
A strong influence over our satisfaction level is how fairly we are treated. People pay attention to the
fairness of company policies and procedures, treatment from supervisors, and pay and other rewards they
receive from the company (Cohen-Charash & Spector, 2001; Colquitt et al., 2001; Meyer et al., 2002).
Relationships at Work
Two strong predictors of our happiness at work and commitment to the company are our relationships
with coworkers and managers. The people we interact with, their degree of compassion, our level of social
acceptance in our work group, and whether we are treated with respect are all important factors
surrounding our happiness at work.
4. HOW POSITIVITY IMPACTS A WORKPLACE
Increased productivity
Greater probability of collaboration and teamwork
Improved morale
Ability to overcome adversity
Willingness to think creatively and try new things
Willingness to share information and ideas
Lower turnover
Increased sense of camaraderie
Improved customer service
5. H0W NEGATIVITY IMPACTS A WORKPLACE
Lackluster performance
Unwillingness to work collaboratively
Dismal outlook
Unwillingness to try new things
Reduced energy levels
Depressive feelings
Reduced quality of work product
Poor customer engagement
Difficulty overcoming obstacles
Key Takeaway
Work attitudes are the feelings we have toward different aspects of the work environment.
Job satisfaction and organizational commitment are two key attitudes that are the most relevant to important
outcomes.
Attitudes create an intention to behave in a certain way and may predict actual behavior under certain
conditions.
People develop positive work attitudes as a result of their personality, fit with their environment, stress levels
they experience, relationships they develop, perceived fairness of their pay, company policies, interpersonal
treatment, whether their psychological contract is violated, and the presence of policies addressing work–life
conflict.
When people have more positive work attitudes, they may have the inclination to perform better, display
citizenship behaviors, and be absent less often and for shorter periods of time, and they are less likely to quit
their jobs within a short period of time.
When workplace attitudes are more positive, companies benefit in the form of higher safety and better
customer service, as well as higher company performance.
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Prepared by:
Geralyn A. Quiamba, MBM
Instructor
References:
Organizational Behavior 15th edition Stephen Robbins and Timothy A. Judge
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-positive-attitudes-affect-workplace-
https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_organizational-behavior-v1.1/s08-individual-attitudes-and-
behav.html#:
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