Attitudes, Values, and
Ethics
Attitudes have three components: cognitive,
affective, and behavioral.
◦ The cognitive component refers to the knowledge or intellectual
beliefs an individual might have about an object.
◦ The feeling or affective component refers to the emotion
connected with that object.
◦ The behavioral component refers to how a person acts. All three
components are interrelated.
People search for consistency among the components of an
attitude.
Cognitive dissonance is the situation in
which the pieces of knowledge, information,
attitudes, or beliefs held by an individual
are contradictory.
People search for ways to reduce internal conflicts when they
experience a clash between the information they receive and
their actions or attitudes.
An emotion is a feeling such as anger, fear,
joy, or surprise that underlies behavior
Emotions have three components: internal
arousal, expressive behavior, and a cognitive
appraisal.
Managing Emotion
To manage emotion well, managers should create a
friendly emotional climate by setting a positive
example, including serving as a model of healthy
emotional expression. Managers might also include
a positive attitude as one factor in selecting
individuals and teams
We regulate feelings and expressions to meet
organizational goals.
Surface acting is faked expressions.
Deep acting is controlling feelings.
Emotional dissonance is mismatch between
felt and expressed emotions emotional
exhaustion
Attitudes are linked to job satisfaction, the
amount of pleasure or contentment
associated with a job.
Workers will have high job satisfaction when
they have positive attitudes toward such job
factors as the work itself, recognition, and
the opportunity for advancement.
One-half of (U.S.) workers have high job
satisfaction.
Benefits, pay, job security rank high.
Fun on the job leads to satisfaction.
High job satisfaction correlates with
organizational performance.
High organizational performance can lead to
high job satisfaction.
Among the consequences of high job satisfaction
are:
High productivity when the work involves people
contact
Loyalty to the company (important because of
employee retention)
A stronger tendency to achieve customer loyalty
Low absenteeism and turnover
Less job stress and burnout
Better safety performance
Better life satisfaction
A broader consequence of job satisfaction is
that it contributes to organizational
citizenship behavior, or the willingness to
work for the good of the organization even
without the promise of a specific reward
Goes above and beyond call of duty.
Satisfied workers may show OCB.
Workers with service orientation and empathy
may engage in OCB.
High OCB leads to low turnover, and
sometimes work/family conflict.
Five key components of organizational
citizenship behavior are:
◦ conscientiousness
◦ altruism
◦ civic virtue
◦ courtesy
◦ sportsmanship.
The good organizational citizen
engages in extrarole behavior
A value refers to the importance a person
attaches to something that serves as a guide
to action.
Baby boomers more conservative and
respectful of authority
Generation X and Generation Y more team-
oriented and tech savvy
Many values are learned through modeling
and listening
Employee-employer value fit leads to high
performance
Poor employee-employer value fit can lead
to person-role conflict.
Ethics is the moral choices a person makes,
and what he or she should do. Ethics can also
be regarded as the vehicle that converts
values into action.
A standard way of understanding ethical decision-
making is to understand the philosophical basis for
making these decisions.
Focus on consequences.
According to this criterion, if nobody gets hurt, the
decision is ethical. Focusing on consequences is
often referred to as utilitarian.
Focus on the rights of individuals.
The theories underlying this approach are
referred to as deontological from the Greek
work deon, or duty.
A fundamental idea of deontology is that
equal respect must be given all individuals.
Focus on integrity (virtue ethics).
If the person in question has good
character, and genuine motivation and
intentions, he or she is behaving ethically.
The decision maker’s environment, or
community, helps define what integrity
means.
1. Gather the facts. 5. Identify the
2. Define the ethical obligations.
issues (e.g. lying, 6. Consider your
job character and
discrimination).
integrity.
3. Identify the
affected parties. 7. Develop creative
4. Identify the potential actions.
consequences. 8. Check your
intuition.
Leadership by example
Written codes of ethical conduct
Formal mechanisms for ethics problems
Accepting whistle blowers
Training in ethics and social responsibility
Awareness of cross-cultural influences
