Work-Related Attitudes

1. Work-Related Attitudes • Work-related attitudes are evaluative tendencies toward aspects of work that are based on clusters of feelings, beliefs, and behavioral intentions. • The most commonly assessed work attitudes are: • Job Satisfaction • Organizational Commitment

2. Work-Related Attitudes • Job Satisfaction: positive and negative feelings and attitudes about one’s job. • How is job satisfaction measured? • What leads people to be satisfied or dissatisfied with their jobs? • What are the consequences of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction?

3. Work-Related Attitudes • Job satisfaction is measured at two different levels of judgement: • Overall Satisfaction (global approach) • Measures include the FACES scale, the Job in General Scale, and the Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire • Facet Satisfaction (facet approach) • Measures include the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Job Descriptive Index

4. Appreciation Communication Coworkers Fringe Benefits Job Conditions Nature of the work itself Organization’s policies and procedures Pay Personal growth Promotion opportunities Recognition Security Supervision Work Related Attitudes Job Facet Typically Measured

5. Work-Related Attitudes • Job Satisfaction and Demographics • Age • Sex • Race • Job Satisfaction and Job Characteristics • Job Satisfaction and Organizational Constraints: • Job-related information/Required services & help • Tools & equipment/Materials & supplies/Budgetary Support • Task preparation/Time availability/Work environment

6. Work-Related Attitudes • Job Satisfaction and Role Variables • Role ambiguity • Role conflict • Work-Family conflict • Job Satisfaction and Pay • Job Satisfaction and Workload • Job Satisfaction and Work Schedules • Flexible work schedules • Long shifts • Night shifts

7. Work-Related Attitudes • Genetic Predisposition for Job Satisfaction: • Studying identical twins separated at birth • Studying individuals who change job types &/or organizations • Personality and Job Satisfaction • Locus of Control • Negative Affectivity • Self-esteem • Self-efficacy • Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction

8. Work-Related Attitudes • Job Satisfaction and Job Performance • At the individual level, there is a small, positive relationship between job satisfaction and job performance (r = .17) • At the group level, there is a stronger (moderate), positive relationship between job satisfaction and job performance • The direction of causation is unclear • Does job satisfaction cause job performance? or… • Does job performance cause job satisfaction?

9. Work-Related Attitudes The Porter-Lawler Model

10. Work-Related Attitudes • Reactions to Job Dissatisfaction • Voice • Loyalty • Neglect • Withdrawal • Job Satisfaction and Withdrawal Behaviors • Absenteeism • Voluntary Turnover • Job Satisfaction and Counterproductive Work Behaviors

11. Work-Related Attitudes • Job Satisfaction and Burnout • Job Satisfaction and Heath Factors • Physical Health • Psychological Well-being

12. Work-Related Attitudes • Organizational Commitment: a worker’s feelings and attitudes about the entire work organization. • How is organizational commitment measured? • What leads people to be committed or uncommitted to the organization that employs them? • What are the consequences of organizational commitment?

13. Work-Related Attitudes • Measuring Organizational Commitment • Overall Organization Commitment • Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (see Figure 8.4 in text) • Facets of Organization Commitment • The 3-component Model of Organizational Commitment (Meyer & Allen)

14. Work Related Attitudes • The 3-component model of organizational commitment • Affective Commitment: a person’s desire to work for an organization because he or she agrees with its goals and wants to do so • Normative Commitment: a person’s desire to continue working for an organization because he or she feels obligations from other to remain • Continuance Commitment: a person’s desire to continue working for an organization because he or she needs to and cannot afford to do otherwise

15. Work-Related Attitudes • Mathieu & Zajac (1990) meta-analysis of correlates of organization commitment • Antecedents of Organizational Commitment • Personal Characteristics • Age (.20) • Marital Status (.10) • Organizational Tenure (.17) • Salary (.18) • Protestant work ethic (.29)

16. Work-Related Attitudes • Antecedents of Organization Commitment • Job Characteristics • Skill Variety (.21) • Job Challenge (.35) and scope (.20) • Group-leader Relations • Task interdependence (.22) • Leadership: Initiating structure (.29) & consideration (.34) • Role Variables • Role ambiguity (-.24)

17. Work-Related Attitudes • Correlates of Organization Commitment • Internal Motivation (.67) • Job Involvement (.44) • Stress (-.33) • Occupational Commitment (.22) • Job Satisfaction • Overall (.53) • Supervision (.41) • Coworkers (.35) • Advancement Opportunities (.40) • Pay (.32) • The work itself (.60)

18. Work-Related Attitudes • Consequences of Organizational Commitment • Job Performance (.14) • Job Search Behaviors (-.60) • Intention to quit (-.46) • Turnover (-.27)

19. Group Dynamics in Organizations • The difference between groups and teams: • A work group is a collection of two or more people who interact with one another and share some interrelated task goals. • A work team is a type of work group; but a team has 3 specific qualities: • the actions of individuals must be interdependent and coordinated • each member must have a particular, specified role • there must be common task goals and objectives

20. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Roles: not everyone in the group has the same function or purpose. Individuals have different jobs and responsibilities • Formal roles: specified by organization and part of each person’s formal job description • Informal roles: those that arise from group interaction rather than the formal rules and specifications of organizations. • Invented roles: when groups invent roles or when the group’s informal roles supersede the formal ones • Specialization of members varies across groups

21. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Norms: unwritten rules of behavior accepted by member of a work group. • Norm violators: rate busters and gold bricks • Violation of norms will bring pressure to bear on the violator. • Continued violation can bring increasingly severe forms of enforcement • When all attempt to enlist conformity with norms have failed, the violator will be ostracized by group members

22. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Group cohesiveness: the sum of forces attracting group members to the group and keeping the group together. • Norms tend to be strongly enforced only in groups that are highly cohesive. • Evidence of the relationship between group cohesiveness and group performance is mixed (some positive, some finding no effect) • Strong evidence of a positive relationship between group cohesiveness and job satisfaction exists.

23. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Conflict in Groups • Intraindividual conflict • Interindividual conflict • Intragroup conflict • Intergroup conflict • Interorganizational conflict

24. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Negative Effects of Conflict • May cause negative emotions and stress • Reduces communication required for coordination • Causes a shift from participative to authoritarian leadership styles • May produce negative stereotyping • Emphasis loyalty to one group

25. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Positive Effects of Conflict • Brings into open problems that have been ignored previously • Motivates people to understand each other’s positions • Encourages new ideas, facilitating innovation and change • May improve decision quality by forcing people to challenge their assumptions • Enhances organizational commitment

26. Group Dynamics in Organizations Collaborating high Competing Assertiveness Compromise Avoiding Accommodating low low high Cooperativeness

27. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Group performance • Social facilitation: • Original meaning: the tendency of people to perform simple or well-learned tasks better when others are present • Current meaning: the strengthening of the dominant (prevalent, likely) response owing to the presence of other • Social loafing: the tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable.

28. Group Dynamics in Organizations A Unified Paradigm

29. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Five-stage Model of Group Development (Tuckman & Jensen) • Forming • Storming • Norming • Performing • Adjourning

30. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Principles of Effective Teamwork (McIntyre & Salas, 1995 – research on US Navy Tactical Teams) • Teamwork implies that members provide feedback to and accept it from one another. • Teamwork implies the willingness, preparedness, and proclivity to back fellow members up during operations. • Teamwork involves group members collectively viewing themselves as a group whose success depends on their interaction. • Teamwork mean fostering within-team interdependence. • Team leadership makes a difference with respect to the performance of the team.

31. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Diversity is a double-edged sword: • May lead to better group performance because many different views are represented. • May lead to greater conflict because many different views are represented. • However, diversity is a fact of life in the U.S.A. and it isn’t so much a question of if it’s good or bad; rather, the question is how best to manage diversity.

32. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Maximize heterogeneity among members in both personal characteristics and abilities in order to maximize the productivity and success of the group. • Structure constructive procedures for managing conflict among group members. • Foster positive interdependence within the groups (the perception that one can reach his/her goals if and only if other members also do so.

33. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Create a superordinate group identity among group members that unites the diverse personal identities of group member by: • Fostering an appreciation for one’s own and others’ genders, religions, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds. • Promote a strong superordinate identity of “group member” that transcends the differences among group members. • Support a pluralistic set of values concerning equality, freedom, the rights of individual members, and the responsibilities of group membership

34. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Brainstorming: a group technique that is supposed to result in improved performance with generating ideas and finding solutions to problems. • A group is instructed to generate as many ideas as possible, without judging or being critical of the ideas in any way • Process Loss: • only one person can speak at a time • one person may dominate • social anxiety may inhibit participation • working individually may just be more efficient

35. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Electronic brainstorming: groups interact via a computer interface. • Reduces process loss • reduced social anxiety • reduced communication blocks, you don’t have to wait your turn to speak

36. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Groupthink is a syndrome characterized by a concurrence-seeking tendency that overrides the ability of a cohesive group to make critical decisions. • Historic Examples • Pearl Harbor • Bay of Pigs • Vietnam War

37. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Antecedents to Groupthink • High cohesiveness • Insulation of the group • Lack of methodological procedures for search and appraisal • Directive Leadership • High stress with a low degree of hope for finding a better solution than the one favored by the leader or other influential persons • These antecedents lead to a concurrence seeking tendency in groups

38. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Symptoms of groupthink: • Self-censorship • Illusion of unanimity • Direct pressure on dissenters • Mindguards • Illusion of invulnerability • Rationalization • Illusion of morality • Stereotyping

39. Group Dynamics in Organizations • Symptoms of defective decision making • Incomplete survey of alternative • Incomplete survey of objectives • Failure to examine risks of preferred choice • Poor information search • Selective bias in processing information at hand • Failure to reappraise alternatives • Failure to work out contingency plans