1. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
VALUES, ATTITUDES, AND JOB SATISFACTION
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Contrast terminal and instrumental values
List the dominant values in today’s workforce
Identify the five value dimensions of national culture
Contrast the three components of an attitude
Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior
Identify the role that consistency plays in attitudes
State the relationship between job satisfaction and behavior
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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2. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Values
Notes:
1. Values represent basic convictions that “a specific mode of conduct or endstate 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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3. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
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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4. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
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. Selfcentered 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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5. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
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:
•
•
c.
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.
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:
•
•
f.
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.
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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6. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
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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7. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
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.
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Notes:

8. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
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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9. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
C. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (cont.)
Chapter Three
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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10. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
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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11. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
A. Measuring Job Satisfaction (cont.)
b.
Notes:
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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12. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
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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13. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
Chapter Three
D. How Employees Can Express Dissatisfaction (cont.)
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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15. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
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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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16. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
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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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17. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
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POINT-COUNTERPOINT – Managers Can Create Satisfied Employees
Point
A 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 Point
The 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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18. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
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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 minutes
Participant 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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19. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
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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.
2.
3.
4.
Is the payment unethical if there is no law forbidding it?
If so, who is the unethical party, the firm, the official, or both?
Isn’t a payment like this the cost of doing business?
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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20. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
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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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21. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
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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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22. Robbins: Organizational Behavior
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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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