ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR, ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION, ROBBINS

1. ATTITUDES
AND
JOB SATISFACTION
Dr. Rajesh Kamath
Assistant Professor,
Department of Public Health,
Manipal University

2. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE
• Attitude : Evaluative statements or
judgements concerning objects, people or
events.
• Favourable or unfavourable
• Reflect how we feel about something.
• “I like my job” – Attitude towards work is
being expressed.

3. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE
• ATTITUDE HAS 3 COMPONENTS :
• 1. Cognitive
• 2. Affective
• 3. Behavioural

4. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE
• 1. Cognitive component : Opinion or belief segment of an
attitude.
• Eg. “My pay is low.”
• This sets the stage for the more critical part of an attitude…
• 2. Affective component : Emotional or feeling segment of
an attitude.
• Eg. “ I am angry over how little I am paid. ”
• Affect can lead to…
• 3. Behavioural component : An intention to behave in a
certain way toward someone or something.
• Eg. “ I am going to look for another job that pays better. ”

5. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE
• The 3 components are closely related.
• Cognition and affect are intertwined.
• Eg:?...
• Someone treating you unfairly…
• As managers..?
• Attitudes are important for their behavioral component.
• Eg. If all the nurses believe that the doctors and administrators like
Shinto and Anand are in a conspiracy to make employees work harder
for the same pay…it makes sense to try to understand…
• 1. How these attitudes are formed,
• 2. Their relationship to actual job behaviour
• 3. and how they might be changed

6. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR
• Early research assumed that Attitudes caused
Behaviour.
• Intuitive and Logical?....
• Do you not watch the kind of movies that you
like?..
• In the late 1960s, Leon Festinger argued the
opposite…?
• …that Attitudes follow Behaviour.

7. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR
• Have you noticed how people change what they
say so that it doesn’t contradict what they do?
• Eg….?
• Levi’s jeans and sister gifting Flying Machine…
• Festinger proposed that this was because of
Cognitive Dissonance : Any incompatibility
between two or more attitudes or between
behaviour and attitudes.
• Any dissonance is uncomfortable and individuals
will seek minimum dissonance.

8. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR
• In case of dissonance people will either alter their attitudes or behavior,
or will develop a rationalisation for the discrepancy.
• Eg. Tobacco executives..
• 1. They can deny any clear causation between smoking and cancer.
• 2. They can brainwash themselves by continually articulating the
benefits of tobacco.
• 3. They can acknowledge the negative consequences of smoking but
rationalise that people are going to smoke and that they merely promote
freedom of choice.
• 4. They can make cigarettes less dangerous and/or reduce their
availability to more vulnerable groups such as teenagers.
• 5. They an quit their jobs if the dissonance is too great.

9. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR
• According to Festinger, the desire to reduce dissonance
depends on moderating factors:
• 1. Importance of the elements creating the
dissonance. The more important the attitude or
behaviour, the more motivated will they be to reduce
the dissonance.
• 2. Degree of influence we believe we have over them.
• 3. Rewards of dissonance : High rewards
accompanying high dissonance tend to reduce the
tension inherent in the dissonance. Eg. Income tax
evasion.
• Recent research confirms this.

10. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR
• Moderating Variables of the Attitude-Behaviour relationship.
• 1. Importance of the Attitude : Stronger the attitude, stronger the relationship to
behaviour.
• 2. Correspondence to behaviour : Specific attitudes predict specific behaviours.
• Eg. “What is your intention on staying with this organisation for the next 6
months?” – predicts turnover for that person. “ How satisfied are you with the
job overall? ” – predicts a general behaviour like engagement or motivation.
• 3. Accessibility : More accessible attitudes influence behaviour more. Eg. The
more you talk about your attitude on a particular subject, the more likely you are
to access it, and the more likely it is to shape your behaviour.
• 4. Social pressures : Eg. Tobacco executives who are not smokers.
• 5. Direct experience with the attitude : Eg. Asking college students with no work
experience how they would respond to working for an authoritarian supervisor.

11. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
MAJOR JOB ATTITUDES
• 1. Job Satisfaction
• 2. Job Involvement
• 3. Organisational commitment
• 4. Perceived Organisational Support
• 5. Employee engagement

12. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• 1. Job Satisfaction : A positive feeling about
one’s job resulting from an evaluation of its
characteristics.
• Jobs require interacting with co-workers and
bosses, following rules and policies, meeting
performance standards, and living with less
than ideal working conditions.
• How do we measure it?....

13. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• 2 approaches…
• 1. Single Global rating : “All things considered, how satisfied
are you with your job?”. Respondents circle a number
between 1 and 5 on a scale from “highly satisfied” to “highly
dissatisfied”.
• 2. Summation of job facets : Key elements in a job like
nature of work, supervision, present pay, promotion
opportunities, relations with workers are identified.
Respondents rate these on a standardised scale, and
researchers add these ratings to create an overall job
satisfaction score.
• Which one is superior?...

14. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• Single Global rating..!!
• The best explanation for this is that the
concept of job satisfaction is so broad that a
single question captures its essence.
• Also, the summation of job facets may leave
out some important data.

15. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• Main causes of Job satisfaction :
• What was the best job that you ever had and why?...
JOB CHARACTERISTICS:
• Training,
• Variety,
• Independence,
• Control
WORKPLACE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Interdependence,
• Feedback,
• Social support,
• Interaction with co-workers outside the workplace.
• PERSONALITY:
• People with positive Core self evaluations are more satisfied than those with
negative core self evaluations.

16. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• MONEY???
• For people who are poor or who live in poor countries, pay
does correlate with job satisfaction and overall happiness.
• But once an individual reaches a level of comfortable living,
the relationship between pay and job satisfaction virtually
disappears.
• People who earn 20 lakhs per annum are on average no
happier with their jobs than those who earn closer to 5
lakhs per annum.
• One researcher even found no significant difference when
he compared the overall well-being of the richest people
on the Forbes 400 list with that of….
• ….Maasai herders in East Africa!!!!

17. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• So, does money motivate people???
• YES, OF COURSE!!!
• BUT, WHAT MOTIVATES US IS…
• …NOT NECESSARILY THE SAME AS…
• ….WHAT MAKES US HAPPY.

18. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• 4 employee responses to Dissatisfaction :
• 1. Exit : This response directs behaviour towards leaving the
organisation, including looking for a new position as well as resigning.
• 2. Voice : Actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions,
including suggesting improvements, discussing problems with superiors,
and union activity.
• 3. Loyalty : Passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve.
Speaking up for the organisation in the face of external criticism and
trusting the organsation and its management to do the right thing.
• 4. Neglect : Passively allows conditions to worsen. Includes chronic
absenteeism and lateness, reduced effort, increased error rate.

19. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION

20. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• Eg. Union workers – low job satisfaction
coupled with low turnover.
• Express dissatisfaction through voice
mechanisms like grievance procedure or
formal contract negotiations. This convinces
them that they are acting to improve the
situation.

21. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• Specific outcomes of Job satisfaction and
dissatisfaction in the workplace :
• 1. Job satisfaction and job performance.
• 2. Job satisfaction and OCB.
• 3. Job satisfaction and Customer satisfaction.
• 4. Job satisfaction and Absenteeism.
• 5. Job satisfaction and Turnover.
• 6. Job satisfaction and Workplace deviance.

22. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• 1. Job satisfaction and Job performance:
• A review of 300 studies suggests that Happy
workers are productive workers.
• This holds good at the Organisational level too
- Organisations with more satisfied employees
tend to be more effective than organisations
with fewer satisfied employees.

23. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• 2. Job satisfaction and OCB :
• Talk positively about organisation.
• Help others.
• Go beyond the call of duty, because they want to
reciprocate the positive experience.
• Why?
• Fairness perception…
• …Those who feel their co workers support them
are more likely to engage in helpful behaviours.

24. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• 3. Job satisfaction and Customer satisfaction.
• Positive relationship.

25. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• 4. Job satisfaction and Absenteeism.
• Negative relationship.
• Interesting observation…
• …When numerous alternative jobs are
available, dissatisfied employees have high
absence rates. But when there are few
alternative jobs available, dissatisfied
employees have the same low rate of absence
as satisfied employees.

26. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• 5. Job satisfaction and Turnover.
• Negative relationship.
• When is Job dissatisfaction more likely to translate into turnover?
• “PULL” and “PUSH”.
• PULL – Lure of the other job – Job dissatisfaction might be low, but
combined with the allure of the other position, it results in turnover.
• PUSH – The current job itself is unattractive enough to make the
employee want to leave.
• When employment opportunities are plentiful.
• When employees have high Human capital(High education, high ability)
• Eg.: Natasha is an MHA,PhD with 3 years of post-PhD research and
teaching experience in Yenepoya,…
• …she has many lucrative and rewarding alternatives to choose from…

27. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• 6. Job satisfaction and Workplace deviance.
• Negative relationship.
• Absenteeism
• Unionisation
• Substance abuse
• Stealing at work
• Undue socialising
• Tardiness
“Getting Even”
As managers, to effectively control these undesirable consequences
of job dissatisfaction, employers should attack the source of the
problem-the dissatisfaction-rather than try to control the different
responses.

28. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION – MAJOR
JOB ATTITUDES – JOB SATISFACTION
• As Managers, we should know that Job Satisfaction can affect the
bottom line.
• In one study, large organisations were seperated into HIGH MORALE
( more than 70% of employees expressed overall job satisfaction )
and MEDIUM OR LOW MORALE ( fewer than 70% ).
• The stock prices of companies in the high morale group grew 19.4 %
and in the low morale group 10%.
• Despite these results, many managers are unconcerned about
employee job satisfaction.
• Some managers OVERESTIMATE job satisfaction, and underestimate
the problem.
• In a study, 86% managers believed their organisation treated its
employees well….
• ….but only 55% of employees agreed!!

29. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
MAJOR JOB ATTITUDES
• 2. Job Involvement : The degree to which a person identifies with
a job, actively participates in it, and considers performance
important to self worth.
• Psychological empowerment : Employees’ belief in the degree to
which they affect their work environment, their competence, the
meaningfulness of their job, and their perceived autonomy in
their work.
• Eg: One study of nursing managers in Singapore found that good
leaders empower their employees by involving them in decisions,
making them feel their work is important, and giving them
discretion to “do their own thing”
• Increased organisational citizenship.
• Increased job performance.
• Reduced absences.
• Lower resignation rates.

30. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
MAJOR JOB ATTITUDES
• 3. Organisational commitment : The degree to which an employee identifies with a
particular organisation and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in the
organisation.
• 3 dimensions:
• 1. Affective commitment: Emotional attachment to the organisation and its beliefs. Eg.???
• Your family played a role in its founding…
• 2. Continuance commitment : -PAY – Perceived economic value of remaining with an
organisation. Eg.???
• Wiincy Thomas has bought a Lamborghini, an 8 bedroom mansion and a 10 lakh rupees
diamond set, on EMI or with a loan. So now she can’t quit her high paying job so easily.
• 3. Normative commitment : Moral or ethical reasons. Eg.???
• Sherin has just been assigned an important new project in O.B. She does not want to leave
her boss high and dry by quitting.
• A review of 27 studies suggested that the relationship between commitment and
performance was highest for NEW EMPLOYEES and considerably weaker for more
experienced employees.

31. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
MAJOR JOB ATTITUDES
• 4. Perceived Organisational Support (POS) : The degree to
which employees believe an organisation values their
contribution and cares about their well being.
• Eg: An employee believes an organisation would
accommodate her if she had a child care problem.
• POS is high when
• Rewards are deemed fair,
• Employees have a voice in their decisions, and
• When they see their supervisors as supportive.
• Higher organisational citizenship
• Lower levels of tardiness
• Better customer service

32. ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION –
MAJOR JOB ATTITUDES
• 5. Employee engagement : An individual’s
involvement with, satisfaction with, and
enthusiasm for the work he or she does.
• Higher levels of customer satisfaction
• Higher productivity
• Higher profits
• Lower turnover
• Lower number of accidents

33. • References :
• ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR - STEPHEN
ROBBINS – 14TH EDITION

34. THANK
YOU