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Unit 7

The document discusses work-related attitudes and values. It defines attitudes and values, and categorizes the three components of an attitude. It also reviews different work-related attitudes like job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and engagement. Additionally, it discusses Hofstede's theory on cultural values and organizational specific values.

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20 views

Unit 7

The document discusses work-related attitudes and values. It defines attitudes and values, and categorizes the three components of an attitude. It also reviews different work-related attitudes like job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and engagement. Additionally, it discusses Hofstede's theory on cultural values and organizational specific values.

Uploaded by

mohapisthaba77
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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INTRODUCTION Unit 7: Work-related

TO INDIVIDUAL attitudes and values

DIFFERENCES

Tuesday, 05 September 2023


ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
• Define attitude
• Categorize the three components of an attitude
• Review the different work-related attitudes
• Define a value
• Describe values briefly as part of the personality with specific reference to:
– The theoretical person
– The economic person
– The social person
– The power person
– The religious person
– The aesthetic person
• Explain Hofstede’s theory on cultural values in detail
• Discuss organizational specific values
• Identify the need for ethical values
INTRODUCTION
• What is a value?
– Our values are our principles, our guides. Values are our codes of
internal conduct, the principles upon which we run our lives and
make our decisions.
– Our first values are given to us by our parents, and these are
added to by those values given to by our peers, our teachers, the
wider community.
– Our values often include universal principles such as truthfulness,
honesty, fairness, justice, honour, etcetera. These principles are
often essential for our personal and social survival.
• Reflect on the following questions:
– What's your opinion on the death penalty?
– Which political party does a better job of running the country?
– Should prayer be allowed in schools?
– Should violence on television be regulated?
• Chances are that you probably have fairly strong opinions on these and
similar questions. You've developed attitudes about such issues, and
these attitudes influence your beliefs as well as your behaviour.
THE NATURE OF VALUES

A preferred state Formed by


of behaviour (see Deeply ingrained multiple
definition of (personality) influences during
values) a person’s life span

Influence
Influenced by the
attitudes,
organisation’s
motivation and
social system
career choice
INTRODUCTION

• Values – beliefs and desirable goals which elicit feelings and direct
preferred behaviour across situations
• Values are deeply ingrained and form part of a person’s behaviour
and personality
• Value system – ranking of a person’s values ito importance and
intensity
• Attitude – evaluation of one’s own and others’ behaviour as
desirable/ undesirable or good/ wrong
• Value systems influences attitudes
• People express attitudes every day
• Importance in I-O psychology
– people enter organisations with values that may or may not be
congruent with the organisation’s values
– Organisations may consciously develop value systems to
influence and guide behaviour of employees
WHAT IS AN ATTITUDE?

• Psychologists define attitudes as a learned tendency to evaluate things in a


certain way. This can include evaluations of people, issues, objects or
events. Such evaluations are often positive or negative, but they can also
be uncertain at times. For example, you might have mixed feelings about a
particular person or issue.
• An attitude is a selective orientation towards something or someone, e.g.
the organisation, the job self or the manager
THE NATURE OF ATTITUDES
• Three components
1. Cognitive – unique organising and processing of information
2. Emotional – feelings (psychological reaction to cognitions)
3. Behavioural – reaction
• See ‘Resistance to change’ box on p. 320 & Fig 10.1 on p. 321
• Core attitudes - are stable and difficult to change
• Peripheral attitudes – temporary and subject to change
• How do attitudes develop?
– When people are young and impressionable (through parents, peers,
schools, communities etc
– Media, TV, Internet
– Experiences including learning experiences
WORK-RELATED ATTITUDES

1. Job satisfaction

2. Organisational commitment

3. Engagement
JOB SATISFACTION
• A predominantly positive attitude towards one’s work situation
• Determinants:
– Personality
– Cultural influences
– Nature of the job
• Responses to dissatisfaction
– Passive or active and productive or unproductive
– See Figure 10.3, p. 326
• Measurement of job satisfaction usually by questionnaire
– The Job Descriptive Index and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire
• Dealing with the results of a satisfaction survey
RESPONSE TO DISSATISFACTION
SEE FIGURE 10.3, P. 326 MUST BE STUDIED (NOT
THIS SKETCH)
ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT
• The degree to which the individual identifies with his employing
organisation and its goals
• Three kinds:
1. Affective commitment - desire to stay in organisation owing to an
identification with the goals and values of the organisation
2. Continuance commitment - desire to protect investment in time and
effort already put into the organisation
3. Normative commitment – obligation to stay at the organisation (right
thing to do)
ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT

• Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) closely related to


organizational commitment
• Discretionary behaviour which is not part of a person’s formal job
requirements, but it promotes the effective functioning of the
organization
• Five facets of OCB
ENGAGEMENT

• Employees’ simultaneous physical, cognitive and emotional absorption


in their jobs and job roles
• Experience of optimal functioning when one is fully involved
• Consequences of engagement: organisational performance; higher job
satisfaction; low personnel turnover; high customer satisfaction;
productivity
• Strategies to create a culture of engagement:
– social responsibility; reputation in the marketplace; employee
empowerment; work-life balance; fairness
• Integrative model of engagement:
– Macro-level (vision and strategy and HR chain)
– Micro-level (leadership behaviour, job characteristics and
challenging goals)
• Measurement: Gallup’s engagement survey
NATURE OF VALUES

• Attitudes, codes, principles, beliefs that indicate a preferred state of


behaviour
• Deeply ingrained and form part of behaviour and personality
• Values
– Are infused with feeling
– Inform a person’s goals and motivations
– Stay consistent across situations
– Serve as standards and criteria
– Are ordered into a set of values based on importance
– Influences behaviour
• Develop through parental, socio-cultural influences and experience
• Values influence
– Job attitudes
– Career choice
– Motivation levels
• Organisations also develop values that influences processes and
behaviours
VALUES AS PART OF PERSONALITY
• Values are orientations which indicate that certain forms of personal and
social behaviour are preferred if compared to other or opposite forms of
behaviour
• If managers understand the value differences among employees, they are
better positioned to:
– Fit the person to a specific job;
– Understand employee attitudes, as attitudes are founded in values;
– Resolve conflict among employees;
– Motivate employees;
– Address the needs of employees.
THE SIX VALUE ORIENTATIONS (SPRANGER)

• In 1928 Edward Spranger wrote a book entitled "Types of Men."


• He identified six major value orientations or world views. These orientations
are a type of window through which we view the world and seek fulfillment
in our lives.
• One value orientation is generally dominant in an individual’s personality

• Questionnaire if you are interested in determining your values:


– https://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/3620
– https://www.onlinepersonalitytests.org/corevalues
SPRANGER’S SIX VALUE ORIENTATIONS

1. Theoretical person
The theoretical person is intellectual, values knowledge, seeks
eternal truth rather than the deeper meaning of things – is objective.
2. Economic person
The economic person is constantly striving to produce something
visible and useful. The economic person uses material, time and
space with thrift – gain the maximum benefit from them.
3. Social person
The social person is mainly focused on other people. The social
person is selfless and finds involvement with others meaningful.
4. Power person
The power person finds meaning in life by experiencing him- or herself
as a power. His or her strongest motive is to confirm this life power by
being superior to other people or by influencing and manipulating
them.
5. Religious person
All the facets of the religious person’s life have a spiritual foundation.
6. The aesthetic person
The aesthetic person values beauty or aesthetic experience.
CULTURAL VALUES IN ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT

• Organisational culture
– Pattern of basic assumptions that a particular group has learned
– These assumptions helped group deal sufficiently with external
adaptation and internal integration to be valid
– Taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel

• Values can be associated with groups including families, clans,


organisations or nations
• Values are important because organisations want to create winning cultures
in which people want to excel and feel a sense of meaningfulness and
belonging
HOFSTEDE THEORY ON CULTURAL VALUES
• Hofstede related values in the work situation to values systems in cultures
• Identified types of value systems that affected the thinking of individuals and
organisations:
1. Power distance
2. Individualism vs collectivism
3. Masculinity and femininity
4. Uncertainty avoidance
HOFSTEDE THEORY ON CULTURAL VALUES

1. Power distance
• Large/high vs small/low power distance
• High power distance is characterised by many inequalities,
autocratic management and large remuneration differences
• Low power distance is characterised by all employees treated as
equals, positions of authority serve a functional purpose

2. Individualism vs Collectivism
• Individualism – individuals have more freedom to make their own
decisions and pursue their own interests
• Focuses more on individual performance
• Collectivism – members are strongly integrated into groups and are
expected to adhere to group norms and pursue group purposes
• Focuses more on team accomplishment, loyalty, interdependence
and group relationships
HOFSTEDE THEORY ON CULTURAL VALUES

3. Masculinity vs Femininity
• Masculine – assertiveness, ambition, performance and competition
• Money and material success considered most important and
conflict is handled upfront
• Feminine – modesty, unity, quality of social relationships deemed
important and conflict is handled by careful discussion and
compromise

4. Uncertainty avoidance
• The extent to which change and uncertainty is tolerated and coped
with
CORPORATE VALUES (ORGANIZATION SPECIFIC VALUES)

• In the past organisations focus mainly on value for shareholders


• Today greater pressure to create value for all stakeholders (including
employees and communities)
• Corporate values – guiding principles for development of organisational
culture
• Senior managers consider which values are important in the organisation
• Through collaborative process commitment of organisational members are
obtained
• Values are continuously communicated internally and externally
• New employees are assessed to determine fit between the person and the
organisation values
• Values are also linked to performance goals and performance appraisals
ETHICAL VALUES

• Ethics is the study of moral values and moral behaviour


• Doing what is good and right
• Benefits of creating an ethical organisation
⁻ Recruitment - attract
⁻ Retaining talent
⁻ Customers prefer to be associated with an organisation with a
good reputation
• Strategies for creating an ethical organisation
⁻ Code of conduct
⁻ Ethics committee
⁻ Whistle blower protection
⁻ Training
• Professional code of ethics for I-O psychologists
⁻ HPCSA
⁻ Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology in South
Africa

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