Page 292 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

CHAPTER 9 • Foundations of Individual Behavior 291
What Role Do Attitudes Play in Job Performance?

9-2 Explain the role You sure have an attitude!
that attitudes Attitudes are evaluative statements, either favorable or
play in job unfavorable, concerning objects, people, or events. They
performance. reflect how an individual feels about something. When
a person says, “I like my job,” he or she is expressing an
attitude about work.

What Are the Three Components of an Attitude?
An attitude is made up of three components: cognition, affect, and behavior. 6

• The cognitive component of an attitude is made up of the beliefs, opinions, knowledge, and
information held by a person. For example, Brad feels strongly that smoking is unhealthy.
• The affective component is the emotional or feeling part of an attitude. This component
would be reflected in the statement by Brad, “I don’t like Erica because she smokes.”
Cognition and affect can lead to behavioral outcomes.
• The behavioral component of an attitude refers to an intention to behave in a certain way
toward someone or something. So, to continue our example, Brad might choose to avoid
Erica because of his feelings about her smoking habit.
Looking at attitudes as being made up of three components—cognition, affect, and behavior—
helps to illustrate their complexity and helps us better understand what “precedes” someone’s
response, reaction, or behavior. But keep in mind that when people use the term “attitude”—as
in, “that person has a bad attitude” or “I’m glad your attitude towards this is positive”—they’re
usually referring only to the actual affective (emotional) component. Remember that managers
are trying to explain, predict, and influence people’s behavior, and knowing that there’s more
to “attitude” than just the emotional part helps us better know how to do just that.

What Attitudes Might Employees Hold?

Naturally, managers are not interested in every attitude an employee might hold. Rather, attitudes
they’re specifically interested in the following: 7 Evaluative statements, either favorable or
unfavorable, concerning objects, people, or events
Job-Related Attitudes
• Job satisfaction is an employee’s general attitude toward his or her job. When people speak cognitive component
The part of an attitude made up of the beliefs, opin-
of employee attitudes, more often than not they mean job satisfaction. ions, knowledge, and information held by a person
• Job involvement is the degree to which an employee identifies with his or her job, actively affective component
participates in it, and considers his or her job performance important for self-worth. The part of an attitude that’s the emotional or
• Organizational commitment represents an employee’s orientation toward the organization feeling part
in terms of his or her loyalty to, identification with, and involvement in the organization.
behavioral component
A concept associated with job attitudes generating widespread interest is employee The part of an attitude that refers to an intention
engagement, which happens when employees are connected to, satisfied with, and enthusiastic to behave in a certain way toward someone or
something
8
about their jobs. Highly engaged employees are passionate about and deeply connected
to their work. Disengaged employees have essentially “checked out” and don’t care. They job involvement
show up for work, but have no energy or passion for it. A global study of more than 12,000 The degree to which an employee identifies with
his or her job, actively participates in it, and
employees found that the top five factors contributing to employee engagement were: 9 considers his or her job performance important for
self-worth
1. Respect
2. Type of work organizational commitment
3. Work/life balance An employee’s orientation toward the organization
in terms of his or her loyalty to, identification with,
4. Providing good service to customers and involvement in the organization
5. Base pay
employee engagement
Having highly engaged employees produces both benefits and costs. Highly engaged When employees are connected to, satisfied with,
employees are two-and-a-half times more likely to be top performers than their less-engaged and enthusiastic about their jobs