Work Attitudes
This chapter explains the difference between work attitudes and work
behaviors. Our attitudes toward our job and careers affect our workplace behavior. We hear and read about having a positive
attitude, but as managers and leaders, we need to know how to create an
environment that fosters the attitudes and behaviors we want people to
have. This text helps us understand how people's personalities and fit with their work environment affect their performance and commitment
to the organization.
Consequences of Positive Work Attitudes
Why do we care about the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees? What behaviors would you expect to see from someone who has more positive work attitudes?
Figure 4.3
Work attitudes are often good predictors of work behavior, such as performance, citizenship behaviors, absenteeism, and turnover.
If you say "higher performance," you have stumbled upon one of the most controversial subjects in organizational behavior. Many studies have been devoted to understanding whether happy employees are more productive. Some studies show weak correlations between satisfaction and performance while others show higher correlations (what researchers would call "medium-sized" correlations of 0.30). The correlation between commitment and performance tends to be even weaker. Even with a correlation of 0.30 though, the relationship may be lower than you may have expected. Why is this so?
It seems that happy workers have an inclination to be more engaged at work. They may want to perform better. They may be more motivated. But there are also exceptions. Think about this: Just because you want to perform, will you actually be a higher performer? Chances are that your skill level in performing the job will matter. There are also some jobs where performance depends on factors beyond an employee's control, such as the pace of the machine they are working on. Because of this reason, in professional jobs such as engineering and research, we see a higher link between work attitudes and performance, as opposed to manual jobs such as assembly line work. Also, think about the alternative possibility: If you don't like your job, does this mean that you will reduce your performance? Maybe up to a certain point, but there will be factors that prevent you from reducing your performance: the fear of getting fired, the desire to get a promotion so that you can get out of the job that you dislike so much, or your professional work ethic. As a result, we should not expect a one-to-one relationship between satisfaction and performance. Still, the observed correlation between work attitudes and performance is important and has practical value.
Work attitudes are even more strongly related to organizational citizenship behaviors (behaviors that are not part of our job but are valuable to the organization, such as helping new employees or working voluntary overtime). Satisfied and committed people are absent less frequently and for shorter duration, are likely to stay with a company longer, and demonstrate less aggression at work. Just as important, people who are happy at work are happier with their lives overall. Given that we spend so much of our waking hours at work, it is no surprise that our satisfaction with our job is a big part of how satisfied we feel about life in general. Finally, a satisfied workforce seems to be related to positive firm-level outcomes, such as customer satisfaction and loyalty, profitability, and safety in the workplace.