Table of Contents
Executive summary
Attitude and satisfaction are considered vital with respect to organisational behaviour and motivation. However, controversy regarding their impact on the behaviour and motivation at workplace exists. Thus, through the detailed analysis of the concept of attitude and job satisfaction, this study provides a deep insight on the effects of attitude and job satisfaction on motivation and organisational behaviour. The study highlights several industry examples in the context of attitude, job satisfaction, motivation and organisational behaviour. It helps in analysing and gaining a sound understanding of the practical implications of attitude and job satisfaction on motivation and organizational behaviours. The various models of job satisfaction, motivation and attitude efficiently provide a conceptual and deep understanding of the variables to align them with the practical situation thereby analysing the industry examples. It thus enabled the recognition of the relationship between and impact of attitude and job satisfaction on the motivation of employees at workplace as well as the organizational behaviour.
Introduction
The evaluative reactions depicted by an individual/group to particular objects, events or persons are considered as the attitude of the person/group (Eaton and Visser, 2008). It lasts for a long time and across various situations. It is, thus, necessary to have a sound understanding of the attitudes of the people in the workforce of an organization to encourage them towards the depiction of a productive and positive attitude towards their jobs and organizations. Analysis of the attitudes of the people at workplace helps to gain understanding of the employees’ behavior, thereby facilitating effective handling of important aspects as attrition, organizational commitment and performance (Eaton and Visser, 2008).
As stated by Dugguh and Dennis (2014), job satisfaction is a major factor driving the attitude of an individual at the workplace. Job satisfaction is reflected as a positive state of mind originating from the satisfactory experience at workplace with the job (Çelik, 2011). Job satisfaction is also considered a multi-dimensional psychological response to the job with the cognitive, affective and behavioral components. Singh and Jain (2013) however, argue that job satisfaction includes both the positive and negative feelings of an individual towards the job. On the contrary, Aziri (2011) asserted that the description of job satisfaction was the combination of psychological, physiological and environmental circumstances influencing the level of an individual’s satisfaction with regards to the job.
As opined by Dugguh and Dennis (2014), motivating employees towards the development of positive attitudes towards the organization and job can help in driving a high level of job satisfaction. Therefore, the study of the aspects of attitude and job satisfaction can facilitate the effective motivation of the employees at an organization, towards improved delivery of performance. This study thus focuses on the analysis of the attitude, motivation and job satisfaction in order to identify the impact of attitude and job satisfaction on the motivation level of the employees and on organizational behavior.
Analysis
Attitudes and job satisfaction
Attitudes
As stated by Pickens (2005), attitude is defined as the “mind-set or tendency” of an individual driving the behavior of the person in a specific way, with experience and temperament of the person influencing the behavior. However, Frymier and Nadler (2017) argued that attitudes do not always drive the behavior of a person as per one’s mind-set, experience and temperament. Rather, it was assessed that the behavior of human beings with high level of intelligence was driven by the logical reasons of existence rather than attitudes.
As an evidence of this, the instance of Tesco retaining its top position in the UK retail market can be identified. Even when the inappropriate redundancy measures of Tesco drives a negative attitude among its clients and staffs, the brand name of the organization and their ability to provide the consumers with quality products at affordable prices drove the customers towards positive purchase activities from the retailer (McDonald, 2015). It reflects the fact that attitude does not always drive the behavior of the individuals but reason and need does. Nevertheless, the attitude of an individual though not influencing the behavior of the person always, but does influences the behavior at times. This is evident from the massive loss of sales due to customers’ rejection of purchasing products from Primark after the exposure of labor issues at the organization (Lee, 2011).
Job satisfaction
Aziri (2011) identified job satisfaction as the affective orientations towards the job roles depicted by individuals at workplace. It validates the consideration of the feelings reflected by individuals regarding their job and its various aspects indicating the job satisfaction of the persons. The meeting of the expectations of the employees and the receipt of the rewards and remunerations from the organization can be considered the major driving factor of job satisfaction (Dugguh and Dennis, 2014). Achievement of a positive job satisfaction is a major driver of performance improvement for individuals.
Aziri (2011) linked job satisfaction very closely to the behavior of individuals at workplace. For instance, the high level of job satisfaction at Iceland Plc. is depicted by the low attrition rate and high level of organizational commitment among employees at the organization. The achievement of the awards for being the best place to work by Iceland Plc. in 2012 and 2013 also indicates their ability to meet the employee needs related to workplace and job, thereby driving the high level of job satisfaction (Iceland, 2017). However, the employees at Apple shows low attrition while reflecting low job satisfaction due to their dissatisfaction with the autocratic management style of Jobs. It indicates the fact that job satisfaction do not drive behavior of employees always.
Aziri (2011) identified the determinants of job satisfaction as manager’s concern for people, job design, workplace environment, compensation, social relationships, aspiration and need achievement level, perceived scope of development in other environments and perceived long-term scope of development at workplace. Positive status of these factors lead to organizational commitment among the employees while negative conditions of these factors causes turnover, grievances, sabotage, accidents, absenteeism, strikes and such other non-productive organizational behaviour driven by negative attitu7de of staff towards the organization (Aziri, 2011). It therefore indicates the organizational commitment as the positive behaviour driven by job satisfaction, while turnover, absenteeism, strikes, grievances, accidents, tardiness and sabotage as negative behavior driven by job dissatisfaction.
Effect of attitude and job satisfaction on motivation and Organizational Behaviour
ABC model of attitude
Considering the tri-component model of attitude, it could be analyzed that the thought, emotion and behaviour together influences the attitude of a person. This model works with the consideration of the three major components as affective (feeling), cognitive (thought) and behavioral (action) to drive the attitude of an individual/group. Perception of a situation and responding to it is driven by the attitude of a person (Jain, 2014). It thus signifies the three components of the model to be influencing the attitude of an individual/group largely. This could be seen from the negative attitude depicted by the customers towards Apple Inc. right after the death of its founder Steve Jobs (Smith, 2016). The feeling of loss of the innovator, the thought of Apple losing its uniqueness and competitive advantage of innovative products and the action of people purchasing less of Apple’s products are seen to drive the negative attitude among the world population regarding the brand’s decline. Tim Cook, the next CEO, is however seen to revive the brand successfully by driving positive attitude among the employees of Apple Inc. (Tetzeli, 2016). The ABC model reveals that though feelings and beliefs are the internal components of attitude for a person, but the behavioral action can be considered to identify the attitude of the person.
3D model of Attitude
The combination of the three major components of attitude can be seen to drive the positive and negative attitudes of individuals/groups towards an object, person or concept. The 3D model of attitude joins the three components of attitude (affect/feeling, behaviour/action and cognition/thought) to construct an overall attitude about the object (Jain, 2014). Conceptualizing the combination of the three elements of attitude with two major outcomes (positive and negative), the 3D model identifies eight different combinations for attitude known as triodes.
Functionalist Theory
The Functionalist Theory by Daniel Katz reflects the view of determining the attitude of a person as the result of the functions (4 types- instrumental, knowledge, value-experience and ego-defensive) they serve (Refer to Appendix 1) (Jain, 2014). Achievement of basic goals is recognized to be the main objective of attitudes. This theory also provides the explanation of change in attitude of individuals because of the change in its ability to serve the functions. It thus highlights the fact that changes in motivational and personality needs of an individual is effective to drive change in attitude.
This could be analyzed through the study of the employee behavior at Apple Inc. Jobs could be seen to change the motivational needs and personality needs of the staffs at the organization to change their behavioral attitude to their jobs. For instance, the employees working at Apple Inc. are seen to reveal dissatisfactory state of mind towards their job due to the autocratic style of management executed by the founder Steve Jobs at the organization (Lashinsky, 2011). Their motivational need was for a friendlier workplace with more freedom of workstyle. However, Jobs can be seen to change their motivational needs to be associated with the world-famous brand. The brand image of Apple Inc. drove the employees towards the depiction of the low attrition behavior (Lashinsky, 2011). This clearly reflects the change driven by Jobs in the motivational and personality needs of the employees to be effective in changing their behavior and attitude towards the firm. However, it also indicates that though the internal components of feelings and belief affect the attitude of the individuals largely, yet the behavior of the person is dependent more on the reasons for existence rather than the attitude of the individuals.
Herzberg’s 2-factor motivational theory
In order to gain insight on the way in which, the identified factors at workplace influence job satisfaction and dissatisfaction through affecting the motivation of employees, this theory/model is effective (Mullins, 2010). As per Herzberg’s 2-factor theory, the factors driving motivation among employees and generating job satisfaction are categorized as ‘motivators’. Simultaneously, the factors affecting motivation level of employees adversely, thereby driving job dissatisfaction are categorized as hygiene factors (Kian, Yusoff and Rajah, 2014).
Improvement of the motivators (recognition, achievement, responsibility, personal growth, advancement, work style freedom) are seen to drive motivation among employees encouraging positive attitude towards the firm and the job. At the same time, job dissatisfaction is avoided by improving the hygiene factors as the presence of declining state of the hygiene factors, results in increase of dissatisfaction to jobs within the employees. Mullins (2010) highlighted the ability of this theory to emphasize on job design and quality of work life to achieve job satisfaction among employees by driving motivation towards work in them. Job enrichment, self-managed learning and self-development attained through improvement of motivators enables this. It can be analyzed through the Herzberg’s two-factor model that the motivation of individuals at workplace plays a vital role in their attitudes and job satisfaction. Therefore, the aspect of motivation can be considered associated with job satisfaction and attitude integrally.
Kian, Yusoff and Rajah (2014) is seen to present the view of considering job satisfaction as a part of attitude of the individuals working at a workplace. Based on the attitude carried by the staff at workplace, their job satisfaction could be assessed. Morrison can be seen to reflect the effect of deteriorating hygiene factors (working conditions, co-worker relations, wage and salary issues) hampering the job satisfaction level of the employees at the organization. It resulted in the experience of huge losses by Morrison in their business due to the poor customer service delivered by the staffs repelling consumers thereby lowering their sales (Dugguh and Dennis, 2014).
As highlighted by Aziri (2011), Christen, Lyer and Soberman’s Model of Job Satisfaction recognises 4 elements in relevance to job satisfaction as job-related factors, role perceptions, job performance and firm performance. On the other hand, the Lawler’s and Porter’s Model of Job Satisfaction emphasise upon the rewards to influence job satisfaction at workplace. However, the model reveals the indirect effect of rewards on job satisfaction due to the varied perceptions of the employees regarding the appropriateness of the rewards. Harrods can be seen to improve the job satisfaction level of their employees by reviewing and modifying their rewards system thereby modifying it in alignment with the employee needs (Engage For Success, 2012). It is a clear evidence of the fact that rewards does have a close relationship with job satisfaction, provided they are aligned with the specific needs of the staffs precisely.
Studies reveal the close relationship between the employee motivation and attitude of the employees with respect to their job satisfaction. Attitude is seen to influence the preferable ways for motivating an employee. For instance, Iceland Plc provides the friendly atmosphere for their employees at the UK-based stores to motivate them towards organizational commitment and productivity (Iceland, 2017). On the other hand, Toyota is seen to implement a strictly formal environment at their Chinese manufacturing workplace to motivate the employees working there (Zhang, 2008). This is for aligning the workplace culture with the Chinese culture, preferring power distance and formal work culture. Meeting the cultural needs and expectations of the staff, thereby enables the organizations to drive positive attitude that in turn results in job satisfaction and drives the employees towards motivated state at workplace.
The positive attitude of the UK population towards friendliness at workplace and individual development is seen to drive the organizations at UK to adopt a friendly workplace culture with focus on providing scopes for individual development of employees. On the other hand, the attitude of Chinese people depicting positivity towards collectivism and group work led the Chinese organizations to focus on teamwork culture and providing opportunities for team development and progress to motivate the Chinese employees (Zhang, 2008). This clearly reveals the influence of the attitude of employees on motivation procedures adopted at the organizations.
The job satisfaction is also seen to affect the motivation state of the employees. As asserted by Singh and Jain (2013), with positive job satisfaction level of employees, the motivation level of the employees is also enhanced and vice-versa. As opined by Kian, Yusoff and Rajah (2014), maintaining a good and consistent level of motivation among employees is of prime importance for any organization to ensure the constant productivity and high level of performance delivery by the staffs. For instance, the consistent level of motivation among the staffs at Iceland Plc. can be seen to enable the organization to deliver a consistent level of productive performance year after year (Iceland, 2017). The receipt of the award for best place to work consecutively in 2012 and 2013 could be marked as the evidence of consistent level of motivation driven by high level of job satisfaction among the employees at Iceland Plc (Iceland, 2017). It indicates that the positive attitude and high level of job satisfaction of the employees drives a productive organizational behavior.
The instance of Tesco’s revival can be considered as an example depicting the company’s focus on driving positive attitude and job satisfaction among its workforce through initiatives such as increasing the pay of the UK store-based staff by 3% (Calnan, 2016). This facility is extended to workers of all ages to avoid discrimination. It is also strategized in collaboration with the Usdaw and staff representatives thereby considering all aspects of employee concerns. Another benefit of proving its employees with “time and a half for Sunday and bank holiday shifts” from July 2016, is another measure driving high level of job satisfaction among the store workers of Tesco. The report of Tesco achieving 0.7% like-for-like sales growth in the UK in January 2017 indicates the productive organizational behavior driven across Tesco (Fedor, 2017). The CEO of Tesco, Mr. Lewis also received credit form analysts for reviving the business of Tesco through the measures of hiring staff, slashing prices and sprucing up stores (Fedor, 2017). This reflects the positive organizational behavior encouraged at Tesco through the positive attitude and job satisfaction among its employees. It thereby signifies the impact of attitude and job satisfaction on organizational behavior.
As per the view of Pickens (2005), the aspects of attitude and job satisfaction are very useful for an organization, owing to their potentiality of influencing the productivity and performance of the organization. Maintaining a consistent level of motivation through positive attitude and high job satisfaction among employees also enable the manager to drive the workers towards optimal performance delivery and improvement avoiding conflicts in the organization (Dugguh and Dennis, 2014). It thereby reveals the usefulness of positive attitude and job satisfaction in enabling efficient employee management by the managers. However, Kian, Yusoff and Rajah (2014) argued that the specificity of aligning motivational factors to the individual employees is time consuming as well as cost bearing for the organization initially. This can be marked as a major limitation of the attitude and job satisfaction to the organizational behaviour. A universal approach to the handling of motivational factors to drive attitude and job satisfaction among employees can be ineffective in this respect.
We can do it today.
Conclusion
The study reveals the detailed aspects of attitude and job satisfaction as the psychological state of mind of the workers at an organization. The various models and factors highlights the effect of surrounding environment and culture to be driving attitude of a person. Simultaneously, the attitude is seen to be driving motivational aspect of an individual. Based on the attitude a person bears, appropriate motivational strategies are seen to be employed to achieve effective motivation. A high level of motivation with positive attitude is marked as a major driver of job satisfaction. Instances of several organizations revealed the strong impact of a positive attitude and high level of job satisfaction to be motivating employees at workplace and encouraging them towards productive organizational behavior. At the same time, the negative attitude and low job satisfaction is identified to drive organizational behaviour that proves detrimental to the business. Hence, it could be stated that the implementation of relevant measures to inspire positive attitude and a high level of job satisfaction at the workplace can achieve consistent motivational level of workforce; thereby ensuring a productive organizational behaviour.
- Aziri, B., 2011. Job Satisfaction: A Literature Review. Management Research and Practice, 3(4), pp.77-86.
- Calnan, M., 2016. Tesco to increase staff pay by up to 3%. [online] Employee Benefits Available at: <https://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/february-online-2016/tesco-to-increase-staff-pay-by-up-to-3/> [Accessed 3 June 2017].
- Çelik, M., 2011. A Theoretical Approach to the Job Satisfaction. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 4, pp. 7-13.
- Dugguh, S. I. and Dennis, A., 2014. Job satisfaction theories: Traceability to employee performance in organizations. Journal of Business and Management, 16(5), pp.11-18.
- Eaton, A. A. and Visser, P. S., 2008. Attitude importance: Understanding the causes and consequences of passionately held views. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(4), pp.1719-1736.
- Engage For Success, 2012. Employee Engagement at Harrods. [pdf] Available at: <http://engageforsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Employee-Engagement-at-Harrods-Engage-for-success-2012.pdf> [Accessed 3 June 2017].
- Fedor, L., 2017, Tesco continues revival with sales growth in run-up to Christmas. [online] Financial Times. Available at: <https://www.ft.com/content/9998511f-c96f-3879-bf89-cd4cc4211b3f> [Accessed 3 June 2017].
- Frymier, A. B. and Nadler, M. K., 2017. Persuasion: theory, research and practice. Dubuque: Kendell Hunt Publishing.
- Iceland, 2017. The Iceland Story. [online] Available at: <http://about.iceland.co.uk/about-iceland/the-iceland-story/> [Accessed 3 June 2017].
- Jain, V., 2014. 3D model of attitude. International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and Social Sciences, 3(3), pp. 1-10.
- Kian, T. S., Yusoff, W. F. W. and Rajah, S., 2014. Job Satisfaction and Motivation: What are the difference among these two? European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, 3(2), pp. 94-102.
- Lashinsky, A., 2011. How Apple Works: Inside the World’s Biggest Startup. [online] Fortune. Available at: <http://fortune.com/2011/05/09/inside-apple/> [Accessed 3 June 2017].
- Lee, M. M. H., 2011. Reacting to Bad Publicity over Sweat Shop Issue: The Case of Primark. [online] Journal of International Management. Available at: <https://journalofinternationalmanagement.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/reacting-to-bad-publicity-over-sweat-shop-issue-the-case-of-primark/> [Accessed 3 June 2017].
- McDonald, G., 2015. Tesco job cuts start at the top as senior managers face axe. [online] Retail Week. Available at: <https://www.retail-week.com/sectors/grocery/tesco-job-cuts-start-at-the-top-as-senior-managers-face-axe/5068144.article> [Accessed 3 June 2017].
- Mullins, L. J., 2010. Management & Organisational Behaviour. 9th ed. London: Pearson Education Limited.
- Pickens, J., 2005. Attitudes and perceptions. Organizational Behavior in Health Care. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, pp.43-75.
- Singh, J. K. and Jain, M., 2013. A Study of Employees’ Job Satisfaction and Its Impact on Their Performance. Journal of Indian Research, 1(4), pp.105-111.
- Smith, D., 2016. Apple is losing its focus again – and this time, there’s no Steve Jobs coming to the rescue. [online] Business Insider. Available at: <http://www.businessinsider.in/Apple-is-losing-its-focus-again-and-this-time-theres-no-Steve-Jobs-coming-to-the-rescue/articleshow/56094058.cms> [Accessed 3 June 2017].
- Tetzeli, R., 2016. 9 Ways Tim Cook Has Transformed Apple. [online] Fast Company. Available at: <https://www.fastcompany.com/3062334/9-ways-tim-cook-has-transformed-apple> [Accessed 3 June 2017].
- Zhang, L., 2008. Lean production and labor controls in the Chinese automobile industry in an age of globalization. International Labor and Working Class History, 73(01), pp.24-44.