LO 4-5 Define values and show how they differ from attitudes. Values are the worth or importance that people attach to different factors of their lives. These factors are defined as any objects, activities, or frames of mind that you consider very important. A corporate culture is a system of shared values throughout any organization.
Values are deeper than attitudes in some ways, and are generally longer-lasting and more important than attitudes. Also, unlike attitude, values come in a partially unconscious list of priorities.
LO 4-6 Explain the origins of your values. Personal values are formed in early childhood and are strongly influenced by the values of par- ents and the child’s environment. The place and time period of the first few years of most people’s lives have a great effect on the forma- tion of values.
LO 4-7 Identify strategies for coping with values conflict. All people come from differing backgrounds, where they have learned various value systems. When they are thrown together in the workplace, they often must work with others whose values differ greatly from their own.
When individuals experience cognitive dissonance, (the emotional state that results from acting in ways that contradict one’s beliefs or other actions), they don’t necessarily try to make their actions consistent with their values and beliefs. Instead, they might use one of the following: changing their original beliefs; using denial; self- justifying; or changing their own behavior.
LO 4-8 Apply values in a global context. In an international economy, everyone must deal with members of other cultures who might not share the same values. The chief values differences are differing views of power and authority, of the roles of the individual versus.
the group, of tolerance for uncertainty, and of punctuality.
1. Where do attitudes come from? When in people’s lives do they develop?
2. How do positive attitudes affect the workplace? How can negative atti- tudes hurt the success of a business?
3. Can a person obtain a happy attitude just by desiring to do so? How can circumstances bring happiness into one’s life? Explain your answer.
4. Can a person’s attitudes and his role in his company make him some- one with organizational citizenship behavior? In your own life, do you function as a worker or manager, or as a citizen of your organization?
Explain.
5. How do values develop during the early part of people’s lives?
6. What is the difference between terminal and instrumental values? Give examples of each.
7. How can you be sure that the values that you think you have are really your own?
8. What is a values conflict? Have you ever been involved in a conflict that involved values differences? If so, what was the focus of the conflict?
Interpersonal? Did it seem like it was you (or someone else) against the group? Internal?
review questions
9. Bad things do happen to everyone at one time or another. Is it always possible to maintain a positive attitude? Is it always necessary? Can you think of examples in which maintaining a positive attitude (at least temporarily) is impossible and unnecessary? Include an example of something you can’t change in the workplace, and in your personal life.
critical thinking questions
attitude 74
cognitive dissonance 85 corporate culture 81 denial 86
extraversion 76 feedback 78
key terms
instrumental values 84 organizational
citizenship behavior 80 personal control 77 positive attitude 74 Rath Test 92
self-justification 86 terminal values 84 values 81
values conflicts 84 values systems 81
10. Have you ever experienced cognitive dissonance in your own life?
(More than likely, you have experienced it many times.) How did you react? What strategies did you use to lessen the impact of the disso- nance in your life?
ATTITUDES AND JOB OUTCOMES
School-to-Work Connection: Interpersonal Skills
How important are employees’ general attitudes on the job when they are being considered for a promotion, or being hired? Roleplay different job attitudes in applicants interviewing for a job, and discuss the most likely outcomes in each situation. Each student acting as applicant should present similar credentials for the job. In the first roleplay, the student acting as job applicant should act somewhat bored and disinterested. In the second roleplay, the student acting as job applicant should act neutral, neither posi- tive nor negative. In the third role-play, the student acting as job applicant should act positive and enthusiastic about the job. Take note of how others respond to these different attitudes. Discuss your own, and others’ emotions during these enacted interviews: were you frustrated, relaxed, or some other emotion? Did the positive applicant seem the best for the job?
working it out 4.1
VALUES AND YOUR CAREER CHOICE
School-to-Work Connection: Personal Qualities Skills
Your present values are very important to your future success in the career you choose.
In your search for the right career, which of the following value factors will you look for?
Check the appropriate terminal values:
1. Lifelong learning
2. Eliminating suffering and hunger 3. Achieving world peace
4. Raising a family 5. Variety of experience 6. Artistic expression 7. Achieving recognition 8. Security
working it out 4.2
9. Adventure and excitement
10. Serving God or fulfilling spiritual/religious beliefs 11. Serving country
12. Other
Next, check the specific factors you will look for in the career you choose.
The majority of these will be instrumental values for most people.
1. High salary
2. Great amount of freedom 3. Nice people to work with 4. Physical exercise on the job 5. Mental challenges
6. Opportunities for advancement
7. Fairness in the workplace (freedom from prejudice) 8. Ability to work without being around others
9. Ability to work in groups with others 10. Good vacation time
11. Flexible working hours 12. Freedom to plan your own job
13. Freedom to use leadership skills and abilities 14. Ability to be trained as you work
15. Freedom to work at home 16. Freedom to work outdoors
17. Other
Keep this list and refer to it in the future when job hunting. If you have already chosen a career, use this test to see how many of your values are affected by that choice. Consider the possible impacts on you in the long term if the organization’s values conflict with your personal values.
C andace Kaylor hated her job. “It’s not the job I hate, exactly, it’s the people I work with,” she explained to her older sister Shelley over dinner one night. “They’re so negative! Complain, com- plain, complain. They make me feel miserable too! I go to work happy in the morning, and by noon I’m really depressed.” She sighed deeply. “I wish everyone at work would quit making me feel so bad!”
Instead of sympathizing with her, Shelley just laughed. “What’s so funny?” exclaimed Candace, indignantly. “Here I am trying to tell you about my problems, and you just laugh at me!”
“I’m sorry,” Shelley said, suppressing a smile.
“It’s just that the way you said that, it made me remember back to when we were little kids. You’d always threaten to tell on me, saying ‘I’m tell- ing Mom you made me do this, or made me do that. . . .’ And remember what I always said back to you? ‘Nobody makes nobody do anything!’ Well, guess what, Sis, it’s the same thing right now: Your
co-workers aren’t the ones ‘making’ you miserable, you are making yourself miserable! Sure, they have a negative attitude, but you’re the one allowing yourself to be pulled down into it with them! Fix your attitude! And, by the way, Mom isn’t going to get you out of this one, either!”
“Well, that’s about the dumbest thing I’ve heard all day!” retorted Candace defensively, but the look on her face was more thoughtful than offended.
Case Study Questions
1. What is the basic problem at Candace’s workplace?
2. Who really is responsible for Candace’s atti- tudes: herself or her co-workers? What can she do to change to a more positive attitude?
3. If Candace continues to work at the same place without doing anything about her prob- lem, what are some likely long-term outcomes?
Make Your Own Attitude
case study 4.1
case study 4.2
The New Claims Adjuster
W hen Cecelia started her job with Anchor Insurance, she felt quite gratified. After all, she had tried for years to enter a white-collar pro- fession, and insurance had been her first choice.
The claims office was always busy, and “emergen- cies,” some real, some exaggerated, were the first order of business. She enjoyed the excitement and variety of the claims department.
Cecelia’s section of the company was sup- portive, in that anyone who had a difficult claim would be helped by the others in the office.
You were never alone, facing a difficult client.
As a beginner, Cecelia found that supportive attitude to be really encouraging. The camara- derie was evident in other areas of work life at Anchor, too.
Before long, however, Cecelia started notic- ing that all of this group “togetherness” had other faces, not all of them to Cecelia’s liking. For example, Friday evenings always seemed to be “get drunk night.” Right after work, the whole claims department would meet at a local pub, “ just to unwind,” as one of her colleagues explained.
Although Cecelia savored a margarita now and then, she definitely did not believe in exces- sive drinking. Besides, she would nearly always become ill if she drank more than one cocktail in an evening.
She tried to beg out of the Friday get- togethers.
That approach worked for a Friday or two. How- ever, the group pressure was so strong that bad jokes were told about anyone who was “antisocial”
enough to miss the Friday parties regularly. After a few weeks, it became clear that Cecelia was being treated differently. When a truly difficult client who was filing a very suspicious claim came to Cecelia, she was left to solve the problem on her own. She was snubbed during lunch hour and found that others would stop talking when she came into a room.
“I’ve got to do something,” she told Mike, her boyfriend. Do you think it would work to go to the Friday bashes and just order Shirley Temples? Or do I need to start searching for another job?” “I don’t know,” answered Mike, “But I don’t like see- ing you this unhappy. You’re right: you’ve got to do something.”
Case Study Questions
1. Would you identify the conflict in this case as a values conflict? Why or why not?
2. Is it too late? Can Cecelia salvage the relation- ship she once had with her fellow workers?
More importantly, should she? Why or why not?
3. What would you do if you were in Cecelia’s place?
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5
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
LO 5-1 Define motivation.
LO 5-2 Explain need-based theories of motivation.
LO 5-3 Explain behavior-based theories of motivation.
LO 5-4 Describe reinforcement theory and behavior modification.
LO 5-5 Discuss the relationship between self-esteem and motivation.
S T R A T E G I E S F O R S U C C E S S
Strategy 5.1 Applying McClelland’s Theory Strategy 5.2 Changing Your Behavior