Psychology 245

1. 1 Psychology 245 Job Attitudes: Antecedents and Consequences Chapter 10

2. 2 Attitudes Attitude (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). A positive or negative feeling a person might have toward a person, place, or thing. Why study job attitudes? Long been assumed that attitudes influence work behavior. Improvement of job attitudes is an end in itself.

3. 3 Job Satisfaction Pleasurable, positive emotional state resulting from the cognitive appraisal of one�s job or job experience. This is the traditional definition of job satisfaction. More on this later� Practitioners have always viewed it as an important determinant of productivity. Once again, this is a traditional view. More on this later�

4. 4 Framework for Job Satisfaction

5. 5 Job Characteristics From Hackman and Oldham�s Job Characteristics Model Structure of job and what job provides affects job satisfaction Spector and Jex (1991): Employee�s perceptions of job characteristics and job satisfaction are positively related (r = .3 - .4) which is fairly large �Daily Hassles� negatively related to job satisfaction (Hart, 1999).

6. 6 Individual Characteristics Staw (1986) and colleagues Satisfaction is stable over time. Suggest individual differences play an important role in determining job sat. Affective Disposition: Tendency to respond to classes of environmental stimuli in predetermined ways. e.g. chronically cynical Other evidence suggests that job sat. fluctuates. Genetic factors may play an important role in satisfaction (Arvey et al., 1989).

7. 7 Social Factors Relationships with supervisors and coworkers are important predictors of job satisfaction. Think about a really �good� job� Organizational Justice: Employee perceptions of fairness of outcomes, policies/procedures, treatment received at work. Affects attitudes, behaviors, and consequences Treatment equality

8. 8 Growth Opportunities Perceptions of potential for Development and Promotion If we perceive we will continue to make more money and get promoted, we will be satisfied with our jobs at least to a limited extent. Sometimes opportunities for growth at work and in the family can conflict and become a source of stress. Especially important for dual earner families.

9. 9 Herzberg�s Two-Factor Theory of Job Satisfaction (discredited)

10. 10 So, according to Herzberg:

11. 11 Herzberg cont� Motivator factors: elements related to job content E.g.: level of responsibility and autonomy, and chances for recognition, advancement and personal achievement presence causes high satisfactionabsence causes low satisfaction Hygiene factors: elements related to job context E.g.: base salary, benefits, physical and social working conditions, type of supervision, company policies presence causes low dissatisfactionabsence causes high dissatisfaction

12. 12

13. 13 Global vs. Facet Approach to Job Satisfaction Global Approach: Looks at job satisfaction overall. Is employee satisfied overall? Facet Approach: Looks at different elements/facets of the job. e.g., pay, supervisor, coworkers, etc. Is employee satisfied with regard to each of these facets? Overall satisfaction is sum of satisfaction with facets.

14. 14 Advantages of facet approach Can find out whether: �employees are satisfied with some facets of work and dissatisfied with others. �some facets are more important to employees than others.

15. 15 Measures of Job Satisfaction Two of the most widely used measures/scales of job satisfaction: Job Descriptive Index (JDI) Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) JDI: Facet approach. Five facets of satisfaction: 1. supervisor 2. coworkers 3. pay 4. promotions 5. work itself

16. 16 JDI facets with two sample items Work on present job _____ Fascinating _____ Pleasant Present Pay _____ Barely live on income. _____ Well paid Promotion _____ opportunities somewhat limited. _____ Regular promotions Supervision _____ Doesn�t supervise enough _____ Around when needed Coworkers _____ Stimulating _____ Unpleasant Job in General _____ Pleasant _____ Worse than most

17. 17 Other measures of Job Satisfaction Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire: Another facet approach to job sat. Measures 20 satisfaction facets JDS (Hackman and Oldham) Overall measure of job sat. �Generally speaking I am very satisfied with this job.� Faces Scale: Also an overall measure of job sat. Measures the more emotional, affective, component of satisfaction. ? ? etc..

18. 18 Consequences of Job Satisfaction: Job Performance Find relationship between job satisfaction and job performance -- main goal of field �Holy Grail� of I/O psychology Satisfied employees are productive employees? Possibly most researched relationship in I/O psychology. Generally accepted relationship (based on meta-analysis) is only r ? 0.17 Conflict with intuition that satisfaction predicts performance

19. 19 A Broader Conceptualization of Job Performance Traditionally, we think of performance as �task performance� Task performance: Behaviors directly influencing core technical system of organization. But, there are also several of behaviors that may be considered as part of �performance.� Though they may not be highly related to task performance at the level of the individual, they are nonetheless important in determining the performance of the organization.

20. 20 Behaviors of job performance Several families of behaviors indicating job performance: Organizational Citizenship Behaviors_(OCB), also known as Contextual Performance (CP): Not in job description but still� helping coworkers and supervisor volunteering for things not required praising organization to outsiders supporting organization�s values Work Withdrawal Behaviors (WW): absenteeism lateness taking more or longer breaks low effort at work

21. 21 More behaviors of job performance Organization Retaliation Behaviors (ORB): destroying/vandalizing company equipment stealing supplies getting into fights or arguments at work spreading malicious rumors about coworkers or supervisor Job Withdrawal Behaviors (JW): making plans to quit job investigating alternative employment opportunities updating r�sum�

22. 22 A Broader Conceptualization of Job Satisfaction Traditional view: Job Satisfaction is an attitude : cognitive/evaluative fairly stable over time New view (�Affective Events Theory�): Job Satisfaction has two parts: job attitudes (see above) Affect (mood) at work transitory and fluctuating

23. 23 According to Affective Events Theory�

24. 24 Analyzing satisfaction and performance at the individual level At the level of the individual employee (conventional level): Individual employees vary in average job satisfaction attitudes and in average task performance levels. We have known this all along. This is the information we used to obtain the 0.17 correlation. Individual employees also vary in average levels of mood and average levels of OCB, WW, ORB, & JW.

25. 25 Broaden the definition So, we should be looking at the correlation between satisfaction (broadly defined) and performance (broadly defined), where: Satisfaction (broadly defined) = mood + job satisfaction attitudes. Performance (broadly defined) = task performance + OCB + WW + ORB + JW. i.e., we should be looking at whether individuals who are more satisfied (broadly defined) are also more productive (broadly defined). This correlation is likely to be somewhat higher than 0.17. No meta-analysis yet, so definitive conclusions would be premature.

26. 26 Analyzing satisfaction and performance WITHIN the individual At the level of the time of measurement within the individual employee (new level): There is a substantial amount of variance in mood, job satisfaction attitudes, task performance, OCB, WW, ORB, & JW within individuals over time. Probably more than between people even. So, at this level, we should be looking at whether individuals are more productive (broadly defined) when they are more satisfied (broadly defined). This correlation is likely to be somewhat higher than 0.17. No meta-analysis yet, so definitive conclusions would be premature.

27. 27 Increasing Job Satisfaction (Attitudes) Changes in job structure: Job rotation: systematic movement of employees from one position to another alleviates boredom and monotony allows employees to be trained on several different tasks Job enlargement: expansion of a job to include additional, more varied job tasks need to be careful, since additional work might be perceived as negative

28. 28 Changes in pay structure� Merit-based pay: employees� pay is proportional to their performance merit pay also known as pay-for-performance Note: usually get fixed (standard) base-pay plus some amount based on performance. Tricky to implement because indiv. goals might vary from organizational goals. Gainsharing: bonus received by all members of a unit if the unit achieves a certain performance goal. Profit Sharing: compensation plan wherein all employees receive a small share of organization�s profits. e.g., stock options

29. 29 Benefits programs Benefits can take several forms, e.g.: �flex-time� Allowing employees the option to start and end their work days at whatever times they choose. compressed work schedules Allowing employees to work longer hours so they can work fewer days in the week. Typically 4 10-hour days and then 3-day weekend. health care options retirement plans on-site child care (day-care) programs

30. 30 Increasing Job Satisfaction (Mood) Mood at work is influenced by: mood �hangovers� from events external to work need to control for �morning� mood events at work positive events (e.g., praise) ? better mood negative events (e.g., criticism) ? worse mood However, asymmetry exists: Positive events occur more frequently than negative events But�Effect of negative events > Effect of positive events. Therefore, for interventions: at all costs, avoid negative events (first priority) try to create positive events (if possible)

31. 31 Organizational Commitment Relative strength of a person�s identification and involvement in a particular organization. �Loyalty� Three components: Affective commitment - emotional attachment Strong belief in the org�s values and goals, willingness to exert effort on behalf of org, and strong desire to remain with the organization. Continuance commitment Attachment to the organization because of the high cost of leaving. Normative commitment Attachment to the organization as a result of a sense of obligation. Moral commitment.

32. 32 Consequences of organizational commitment Correlation between affective commitment and task performance: .15 to .25 Affective commitment also related to OCBs. Small negative relationship between affective commitment and absenteeism. Strong negative relationship between affective commitment and turnover.

33. 33 Emotions and Work Recent focus of research attention Emotional Regulation How employees influence and express their emotions. Why is this potentially important TODAY? customer service, food servers etc. Emotional Labor The effort, planning and control required by employees to express organizationally desired emotions to match organization�s display rules. Especially relevant for �service� jobs.

34. 34 Emotions and Work Emotional labor likely increased by the amount of emotional dissonance employees experience at work: The rift between inward feeling and required outward displays of emotions. Emotional Dissonance leads to: Stress, burnout, and poor performance. Implications for selection and placement; again, relevant to customer service. Person-environment fit (PE Fit).