Employee Attitudes Why Do They Matter
What is Attitude?
An attitude is a psychological state of mind. It is the way a person thinks about situations, and it ultimately determines a person's behaviour. Attitudes in the workplace, relate to how employees think and feel about the specific work tasks they perform, the products and services the organisation provides and how they feel about co-workers, management and the company as a whole. Negative attitudes result in a general apathy or disengagement from daily tasks and can result in feelings of frustration and anger. Conversely a positive attitude leads to increased engagement in tasks along with a focus on ensuring high performance is maintained. Additionally, when employee’s attitudes are generally more positive not only are they more productive, but the overall culture and climate of the organisation is substantially improved.
Attitudes Directly Translate into Behaviours
Behaviours that result from attitudes include the way in which customers are greeted, the style in which employees communicate with each other, as well as how tasks are undertaken; including reactions to deadlines, how difficult work tasks are dealt with and how problems are solved (or not solved). Positive attitudes also translate into employee commitment and have been directly related to job seeking behaviours (Avey, Luthans, & Youssef, 2010). Furthermore, positive work attitudes have been linked to increased organisational citizenship behaviour (willingness to go above and beyond formal work tasks), which is clearly a desirable condition for contemporary organisations operating in today competitive environment.
Can Managers and Leaders Influence Attitude?
While it’s impossible to change all factors relating to negative attitudes in the workplace, there are ways to improve and promote positive ones. A good place to start is with the managers and leaders own attitudes. Leaders attitudes and behaviours have a cascading effect (Gupta & Hershey, 2019), therefore when leaders and managers have positive attitudes, including viewing problems as opportunities for success and growth, their team is likely to largely adopt the same attitude and related behaviours. Team-building exercises develop trust and unity among functional departments and can ‘reset’ existing group related attitudes. Additionally, making sure employees have incentives that excite them can generate positive attitudes therefore building attitudinal bases measures into incentive programs can act as a positive reinforcer for positive attitudes and subsequent performance.
How Do We Find Out What Our Employee’s Attitudes Are?
Attitude surveys provide a psychometrically tested (valid and reliable) measure of employee attitudes. Through these surveys’ employees are given the opportunity to list concerns, provide suggestions and signpost what experiences give rise to their current workplace attitudes. Attitude surveys can also be a great way to gain a cultural barometer for organisations and can provide leaders with valuable information regarding way in which to improve workplace functioning and increase bottom line performance.
Lee Spencer
BBus(Mgt), BSocSc(Psych)
References
Avey, J. B., Luthans, F., & Youssef, C. M. (2010). The Additive Value of Positive Psychological Capital in Predicting Work Attitudes and Behaviors. Journal of Management, 36(2), 430-452. doi:10.1177/0149206308329961
Gupta, R., & Hershey, D. A. (2019). Time perspective as an antecedent of trust in a manager and its impact on employee attitudes. Time & Society, 28(1), 124-152. doi:10.1177/0961463X17716552