Organisational Behaviour

ATTITUDE

ITS CHARACTERISTICS,

FUNCTIONS & COMPONENTS

SUBMITTED BY:

SHARADA AMULYA TADIMETI

CHINTAN GUTKA

JANICE ARORA

KANIKA SHARMA

NIKHIL KHEMANI

VAISALI TIWARI

VISHAL SINGH

INDEX

Introduction:

"Our attitude towards life determines life's attitude towards us."

One of the most commonly repeated words is 'Attitude'. What is so magical about this word? Is it really as important as it is thought to be? The answer is a simple 'Yes'!

Let us now define Attitude:

Definition:

An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for any item. In other words, it is his belief system.

Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event-- this is often referred to as the attitude object. People can also be conflicted or ambivalent toward an object, meaning that they simultaneously possess both positive and negative attitudes toward the item in question.Unlike personality, attitudes are expected to change as a function of experience.

Characteristics of Attitude:

Attitude can be characterized by their:

1) Valence

2) Complexity

3) Satisfaction of Need

4) Centrality

Valence: It refers to the degree of feelings of favourableness or unfavourableness towards and object, situation or a person. If a person is relatively indifferent towards an object then his attitude has low valence. On the other hand, if the person is extremely favourable or unfavourable towards an attitude then his attitude will have a high valence.

Complexity: It refers to number of elements constituting the attitude. For Example, one student may show interest in studies but another not only shows interest but also works hard, is serious and is sincere.

Satisfaction of Need: Attitudes vary in relation to needs they serve. For instance, attitudes of an individual towards films may serve his entertainment needs. On the other hand attitudes of an individual towards work may serve strong needs for security, achievement, recognition and satisfaction.

Centrality: One important feature of attitude refers to the importance of attitude to the individual. The centrality indicates the importance of the object. The attitudes that have high centrality for an individual will be less susceptible to change.

COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE:

Attitudes are judgments. They develop on the ABC model (affect, behaviour, and cognition).

1) Cognitive:

The cognitive response is a cognitive evaluation of the entity that constitutes an individual's beliefs about the object. This component is of attitude is a description of or belief in the way things are.

Eg: My Salary is low.

It is hot today

2) Affective:

The affective response is an emotional response that expresses an individual's degree of preference for an entity.

E.g.: Am angry over how little I am paid.

3) Behavioral:

The behavioural intention is a verbal indication or typical behavioural tendency of an individual. This refers to an intention to behave in a certain way towards someone or something.

E.g.: I am going to look for another job that pays better.

FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDE:

An understanding of the functions of attitudes is important to the study of organizational behaviour for number of reasons. One is that attitudes help predict work behaviour. For example, if an attitude survey shows that workers are upset by a change in the work rules and the next week absenteeism begins to increase sharply, management may conclude that a negative attitude toward work rules led to an increase in worker absenteeism. Another reason why an understanding of attitudes is important is that attitudes help people adapt to their work environment. According to Katz, attitudes serve four important functions from the viewpoint of organizational behavior.

These are as follows.

* The Adjustment Function: Attitudes often help people to adjust to their work environment. Well-treated employees tend to develop a positive attitude towards their job, management and the organization in general while berated and ill treated organizational members develop a negative attitude. In other words, attitudes help employees adjust to their environment and form a basis for future behavior. For example, if employees who are well treated are asked about supervision or the organization, they are likely to