Chapter 3

1. Chapter 3 Values, Attitudes, and Their Effects in the Workplace

2. Chapter Outline • Values • Values Across Cultures • Implications of Cultural Differences for OB • Attitudes • The Attitude of Job Satisfaction

3. Values, Attitudes, and Their Effects in the Workplace • What is the relationship between values and individual behaviour? • How do values differ across cultures? • How does job satisfaction affect one’s behaviour in the workplace? Questions for Consideration

4. Values • Values • Basic convictions that “a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.” • They contain a judgmental element in that they carry the individual’s idea of what is right, good, or desirable. • Value System -- a hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity. • Importance of Values • Values generally influence attitudes and behaviour.

5. Assessing Cultural Values • Power Distance • Individualism Versus Collectivism • Quantity of Life Versus Quality of Life • Uncertainty Avoidance • Long-term versus Short-term Orientation

6. Exhibit 3-1 Examples of National Cultural Values

7. Canada’s Multicultural Society • 1996 immigrant population • 42 percent of Toronto’s population • 34.8 percent of Vancouver’s • 18 percent of Montreal’s • 1991 Census findings on language • 15.2 percent spoke neither English nor French. Of these: • 28 percent spoke Chinese (either Mandarin or Cantonese) • 15 percent spoke Italian • 11 percent spoke Portuguese • 6 percent spoke Spanish • 5 percent spoke Punjabi

8. Canadian Social Values • The Elders • Those over 50 • Core Values: Belief in order, authority, discipline, and the Golden Rule • The Boomers • Born mid-1940s to mid-1960s • Autonomous rebels, anxious communitarians, connected enthusiasts, disengaged Darwinists • Generation X • Born mid-1960s to early 1980s • Thrill-seeking materialists, aimless dependents, social hedonists, new Aquarians, autonomous post-materialists

9. Francophone Values More collectivist or group-oriented Greater need for achievement Concerned with interpersonal aspects of workplace Value affiliation Anglophone Values Individualist or I-centred More task-centred Take more risks Value autonomy Francophone and Anglophone Values

10. Canadian Aboriginal Values • More collectivist in orientation • More likely to reflect and advance the goals of the community • Greater sense of family in the workplace • Greater affiliation and loyalty • Power distance lower than non-Aboriginal culture of Canada and the U.S. • Greater emphasis on consensual decision-making

11. Canadian Values Protectionist business environment Personality: more shy and deferential, less violent, more courteous More rule-oriented Peace, order, equality Uncomfortable celebrating success, play it down American Values Greater faith in the family, the state, religion, and the market More comfortable with big business Intense competition in business Individuality and freedom More comfortable with the unknown and taking risks Canadian and American Values

12. Canada and the US Lower power distance More likely to tolerate abrasiveness and insensitivity by managers Lower risk takers More individualistic Less agreeable to teamwork Mexico Higher power distance Managers more autocratic and paternalistic Employees defer more to managers Greater uncertainty avoidance Managers are greater risk takers Greater reliance on networks and relationships Canada, the US and Mexico

13. North America Networked relations: based on self-interest Relationships viewed with immediate gains Enforcement relies on institutional law Governed by guilt (internal pressures on performance) East and Southeast Asia Guanxi relations: based on reciprocation Relationships meant to be long-term and enduring Enforcement relies on personal power and authority Governed by shame (external pressures on performance) East and Southeast Asian Values

14. Attitudes • Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events. • Attitudes less stable than values

15. Types of Attitudes • Job Satisfaction • . . . refers to an individual’s general attitude toward his or her job. • Job Involvement • . . . measures the degree to which a person identifies psychologically with his or her job and considers his or her perceived performance level important to self-worth. • Organizational Commitment • . . . a state in which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organization.

16. Canadian Job Satisfaction (1997) • 86 percent report that they are satisfied with their jobs • 47 percent very satisfied with their jobs • 39 percent more somewhat satisfied • 71 percent find jobs are challenging and interesting • 44 percent strongly agree • 27 percent somewhat agree • 75 percent say they are treated fairly at work • But • 40 percent would not recommend their place of work • 40 percent report red tape and bureaucracy

17. Job Satisfaction • What Determines Job Satisfaction? • Mentally Challenging Work • Equitable Rewards • Supportive Working Conditions • Supportive Colleagues

18. Job Satisfaction and Employee Performance • Satisfaction Affects • Individual Productivity • Organizational Productivity • Absenteeism • Turnover

19. Summary and Implications • Values strongly influence a person’s attitudes. • An employee’s performance and satisfaction are likely to be higher if his or her values fit well with the organization. • Managers should be interested in their employees’ attitudes because attitudes give warning signs of potential problems and because they influence behaviour. • Managers should also be aware that employees will try to reduce cognitive dissonance.