This OpenStax ancillary resource is © Rice University under a CC BY 4.0 International license; it may be reproduced or modified but
must be attributed to OpenStax, Rice University and any changes must be noted.
CHAPTER THREE
Perception and Job Attitudes
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Managers should be interested in their employees’ attitudes because attitudes give
warnings of potential problems and influence behavior. Creating a satisfied workforce is
not a guarantee of successful organizational performance, but evidence strongly
suggests that whatever managers can do to improve employee attitudes will likely result
in heightened organizational effectiveness. The major job attitudes are – job
satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment, perceived organizational
support, and employee engagement. An employee’s job satisfaction level is the best
single predictor of behavior.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
3.1 The Perceptual Process
1. How do differences in perception affect employee behavior and performance?
One of the key determinants of people’s behavior in organizations is how
they see and interpret situations and people around them. It is vital for
anyone (manager or subordinate) who desires to be more effective to
understand the critical aspects of context, object, and perceiver that
influence perceptions and interpretations and the relationship between
these and subsequent attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. This
understanding will not only facilitate the ability to correctly understand and
anticipate behaviors, but it will also enhance the ability to change or
influence that behavior. Perception is the process by which individuals
screen, select, organize, and interpret stimuli in order to give them meaning.
Perceptual selectivity is the process by which individuals select certain stimuli
for attention instead of others. Selective attention is influenced by both
external factors (e.g., physical or dynamic properties of the object) and
personal factors (e.g., response salience). Social perception is the process by
which we perceive other people. It is influenced by the characteristics of the
person perceived, the perceiver, and the situation.
3.2 Barriers to Accurate Social Perception
2. How can managers and organizations minimize the negative impact of
stereotypes and other barriers to accurate social perception in interpersonal
relations?
, Organizational Behavior
Stereotyping is a tendency to assign attributes to people solely on the basis
of their class or category. Selective perception is a process by which we
systematically screen or discredit information we don’t wish to hear and
instead focus on more salient information. Perceptual defense is a tendency
to distort or ignore information that is either personally threatening or
culturally unacceptable.
3.3 Attributions: Interpreting the Causes of Behavior
3. How do people attribute credit and blame for organizational events?
Attribution theory concerns the process by which individuals attempt to
make sense of the cause-effect relationships in their life space. Events are
seen as being either internally caused (that is, by the individual) or externally
caused (that is, by other factors in the environment). In making causal
attributions, people tend to focus on three factors: consensus, consistency,
and distinctiveness. The fundamental attribution error is a tendency to
underestimate the effects of external or situational causes of behavior and
overestimate the effects of personal causes. The self-serving bias is a
tendency for people to attribute success on a project to themselves while
attributing failure to others.
3.4 Attitudes and Behavior
4. How can a work environment characterized by positive work attitudes be
created and maintained?
An attitude can be defined as a predisposition to respond in a favorable or
unfavorable way to objects or persons in one’s environment. There are two
theories concerning the manner in which attitudes are formed. The first,
called the dispositional approach, asserts that attitudes are fairly stable
tendencies to respond to events in certain ways, much like personality traits.
Thus, some people may be happy on almost any job regardless of the nature
of the job. The second, called the situational approach, asserts that attitudes
result largely from the particular situation in which the individual finds
himself. Thus, some jobs may lead to more favorable attitudes than others.
The social-information-processing approach to attitudes is a situational
model that suggests that attitudes are strongly influenced by the opinions
and assessments of coworkers. Cognitive consistency is a tendency to think
and act in a predictable manner. Cognitive dissonance occurs when our
actions and our attitudes are in conflict. This dissonance will motivate us to
attempt to return to a state of cognitive consistency, where attitudes and
behaviors are congruent.
3.5 Work-Related Attitudes
5. How can managers and organizations develop a committed workforce?
May 21, 2019 2
must be attributed to OpenStax, Rice University and any changes must be noted.
CHAPTER THREE
Perception and Job Attitudes
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Managers should be interested in their employees’ attitudes because attitudes give
warnings of potential problems and influence behavior. Creating a satisfied workforce is
not a guarantee of successful organizational performance, but evidence strongly
suggests that whatever managers can do to improve employee attitudes will likely result
in heightened organizational effectiveness. The major job attitudes are – job
satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment, perceived organizational
support, and employee engagement. An employee’s job satisfaction level is the best
single predictor of behavior.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
3.1 The Perceptual Process
1. How do differences in perception affect employee behavior and performance?
One of the key determinants of people’s behavior in organizations is how
they see and interpret situations and people around them. It is vital for
anyone (manager or subordinate) who desires to be more effective to
understand the critical aspects of context, object, and perceiver that
influence perceptions and interpretations and the relationship between
these and subsequent attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. This
understanding will not only facilitate the ability to correctly understand and
anticipate behaviors, but it will also enhance the ability to change or
influence that behavior. Perception is the process by which individuals
screen, select, organize, and interpret stimuli in order to give them meaning.
Perceptual selectivity is the process by which individuals select certain stimuli
for attention instead of others. Selective attention is influenced by both
external factors (e.g., physical or dynamic properties of the object) and
personal factors (e.g., response salience). Social perception is the process by
which we perceive other people. It is influenced by the characteristics of the
person perceived, the perceiver, and the situation.
3.2 Barriers to Accurate Social Perception
2. How can managers and organizations minimize the negative impact of
stereotypes and other barriers to accurate social perception in interpersonal
relations?
, Organizational Behavior
Stereotyping is a tendency to assign attributes to people solely on the basis
of their class or category. Selective perception is a process by which we
systematically screen or discredit information we don’t wish to hear and
instead focus on more salient information. Perceptual defense is a tendency
to distort or ignore information that is either personally threatening or
culturally unacceptable.
3.3 Attributions: Interpreting the Causes of Behavior
3. How do people attribute credit and blame for organizational events?
Attribution theory concerns the process by which individuals attempt to
make sense of the cause-effect relationships in their life space. Events are
seen as being either internally caused (that is, by the individual) or externally
caused (that is, by other factors in the environment). In making causal
attributions, people tend to focus on three factors: consensus, consistency,
and distinctiveness. The fundamental attribution error is a tendency to
underestimate the effects of external or situational causes of behavior and
overestimate the effects of personal causes. The self-serving bias is a
tendency for people to attribute success on a project to themselves while
attributing failure to others.
3.4 Attitudes and Behavior
4. How can a work environment characterized by positive work attitudes be
created and maintained?
An attitude can be defined as a predisposition to respond in a favorable or
unfavorable way to objects or persons in one’s environment. There are two
theories concerning the manner in which attitudes are formed. The first,
called the dispositional approach, asserts that attitudes are fairly stable
tendencies to respond to events in certain ways, much like personality traits.
Thus, some people may be happy on almost any job regardless of the nature
of the job. The second, called the situational approach, asserts that attitudes
result largely from the particular situation in which the individual finds
himself. Thus, some jobs may lead to more favorable attitudes than others.
The social-information-processing approach to attitudes is a situational
model that suggests that attitudes are strongly influenced by the opinions
and assessments of coworkers. Cognitive consistency is a tendency to think
and act in a predictable manner. Cognitive dissonance occurs when our
actions and our attitudes are in conflict. This dissonance will motivate us to
attempt to return to a state of cognitive consistency, where attitudes and
behaviors are congruent.
3.5 Work-Related Attitudes
5. How can managers and organizations develop a committed workforce?
May 21, 2019 2
