Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior (2011, Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior (2011, Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior (2011, Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior (2011, Understanding and Manag

Chapter 3 Values, Attitudes, and Moods and Emotions

Values, attitudes, and moods and emotions all have great effects on organizational behavior. They can influence one another.

Values. There are two types of values that influence organizational behavior significantly. They are work values and ethical values. Work values are employees’ personal convictions about what outcomes they should expect from work and how they should behave at work. There are intrinsic and extrinsic work values. Intrinsic work values are about the work itself. For example, it can be the sense of excitement or accomplishment after challenging work. Extrinsic work values are values related to the consequences of work such as high pay or job security. Ethical work values are employee’s personal convictions about what is right or wrong. There are utilitarian values, moral rights values, and justice values. Utilitarian values tell us that decisions should be made in the way that produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Moral rights values dictate that decisions should be made in order to protect the fundamental rights and priviledges of people affected by the decision. According to justice values, decisions should be made in ways that allocate benefit and harm among those affected by the decision in a fair, equitable, or impartial manner.

Work Attitudes. There are two important work attitudes: job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job satisfaction is the collection of feelings and beliefs that people have about their current jobs. The major determinants are personality, values, the work situation, and social influence. It is related to organizational citizenship behavior, not directly to job performance. Employees’ high job satisfaction also leads to employee well-being, less absence and less turnover. Organizational commitment is the collection of feelings and beliefs people have about their organization as a whole. There are two types of organizational commitment. Affective commitment exists when employees are happy to be members of an organization and believe in what it stands for. Continuance commitment exists when employees are committed to the organization because it saves them money not to leave the organization. Employees with high levels of affective commitment are less likely to quit and may be more likely to perform organizational citizenship behavior. When