Report: Attitudes and Job Satisfaction and its Impact on Motivation

This report examines the significant impact of employee attitudes and job satisfaction on organizational behavior and performance. It defines attitudes and job satisfaction, emphasizing their influence on motivation at work. The report analyzes the importance of positive attitudes, the effects of nega...Read More

Running head: ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 0
Management and Organisational
Behaviour
Attitudes and Job Satisfaction

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 1
Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to analyse the relationship between attitudes and job satisfaction of
employees, and it influences on motivation at work. Attitude is a way of thinking, feeling
about something; it referred as the state of mind of the employees. Job satisfaction is a wide
term which means different things to different people. In general, it is a feeling of fulfilment
that an individual derives from his/her job. While formulation business policies, managers are
required to evaluate attitudes and job satisfaction of employees since they directly influence
the performance of workers as well as the company. Customer satisfaction is also linked to
employee attitude and job satisfaction which influence a firm’s profitability. Establishment of
a positive culture result in improving the performance of employees, however, executives are
required to analyse different attitude and job satisfaction related factors as well. Effective
evaluation of attitudes and job satisfaction assists managers in implementing a motivational
strategy which results in improving employees’ performance and sustaining firm’s future
growth.

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 2
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Analysis......................................................................................................................................4
Importance of Attitudes and Job Satisfaction........................................................................4
Key Theories/Models.............................................................................................................5
Importance of Motivation......................................................................................................6
Impact of Lack of Motivation................................................................................................8
Limitations.............................................................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 3
Introduction
The attitudes and job satisfaction of employees have a substantial influence on the
organisational behaviour and performance of a company. An attitude is defined as a state of
mind. It referred as how an individual examines and think about situations which result in
determining a person’s behaviour (Truitt, 2011). In a company, employees can either have a
positive or negative attitude which affects the performance of such enterprise. There are
different ways of defining job satisfaction of employees in a firm. Aziri (2011) provided that
job satisfaction is a positive feeling towards a person’s job which encourages them to perform
better at their job. Positive job satisfaction motivates employees to improve their
performance, and they work towards achieving common organisational objectives.
Motivation at work is defined as employees’ level of commitment, creativity and energy that
bring them while performing their jobs. It is the reason for individuals’ desires, needs and
actions. Managers focus on implementing effective motivational theories in the firm in order
to improve employee job satisfaction and improving overall firm’s performance (Lazaroiu,
2015). Organisational behaviour is defined as a study of human behaviour in an
organisational setting. It focuses on studying both individuals and group performance and
their activities within a working environment which assist managers in implementing
appropriate strategic policies for achieving organisational goals. The aim of this report is to
appraise and evaluate the impact of attitudes and job satisfaction on employee’s motivation at
work. This report will evaluate the importance of motivation in the workplace and how
managers can use effective motivational theories to improve the performance of employees.
A variety of theories and model will be discussed in the report along with examples of
different organisations. Further, the report will examine how organisational behaviour
theories assist in understanding employee’s behaviour at work and its limitations.

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 4
Analysis
Importance of Attitudes and Job Satisfaction
The attitudes of employees in an organisation play a crucial role in enhancing the
performance of a firm. Furthermore, job satisfaction is another factor which has a significant
impact on the performance of an enterprise. Managers focus on studying these topics since
they provide crucial information which assists them in strategic planning. The top-level
management can improve the performance of the company and its employees by positively
influencing their behaviour (Avey, et al., 2011). Employees with a positive attitude are more
likely to perform better at their job, whereas, negative attitude resulted in employee poor
performance, absenteeism, corporate disputes, resistance, and others. The working
environment and culture of an enterprise are also affected by the behaviour of its employees.
Negative employees also adversely affect the behaviour of other employees and resulted in
reducing their performance. It is necessary that senior-level executives understand the job
satisfaction and attitude of employees in order to implement appropriate policies for
positively affecting their productivity. In today’s competitive business world, organisations
focus on generating a competitive advantage by improving their working culture to positively
influence employees’ attitudes (Bushra, Ahmad and Naveed, 2011). However, it is becoming
difficult for managers to establish a positive working environment as the demand for skilled
labour increases. Millennial and Generation Z employees did not prefer to work for a single
company which makes it difficult for executives to retain them in the corporation. HR
professionals are facing new challenges relating to attitudes and job performance, and they
are required to implement strategic policies for addressing such issues.
There are three crucial components of employee attitude which are represented in the ABC
model of attitudes which provides that A stands for Affective, B for behavioural and C for
cognitive. The study of these components is vital since it provides necessary information to
top-level executives that assist them in implementing effective strategic policies that resulted
in improving business processes. Employees have different types of attitude at the workplace
such as job involvement, job satisfaction, engagement of workers, organisational
commitment, perceived support for the firm and others (Voon, et al., 2011). These attitudes
can be influenced by implementing different theory by senior level executives. The theories
of attitude and behaviour of employees include Reinforcement theory, Social Cognitive

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 5
theory, Single and Double Loop Learning theory and others. The Reinforcement theory
focuses on reinforcing the behaviour of employees. It provides that if the behaviour of
employees is not reinforced, then he/she will continue to act in a similar manner (Weiner,
2010). However, before implementing these strategies, it is necessary that HR managers
assess the culture in the workplace and implement the strategy which is most suitable for the
firm. It is difficult to achieve effectiveness in policies which are implemented without proper
evaluation of the workplace culture.
Key Theories/Models
The Single and Double Loop Learning theory focuses on understanding how people learn
within organisations. Single loop learning defines the ability to use feedback from employees
to make continuous adaptations and adjustments to the performance of an enterprise. Double
loop learning is referred as the ability to redefine and challenge the assumptions in order to
improve performance and factors underlying performance standards of workers (Clow, 2012).
Social Cognitive theory focuses on learning by observing actions of others and replicating
their behaviours. These theories assist managers in understanding the attitude and behaviour
of employees. In order to improve their job satisfaction, senior level management implements
different motivational theories that motivate employees to improve their performance and
achieve common organisational objectives (Bandura, 2011). There are a number of
motivational theories that can be implemented by senior level management for motivating
employees in order to improve their performance. For example, Herzberg’s Motivation-
Hygiene theory is one of the most popular motivational theory which assists management in
assessing needs of employees and fulfilling them in order to improve their performance.
Frederick Herzberg gave the theory in 1959, which provided that there are different job
factors which resulted in satisfaction and other factors that prevent dissatisfaction. He
classified the job factors into two categories: Hygiene factors and Motivational factors.
Hygiene factors did not lead to job satisfaction of employees, but absence of these factors
resulted in dissatisfaction of employees (Smith and Shields, 2013). Hygiene factors include
elements such as company policies, salary package, physical working conditions, job
security, fringe benefits, interpersonal relations and others. Motivational factors include
elements such as recognition, promotional opportunities, sense of achievement,
meaningfulness of the work, responsibility and others (Stello, 2011). Senior-level executives
can use these factors to influence the performance of employees. However, this theory is not

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 6
conclusive, and it is better for employees with white collar jobs such as engineers and lawyer.
Whereas, small and medium level employees are more likely to get satisfied by increasing in
wage or issue of bonuses. Also, this theory emphasised job enrichment more than job
satisfaction, and it did not pay much attention to monetary benefits and how companies can
use them to motivate their employees. For example, Google Incorporation uses this theory to
encourage its employees to improve their performance. The firm focuses on proving a
number of hygiene factors to its employees such as high salary package, free learning classes,
free food, long maternity leaves, time to work on personal projects, flexible working hours,
and many others (Battelle, 2011). These factors attract talented employees from worldwide to
Google, and it also improves its retention rates.
Importance of Motivation
Motivation is a vital element which encourages employees to improve their performance and
achieve common organisational goals. The top-level executives implement different
motivational theories to improve the productivity of employees. Effective knowledge
regarding the attitude and job satisfaction is necessary since it hinders the motivation of
workers (Yusoff, Kain and Idris, 2013). For example, managers are required to assess
employees’ requirements and fulfil them in order to motivate them and improve their
performance. However, simply providing monetary benefits to employees does not solve the
issue of lack of motivation in the workplace. It is necessary the HR executives give
importance to job satisfaction and job enrichment to change the attitudes of workers. For
example, Maslow Hierarchy of Needs theory provides that in order to motivate an employee,
senior level management is required to fulfil his/her needs. Maslow categorised human needs
into five categories which include physiological, safety, belonging, esteem and self-
actualisation (Figure 1) (Cao, et al., 2013). Managers are required to determine the needs of
specific employees and fulfil them in order to motivate and improve their performance.
However, Denning (2012) argued that in modern society, it is not correct to categories needs
into hierarchical order. With the advancement of technology, social connection between
people has grown with the advancement of technology and rather than hierarchical,
employees focus on collaboration. Rutledge (2011) stated that needs of people are not
hierarchical and they need to be rewired as per social media (Figure 2). Maslow did not give
importance to social dependency and collaboration which are viewed as basic requirements
for human survival. However, Maslow hierarchy of needs model is substantially popular and
used by a large number of organisations.

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 7
Figure 1: Maslow Hierarchy of Needs
(Source: Studios Guy, 2018)
Figure 2: Rutledge Model
(Source: Rutledge, 2015)
Along with attitudes of employees, job satisfaction also hinders the motivation of workers
since employees who are not satisfied with their jobs are more likely to avoid organisational
policies, resist change and create a negative working environment. Motivation requires that

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 8
employees must feel like a part of an organisation and they should be welcomed in the firm
(Elias, Smith and Barney, 2012). Effective and positive human interactions and relationship
are crucial for motivation. However, people have different needs and the motivational theory
implemented by the organisation is necessary to be suitable as per employees’ requirement.
Senior-level executives have to assess the factors which negatively affect employees’ job
satisfaction level and implement strategic policies which address such challenges. Only
providing monetary incentives did not improve job satisfaction level of workers. Dissatisfied
employees are more likely to promote a negative culture in the organisation which leads to
increasing dissatisfaction with other employees, increase disputes, negative work relationship
and others (Tan and Waheed, 2011). Organisational behaviour theories enable managers to
evaluate the factors which are affecting the job satisfaction level of employees such as hostile
working environment, lack of facilities, rude behaviour of co-workers, and others. However,
these factors are directly linked to attitudes and job satisfaction of employees because of
these factors resulted in increasing negative attitude and job dissatisfaction of workers which
reduce their performance.
Impact of Lack of Motivation
In recent years, senior level management focuses on understanding employees’ behaviour at
work since it provides them crucial information which assists them in the formulation of
strategic business policies. Productive employees with good attitude who behave in a
professional manner assist corporations in improving their performance and achieving
common organisational objectives (Parvin and Kabir, 2011). Customers often view the
behaviour of employees and analyse how top-level management runs the operations of the
company. Employees who put extra effort in order to satisfy the demand or requirement of
customers are satisfied with their jobs. On the other hand, employees who did not help
customers and behave rudely are more likely to be dissatisfied with their job. Therefore,
attitude of an employee directly influences the relationship of customers with the company
and it also shows how top-level management is managing the firm’s operations. For example,
Tesco PLC implements Hierarchy of needs theory in order to assess the requirements of each
employee and focuses on fulfilling them in order to ensure that workers behave positively
with customers and they focus on establishing positive customer relations (Yamuna and Devi,
2016).

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 9
Attitudes and job satisfaction also affects the performance of employees and overall
enterprise. Employees who work with positive attitude at work are more likely to encourage
others as well to improve their performance. On the other hand, dissatisfied workers
discourage others from performing as well, and they indulge in disputes with others. The
bottom line of customer satisfaction is affected whether employees are capable of effectively
performing all duties and function of their job (Klassen and Chiu, 2010). In order to assess
employees’ needs and requirements, managers are requiring creating effective
communication channels between them which enable them to interact and collect the
feedback from employees. The leadership styles of modern CEOs are changing. Instead of
focusing on macho and hierarchical styles, leaders focus on authentic and humble for of
leaders. The popularity of authentic and humble leadership styles such as servant,
charismatic, participatory and Laisse-Faire is growing rapidly. All these leadership styles
focus on analysing employees’ attitudes and job satisfaction in order to implement strategic
policies that improve the firm’s overall performance (Bushra, Ahmad and Naveed, 2011).
However, it is also becoming difficult for leaders to encourage each employee as the size of
organisations grows. In multinational companies, leaders face difficulties in managing
motivation since they cannot effectively control and interact with employees in different
departments.
Limitations
There are various limitations on this topic as well since management finds a number of
difficulties while analysing employees attitude and job satisfaction. Many researchers have
provided that implementing effective motivational strategy did not guarantee that it will
improve the performance of employees. In case of multinational corporations, it is difficult
for managers to assess or interact with each employee in order to determine his/her needs
(Aydogdu and Asikgil, 2011). Just fulfilling employees’ needs did not encourage them to
perform better; instead, managers are required to implement a positive working environment
which promotes and support team building and open culture. Job satisfaction is a wide term,
and it can mean a number of things for a person, therefore, managers cannot just implement
an effective strategy to satisfy each employee. However, establishing and nourishing a
positive culture which supports employees can establish positive workplace relationships
(Truxillo, et al., 2012). It will result in improving the performance of each employee and the
entire corporation. Therefore, while formulating motivational strategies, managers should

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 10
determine the attitudes and job satisfaction of employees since they influence their
effectiveness.

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 11
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is crucial for managers to evaluate employees’ attitudes and job satisfaction
since they directly influence the performance of employees and the company. Managers
focus on implementing an effective motivational strategy in order to improve the
performance of employees such as Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory. Attitude and job
satisfaction of employees also influence the effectiveness of motivational theory as well.
Employees with a negative attitude are more likely to influence the behaviour and job
satisfaction level of other workers as well. The resist and avoid organisational policies which
hinder the performance of the corporation as a whole. There are a number of factors which
hinders employee motivation such as poor communication channels, lack of focus on
employees’ needs, disputes, negative relationships and others. Negative attitude and job
dissatisfaction negatively affect customer satisfaction level which reduces a company’s
profits. Therefore, it is necessary that managers carefully assess employees’ demands (by
using a model such as Hierarchy of needs) and fulfil them in order to motivate them to
improve their performance. There are various limitations of this theory as well, such as it did
not guarantee that employee performance will be improved. Therefore, managers should
evaluate attitude and job satisfaction of employees before implementing a motivational
strategy which can assist in improving employees’ performance and sustaining company’s
future growth.

ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION 12
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