BMSK5001 - Critical Thinking: Beliefs, Attitudes, Values in Workplace

This essay delves into the concept of developing workplace critical thinking, focusing on the interplay of beliefs, attitudes, and values within an organizational context, particularly using the example of Giorgio Armani. It begins by defining and differentiating between beliefs, values, and attitudes, highlighting their impact on individual behavior. The essay then applies the Human Relations Theory and Contingency Theory of Management to analyze how these theories influence an individual's beliefs, attitudes, and values in both personal and professional settings. The Human Relations Theory emphasizes the importance of supportive teams and employee recognition, while the Contingency Theory focuses on adapting management styles to various internal and external factors. The analysis includes the impact of these theories on motivation, communication, and conflict resolution, ultimately aiming to provide insights into how management practices can foster a positive and productive work environment.

Developing
Workplace Critical
Thinking
Giorgio Armani

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Executive Summary
In the present age of globalization the role of management has taken a U-turn and it has
become more complex in nature. Leadership and the management use plethora of
management theories to create best practices and system in the organization. Values,
beliefs and attitude of a person shape the personality of a human being and provide him
to behave in the best possible manner in the business organization. Values, as one can
understand is the ideas which holds a significant importance to the human being, these
values are shaped by one’s own culture and his upbringing. Belief on the other hand is
something which is very close to the heart of a human being, without having an
empirical evidence one considers the belief to be true. While attitude is simply a
reflection of how one interacts or behaves in the organization, and is simply a reflection
of one likes and dislikes regarding any object, thing or a person. Within the purview of
the report, the impact of Human relation theory and contingency theory on the belief,
attitude and value of individual are ascertained in the personal life and in the
workplace.

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Table of Content
Brief Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 3
Understanding Belief, Values and Attitude............................................................................................ 5
Management Theories................................................................................................................................... 6
Human Relations Theory.............................................................................................................................. 6
Principles of the Theory............................................................................................................................ 7
Impact of Human relations theory on Values, Beliefs and Attitudes......................................8
Impact on Belief Systems......................................................................................................................... 8
Impact on Attitudes.................................................................................................................................... 9
Impact on the Values............................................................................................................................... 10
Contingency Theory of Management.................................................................................................... 11
Categorization of the Organization according to the three variables in the Contingency
Theory........................................................................................................................................................... 12
Understanding the internal and external factors in Contingency Theory.........................12
Evaluation of the manager.................................................................................................................... 12
Impact of Management Theory on the Beliefs, values and attitudes in the workplace....13
Impact on the Beliefs............................................................................................................................... 13
Impact on Attitude.................................................................................................................................... 14
Impact on Values....................................................................................................................................... 14
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................ 15
References........................................................................................................................................................ 16

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Brief Introduction
Giorgio Armani is an Italian Fashion House which was founded by Giorgio Armani is the
year 1975. The fashion house is a leading designer, manufacturer, distributer and
retailer of ready to wear, leather goods, shoes, watch, accessories, eyewear, home
interiors and haute couture (Potvin, 2017). Giorgio Armani utilizes its brand name and
makes products under several labels such as Armani Exchange, Armani Junior, Armani
Jeans, Emporio Armani, Armani Collezioni, Giorgio Armani Prive and Giorgio Armani.
The company which utilizes its positive brand image in the market in context of High-
Fashion earned whopping revenue of over €2.96 billion in the year 2016(Lado et. al.,
2016). The brand reached a new high, when it collaborated with Emaar Properties,
which is a chain of high end luxury hotels and resorts located in several parts of the
world, the company also has interests in Cafes, Bars and Nightclubs (Keller, 2017). The
high end product offering of Giorgio Armani includes Makeup, Skincare, Fragrances,
Gifts and Armani Prive which are spread across unisex category. Giorgio Armani has an
Amazing channel partners, which is one of the major reasons behind company’s product
available across the globe.
The company has been good in adopting the recent trends in business enterprise, this is
one of the reasons that company has presence in both click and mortar model. The
brand has gained huge popularity since its inception, significant amount of credit of
which goes to its strategic collaboration with Hollywood stars such as; Jodie Foster, Julia
Roberts, Michelle Feiffer, Katie Homes and Tom Cruise(Roux, 2017). Thus, the brand is

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hugely popular not among the stars, but the brand has driven a good brand awareness
amongst the people belonging to other sections of the society(Adiguzel, DeAngelis &
Amatulli, 2018).The positioning of the Giorgio Armani products can be seen as premium
based, as products are created by handpicked artist, who are marvels in their own field.
Another USP of Giorgio Armani, which differentiates it’s from other brands is that it
does not tests any of its products on animals, as others do.
The module which is based on developing workplace and critical thinking requires the
students to identify and agree on a specific context of the organization in which they can
apply critical thinking and evaluate the belief, attitudes, and value system and
management theories. Thus the readers from the report will be able to understand the
rationale between how emotions, values, beliefs affect the rational discourse, and would
also differentiate between inductive and deductive reasoning. A number of theories
related to management such as Human relations, contingency theory and Bureaucratic
management will be used to develop comprehensive understanding of the management.

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Understanding Belief, Values and Attitude
Before ascertaining the impact on the belief, value and attitude in relation to the
theories of management, it is primarily important to first develop an understanding on
these three concepts.
Basis of Distinction Attitude Values Belief
Definition Attitude can be seen
as the response
afflicted by one’s
own values.
Values help in
guiding the
behaviour of an
individual.
Belief in the simplest
way can be
understood as the
conviction or the
acceptance that
something exists or
is tore, without an
actual proof.
Rationality Attitudes can be
seen as likes and
dislikes with
reference to people,
objects and things
Values helps in
deciding what is
right, wrong, good
or bad.
Beliefs have a strong
impact on the
Morales and values
of a person.
Nature Attitudes are
changeable in
nature
Values remain more
or less permanent in
nature
These are related to
religion.
Application Attitude is a
reflection of many
beliefs which are
focussed on a
specific object or
situations
These represent
belief which guides
ones actions and
judgements across
different situation
Beliefs are
contextual in nature,
and arises from
learned experiences
Overview Attitude is a
reflection of
personal norms
Values are a
reflection of cultural
norms
Serve as a frame of
reference through
which an individual
interprets the world.

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(Source: Kelman, 2017)
This table thus signifies the minute differences between Attitude, values and beliefs; it
would help in better understanding the in-depth study regarding the impact of the
management theories on values, beliefs and attitude.
Management Theories
This section will identify a management theory which is most relevant to my role of
digital marketing executive in the organization and will critically assess its impact of
own beliefs, attitude and values.
Human Relations Theory
Human relations theory can be seen as an extension of experiments conducted by Elton
Mayo with the Hawthorne studies. The initial work on the theory was started back in
1920s, during the time of industrial revolution. Back in the day, the maximum focus was
on Productivity, it was Professor Elton Mayo, who experimented with Hawthorne
Studies in order to prove that people are important for productivity in the organization.
The human relations management theory is based on the researched brief that the
inherent desire of people in an organization is to work with a supportive team which
helps in the learning, development and growth of an individual. The simple implication
of this theory is that if people are pushed to engage and participate in the work
activities, they are given special attention and are being appreciated and rewarded for
work, this would result in high quality of work from the employees whilst serving them
as motivation factor. In a business organization relationship between the employees
and the management are of significant importance, it combines the process of training
employees, foster a workplace culture and resolve conflicts between the management
and the employees. Thus, the human relations theory is extremely important while
assessing the relations between the humans in the organization. I have selected Human
relation theory because it gives a significant level of importance to the relationship
between the humans in the organization. These human relationships help in creating
positive synergies in the workplace, which leads to achievement of the organizational
goals and objectives. The theory has good imeplication for the managers, as they are the

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prime people responsible in building strong relationship with the employees, so much
that they can trust them and work alongside. The human relation theory also has impact
on values, beliefs and attitude which are relevant in the present times, and also allow
for the development of one’s personality. Other theories of management are less specific
in their approach, and are little irrelevant in the present context. Human relation theory
provides for creating a positive impact in the workplace, and states the implication for
the individuals (Burley, 2017).
The Human relations theory is certainly an improvement over the classical theory of
management, which did not give high importance to the human aspects of the workers.
Some of the basic principles of the theory which will further provide a base for the
values, culture, belief and attitude of a person are:
Principles of the Theory
 The theory states that it’s not only the financial gains in which the employees in
the organization are interested, they draw motivation also from appreciation and
recognition. This point implies that the employees need both, financial gain as
well as recognition as factors of motivation (Booth & Erskine, 2016).
 The theory advices that workers are humans, and they should be treated like one
and not just like machines. The theory also asks managers to understand the
human value and emotions of the employees while interacting with them.
 Formal and informal relations are both significant to the organization. While
formal relations are created by the managers in the organization, informal
relations are created as a virtue of similar taste, likes dislikes, preferences and so
on. But, both the types of relations are important for the employees and the
business organization (Thompson, 2017).
 Workers have simplest of expectation form their senior, for instance, the
workers need good communication flow from Top to Bottom. This will help them
in developing better relations at the workplace.
 Nobody likes conflicts, and more so, it is a big distractor for the productivity of
the employees. Thus, within the purview of the organization, it is expected that
the managers should take efforts to handle the conflicts within the organization
effectively.

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 Employees like empowerment; once they feel empowered they contribute
towards the productivity of the organization. Thus, it is advised that the
management involves the employees in the decision making and empower the
employees (Kagitcibasi, 2017).
In order to summarize, it can be said that the human relations theory illustrates that the
employees in an organization wants to have and develop a sense of belonging towards
the organization, and wants to be treated with dignity, value and respect. All these
factors in a combination will organically push the productivity of the employees by
leaps and bounds. It can be said that human relations theory in the present
organizational day is the most relevant and has some great insights for the managers to
improve the productivity of the organization. Human relations theory has a significant
role to play in creating the values, beliefs and attitudes in the organization.
Impact of Human relations theory on Values, Beliefs and Attitudes
This section will ascertain the impact of the Human relations theory on one’s own
beliefs, values and attitudes. Each section will be studied separately for better
understanding of the impact of the theory:
Impact on Belief Systems
Belief can be understood as the state of mind of a person in which he thinks of
something to be true without having an empirical evidence to prove the claim with
factual certainty. Belief of an individual is a culmination of what he observes and feels
about a certain thing or an object. Belief can be both positive and negative at the same
time, and a person can still belief negative while still having positive belief about the
topic (Kagitcibasi, 2017).
For instance, I am a firm believer of the human relations theory and resonate with the
assumptions made with the theory. As the theory says that workers are to be treated as
human and managers should give a considerable thought about their feelings and
emotions. I strongly agree with the theory as it signifies the importance of human touch,
and it does feel welcoming in the organization. My belief here is that if the managers are
able to understand the epiphany and the concerns of the employees, it will most
certainly help in increasing their productivity and efficiency (Rahim, 2017).

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Another belief of mine which resonates with the human relation theory is the concept
which states that the employees are not only satisfied with the financial gains, and they
need more than such monetary gains. I strongly believe that the assumption holds true
as without appreciation and recognition, the employees does not feel completely
motivated. Providing recognition and appreciation will positively help in finding the
missing puzzle of motivation, which is an implication that in order to motivate the
employees one has to motivate him in a comprehensive manner, and not just satisfy his
financial needs. Moreover, according to the Maslow’s theory of motivation, ones the
physiological needs of the human are satisfied, he graduates to reach another level, thus
self-esteem and self-actualization needs comes to play their role. Thus, beliefs can be
both rational and irrational, but the individual should definitely stick to one’s belief
system in order to stay upbeat in his life (Mackelprang, Salsgiver & Salsgiver, 2016).
Impact on Attitudes
The behaviour of a person at a workplace is a reflection of how does one feel while
working at the organization and his attitudes towards his work and the workplace. An
attitude can thus be understood as the opinion, beliefs and feelings about the aspects of
the environment. A person generally has an attitude towards everything, for instance
towards the clothes they wear, food they eat, the way they talk and many other things.
At workplace also, attitude has a great influence on the work culture and the work done
by the employees. For instance, if the employees have an attitude of procrastination, he
will also keep on pushing his deadlines even at work, which would gradually impact his
productivity (Zajonc, 2017).
Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction is another attribute which is a reflection of attitude
of an employee towards his work, if the employee is satisfied with the work
environment and feels that the organization has more motivation factors than hygiene
factors, he would work with enhanced productivity in the organization. The Human
relations theory is highly contextual in ascertaining the attitude of a human being. For
instance, if the human being believes that it is important to be treated with utmost
dignity, respect and care, and their attitude towards the work will be a combination of
all these factors. My personal attitude towards work is that I respect everyone and treat

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them equally, despite any cultural or any other differences, thus, my attitude towards
people can be seen as practicing inclusion at the workplace (Triandis, 2018).
In general, my attitude in general life is a reflection of how closely I observe things,
believe in people and have an understanding of things. My upbringing has an important
role to play in my attitude. For instance, my attitude towards conflict is extremely
negative; I see conflicts as the biggest roadblock in the sustainability of the organization,
which is similar to the human relation theory. Thus, in personal life also, I try to refrain
from having unnecessary conflicts in my life, as a lot of time gets wasted, without any
positive outcome. Thus, my attitude towards the human elation theory is positive, and I
am certain that human relation theory is contextual and contemporary in its existence
(Petty, 2018).
Impact on the Values
Just like organization, every individual has certain values which guides the action of the
human and also influences his behaviour in personal and professional life. Values have
an important role to play in the life of a human being. Important and the lasting beliefs
of the ideal shared by the members of a culture about what is good, bad, desirable or
undesirable. Values have a major role and influence in the behaviour of a person and
attitude and also serve as broad guidelines for all the situations. Some of the values
which are close to my heart and guide me towards leading a better and a well-balanced
life are: Integrity, Perseverance, integrity, discipline, open-mindedness and respect. My
values not only shield me from wrong doing in business organization, but also help me
in taking the right call and make right decision in my life (Tonnies & Loomis, 2017).
My intention always is to follow integrity in my personal and professional life, I believe
that integrity helps the individual in going farther in his life, and other people start
respecting the individual because of his values. Thus, values are extremely integral to a
human, and serve as defining factor of one’s personality (Bratton & Gold, 2017). For
instance, in accordance to the human relations theory, it has been said that it is advised
to treat every person working in the organization with equal respect, love, care and
fairness, now this can only happen, if the managers working in the organization have
values of love and care and respect. It is only then, they can contribute towards the
growth of the organization. Thus, strong values of an individual, not only define him as a