Showing papers on "Job attitude published in 1975"

Police organization: A longitudinal examination of job attitudes in an urban police department.

Abstract: This research was supported in part by the Organizational Behavior Research Center at the University of California, Irvine and the Office of Naval Research (Contract No. N00014-69-A-0200-9001 NR 151-315). I would like to gratefully acknowledge my academic colleagues, in particular Lyman W. Porterand Mason Haire fortheir insightful suggestions and assistance during various phases of this research.

A New Strategy for Job Enrichment

Abstract: The authors describe a new strategy for redesigning jobs to increase the work motivation and satisfaction of employees. It includes discussion of why some jobs prompt employees to become self-motivated in their work—and others to do the opposite; how to "diagnose" a job before changing it; and what action steps to take on the basis of the diagnosis to generate the most beneficial outcomes. The article concludes with presentation of a case in which the techniques described were successfully applied.

Personnel Attitudes and Motivation

Abstract: The literature published since the previous review of this topic. by Miner & Dachler (65) shows several trends. There has been a dramatic decrease in the popularity of equity theory, especially with respect to explaining job and task performance. Since the Pritchard et al monograph (76), the few studies concerned with equity have stressed its role in influencing pay satisfaction. Competent criticisms of equity theory's vagueness (106) and limited applicability may have contributed to its current lack of popularity. Need for achievement is also encountering increasing criticism (25), and the validity of Herzberg's theory remains in doubt (56). In the applied realm, job enrichment and Management by Objectives continue to attract the attention of practitioners. But participatory management is the most frequently recommended panacea for problems pertaining to employee motiva­ tion (61) despite equivocal evidence (18). In the theoretical realm, expectancy or V-I-E (valence-instrumentality-expec­ tancy) theory has clearly become the most popular approach to motivation among industrial researchers (e.g. 48). However, there are still those who consider factor analysis and/or huge correlation matrices involving measurements of dozens of variables to be the key to unlocking the secrets of motivational psychology. (For this writer's comments on the latter approach, see 52, 54, 56). Organiza­ tional climate has also become popular, but the problem lies in determining just what the concept means (36). Space limitations prevent further discussion of this concept here, but for a thorough review of the topic see (37a). Two other areas which continue to attract the attention of researchers are pay (97) and the relationship between job attitudes and behavior (73). This article will be a selective review and critique of major theoretical ap­ proaches and major research areas relevant to employec attitudes and motivation.

Job Satisfaction Indicators and Their Correlates

Abstract: Conceptions of job satisfaction until very recently have been largely psychological and individualistic in orientation. Empirical studies have been confined to local situations or special populations with interpretive purposes reflecting the values of employed individuals or of their managers. However, if job satisfaction measures are to be useful in monitoring the quality of employment on a societal scale, it will be necessary to enlarge the perspective, to invoke some societal and political values, and to begin to treat job satisfaction in the context of a larger array of associated variables. The measurement of job satisfaction as a social indicator may have three roles: (1) to represent a valued product of society-a component of the psychological GNP; (2) to provide a monitoring and diagnostic aid for’ early warning of societal dislocations, policy or program failure, and slowly developing societal changes; and (3) to provide a significant component in the theories and models to be used in the formulation of social

Employee Reactions to Job Characteristics: A Constructive Replication

Abstract: Hackman and Lawler's conceptual model involving relationships between job characteristics and employee affective reactions was investigated by a partial replication. Subjects, 104 emplos'ees occupying jobs aimed at rehabilitating inmates, completed a questionnaire involving their (a) perceptions of job core dimensions; (b) internal work motivation; (c) general job satisfaction; (d) job involvement; (e) higher order need strength; and (f) specific satisfactions measured by Job Descriptive Index items. Significant, positive correlations were found between job dimensions and employee reactions. While the results were in the direction of Hackman and Lawler's finding that higher order need strength moderated the job characteristics-employee reaction relationship, the role of higher order need strength was found to be more complex. Several researchers have argued that shortcycle, repetitive jobs cost an organization in terms of increased job dissatisfaction, absenteeism and turnover, and difficulties in effectively managing employees who perceive their jobs as monotonous (e.g., Blauner, 1964; Guest, 19SS; Walker, 19SO; Walker & Guest, 19S2). In response to these arguments against simplified work, numerous students of worker behavior have called for the vertical and horizontal expansion of jobs (e.g., Ford, 1969; Lawler, 1969; Sheppard & Herrick, 1972).

Congruence between individual needs, organizational climate, job satisfaction and performance1

Abstract: The article discusses the proposition that organizational climate interacts with individual personality in influencing job satisfaction and performance. Researches who have analyzed the relative am...

Role conflict and ambiguity: correlates with job satisfaction and values

Abstract: INDIVIDTTALS in complex organizations are constantly exposed to a variety of expectations from both themselves and others as they carry out their organizational roles. Kahn et al. (1964) have developed a theory of role dynamics which sees stress resulting from conflicting or incompatible expectations and unclear or vague expectations. Expectations which are in conflict may result in role conflict for the individual, while unclear or vague expectations may cause role ambiguity. Since role conflict and ambiguity pose problems of adjustment for the individual Kahn et al. predicted and found lower levels of job satisfaction for those with high confict and arabiguity. A review of the previous literature on role conflict and ambiguity (Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman, 1970) supported the Kahn et al. theory, and found both conflict and ambiguity to be clearly associated with low job satisfaction and dysfunctional behavior due to the stress and anxiety of role pressures. Rizzo et al. then developed a questionnaire to measure these role variables, and found that role confiict and ambiguity emerged as separate dimensions when a factor analysis was performed. Separate scales for conflict and ambiguity were then developed and validated, and correlations were obtained with other variables. Their data showed stronger negative relationships overall between role ambiguity and job satisfaction

Relation of Organizational Structure to Job Satisfaction, Anxiety-Stress, and Performance.

Abstract: The present study of 295 trade salesmen in three organisations reports on the relationship between organisational shape or structure (tall, medium, and flat) to job satisfaction, anxiety-stress, and performance. The findings indicate that salesmen in flat organisations (1) perceive more satisfaction with respect to self-actualisation, and autonomy, (2) perceive lower amounts of anxiety-stress, and (3) perform more efficiently than salesmen in medium and tall organsiations.

Job Characteristics and Job Attitudes: A Multivariate Study.

Abstract: : Attitude data were obtained from 556 employees in a western telephone company. Respondents held one of 16 craft jobs in the department selected for study. Multiple discriminant function analysis was performed using 16 groups formed on the basis of subjects' job titles. Variables used in this primary analysis included job satisfaction, organizational commitment, motivational force, and sources of organizational attachment. A secondary analysis was performed in which discriminant function means were related to means of jobs on several job characteristics variables. These two analyses, viewed jointly, suggest that a relatively high discriminatory power achieved in the primary analysis may have been a function of job scope-job attitude relationships demonstrated in the Secondary analysis. (Author)

Job Involvement, Values, Personal Background, Participation in Decision Making, and Job Attitudes

Abstract: Interrelationships among job involvement, values, personal background, participation in decision making, and job attitudes were investigated in manufacturing organizations. Job involvement was foun...

Analysis of relationships among leader behavior, subordinate job performance and satisfaction: A path-goal approach.

Abstract: The propositions are tested that (a) the more unstructured the task, the more positive the relationships between leader initiating structure and subordinate job satisfaction and performance, and (b...

Adjustment to loss of job at retirement.

Abstract: This paper presents an approach to adjustment to the loss of job at retirement which attempts to integrate earlier approaches by focusing on the impact of retirement on the individual's hierarchy of personal goals. If the job is high in that hierarchy and yet unachieved, then the individual can be expected to seek another job or a job substitute. If this is unsuccessful, then the hierarchy of personal goals must be reorganized. If the individual is broadly engaged, the hierarchy can be consolidated. If he or she is narrowly engaged, then alternate roles must be sought. If the search is successful, a new hierarchy emerges. If not, the individual must withdraw. If the job is not high in the hierarchy to begin with, then no serious change in personal goals accompanies retirement.

A failure of job enrichment: The case of the change that wasn't

Abstract: The authors detail a change to semiautonomous workgroups undertaken in the stock transfer department of a metropolitan bank. Ultimately, the goals of increased job satisfaction, higher motivation, and greater productivity were not met, predominantly because the job enrichment planned for was not carried out. Believing that "through failure we often learn the most about the strengths and weaknesses of behavioral science techniques," the authors analyze the circumstances in the environment that compromised the success of the job enrichment project, admit lack of attention to workgroup theory, and prescribe four basic guides for the successful implementation of organizational change techniques that involve the redesign of work.

The Relationship Between Education and Satisfaction with Job Content

Abstract: The article presents a study which examined the proposition that better educated workers will be less satisfied with the actual content of their jobs than less educated workers. The methodology of ...

Relationship of job involvement to perceived importance and satisfaction of employee needs1

Abstract: Relationship between attitude of job involvement and patterns of perceived need importance, need satisfaction, and need strength were explored. Data were collected from 64 high-involved and 77 low involved employees of two Indian organizations. Results revealed that the attitude of job-involvement acted as a moderator variable only with respect to employee’s cognitive evaluation of the importance of need on the job. High involved employees as compared to low involved employees, attached greater importance to safety and self-actualization needs and lesser importance to physiological and social needs. With respect to the patterns of need satisfaction and need strength, the high and low involved employees did not differ. Both groups were least satisfied with and felt strongest needs in physiological and self-actualization areas. Several hypotheses derived from Maslow’s need hierarchy notion could not be supported by the results. It was postulated that the cognitive value system of perceived need importance which is influenced by job involvement attitude is different from experiential evaluation of need satisfaction and strength which are more a function of the cue properties of the job and its environment.