Organizational Behavior: Definition,

Importance, Nature, Model

Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study of human behavior in
organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the
organization, and the organization itself.
Organizational Behavior researchers study the behavior of individuals
primarily in their organizational roles.
One of the main goals of organizational behavior is to revitalize
organizational theory and develop a better conceptualization of
organizational life.
As a multidisciplinary field, organizational behavior has been influenced by
developments in a number of allied disciplines including sociology,
psychology, economics, and engineering as well as by the experience of
practitioners.
History and Evolution of Organisational
Behavior Studies

Origin of Organisational Behaviour can trace its roots back to Max Weber
and earlier organizational studies.
The Industrial Revolution is the period from approximately 1760 when new
technologies resulted in the adoption of new manufacturing techniques,
including increased mechanization.
The industrial revolution led to significant social and cultural change,
including new forms of organization.
Analyzing these new organizational forms, sociologist Max Weber
described bureaucracy as an ideal type of organization that rested on
rational-legal principles and maximized technical efficiency.
In the 1890’s; with the arrival of scientific management and Taylorism,
Organizational Behavior Studies was forming it as an academic discipline.
Failure of scientific management gave birth to the human relations
movement which is characterized by a heavy emphasis on employee
cooperation and morale.
Human Relations Movement from the 1930’s to 1950’s contributed to
shaping the Organizational Behavior studies.
Works of scholars like Elton Mayo, Chester Barnard, Henri Fayol, Mary
Parker Follett, Frederick Herzberg, Abraham Mas low, David Mc Cellan and
Victor Vroom contributed to the growth of Organisational Behaviour as a
discipline.
Works of scholars like Elton Mayo, Chester Barnard, Henri Fayol, Mary
Parker Follett, Frederick Herzberg, Abraham Maslow, David Mc Cellan and
Victor Vroom contributed to the growth of Organisational Behaviour as a
discipline.
Herbert Simon’s Administrative Behavior introduced a number of important
concepts to the study of organizational behavior, most notably decision
making.
Simon along with Chester Barnard; argued that people make decisions
differently in organizations than outside of them. Simon was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on organizational decision making.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the field became more quantitative and produced
such ideas as the informal organization, and resource dependence.
Contingency theory, institutional theory, and organizational ecology also
enraged.
Starting in the 1980s, cultural explanations of organizations and
organizational change became areas of study.
Informed by anthropology, psychology, and sociology, qualitative research
became more acceptable in OB.
Organizational Behavior Definition

What is OB?
“Organizational behavior is directly concerned with the understanding,
prediction, and control of human behavior in organizations.” — Fred
Luthans.

Organizational behavior is the study of both group and individual

performance and activity within an organization.
This area of study examines human behavior in a work environment and
determines its impact on job structure, performance, communication,
motivation, leadership, etc.
It is the systematic study and application of knowledge about how
individuals and groups act within the organizations where they work. OB
draws from other disciplines to create a unique field.
For example, when we review topics such as personality and motivation,
we will again review studies from the field of psychology. The topic of team
processes relies heavily on the field of sociology.
When we study power and influence in organizations, we borrow heavily
from political sciences.
Even medical science contributes to the field of Organizational Behavior,
particularly in the study of stress and its effects on individuals.
There is increasing agreement as to the components or topics that
constitute the subject area of OB.
Although there is still considerable debate as to the relative importance of
change, there appears to be general agreement that OB includes the core
topics of motivation, leader behavior, and power, interpersonal
communication, group structure and processes, learning, attitude
development and perception, change processes, conflict, work design, and
work stress.
Nature of Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior is the study and application of knowledge about

how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by
taking a system approach.
That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole
person, the whole group, the whole organization, and the whole social
system.
Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives,
organizational objectives, and social objectives.
Organizational Behavior is;
 A Separate Field of Study and not a Discipline Only.
 An Interdisciplinary Approach.
 Applied Science.
 A Normative Science.
 A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach.
 A Total System Approach.

These 6 features or characteristics shows the nature of Organizational

Behavior that is the study of understanding and control behavior within the
organization.
Objectives of Organizational Behavior

The organizations in which people work have an effect on their thoughts,

feelings, and actions. These thoughts, feelings, and actions, in turn, affect
the organization itself.
Organizational behavior studies the mechanisms governing these
interactions, seeking to identify and foster behaviors conducive to the
survival and effectiveness of the organization.

1. Job Satisfaction.
2. Finding the Right People.
3. Organizational Culture.
4. Leadership and Conflict Resolution.
5. Understanding the Employees Better.
6. Understand how to Develop Good Leaders.
7. Develop a Good Team.
8. Higher Productivity.

These 8 objectives of organizational behavior show that OB is

concerned with people within the organization, how they are interacting,
what is the level of their satisfaction, the level of motivation, and find ways
to improve it in a way the yields most productivity.
Fundamental Concepts of Organizational
Behavior
Fundamental Concepts of Organizational Behavior.
Organization Behavior is based on a few fundamental concepts which
revolve around the nature of people and organizations.

 Individual Differences.
 Perception.
 A whole Person.
 Motivated Behavior.
 The desire for Involvement.
 The value of the Person.
 Human Dignity.
 Organizations are Social System.
 Mutuality of Interest.
 Holistic Concept.

Main Challenges and Opportunities of

Organizational Behavior

Challenges and opportunities of organizational behavior are massive and

rapidly changing for improving productivity and meeting business goals.

1. Improving Peoples’ Skills.

2. Improving Quality and Productivity.
3. Total Quality Management (TQM).
4. Managing Workforce Diversity.
5. Responding to Globalization.
6. Empowering People.
7. Coping with Temporariness.
8. Stimulating Innovation and Change.
9. Emergence of E-Organisation & E-Commerce.
10. Improving Ethical Behavior.
11. Improving Customer Service.
12. Helping Employees Balance Work-Life Conflicts.
13. Flattening World.
Read more about 13 Challenges and Opportunities of Organizational
Behavior.
Limitations of Organizational Behavior

Recognize the limitations of organizational behavior. Organizational

Behavior will not abolish conflict and frustration; it can only reduce them. It
is a way to improve, not an absolute answer to problems.
Furthermore, it is but part of the whole cloth of an organization.
We can discuss organizational behavior as a separate subject, but to apply
it, we must tie it to the whole reality. Improved organizational behavior will
not solve unemployment.
Organizational Behavior will not make up for our deficiencies, cannot
substitute for poor planning, inept organizing, or inadequate controls. It is
only one of the many systems operating within a larger social system.
3 major limitations of OB are;

 Behavioral Bias.
 The Law of Diminishing Returns.
 Unethical Manipulation of People.

Learn how these organizational behavior limitations work.

Organizational Behavior Model
The OB model Shows the 3 levels, Individual level, Group level, and
Organization System level and how they impact the elements of human
output.
The above figure presents the skeleton on which constructed OB model.
It proposes that there are three levels of analysis in OB and that, as we
move from the individual level to the organization systems level, we add
systematically to our understanding of behavior in organizations.
The three basic levels are analogous to building blocks; each level is
constructed on the previous level.
Group concepts grow out of the foundation laid in the individual section; we
overlay constraints on the individual and group in order to arrive at
organizational behavior.
Key Forces Affecting Organizational Behavior
There are a complex set of key forces that affect organizational behavior
today. These key forces are classified into four areas;

 People.
 Structure.
 Technology.
 Environment.

There is an interaction between people, structure, and technology and

these elements are influenced by the environment. 4 key forces affecting
Organizational Behavior and it is applied.
Contributing Disciplines to the Organizational
Behavior field
There are some important disciplines in the organizational behavior field
which developed it extensively.
Due to the increase of organizational complexity, various types of
knowledge are required and help in many ways.
The major disciplines are;

 Psychology.
 Sociology.
 Social Psychology.
 Anthropology.
 Political Sciences.
 Economics.

Learn more about the Contributing Disciplines to the Organizational

Behavior field.
4 Approaches to Organizational Behavior
studies

Organizational behavior approaches are a result of the research done by

experts in this field.
These experts studied and attempted to quantify research done about the
actions and reactions of employees, with regard to their work
environments.

1. Human resources approach.

2. Contingency approach.
3. Productivity approach.
4. Systems approach.
Learn how the 4 Approaches to Organizational Behavior studies works.
Research Methodology of Organizational
Behavior
The understanding and effective application of organizational behavior
depend on a rigorous research methodology.
The search for the truth of why people behave the way they do is a very
delicate and complicated process.
In fact, the problems are so great that many scholars, Chiefly from the
physical and engineering sciences, argue that there can be no precise
science of behavior.
Research method of organizational behavior start with Theory, use of
research designs, and checking the validity of studies
Reasons for Studying Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior is concerned with the study of what people do in

an organization and how that behavior affects the performance of the
organization.
OB studies put the focus on motivation, leader behavior and power,
interpersonal communication, group structure and processes, learning,
attitude development and perception, change processes, conflict, work
design, and work stress.
OB draws heavily from behavioral and social sciences, most importantly
from psychology.
Why Study Organizational Behavior?

1. OB is the study of learning how to predict human behavior and, then,

apply it in some useful way to make the organization more effective. It
helps in the effective utilization of people working in the organization
guarantees the success of the organization.
2. OB helps the managers to understand the basis of motivation and what
he should do to motivate his subordinates.
3. OB helps to maintain cordial industrial relations which help to increase
the overall productivity of the industry.
4. Helps greatly in improving bur inter-personal relations in the
organizations.
5. Helps managers apply appropriate motivational techniques in
accordance with the nature of individual employees who exhibit a
learning difference in many respects.

There are many reasons we study Organizational Behavior.

Ability in Organizational Behavior: Types of

Ability (Explained)
Ability is the skills and qualities which make it possible to achieve a goal.
It may be stable and enduring characteristics which are genetic and can be
either completely perceptual or completely motor or a combination.
Employees need to have certain abilities that will make them a valuable
addition to an organization.
What is Ability in Organizational Behavior?
Ability is a current assessment of what one can do.
From a management standpoint, the issue is not whether people differ in
terms of their abilities.
They certainly do.
The issue is knowing how people differ in abilities and using that
knowledge to increase the likelihood that an employee will perform his or
her job well.
What we are acknowledging is that everyone has strengths and
weaknesses in terms of ability that make him or her relatively superior or
inferior to others in performing certain tasks or activities.
According to Stephen P. Robbins, “Ability is an individual’s capacity to
perform the various tasks in a job.”
According to Keith Davis, “Ability is the quality of being able to something,
especially the physical, mental, financial or legal power to accomplish
something.”
Alyssa McGonagle, a professor of psychology at Wayne State University
said, “Workability is not about whether people want to continue working, but
whether they feel they can continue working at their jobs.”
At last, we can say that ability is the quality or state of being able, power to
perform whether physical, mental, moral intellectual, skill in doing, the
sufficiency of strength, available resources etc.
It underpins and contributes to skills.
It can be essentially perceptual, essentially motor or a combination of both.
There are two types of abilities, intellectual and physical abilities, which
organizations look for employees to have to depend on the job
requirements.
Types of Ability
In Organizational Behavior, the 2 types of ability are;

1. Intellectual Ability.
2. Physical Ability.

Intellectual Ability
Intellectual ability is the capacity to do mental activities – thinking and
reasoning and problem-solving.
It commonly refers to the ability measured by performance on an
intelligence test. It is also sometimes used in the context of discussing the
performance of someone in an academic or real-world setting.
The seven most frequently cited dimensions making up intellectual abilities
are number attitude, verbal comprehension, perceptual speed, inductive
reasoning, deductive reasoning, and memory.
Intellectual abilities have got seven dimensions.
Such as;
Dimension Description

Number Aptitude It is an ability to do speedy and accurate arithmetic.

It is the ability to understand what is read and heard and the relationship
Comprehension
of words to each other.
 It is a dying ability to identify visual similarities and differences quickly
Perceptual Speed
and accurately.

It is the ability to identify a logical sequence in a problem and then solve

Inductive Reasoning
the problem.

Deductive Reasoning It is the ability to see logic and assesses the implication of art argument.

It is the ability to imagine how an object would look like its position in
Special Visualization
space was changed.

Memory It is the ability to retain and recall past experience.

Advantages

 Highly reliable
 Verbal reasoning and numerical tests have shown high validity for a wide
range of jobs.
 The validity rises with an increasing complexity of the job.
 Combinations of aptitude tests have higher validities than individual tests
alone.
 May be administered in group settings where many applicants can be
tested at the same time.
 Scoring of the tests may be completed by computer scanning equipment.
 Lower cost than personality tests.

Physical Ability
Physical ability is the capacity to do tasks that demand stamina, desired,
strength and similar characteristics.
It can identify individuals who are physically able to perform the essentials
function of a job without risking injury to others.
Research on the requirements needed in hundreds’ of jobs has identified
nine physical abilities involved in the performance of physical tasks.
These are -dynamic strength, static strength, trunk strength, explosive
strength, extent flexibility, dynamic flexibility, body – coordination, balance,
and stamina.
Factor Description

Dynamic Strenght Ability to exert muscular force continuously over time.

Trunk Strenght Ability to exert muscular using trunk muscles.

Static Strenght Ability to exert force against external objects.

Ability to expand a maximum of energy in one or a series of explosive

Explosive Strenght
acts.

Extent Flexibility Ability to move the trunk and back muscles as far as possible.

Dynamic Flexibility Ability to make rapid, repeated flexing movements.

Ability to coordinate the simultaneous actions of different parts of the

Body co-ordination
body.

Balance Ability to maintain equilibrium despite forces pulling off balance.

Ability to continue maximum effort requiring prolonged efforts over

Stamina
time.

Advantages

 Can identify individuals who are physically unable to perform the

essential functions of a job without risking injury to themselves or others.
 Can result in decreased costs related to disability/medical claims,
insurance, and
 workers compensation.
 Decreased absenteeism

Disadvantages

 Costly to administer
 Requirements must be shown to be job-related through a thorough job
analysis.
 May have an age-based disparate impact against older applicants,
Intellectual Ability vs. Physical Ability
Ability is an individual’s capacity to master numerous tasks in a job.
Organizations need to identify key abilities of employees that will lead to
success, and employees need to have certain abilities that will make them
a valuable addition to an organization.
The person who has both the intellectual ability and physical ability may
become a rising star within the organization.
Intellectual ability deals with mental capabilities such as excellent memory,
verbal comprehension, reasoning, analyzing, and problem-solving, which
are all important elements of worker skill in companies.
Physical ability is the ability to perform some physical act, including the
tasks that require characteristics such as strength, stamina, etc.
For example, a word processor is required to use his/her fingers to type on
the keyboard to accomplish the job. There are significant differences
between these abilities.
These are given below:
Intellectual Ability Physical Ability

1. Intellectual ability is the capacity to do the 1. Physical ability is the capacity to do tasks that
activities like thinking, reasoning, and demand stamina, desired, strength and similar
problem-solving. characteristics.

2. Intellectual ability is doing with the mind. 2. Physical ability is doing with the body.

3. It is a measure of intelligence, and 3. It is the capability of performing physical

involves understanding complex concepts accomplishments, such as flexibility, coordination,
and thinking critically. basic motor skills.

4. It is related to the capabilities of the physical

4. It is related to the skills of the mind.
structure.

5. It plays a vital role in complex jobs with

5. It gains importance for successfully doing less-
demanding information processing
skilled and more standardized jobs.
requirements.

6. Intellectual ability is the ability of the

6. Physical ability is the ability of body – i.e. how
mind – i.e. how clever, intuitive, etc. a
strong, agile, etc. a person is.
person is.
 7. It is measured by performance on a physical test.

8. Types of intellectual ability are number 8. Types of physical ability are a dynamic strength,
attitude, verbal comprehension, perceptual static strength, trunk strength, explosive strength,
speed, inductive reasoning, deductive extent flexibility, dynamic flexibility, body
reasoning, and memory. coordination, balance, and stamina.

Actually, every individual requires the ability to achieve a goal.

Physical ability is the ability to perform some physical act, including the
tasks that require characteristics such as strength, stamina, etc.
On the other hand, intellectual ability is what one is able to do with the
brain, with intelligence.
It is generally talking about the ability that tested relied on an intelligence
test. It is also used in the real world when measuring someone’s
performance.
Basically, by the above way, we can differentiate physical and intellectual
ability.

Attitude: Definition, Nature and

Characteristics (Explained)
An attitude is a positive; negative or mixed evaluation of an object that is
expressed at some level of intensity. It is an expression of a favorable or
unfavorable evaluation of a person, place, thing or event.
These are fundamental determinants of our perceptions of, and actions
toward all aspects of our social environment. Attitudes involve a complex
organization of evaluative beliefs, feelings, and tendencies toward certain
actions.
How much we like or dislike something determines our behavior towards
that thing.
We tend to approach, seek out or be associated with things we like; we
avoid, shun or reject things we do not like.
Some examples of attitudes are- he has a positive attitude about the
changes, she is friendly and has a good attitude, he was showing some
attitude during practice today, so the coach benched him, I like my friends
that means I am expressing my attitudes towards my friends, etc.
Definition of Attitude
According to Gordon Allport, “An attitude is a mental and neural state of
readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic
influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with
which it is related.”
According to Si P. Robbins – “Attitude is manner, disposition, feeling and
position with regard to a person or thing, tendency or orientation especially
in the mind.”
Frank Freeman said, “An attitude is a dispositional readiness to respond to
certain institutions, persons or objects in a consistent manner which has
been learned and has become one’s typical mode of response.”
Thurstone said, “An attitude denotes the sum total of man’s inclinations and
feelings, prejudice or bias, preconceived notions, ideas, fears, threats, and
other any specific topic.”
Anastasi defined attitude as, “A tendency to react favorably or unfavorably
towards a designated class of stimuli, such as a national or racial group, a
custom or an institution.”
According to N.L. Munn, “Attitudes are learned predispositions towards
aspects of our environment. They may be positively or negatively directed
towards certain people, service or institution.”
Characteristics of Attitude

Attitude can be described as a tendency to react positively or negatively to

a person or circumstances.
Thus the two main elements of attitude are this tendency or predisposition
and the direction of this predisposition.
It has been defined as a mental state of readiness; organize to through
experience which exerts a directive or dynamic influence on the responses.
These can also be explicit and implicit. Explicit attitudes are those that we
are consciously aware of and that clearly influence our behaviors and
beliefs. Implicit attitudes are unconscious, but still, have an effect on our
beliefs and behaviors.
As said by psychologists Thomas which imposes limits as a level attitude
trend is positive and negative, associated with the object of psychology.
Object psychology here include symbols, words, slogans, people,
institutions, ideas and so on.
Characteristics of Attitude are;

1. Attitudes are the complex combination of things we tend to call

personality, beliefs, values, behaviors, and motivations.
2. It can fall anywhere along a continuum from very favorable to very
unfavorable.
3. All people, irrespective of their status or intelligence, hold attitudes.
4. An attitude exists in every person’s mind. It helps to define our identity,
guide our actions, and influence how we judge people.
5. Although the feeling and belief components of attitude are internal to a
person, we can view a person’s attitude from his or her resulting
behavior.
6. Attitude helps us define how we see situations, as well as define how we
behave toward the situation or object.
7. It provides us with internal cognitions or beliefs and thoughts about
people and objects.
8. It can also be explicit and implicit. Explicit attitude is those that we are
consciously aware of an implicit attitude is unconscious, but still, have an
effect on our behaviors.
9. Attitudes cause us to behave in a particular way toward an object or
person.
10. An attitude is a summary of a person’s past experience; thus, an
attitude is grounded in direct experience predicts future behavior more
accurately.
11. It includes certain aspects of the personality as interests,
appreciation and social conduct.
12. It indicates the sum total of a man’s inclinations and feelings.
13. An attitude is a point of view, substantiated or otherwise, true or false
which one holds towards an idea, object or person.
14. It has aspects such as direction, intensity, generality or specificity.
15. It refers to one’s readiness for doing Work.
16. It may be positive or negative and may be affected by age, position,
and education.

Attitude may be defined as a feeling or disposition to favor or to be against

objects, persons, and situations.
It is a well-defined object of reference. It may be defined as ‘an enduring
predisposition or readiness to react or behave in a particular manner to a
given object or situation, idea, material or person’.
It describes and evaluates the action with respect to an object or a
situation, with each belief having a cognitive effect and behavioral
components.
Each of these beliefs is a predisposition that results in some preferential
response towards the object or the situation.
Actually, it is frequently used in describing people and explaining their
behavior.
For example- “I like her attitude”, “He has a good attitude” etc. Actually, it is
characterized by the tendency to feel and behave in a particular way
toward some object.
Components of Attitude
Attitudes are simply expressions of much we like or dislike various things.
Attitudes represent our evaluations, preferences or rejections based on the
information we receive.
3 components of attitude are;

1. Cognitive Component.
2. Affective Component.
3. Behavioral Component.

Factors Influencing Attitudes

By attitudes, we mean the beliefs, feelings, and action tendencies of an

individual or group of individuals towards objects, ideas, and people.
Attitudes involve some knowledge of a Situation.
However, the essential aspect, of the attitude is found in the fact that some
characteristic feeling or emotion is experienced and, as we would
accordingly expect, some definite tendency to action is associated.
Subjectively, then, the important factor is the feeling or emotion.
There are a number of different factors that can influence how and why
attitudes form. These are-

 Social Factors.
 Direct Instruction.
 Family.
 Prejudices.
 Personal Experience.
 Media.
 Educational and Religious Institutions.
 Physical Factors.
 Economic Status and Occupations.

Types of Attitudes

Attitude is something that lies between emotions and thought processing. It

may be positive or negative.
In organizational behavior; 3 types of attitudes are;

1. Job Satisfaction,
2. Job Involvement, and
3. Organizational Commitment.

Functions of Attitudes
The most important function of an attitude can only be ascertained by
considering it in relation to the person who holds it and the environment in
which they operate.
Daniel Katz outlines four functions of attitude areas:

1. Adjustment Function.
2. Ego-Defensive Function.
3. Value-Expressive Function.
4. Knowledge Function.

Barriers to Change Attitudes

Employees’ attitudes can be changed and sometimes it is in the best

interests of management to try to do so.
For example, if employees believe that their employer does not look after
their welfare, the management should try to change employees’ attitude
and help to develop a more positive attitude towards them.
However, the process of changing the attitude is not always easy.
Actually, the barriers are the limits which prevent the organization from
achieving its predetermined goals.
So every organization should be aware of these and should take corrective
actions.
Barriers to Change Attitudes are;

 Prior Commitment.
 Insufficient Information.
 Balance and Consistency.
 Lack of Resources.
 Improper Reward System.
 Resistance to Change.
Prior Commitment
When people feel a commitment towards a particular course of action that
has already been agreed upon and thus it becomes difficult for them to
change or accept the new ways of functioning.
Insufficient Information
It also acts as a major barrier to change attitudes. Sometimes people do
not see a reason why they should change their attitude due to unavailability
of adequate information.
Sometimes people do not see a reason why they should change their
attitude due to unavailability of adequate information.
Balance and Consistency
Another obstacle to a change of attitude is the attitude theory of balance
and consistency. That is human beings prefer their attitudes about people
and things to be in line with their behaviors towards each other and objects.
Lack of Resources
If plans become excessively ambitious, they can sometimes be obstructed
by the lack of resources on the part of a company or organization.
So, in this case, if the organization wants to change the attitude of the
employees towards the new plan, sometimes it becomes impossible for the
lack of resources to achieve this.
Improper Reward System
Sometimes, an improper reward system acts as a barrier to change
attitude.
If an organization places too much emphasis on short-term performance
and results, managers may ignore longer-term issues as they set goals and
formulate plans to achieve higher profits in the short term.
If this reward system is introduced in the organization, then the employees
are not motivated to change their attitude.
Resistance to Change
Another barrier is resistance to change.
Basically, change is a continuous process within and outside the
organization to achieve the set goal.
When the authority changes a plan of the organization the employees have
to change themselves.
But some of them do not like this. If their attitude regarding the change of
plan cannot be changed, the organization will not be successful.
Ways of Changing Attitudes

Attitude can be changed if we differentiate negative attitude from a positive

attitude.
A positive attitude can bring positive change in life, It is difficult to change
attitudes but with some effort, it can be done.
The individual from a culturally deprived environment who holds an array of
hostile attitudes may change often he is given opportunities for education.
A person from a privileged subculture, who has always held to a
democratic attitude, may become negative towards some group because of
one unfortunate experience.
Well established attitudes tend to be resistant to change, but others may be
more amenable to change.
Attitudes can be changed b a variety of ways.
Ways of Changing Attitude

 New information will help to change attitudes.

 Negative attitudes are mainly formed owing to insufficient information.
 Attitudes may change through direct experience.
 Another way in which attitudes can be changed is by resolving
discrepancies between attitudes and behavior.
 Change of attitude can come through the persuasion of friends or peers.
 Attitudes may change through legislation.
 Since a person’s attitudes are anchored in his membership group and
reference groups, one way to change the attitude is to modify one or the
other.
 Fear can change attitude. If low levels of fear are used, people often
ignore them.
 Changing the attitude differs with reference to the situation also.
Workplace and Attitudes

Taking this a step further, we can assemble some ideas of how these three
components can impact the workplace.
The challenge in the workplace is that now these components are tied to
work functions, policy, procedures and organizational structure, as well as
the people and individuals present in the organization.
For example, we could have thoughts or beliefs (cognitive) about managers
in general, and those thoughts or beliefs could manifest themselves is not
trusting a manager (effective), and thus we would never want to develop a
close relationship with a manager (behavioral).
It is important to make the point here that these are attitudes – and yes,
they can be wrong. Just because we have an attitude that does not mean
it is correct. It is just how we feel about a person or situation.
Obviously not every manager is trustworthy, but if we let our
negative attitudes dictate how we view and react to managers, we will
never be able to see if some are really good people and can be trusted.
Certainly having a good relationship based on trust with the manager is a
great thing to have in the workplace.