Atttitude - Definition, Formation, Change, Influences, Attitude at Workplace: Positive and Negative

Attitude:

Definition: A psychological response expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour.

Readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way. Jung

Types

Positive (Optimistic),         Negative (Pessimistic),              Realistic (Balanced)

Conscious and unconscious attitude

Extrovert and introvert

Rational and irrational

Rational based on thinking and feeling

Irrational based on sensing and intuition

Individual and social attitudes. Many of the latter are isms

Formation of Attitude

Factors that influence attitude

1.     Family: Parents, brothers, sisters, elders, relations, even forefathers or ancestors

2.     Society: culture, traditions, religion, personalities

3.     Company: friends, colleagues etc.

4.     Education, teachers

5.     Reading: What we read

6.     Past Experiences

7.     Economics: Income, status, work etc.

8.     Exposure: Repeated exposure leads to a positive attitude towards an attitude object

9.     Heredity (Genetic Influence)

Structure: Three Components

1.     Cognitive:  Based on thinking, beliefs etc.

2.     Affective: Based on feelings/emotions

3.     Behavioural: Past reaction towards or experience of an attitude object

Change: Attitude can be changed through persuasion. Results depend on response to communication

Factors affecting the power of persuasion of a message:

1.     Target Characteristics: of the person who is the target of persuasion.

A.    Intelligence: Inverse proportion. More intelligent, less effect

B.    Self-esteem: Medium self-esteem – easily persuaded. High or low self-esteem – more difficult to persuade

2.     Source Characteristics: of the person trying to persuade –

A.    Expertise or skill of the communicator

B.    Interpersonal Attraction – relationship of the target with the persuader

C.     Credibility of the source of information: is the person qualified to give advice. Is the source reliable: information from a medical journal and some social media, from a specialist and non-specialist

3.     Message characteristics:

A.    Presenting both sides of the matter is more effective than presenting just one side

B.    Number of arguments in favour or against the change also counts.

4.     Cognitive Routes:

A.     Central Route: The target is presented with the data and asked to draw his own conclusions

B.    Peripheral Route: The target is encouraged to look not at the data but at the source of information – doctors for medical issues, film stars for cosmetics, financial experts for financial matters

5.     Emotional Route: Arousing jealousy, ambition, disgust, fear, anger, revenge etc.

Optimal Level of emotional appeal: Enough is needed; too little will not work. Too much may boomerang or paralyse the target and fail

Attitude at Workplace

Attitude at the workplace affects every one – the employees, the employers and the organisation.

Helps to develop workplace environment which affects the morale, loyalty,

And teamwork of the employees and the productivity of the org.

1.     Validation: determines the effect of events on the employees and their response.

News: Fall in the revenue;

Effect:

i.                    Negative attitude: fear among the employees – no incentives, salary reduction, retrenchment, desertion by employees

ii.                  Positive attitude: Spurring effect; Leading to Identification of the causes and their rectification, Teamwork to change the situation;

2.     Competition: does not create competition but enhances competitive environment in different ways.

i.          Negative attitude: creates distrust among the employees, makes them compete with one another at one another’s cost, achieve success at each other’s expense

ii.         Positive attitude: motivator, inspires the workforce to give their best in order to reverse the situation

3.     Creativity: important. Leads the employees to develop new, out of the box ideas, find creative solutions to problems

i.                    Negative attitude: Discourages creativity; Employees feel they won’t be benefitted by the positive outcome, won’t be rewarded.

ii.                  Positive attitude: Encourages creativity; Employees hope to be rewarded in some way or the other

4.     Retention: Retention of competent staff imp. For any org.

i.                    Negative attitude: Encourages turn-over of employees. Makes them quit in search of greener pastures.

ii.                  Positive attitude: helps to retain competent employees by offering hope of better salary and faster career progression.

Positive Attitude at Workplace

Approaching difficult circumstances with a productive mind set

Ingredients (Examples)

1.     Hope: Ability to stay focused on your goals and change paths when needed to succeed

Perseverance

Ability to look through difficulties and believing they can be overcome and you can find a way through or around them

To learn hope, focus on goals which are challenging but still attainable and then brainstorm to find multiple ways of attaining them

Have faith that you can influence your forward movement and keep up your efforts until you reach your goals.

2.     Optimism: Be optimistic. Have faith that your decisions or efforts will lead to the best possible results. But optimism should be grounded in reality. You cannot jump from a five storeyed building and be optimistic that you will not suffer any injury.

Challenge failures. Analyse them, find out the causes, master the components that you can control and ignore those that are beyond your control.

3.     Resilience:

The ability to stay engaged rather than give up when facing hard circumstances.

Try and influence the outcome of challenging circumstances

View each new challenge as an opportunity to learn

4.     Confidence: Have faith that you can influence the outcome of a challenging situation

Put yourself in situations that you can master

Break down difficult tasks into manageable pieces

Copy the ways and techniques of people who have been successful

Positive attitude at workplace does not mean only looking at your work as a sacred duty but also enjoying doing it while at the same time making it a source of pleasure for your colleagues. It means creating a pleasant aura around you and achieving the best results for the organisation without hurting anyone. It also involves faith in the employers and a belief that your work will be appreciated and rewarded because without that kind of faith, it is not possible for you to put yourself heart and soul into your work and get the best results.

How to Develop Positive Attitude at Workplace

1.     Practice Gratitude: Try to serve people and earn their gratitude. In return, you will find plenty of things that you should be thankful for. In a negative attitude, you will have to find things that you should be thankful for. Keep a gratitude journal i.e. a list of people whose gratitude you have earned.

2.     Praise Others: Rather than wish to be praised, praise others liberally if they deserve. Don’t be afraid that your praise will get them into the good books of the seniors and leave you behind in the race. Rather, you will get it back with interest.

3.     Focus on success: Focus on success. Give your best. Your success will bring you rewards which will further incentivise you. People will flock around you. Successful people get hired first and move up the professional ladder faster than others. Attitudes at workplace are contagious. You will infect the others with your attitude.

4.      Let Go: Don’t try to achieve the impossible and control things that are beyond your control. Try only to do what is possible for you and let go of things beyond your control. You will never be confronted with frustration.

5.     Believe in yourself: Be self-confident and have faith in your ability to do things. Be not afraid of tasks difficult that demand hard work and dedication.

6.     Know your limitations: know what you cannot do and do not attempt it. Your failure will only breed frustration and lead to loss of confidence.

7.     Think of the organisation: Put the interest of the employer organisation before your own interest. You attitude will be appreciated and rewarded sooner rather than late.

8.     Reframe Your Challenges:

9.     Get Good at being Rejected

10.                         Use positive words to describe your life

11.                         Replace have with get

12.                        Do not get dragged into others’ complaints

13.                        Breathe and relax

Power (Benefits) of Positive Attitude at Workplace

1.     Less Stress

2.     Happy Peers

3.     Less sick days. Higher Output/Efficiency/productivity

4.     Job Security

5.     Faster Promotions

6.     Better inter-personal relations. Respect and appreciation from the colleagues and employers

7.     Improve decision making and the power to overcome challenges.

8.     Improve motivation for yourself and others

9.     Improve the attitude of other employees and your boss will notice it

10.                         Improve team work

11.                         Pleasure in work

12.                         Improve customer relations

13.                         Self-confidence

14.                         Happy Personal Life. You do not carry home any bitter feelings which spoil the happy atmosphere of your home.

15.                         Improves your relationships

16.                        Changes how your boss perceives you and your work

17.                         Do not regret having to do what you do not like. Very few people are lucky enough to get the kind of work they enjoy. Rather, try to enjoy whatever work you have got as it gives you the money you need so much.

18.                         Learn to say no to work which you cannot do or do not like to do. Learn to stand up for yourself. Ridiculous deadlines and demands, rude co-workers and managers.

19.                         Be rational and forthright if you have problems with your colleagues. Introspect. May be, you are at fault. Mend yourself. If not, be frank to tell the other that he is. Most of the people are willing to mend if their wrongs are pointed out politely.

20.                        Learn to respect others and you will get back respect.

21.                        Control your life. Change your job if possible if you are uncomfortable with the present one for any reason.

Negative Attitude

A disposition, feeling or way of responding to a person, place, situation or event which is not constructive, cooperative or optimistic

At home

Ex. Unhappy reaction to receiving a bill. Instead of being happy the you earn enough to be able to pay it.

At work

Always complaining of difficult targets;

Finding every task hard and unachievable

Complaining about rewards for work including salary;

Feeling jealous of others – their job, their salary, duties or appreciation by the authorities; Feeling inferior to others

Unwillingness to work hard

Fear of challenging situations

Feeling dissatisfied with the job or the luck one has got

Finding fault with others

Refusing to improve oneself

Effects of Negative attitude at workplace

1.     Decreased performance

2.     Unhappy customers

3.     Adverse effect on employee s’ morale. e. g. making employees stressed and compelling them to work over-time by setting too high targets for them.

4.     Adverse effect on employee retention

5.     Repels prospective employees. Word spreads and would be employees shift their preferences to other organisations.

Overcoming Negative attitude and its Consequences at workplace

1.     Free communication; Open door policy to obviate the spread of rumours that  generate negativity

2.     Listening to the problems of the workforce and solving them

3.     Rewarding good work at least with appreciation. Constructive feedback – appreciation and recognition. Assess realistically: no negative feedback to the positive ones

4.     Encouraging the workforce through words and personal example

5.     Setting reasonable targets

6.     Identifying the ability and talent among the workforce as well as their limitations

7.     Having a sympathetic attitude towards their personal problems

8.     Liberal pay packet and other facilities

9.     Pleasant environment

10.            Being polite and respectful

11.            Explaining policies and plans to the workforce and removing any misgivings regarding them

12.            Hiring the right guys after proper background check. Questions in the interview itself that make them reveal their attitude.---------- Ranking of past work experience, opinion about management, staff, employer, manager, colleagues; Changes they would like to see etc.

13.            Set an example to follow

14.            Evaluate  at every point and let them know

15.            Encourage solution meetings for the problems of the workforce

16.            Do not entertain those with a negative attitude. Do not reward the negative attitude. The positive ones feel neglected.

17.            Feedback box

Dealing with the Negative Elements

1.     One on one meeting with individual employees

2.     Get all viewpoints for better judgement

3.     Warn – Spell out the consequences

4.     Punish as a last resort