Chapter 04 – Attitudes and Values in Human Relations
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CHAPTER 4
Attitudes and Values in Human Relations
Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
2. Examine what makes a good attitude.
4. Find details regarding the link between positive attitudes and job satisfaction.
6. Explain the origin of your values.
8. Apply values in a global context.
Key Terms
Attitude: An evaluation of people, ideas, issues, situations, or objects.
Cognitive dissonance: The emotional state that results from acting in ways that
contradict one’s beliefs or other actions.
Corporate culture: A system of shared values and assumptions throughout an
organization.
Denial: A failure to confront your problem.
Organizational citizenship behavior: An attitude of willingness to go above and beyond
the behaviors that are generally associated with life in the workplace.
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Personal control: The power people have over their destinies.
Positive attitude: A position resulting from healthy self-esteem, optimism, extraversion,
and personal control.
Rath test: Finds out if the values you think you have are the ones you truly have.
Self-justification: Explaining behavior so that you feel it is correct.
Lecture Outline
I. What is An Attitude?
An attitude is an evaluation of people, ideas, issues, situations, or objects. An attitude
has three parts:
• Thoughts
• Feelings
• Actions
These three parts of an attitude are so intertwined that we probably do not even notice
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II. What Makes a Good Attitude?
Happiness is an attitude—one that most people strive for. Many studies have shown that
people can choose to have a happy or positive attitude—a position from healthy self-
esteem, optimism, extraversion, and personal control. Psychologist David Myers lists the
following four characteristics that happy people do all seem to have in common.
• Healthy self-esteem—the strategies that work to increase self-esteem will also help
improve the overall attitude of happiness.
• Optimism—optimistic people are both happier and physically healthier than less
III. Changing Existing Attitudes
Changing a person’s attitude is not always possible. Often, people with negative attitudes
only need to be shown how destructive their attitudes are before a change takes place.
When giving attitude-improving feedback—information given to people either on how
IV. Attitudes and Job Satisfaction
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The degree of satisfaction any employee feels is based on the extent to which the job and
benefits associated with it fulfill that employee’s needs and desires. When job satisfaction
is very high, employees are less likely to be absent for unexcused reasons. The successful
V. What are Values?
Values are the worth or importance people attach to different factors in their life. Values
usually come in a list of priorities that people are not fully consciously aware of at the
time when value judgments take place. All of an individual’s values taken together are
called a value system—the set of standards by which you have chosen to live. Values
A. Values versus Attitudes
Attitudes are often affected by values, and values conflicts with other people certainly
involve attitude problems—but values are a deeper, and in some ways, more important
part of everyone’s lives and organizations.
VI. Where your Values Come From
Personal values are formed in early childhood and are affected strongly by the values of
parents and the child’s environment. The place and time period of the first few years of
most people’s lives have a great effect on the formation of values.
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Statistics expert Daniel Yankelovich shows that three value patterns related to work and
home life have emerged since the early 1970s:
• The nature of a person’s paid job is now much more significant.
These three value areas have created more emphasis on individual freedom of choice, a
movement away from rigid organizational and work systems, and a desire to live more
closely with both nature and community.
Another disturbing area of social values change has been in high school and college
student cheating. In a book called The Cheating Culture, author David Callahan shows
VII. Values Conflicts
Values conflicts commonly happens when one set of values clashes with another, and a
decision has to be made—sometimes very quickly. These conflicts happen surprisingly
often in most people’s lives.
A. Interpersonal Values Conflicts
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All people come from differing backgrounds, where they have learned various value
systems. When they are thrown together in the workplace, they often must work with
B. Personal versus Group Values
Values conflicts also often involve a clash between the individual and the group. The
culture of an organization can work against an individual’s values to the point of
C. Internal Values Conflicts
People sometimes find themselves wanting two different outcomes that contradict
each other. Interpersonal and internal conflicts often result in cognitive dissonance:
the emotional state that results from acting in ways that contradict one’s beliefs or
other actions. Most people have a certain amount of such dissonance in their
behaviors. If the issues are small and create little compromise to people’s values and
attitudes, people usually live with the mild discomfort that dissonance can create.
However, if what is being compromised is an important value, people will usually take
one of the following four possible actions:
• Change their original beliefs
When a person experiences cognitive dissonance, he or she doesn’t necessarily move
toward trying to make actions consistent with values and beliefs. Instead, he or she
might use any of these methods to make them appear more consistent and to lessen the
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VIII. Values in an International Economy
Today’s business world is now dealing with people from many different religions,
political systems, languages, cultural backgrounds, and ethnic groups. Many citizens of
the United States tend to think that the U.S. value system is the only one in the world
with anything going for it, but they need to understand that every other country has the
same temptation—to think its own national and cultural values are the best.
When dealing with people from other cultures, one will tend to find four major areas of
difference in values—and in perception of the values of others. They are:
• Views of power and authority.
Review Questions
1. Where do attitudes come from? When in people’s lives do they develop?
2. How do positive attitudes affect the workplace? How can negative attitudes hurt the
success of a business?
Answer: A person’s satisfaction with work is directly related to attitude. The degree
of satisfaction any employee feels is based on the extent to which the job and
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3. Can a person obtain a happy attitude just by desiring to do so? How can
circumstances bring happiness into one’s life? Explain your answer.
Answer: Many studies have shown that one can choose to have a happy or positive
4. Can a person’s attitudes and his role in his company make him someone with
organizational citizenship behavior? In your own life, do you function as a worker or
manager, or as a citizen of your organization? Explain.
5. How do values develop during the early part of people’s lives?
6. What is the difference between terminal and instrumental values? Give examples of
each.
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Answer: Terminal values (or end-point ideal values) are likely to maintain a high
priority throughout a person’s life. These will often be related to long-term goals that
7. How can you be sure that the values that you think you have are really your own?
Answer: One of the biggest problems with defining one’s own values is that most
people have a tendency to lie to themselves. Louis Rath, a well-known expert on
questions:
• Did I choose this value freely, with no outside pressure?
• Did I choose this value from several alternatives?
• Did I consider the consequences of my choice?
• Do I like and respect this value?
• Will I defend this value publicly?
• Will I base my behavior on this value?
• Do I find this value persistent throughout my life?
8. What is a values conflict? Have you ever been involved in a conflict that involved
values differences? If so, what was the focus of the conflict? Interpersonal? Did it
seem like it was you (or someone else) against the group? Internal?
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Answer: Students’ answers will vary. Values conflicts commonly happens when one
set of values clashes with another, and a decision has to be made—sometimes very
Critical Thinking Questions
9. Bad things do happen to everyone at one time or another. Is it always possible to
maintain a positive attitude? Is it always necessary? Can you think of examples in
which maintaining a positive attitude (at least temporarily) is impossible and
unnecessary? Include an example of something you can’t change in the workplace,
and in your personal life.
10. Have you ever experienced cognitive dissonance in your own life? (More than likely,
you have experienced it many times.) How did you react? What strategies did you
use to lessen the impact of the dissonance in your life?
Answer: Students’ answers will vary.
Case Studies
Case Study 4.1: Make Your Own Attitude
Candace Kaylor is frustrated with her colleagues who always seem to complain: She felt
that the people depressed her even if she went to office in the best of spirits. Her sister
Shelley reminds how Candace, as a child, used to blame Shelley of making her do things
she did not want to. Shelley asks Candace to fix her attitude as she was allowing herself
to be pulled down by the negative attitude of her co-workers.
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Questions
1. What is the basic problem at Candace’s workplace?
2. Who really is responsible for Candace’s attitudes: herself or her co-workers? What
can she do to change to a more positive attitude?
3. If Candace continues to work at the same place without doing anything about her
problem, what are some likely long-term outcomes?
Suggested Answer: Students’ opinions may vary. Some may say that Candace may
Case Study 4.2: The New Claims Adjuster
After years of efforts to enter a white-collar profession, Cecelia finally starts her job with
Anchor Insurance. She was contended with the Job. She found the supportive attitude of
her section of the company to be very encouraging. However, very soon she started to the
other faces of this group “togetherness”. Although she savored a margarita now and then,
she definitely did not believe in excessive drinking and felt the compulsion of drinking
every Friday evening with her colleagues. Cecilia’s absence in the Friday get-togethers
strengthened the group pressure and led to her being treated differently by her colleagues.
Cecelia asks her boyfriend for ways to get out of this situation at work.
Chapter 04 – Attitudes and Values in Human Relations
Questions
1. Would you identify the conflict in this case as a values conflict? Why or why not?
2. Is it too late? Can Cecelia salvage the relationship she once had with her fellow
workers? More importantly, should she? Why or why not?
3. What would you do if you were in Cecelia’s place?
Suggested Answer: Students’ opinions may vary.