Page 55 - DMGT524_TOTAL_QUALITY_MANAGEMENT

Total Quality Management

Notes Attitudes and values are not similar, though they are inter-related. So now let us look at attitudes
in depth.

4.4.1 Nature of Attitudes and Their Dimensions

Attitude is often used in describing people and in explaining their behavior. What then is an
attitude? Let us understand this with a simple example. If someone says” I like his attitude” or
that “our employees produce quality products, because of positive attitude.” The person is
clearly referring to attitude. Now let us define an attitude. An attitude can be defined as a
continuous tendency to feel and behave in a specific way toward some object.

Example: If we say that Shilpa hates working overtime. This means that Shilpa has a
negative attitude towards overtime.
Attitudes being subtle cognitive process, they can be characterized in three ways. The first
important thing is that they tend to continue until and unless something is done to change them.
For instance, if Shilpa gets compensatory time-off after an overtime assignment or if she gets
paid for overtime, she may change her attitude towards overtime. Secondly, attitudes generally
fall anywhere between extremely favorable and extremely unfavorable. Maybe at the moment
Shilpa’s attitude is moderately unfavorable, but when she is given compensatory off or is given
extra payment, her attitude may turn to extremely positive. Thirdly, attitudes are aimed at some
object about which the person has some associated feelings, (which is sometime referred to as
affect”) and beliefs. In Shilpa’s case, it is “overtime”. Now let us look at the different types and
components of attitudes in order to understand them better.

4.4.2 Types of Attitudes

An individual can have several attitudes, but in Organizational Behavior we are only concerned
with job-related attitudes. These job-related attitudes explore the positive or negative evaluations
that employees possess about aspects of their work environment. In OB, there are three very
important work related attitudes: job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational
commitment.

Example: If somebody does not like traveling on work, he has a negative attitude towards
a particular aspect of his work.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
8. …………………… is often used in describing people and in explaining their behavior.
9. The …………………… component refers to a person’s feelings or affect about an object.

4.5 Leadership Concepts

The various concepts of leadership are:

4.5.1 Seven Habits

Stephen R. Covey, in his book “The 7 habits of highly effective people”, talked about the 7 habits
which are required in a leader.

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