Attitudes

Attitudes and the satisfaction of employees at work are two of the most significant factors that create an enormous impact on organisational behaviour (Lu, Lu, Gursory &Neale 2016, p. 738). Various theories try to explain the relationship between attitudes, job satisfaction and motivation in influencing the action of an organisation. One of the theories is called Herzberg’s two-factor theory. Fredrick Herzberg developed it.  He came up with two factors that that influence employee motivation and job satisfaction. They included motivator factors and hygiene factors. These are factors that motivate employees and give them the morale to work harder, for instance, employee recognition. Hygiene factors include salaries, relationship with managers, company policies and benefits. This paper aims at discussing more attitudes, job satisfaction and motivation, their relationships and the impacts they have to the organisational behaviour.

Attitudes refer to the appraisal of ideas, people and objects. They can either be negative or positive (Bakotic 2016, p.120). They affect the way we live, associate with other people and the choices we make in life. Attitudes have three components, that is, effective, behavioural and cognitive elements. An effective part refers to the emotional reaction that one has towards a given situation or person (Bakotic 2016, p.125). Behavioural component is used to describe the way one behaves when exposed to a given job. Cognitive dissonance refers to a case where one shows inconsistency when making behavioural decisions. A change in attitudes can cause this.

There are various types of job attitudes which include: Employee engagement, psychological empowerment, organisational commitment, perceived corporate support, job satisfaction, and job involvement (Bakotic 2016, p. 129). Job satisfaction refers to the contentedness that an employee derives from work. It can either be the job facets, supervision, working conditions and relationship with colleagues and the managers.

Job involvement refers to the emotional and psychological extent to which an employee participates in work in the organisation (Glavas & Kelley 2014, p. 166). An employee with high job involvement shows up to work on time, and they portray top performance in their duties in the company.

Organisational commitment refers to the connection that employees have with the organisation. A worker with a high organisational commitment feels that they understand the goals and objectives of the company (Glavas & Kelley 2014, p. 180). They show high performance at work, and they feel motivated in giving their support to the organisation.

Perceived organisational support is the extent to which workers in an organisation feel that the contributions are recognised. It also refers to the degree to which employees feel that the company is concerned about their well being ( Glavas & Kelley 2014, p. 195). The extent of perceived organisational support determines the degree of employees’ motivation and how they contribute to the growth and development of the company.

Job Satisfaction

Employee engagement is the degree to which employees feel passionate about their jobs in the company. Employees with a high engagement to the company show a lot of commitment to their work in the organisation, and they are motivated to contribute to the common goal of the firm.

Various factors affect the job satisfaction of employees. Some of them include pay, employment benefits, and work environment, the relationship with co-workers and contact with the supervisors (Kuvaas, Buch & Dysvik 2018, p. 520). The amount of compensation to employees depends on the type of work they do in the organisation. Employees should be paid fairly to enhance their satisfaction at work.

Employment benefits are a significant factor that enhances job satisfaction. They include holidays and personal leaves. They help employees enhance a balance between their own lives and work (Kuvaas, Buch & Dysvik 2018, p. 489). A company that gives enough employment benefits to its employees improves their satisfaction at work which motivates them to contribute to the achievement of goals of the firm.

The working environment of an organisation is another factor that determines the extent of job satisfaction (Kuvaas, Buch & Dysvik 2018, p. 525).  A conducive working environment ensures that there are enough resources and the offices are well ventilated.  Moreover, the relationship of employees with co-workers is another determinant of the extent of job satisfaction in a company (Judge, Weiss, Kummeyer-Mueller & Hulin 2018, p. 356). A healthy relationship between the workers makes them feel satisfied and motivated to give their contributions to the growth of the organisation.

Besides, the relationship between employees and supervisors is also a factor that affects job satisfaction (Yousef 2017, p. 79). If the supervisors are hash and unfair to the employees, then workers will be less motivated to work in the organisation since they will not will satisfied with how they are treated at work.

Workload and stress is another factor that affects job satisfaction. Too much work with impossible deadlines may cause even the most hardworking and dedicated workers to be less satisfied at work.

Opportunity for advancement can also cause a great impact on the level of job satisfaction in an organisation (Wang, Siu & Lu 2018, p.13959). Employees feel contented when they are given a chance to advance their skills which may lead to job promotions. A company can do this by paying fees or lending loans to workers taking university courses and sponsoring training sessions and seminars for the employees.

Impacts of Attitudes and Job motivation on Organisation Behaviour

Attitudes and job satisfaction have huge impacts on organisational behaviour. It is defined as the behaviour of human beings in an organisation (Lazaroiu 2015, p. 97). Attitudes, job satisfaction, and motivation affect the productivity of employees in an institution. If they have positive attitudes and are satisfied with the institutions’ working conditions, then they will be motivated to work hard (Lazaroiu 2015, p. 98). This increases their productivity at work which leads to the growth and development of the company.

Employee attitudes and job satisfaction also have a significant effect in creating a public image of the company (Lu et al. 2016, p. 738). Well motivated and satisfied employees publicise their organization when they are socializing with employees from other companies and customers (Lu et al. 2016, p. 760). This helps create a good image of the company which may help in attracting customers of their products.

The increase of the competitive advantage of a company is another impact that results from good motivation and job satisfaction of workers (Mathieu, Fabi, Lacoursiere & Raymond 2016, p. 114). They produce more products that of high quality because of their commitment to the success of the organisation. High-quality products are one of the factors that helps create a competitive force against competitors in the market (Porter, Riesenmy & Fields 2016, p. 67). Moreover, with the good name of the company in public, experts and more experienced individual become more willing to work for the company. Employees with high expertise and with more experience are also another contributor to the competitive advantage of a company.

Besides, attitudes and job satisfaction have large impacts on the organizational commitment of employees (Akintola & Chikuku 2016. P. 54). Workers that are more satisfied and have positive attitudes about the organisation tend to show a high level of commitment to the duties in the organisation. This makes them motivated to work hard towards achieving the goals and objectives of the firm.

High employee engagement is another impact of attitudes and job satisfaction (Rayton & Yabalik 2014, p. 2382). Well, contented workers with positive attitudes on the organisation tend to have high participation in contributing to the achievement of the common goal of the company.

From the discussion above, it is evident that attitudes, motivation and job satisfaction have a close relationship in an organisation. Employees cannot be motivated and satisfied with the working conditions of a company if they have a negative attitude about the organisation (Shields et al. 2015, p.560). Poor motivation leads to negative attitudes and reduced job satisfaction at work.

According to Hertzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation, he talks about the motivator factors and hygiene factors. Hygiene factors include pay, employment benefits, and relationship with managers and co-workers. These factors are also the ones that contribute job satisfaction. Moreover, the same factors may also affect the employees’ attitudes towards work and the firm as a whole.

Attitudes and job satisfaction are considered to be a reward to the company in the form of how the employees feel (Breaugh, Ritz & Alfes 2018, p. 1425). Organisations put efforts to enhance the contentedness of the workers and influence their attitude towards work.

Besides, motivation tends to focus on the future while attitudes and job satisfaction are as a result of the things that have already happened (Micahel, Kwa & Gyamfi 2015, p. 5). In other words, the attitudes and the extent of job satisfaction of employees depend on the extent to which they were motivated in their previous work.

Conclusion

In conclusion, motivation, attitudes and job satisfaction have significant impacts on the performance of an organization. Employees are the core contributors of growth and development of a firm. They know what happens in the field. Therefore, managers should focus on the excellent fare of the workers and motivate them to work together for the achievement of the common goal of the organisation.

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