Industrial and organizational psychology/Module 9

Module 9.1 - Work Attitudes

• Job satisfaction: Positive attitude or emotional state resulting from appraisal of one's job

Job Satisfaction - Brief History

• Job-related & individual difference variables may influence job satisfaction.
• Hawthorne effect: Change in behavior/attitude that was because the person recieved more attention than usual.

Measurement of Job Satisfaction

• Overall satisfaction: Results either from mathematically combining scores based on satisfaction or a single overall evaluative rating of the job.
• Facet satisfaction: Information related to specific elements of job satisfaction.

Satisfaction Questionnaires

Job Descriptive Index (JDI): Assess satisfaction with work itself, supervision, people, pay, and promotion. Heavily researched, but it is a bit long to read/digest.

Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ): Calculates "extrinsic" & "intrinsic" satisfaction scores.

Concept of Commitment

Psychological & emotional attachment an individual feels to a relationship, organization, goal, or occupation.

Organizational commitment

Consists of...

1. Acceptance and belief in an organization's values.
2. A willingness to exert effort on behalf of the organization to help meet the goals of that organization.
3. A strong desire to remain in the organization.

Different Forms

1. Affective commitment: emotional attachment to an organization
2. Continuance commitment: perceived cost of leaving the organization
3. Normative commitment: obligation to remain in the organization

Organizational Identifaction

Organizational identifaction (OID): process whereby individuals derive a feeling of pride and esteem from their association with an organization. Individuals may also take pains to distance themselves from the organization for which they work - this would be called organizational disidentification.

Employee engagement is a positive work-related state of mind that includes high levels of energy, enthusiasm, and identifaction with one's work. This overlaps positively with job sat., org. commitment, and job involvement, but is distinct from these constructs and has important organizational implications.

Module 9.2 - Moods, Emotions, Attitudes, and Behavior

Mood: Generalized feelings that are not identified with a certain stimulus & are not sufficiently intense to get in the way of thought processes.

Emotion: Usually linked with certain events/occurrences that are intense enough to disrupt thought processes.

Emotions can be divided in the three:

1. Process emotions: Results from thinking about the tasks one is doing at the moment.
2. Prospective emotions: Results from thinking about the tasks one is about to do.
3. Retrospective emotions: Results from thinking about the tasks one has already done.

Dispositions & Affectivity

• Negative affectivity (NA): Or neuroticism, is where individuals are prone to experience diverse array of negative mood states.
• Positive affectivity (PA): Or extraversion, is where individuals prone to describe themselves as cheerful, enthusiastic, confident, active, & energetic.

In a 1986 study, disposition in adolescene (teenagers) predicted job satisfaction 50+ yrs later. Additional research was done, but more research needs to be done to figure out the link between genetics and job satisfaction.

Core evaluations are assessments individuals make of their circumstances. This includes self-esteem, self-efficacy, and LOC. Both of these things effect one's job and life satisfaction.

Withdrawal Behaviors

• Work withdrawal: The attempt to withdraw from work but maintain relations with one's organization and work role (lateness and absenteeism included).
• Job withdrawal: Willingness to remove ties to their organization and work position (probably to quit/retire).

Module 9.3 - Special Topics Related to Attitudes and Emotions

A job loss is a significant event to occur for a working man or woman. It results in reduced income, suspension of goals set for everyday living, relationships being malformed, and new skills not being developed/old skills being wasted away.

Job losses chart for 2008

Telecommuting is when someone is finishing work tasks from a distant location using electronic communications. In these cases, strategic planning skills and self-reported productivity has increased. Satisfaction rates have also increased. Though, loneliness and the less likelihood of promotions are an issue.

Job embeddedness is when individuals are attached to their job, which contains important links to people and groups in the organization, perceptions of their competence within the job/organization, and the sacrifices workers would say if they left their job. Job crafting is when workers change their job environment to decrease job demands. This is pretty "proactive".

Psychological Contract

These are beliefs that people hold regarding the terms of an exchange agreement between them and an organization. When they are broken, work attitudes and job performance decreases. These are becoming more popular in today's world, since being employed in 1 organization is pretty rare.

Work-Family Balance

Are satisfactions taken at work and outside of work affected by each other?

Cultural Perspective

Individualism and job satisfaction are positively correlated in some cultures, while collectivism and job satsifaction are positively correlated in other cultures.

Multi-national/international organizations should factor in the "degree of fit" when looing at the emotional reactions to work and other work behaviors.