Attitude is an individual’s predisposition to behave toward an object, thing, idea, person, or people. Attitude can either be favorable or unfavorable.
As determinant of behavior, attitude can be considered to be part of processes that include motives, desires, wants, satisfactions, pleasures, interests, hopes, and other factors.
Attitudes are formed by a variety of factors, including: personal values, individual experiences, and personalities. Attitudes are learned early in childhood by associating an individual’s experience that either provides satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Drives and motives are associated with relieving tension generated by a human need and achieving satisfaction as a result of such need-fulfillment. Processes in the past associated with such satisfaction tend to carry over into adult life the disposition or tendency favorable to the attitude-object(s). On the other hand, experience that produces dissatisfaction results in learning an unfavorable attitude.
Attitudes are composed of affect, or the feeling component, i.e., expression of an individual’s degree of preference; cognition or the individual’s knowledge of something based on perception of truth or reality, which reveals his belief about his preference; and intention or action tendency, which is usually verbally manifested.
Unlike personality attributes, attitudes are not as permanent and may change or be modified based on an individual’s experiences, motives, and changes in desires, aspirations, and perspectives.
The guidance counselor may be instrumental in changing attitudes through the counseling process. Teachers and authority figures may likewise provide interventions to change attitudes. Parents are in the most strategic position to change attitudes.
In the work situation, administrators and managers consider attitudes as important factors that influence productivity and team effectiveness of employees. K-A-S-H is a configuration highly valued and fiercely pursued by people managers and human resource development practitioners. K or knowledge takes into consideration the stock knowledge or cognitive attribute of the employee. A or attitude takes into consideration the attitude level of the employee. S or skill level describes the skill characteristic of the employee. H represents the habits an employee brings to the workplace.
The assumption is that a rotten attitude may damage the long-term success of an individual, or may even contaminate co-workers, thereby damaging work productivity and teamwork. Hence, the administrator’s or leader’s mandate is to select an employee who has a positive attitude, regardless if a company may have to invest in training and development on a newly-hired employee who has less of the S (skill).
Screening, testing, and evaluating attitudes of job candidates are some of the responsibilities of recruitment and hiring practitioners. Psychometricians have attitude inventories among their battery of tests for pre-employment.
Organization leaders and managers value positive attitudes among their workforce. Positive work attitudes of employees and organization members contribute to an organization’s productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness.
Tags: Attitude
