Introduction A happy worker makes for a good worker you say? Well, United
Airlines had somewhat of an “all for one” employee attitude in July 1994. They
announced the purchase of their own company for which they work for $5 billion
through ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). So now, in the case of United
Airlines, there obviously is a soar in employee productivity and spirits. Stocks
have risen 120% due to this buyout (almost three times higher than the airline
industry average gain). Every company or small business owner desires a positive
employee attitude within his or her organization for high productivity and
quality. United Airlines achieved this because the employees themselves took
action, but for the majority, it is the management’s first move. Taking the
Apple from the tree The Idiot’s Guide for Changing Employee Attitudes would say
to pay the employee what O.J. paid his defense team. Take away the money part of
a job then no one except an old volunteer worker for a Save the World Foundation
or a simple dork is going to show favorable attitudes towards the job. Now let’s
get real…but I thought that we were! Money can hypnotize some employees to
become a more productive worker, but not all employees. (And even the ones that
are motivated at the first glimpse of dead presidents will soon want…. you
guessed it, more money in order to drag their lazy ass up the next step). What
about Bill Gate’s techno wizards at Microsoft? What sum of money short of Bill’s
own bank account is going to motivate these 30-year-old Gulfstream owners to
change their snobbish attitudes? On a more practical basis, what about those
employees who value intrinsic rewards over the monetary type? Not all employees
will be weaned with the flash of cash. So we all must consider the fact that
human beings will be consistent towards the general sense of satisfaction, but
what sort of things lead to this satisfaction? What kind of satisfaction are we
looking for? More so, what is going to satisfy an employee?
Most of the research in the study of OB (Organizational Behavior) are
concerned with job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment.
(Robbins, 1997) The second two attitudes, job involvement and organizational
commitment, are more or less the results of job satisfaction. An employee who
has a high level of job satisfaction tends to bear attitudes, which are
favorable to the organization. When a prospective employee goes to that
interview, there are going to be friends of that prospect who will give the most
simple advice of “Sell yourself! This is your chance to prove yourself to that
important company!” Little do those simpleton friends know that this is also the
chance for the company to lay a sales pitch on the prospect too! Managers are
concerned with the efficient operation and profit margin of the company more so
than an employees job satisfaction. (Robbins, 1997) To managers, an employee’s
job satisfaction is just an insurance that the employee will be productive and
not skip work, and of course, to get the best man for the job. So of course,
when a manager giving the interview favors a prospect, only the job’s favorable
side will tend to be revealed.The prospect is told of a wonderland where the
corporate ladder is actually a stepping stool. There is no mention of the
negative sides, to which the manager does a David Copperfield on. The applicant
now has expectations about this job that has to be met by the job or there will
be a lot of dissatisfied employees.
Balancing the positives with the negatives
is important so that the employee will not be disappointed and become a problem
that could’ve been avoided from the beginning. (Robbins, 1997) Mirror, mirror on
the wall…. Successful leaders have vision, communicate well, make effective
decisions, and motivate their followers. Employees are more likely to respond to
a leader who is likable and credible.A leader who would want to change attitudes
must have a very unbiased one. The management’s attitude is going to give
employees a very visual idea of how his or her job at the organization is going
to generally be, and once an image is set in people’s mind it is difficult to
change. From the start, the management must be thought of as fair and
consistent. The organization’s workforce must see the manager as a “better”
person than they are, a person with integrity, a person who employees won’t feel
prideful towards when taking orders from.
