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EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE AND THEIR EFFECTS

Employee attitudes are clearly important to organizations. When attitudes are

negative, they are both symptom of underlying problems and a contributing cause of forthcoming difficulties in an organization. Declining attitudes may result in wildcat strikes, work slowdowns, absences and employee turnover. They may also be part of grievances, low performance, poor product quality and shabby customer service, employee theft and disciplinary problems. The organizational costs associated with poor employee attitudes may severely reduce an organizations competitiveness. Favourable attitudes, on the other hand, are desired by management because they tend to be connected with some of the positive outcomes that managers want. Employee satisfaction, along with high productivity, is a hallmark of well managed organizations.

NATURE OF EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE

Attitudes are the feelings and beliefs that largely determine how employees will perceive their environment, actions commit and themselves to intended ultimately behave.

Attitudes form a mental set that affects how we view something else, much as a window provides a framework for our view into or out of a building. Although many of the factors contributing to job satisfaction are under the control of managers, it is also true that people differ in their personal dispositions as they enter organizations. Some people are optimistic, upbeat, cheerful and courteous; they are said to have positive affectivity. Others are generally

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pessimistic, downbeat, irritable and even abrasive; they are said to have negative affectivity.

IMPORTANT ATTITUDES RELATED TO ORGANIZATION

1. Job Satisfaction Job Satisfaction is a set of favourable or unfavourable feelings and emotions with which employees view their work. Job satisfaction is an affective attitude a feeling of relative like or dislike toward something

Related concepts to job satisfaction

a. Elements 1. Feeling - I enjoy having a variety of tasks to do. 2. Thoughts - my work is quite complex 3. Intentions - I plan to quit this job in three months. Attitudes then consist of feelings, thoughts and intentions to act. b. Individual focus: Job satisfaction typically refers to the attitudes of a single employee but theres an important thing like moral, it is for all group satisfaction. Ex: Antonio Ortega seems very pleased with his recent promotion.

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c. Stability of Job Satisfaction. Attitudes are generally acquired over a long period of time.Similarly job satisfaction or dissatisfaction emerges as an employee gains more and more information about the workplace. d. Environmental Impact. Job satisfaction is a one part of life satisfaction.The nature of a workers environment off the job indirectly influences his or her feelings on the job. Similarly , since a job is an important part of a life for many workers job satisfaction influence general life satisfaction.

2.

Job Involvement It is is the degree to which employees immerse invest time and energy in

themselves in their jobs,

them and view work as a central part of their overall lives. Job-involved employees are likely to believe in the work ethic, to exh ibit high growth needs and to enjoy participation in decision making. As a result, they seldom will be tardy or absent, they are willing to work long hours and they will attempt to be high perfromers.

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3. Organizational Commitment Also called employee loyalty is the degree to which an employee identifies with the organization and wants to continue actively participating in it. t often reflects the employees belief in the mission and goals of the firm, willingness to expend the effort in their accomplishment and intentions to continue working there. Organizationally committed employees will usually have good attendance records, demonstrate a to company policies and have lower turn-over rates.

4. Work Moods Employees also have feelings about thier jobs thatare highly dynamic:they can change within a day, hour or minute. These variable attitudes toward th eir jobs are called Work Moods. An employees work moods can be described as ranging from negative (I hate this task) to positive (I am excited by this new challenge) and from weak to strong and intense. When workers experience positive strong moods , it is often visible in terms of their energy, activity and enthusiasm. These types of work moods are important to a manager, because they will predictably result in closer attention to customer service , lower absenteeism, greater creativity and interpersonal cooperation.

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EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE

Attitudes are reasonably good predictors of behaviors. They provide clues to an employees behavioral intentions or inclinations to act in a certain way.Positive jobs attitudes help predict constructive behaviors: negative job attitudes help predict undesirable behaivors.

1.

Employee Performance Satisfied workers actually may be high,

average , or even low producers and they will tend to continue the level of performance that previously brought them satisfaction. The satisfaction-performance relationship is more complex than the simple path of satisfaction leads to performance.

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The Performance-satisfaction effort loop shows that better performance typically leads to a higher rewards. f these rewards are s een fair or equitable, then improve satisfaction develops because they feel they are receiving rewards in return proportion to their performance. On the other hand, if rewards are seen inadequate, for the level of performance, dissatisfaction tends to arise. In either case, the level of satisfaction leads to a greater or lesser commitment, which then affects performance and eventually affects performance again.

2. Turnover As might be expected higher job satisfaction is associated with lower employee turnover , which is the proportion of employees leaving an organization during a given time period. The more satisfied employees are less likely to go through a progressive process in which they think about quitting or announcing their intention to quit.

The figure above shows that employees having low self satisfaction usually have higher rates of turnover. As a result, they are likely to seek greener Pasteur elsewhere and leave their employees, while their more satisfied associates remain.

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3. Absences and Tardiness Employees who have low job satisfaction tend to be absent more often.The connection is not always sharp , for couple of reasons. First, some absences are caused by legitimate medical reasons; therefore a satisfied employee may have a valid absence. Second, dissatisfied employees don not necessarily plan to be absent, but they seem to find it easier to respond to the opportunities to do so. Another way in which employees may exhibit their dissatisfaction with job conditions is through tardiness. A tardy employee is one who comes to work but arrives beyond the designated starting time.

4. Theft Some employees steal products.Others use company services without any authorization.These kind of things are called theft. In their own minds, employees may justify this unethical behavior as a way of reestablishing a perception of lost equity or even gaining revenge for what they consider ill treatment at the hands of the supervisor.

5. Violence One of the most extreme consequences of employee dissatisfaciton is exhibited through violence.This violence source can be include customers or strangers. Managers must increasingly be on the lookout for signs that e mployee dissatisfaction might turn into verbal or physical harm at work, and they must take appropriate 7|Page

preventive action.

STUDYING JOB SATISFACTION

Management needs information on employee job satisfaction in order to make sound decisions, both in preventing and solving employee problems. A typical method used is a job satisfaction survey, also known as a moral, opinion, attitude, or quality-of-work-life survey. A job satisfaction survey is a procedure by which employees report their feelings toward their jobs and work environment. Individual responses are then combined and analysed.

BENEFITS OF JOB SATISFACTION STUDIES

If job satisfaction studies are properly planned and administered, they will usually produce a number of important benefits, both general and specific. Monitoring Attitudes One benefit of attitude studies is that they give management an indication of general levels of satisfaction in a company. Surveys also indicate the specific areas of satisfaction or dissatisfaction and the particular groups of employees. The survey is a powerful diagnostic instrument for assessing broad employee problems. Additional Benefits The flow of communication in all direction is improved as people plan the survey, take it and discuss its results. Survey can serve as a safety valve, or emotional release, for people to get things off their chests and later feel better about them.

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Training needs can be identified, since employees can report how well they feel their supervisor performs certain parts of the job, such as delegating work and giving adequate instructions

Surveys can also help managers plan and monitor new programs, by getting feedback on proposed changes in advance and then conducting a follow-up survey to evaluate the actual response.

IDEAL SURVEY CONDITIONS

Surveys are most likely to produce some of the benefits reviewed above when the following conditions are met: Top management actively supports the survey. Employees are fully involved in planning the survey. A clear objective exists for conducting the survey. The study is designed and administered in a manner consistent with standards for sound research. Management is capable of taking, and willing to take, follow-up action. Both the results and action plans are communicated to employees.

USE OF EXISTING JOB SATISFACTION INFORMATION

Before they conduct formal job satisfaction surveys, managers might examine two other methods for learning about current employee feelings daily contacts and existing data. Management stays in touch with the level of employee satisfaction primarily through face-to-face contact and communication. This is a practical and timely method of determining the job satisfaction level of individuals, but there are also a number of other satisfaction indicators already available in an organization. Different sources of information are given in the diagram below.

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This information is usually collected separately for other purposes, but it can readily be assembled into a monthly report that gives management insights into the general level of satisfaction among employees. Carefully interpreted, the data can provide rich portrait of the satisfaction of workers in an organization. The chief advantages of employee records are that in most cases they are already available, many of them provide quantifiable data, and they are good measure of trends over a period of time.

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SURVEY DESIGN AND FOLLOW-UP

In general, managers need to identify a purpose for the attitude assessment, obtain top management and union support, and then develop the measurement instrument. Intermediate steps consist of administering the survey, followed by tabulating and analyzing the results. Conclusions should be fed back to the participants soon afterward, and action plans need to be developed by groups of employees and managers working together, and then activated. A systematic approach to conducting surveys is shown in the diagram below. Major Steps in a Systematic Approach to Conducting Surveys

Identify Reason for Survey

Obtain Management Commitment

Develop Survey Instruments

Analyze Results

Tabulate Results

Administer survey

Provide feedback to Participants

Implement Action Plan

Monitor Results

TYPE OF SURVEY QUESTIONS

Studies of job satisfaction typically gather data either by survey questionnaires or by interviews. Whichever method is used, careful attention should be paid to the form of question asked and the nature of the response allowed. Closed-End Questions present a choice of answers in such a way that employees simply select and mark the answers that best represent their own feelings.

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Under this type we have Index of Organizational Reactions, which uses multiple-choice questions. Job Descriptive Index provides respondents with a set of statements and asks them to indicate whether the term describes their work situation by Yes, No, or I cant decide responses. Other approaches includes surveys that present statements and ask the respondents by checking a numerical scale to indicate the degree of their agreement or disagreement. For examples are:

The chief advantage of surveys with close-end questions is that they are easy to administer and to analyse statistically. Much of the tabulation and analysis can be performed by computers, which minimizes clerical time, costs, and errors when large numbers of employees are surveyed. The chief defect of closed-end questions is that management or a survey consultant writes all the structured responses available to employees. Open-End Questions present a variety of topics but let employees answer in their own words. There are two types of open-end questions. Directed questions focus employee attention on specific parts of the job and ask questions about those aspects while undirected questions ask for general comments about the job. In this way

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management learns about the topics that currently are troubling employees and seem important to them.

CRITICAL ISSUE

Two elements that serves as the backbone of any effective study are: reliability and validity. Reliability is the capacity of a survey instrument to produce consistent results, regardless of who administers it. If an instrument is reliable, we can be confident that any difference found between two groups is real, and not the product of employee mood changes or widely varying administrative procedures. Validity is the capacity of the instrument to measure what they claim to measure. Some issues in survey design and administration are the following: Should participation be voluntary or mandated? Should a sample or the total population be used? Should responses be signed or anonymous? Should norms be used for comparison? Should the forms be returned to the supervisor or to an independent consulting firm? How should the feedback be given to employees?

USING SURVEY INFORMATION

Although gathering job satisfaction information is chiefly a matter of technique, analysis and use of the resulting data require skilled management judgment. It is the final important step in a job satisfaction survey.

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Communicating the Results This is the first step in using job satisfaction information. The results must be first communicated to all managers so they can understand it and prepare to use it. This document is known as a survey report. Managers will be the ones to make any changes suggested by the data, and will require evidence to make their own judgment. Comparative Data In larger organizations, comparisons among departments are an effective way to encourage managers to sit up and take note of satisfaction data. These survey data will spur competition and departments will be spurred to improve their employees attitudes by the time the next study is made. Comparisons of this type must be handled with skill so that the lower performers will not feel intimidated. Employee Comments Employee comments are very useful. This information often makes a greater impression on management than scores, statics, and charts do. In terms of communication, the comments get through to management because they are more personal. Committee Work Follow-Up One way to get managers to introduce change in their departments following a survey is to set up working committees whose responsibility is to review the survey data and develop plans for corrective action. Feedback to Employees When corrective actions is taken as the result of a survey, details of what was learned and what was done should be shared with employees as soon as possible. Benefits of doing this are the following: Employees who participated feel that the management listened to them and took action on the basis of their ideas.

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It assures employees that their ideas were really wanted and are wanted still. If a job satisfaction survey is made, management should be prepared to take action on the results. Employees feel that if they cooperate in stating their feelings, management should try to make some of the improvements they suggest or at least explain why the changes are not feasible.

CHANGING EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES

Inducing attitude shifts is not always easy, but the potential gains can make it worth-wile to try. If management desires to change employee attitudes in a more favorable direction, there are many routes to pursue. The following are the guidelines for changing employee attitudes: Make the reward system closely tied to individual or team performance. Set challenging goals with employees so that those with achievement drives can experience the opportunity for satisfaction through their accomplishment. Define clear role expectations so that employees struggling with ambiguity can overcome that concern. Refrain from attacking the employees attitude. Use active listening skills instead, because an undefended attitude is more receptive to change. Provide frequent feedback to satisfy the need for information about performance levels. Exhibit a caring, considerate orientation by showing concern for employee feelings. Provide opportunities for employees to participate in decision making. Show appreciation for appropriate effort and citizenship behaviours.

It would be nave to assume that attitudes only influence behaviour, for there is a reciprocal relationship between them such that behaviour also influences attitudes. Sometimes, then, it is advisable to get employees to change their behaviour first, and let the desired attitude shift follow later.

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ISSUES BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS

Areas of Legitimate Organizational Influence

Every organization develops certain policies individual legitimate and define requirements the boundaries differently, for of then performance. If the organization and an influence

organizational conflict is likely to develop. It can be sufficient to interfere with effectiveness. As long as there is agreement among the parties on the legitimacy of influence, each party should be satisfied with the power balance in the relationship. It is important to remember that: Agreement avoids conflict. Following are sample areas of general approval of organizational influence: Job conduct Personal activities off the job such as the tidiness of ones office and ones working hours (high legitimacy of influence) such as the church one attends, and when one goes on vacation (low legitimacy of influence)

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On the other hand, there is some disagreement between managers and others in a few areas, primarily those concerned with off-the-job conduct that could affect company reputation.

A Model of Legitimacy of Organizational Influence

The model of legitimacy of organizational influence that been developed from research is shown below:

The two key variables in the model are conduct on-the-job or off to it and conduct that is job-related or not job-related. Legitimacy tends to become less accepted as an acts connection with the job becomes hazy.

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Off-the-Job Conduct
The more job-related ones conduct is when off the job, the more support there is for organizational influence on the employee. The power of business to regulate employee conduct off the job is very limited. Certainly, when the conduct is not job-related, there is little reason for the employer to become involved. On the other hand, some activities off the job may affect the employer, so questions of organizational influence arise. A number of issues potentially involving job-related behaviors currently receive extensive attention. These issues include surveillance, substance abuse, genetic screening of prospective employees for health risks, office romances, and assessments of the ethical values of job applicants.

Rights of Privacy

Rights of privacy primarily are related to organizational invasion of a persons private life and unauthorized release of confidential information about a person in a way that would cause emotional harm or suffering. Business activities that may involve employee rights of privacy are: Lie detectors Personality tests Encounter groups

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Medical examinations

Treatment of alcoholism

Surveillance devices

Treatment of drug abuse

Genetic screening

Confidential records

As business intrude more deeply into domains of employee privacy, the potential for conflicts rises.

Policy Guidelines Relating to Privacy

Because of the importance of employee privacy, most large employers have developed policy guideline to protect it. These guidelines also help establish uniform practices and make it easier to handle any unusual situations that that may develop. Follow are some of the policy guidelines on privacy that organizations are using: Relevance Recency Only necessary, useful information should be Obsolete information should be removed periodically.

recorded and retained.

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Notice

There should be no personal data system that is unknown to an employee. The keeper of the information is responsible for its security. Information should be released only to those who

Fiduciary duty Confidentiality

have a need to know, and release outside the organization normally should occur only with the employees permission. Due process The employee should be able to examine records and challenge them if incorrect. Protection of the psyche The employees inner self should not be invaded or exposed except with prior consent and for compelling reasons. they appear

Surveillance Devices

Protection of the psyche implies that, except for compelling reasons, there should be no surveillance of private places such as locker rooms or secret surveillance unknown to the employee, as with secret listening devices. Surveillance that is known to employees and has a compelling job reason is usually not considered to be an undue infringement on privacy. Forms of surveillance that are usually accepted are: Hidden cameras that take photographs during robberies. Electronic sensor devices emit infrared signals. Electronic monitoring privileges. To address the phenomenon called cybersurfing or the event which employees abuse their internet Microcomputers in clip-on ID cards which

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Hidden camera

Electronic sensor devices

The impact on employees of secret organizational monitoring can be detrimental, however. Thus, the key to employee acceptance of electronic surveillance lie in advance notification and explanation, use of information as an aid to performance improvement, and involvement of employees in setting up a fair system.

Honesty Testing
Employee theft is a major problem in most businesses and organizations. Because of this, several methods have been introduced as a counter measure. POLYGRAPH

Science has determined that conscience usually causes physiological changes when a person tells a significant lie. The polygraph; commonly known as lie detector, is an instrument that was developed to record those changes and provide evidence of lying. It achieved significant popularity in business as a tool in honesty testing of employees. However, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act was passed by Congress

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in 1988; this law largely prohibits or controls the use of polygraphs as a pre-employment screening tool for many employers. This law was passed because of two reasons: The validity of the polygraph is questionable; it runs the risk of falsely identifying innocent individuals. Some people believe that using polygraph tends to invade their privacy. This practice is now illegal for most organizations

PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS EVALUATOR A different kind of lie detector, the

psychological stress evaluator, analyzes changes in voice patterns to determine whether a lie is being told. It requires no hookup to a machine, so it is not as visibly and physically invasive as the lie detector. As with the polygraph, the test takers own conscience provides the evidence by showing vocal stress when a significant lie is told. Until this process has been fully validated, it is too risky to use by itself for honesty testing.

PAPER AND PENCIL TESTS These honesty tests, also known as integrity tests, attempt to get the respondent to disclose information about their own previous or prospective honesty. They appear in two forms: Overt tests Inquire about attitudes toward theft.

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Personality-based tests criterion.

More directly identify dishonest individuals

by relating scores on selected personality-test items to a theft The validity of these tests is also controversial, and employers run some risks of legal action if they reject an applicant solely on the basis of integrity test scores.

Treatment of Alcoholism
Since alcoholism presents major

medical and job problems, employers need to develop responsible policies and programs to deal with it without endangering rights of privacy. Alcoholics are found in all types of industries, occupations and job levels. Sometimes the job environment may contribute to an employees alcoholism, bu t the 23 | P a g e

employees personal habits and problems are also major contributors. In some instances, employees are well on the road to alcoholism before they are hired.

Reasons for Company Programs on Alcoholism

The firm and employee already have a working relationship on which they can build. Any success with the employee will save both a valuable person for the company and a valuable citizen for society. The job appears to be the best environment for supporting recovery because a job helps an alcoholic retain a self-image as a useful person in society.

Successful Programs
Successful employer programs treat alcoholism as an illness, focus on the job behavior caused by alcoholism, and provide both medical help and psychological support for alcoholics. Below is a step by step procedure for treatment of employees who are abusers of alcohol and other drugs:

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Drug Testing

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To employers, the direct consequences of employee drug abuse are enormous. Employee theft to support drug habits costs industry billions each year. Absentee rates for workers with problems may be as much as sixteen times higher than non-users, with accident rates four times as high. To help combat this problem, the Drug-Free Workplace Act became law in the United States in 1988. The law requires some employers to create and distribute to their employees policies prohibiting drug abuse at work. Many companies have adopted a policy of drug testing of both new and current employees. But some tests are not satifactorily accurate. Tests may fail like in a case when employees may be incorrectly identified as users because the food they ate or the prescription drugs they took produced a falsely positive reaction. Usually, further investigation and repeated testing will support their innocence, but the harm to their reputation and self-esteem may already have occurred. Another objection to drug testing is the fear that it will reveal other medical conditions that an employee may prefer to keep private.

Impairment testing is a possible solution to problems with drug testing. This method usually consists of a brief motor-skills test performed on a computer;this test is much like playing a video game.

Genetic Testing
New developments in the field of genetics allow the physicians to use medical tests to accurately predict whether an employee may be genetically susceptible to one or more types of illness or harmful substances. This is a more aggressive tool than genetic monitoring, which 26 | P a g e

identifies harmful substances in the workplace, examines their effects on the genetic makeup of employees, and provides the basis for corrective action. Positive uses of genetic testing information include transferring the substances, providing health warnings, and developing protective measures to shield employee from danger.

Discrimination
Laws national Two EEO generally origin, issues prohibit sex, stand job

discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, out related as to handicapped status, and other factors. contemporary problems

privacy: sexual harassment and AIDS.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

When supervisors make employment or promotion decisions contingent on sexual favors or when an employees colleagues engage in any verbal or physical conduct that creates an offensive working environment, sexual harassment exists.

AIDS

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Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a deadly viral disease of the human immune system. It is contagious through certain types of contact, incurable at this time, always fatal, and spreading rapidly in some areas of the world. Widespread public concern and lack of understanding, coupled with unclear legal status of employees with AIDS, have raised several key behavioral issues such as the following: Can the medical privacy of AIDS employees be protected? What can be done to help coworkers understand more about AIDS and the work group? about

the way it affects its victims? In particular, how can the firm encourage the employees to calmly accept a coworker with AIDS into participation in a group? How can managers prevent AIDS employees from becoming harassed or socially isolated through the possible loss of normal communications with their coworkers? Should employees be tested for the presence of the AIDS-related virus? If they test positive, should they be transferred to other job? How might the presence of AIDS employees affect teamwork and other

Discipline
The area of discipline can have a strong impact on the individual in the organization. Discipline is management action to enforce organizational standards. There are two types of discipline, preventive and corrective. Preventive discipline is action taken to encourage employees to follow standards and rules so that infractions do not occur. Corrective discipline is action that follows infraction of a rule; it seeks to discourage further infractions so that future acts will be in compliance with standards.

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The objectives of disciplinary action are positive, educational and corrective, as follows: To reform the offender To deter others from similar actions To maintain consistent, effective group standards A progressive discipline system is also applied by most employers. This means that there are stronger penalties for repeated offenses. Its purpose is to give an employee an opportunity for self-correction before more serious penalties are applied. It also gives management time to work with an employee on a counseling basis to help correct infractions. A typical system of progressive discipline is shown below:

Quality of Work Life

The term refers to favorableness or unfavorableness of a total job environment for people. This is another way in which organizations recognize their responsibility to develop jobs and working conditions that are excellent for people as well as for the economic health of the organization. QWL programs usually emphasize development

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of employee skills, the reduction of occupational stress and the development of more cooperative labor-management relations.

Job Enlargement vs. Job Enrichment

The modem interest in quality of work life was stimulated through efforts to change the scope of people's jobs in attempting to motivate them. Job scope has two dimensions- breadth and depth.

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Job breadth is the number of different tasks an individual is directly responsible for. It ranges from very narrow (one task performed repetitively) to wide (several tasks). Employees with narrow job breadth were sometimes given a wider variety of duties in order to reduce their monotony; this process is called job enlargement. In order to perform these additional duties, employees spend less time on each duty. Another approach to changing job breadth is called job rotation, which involves periodic assignment of an employee to completely different sets of job activities. Job rotation is an effective way to develop multiple skills in employees, which benefits the organization while creating greater job interest and career options for the employee. Job enrichment takes a different approach by adding additional motivators to a job to make it 'more rewarding. It was developed by Frederick Herzberg on the basis of his studies indicating that the most effective way to motivate workers was by focusing on lighter order needs. Job enrichment seeks to add depth to a job by giving workers more control, responsibility, and discretion over how their job is performed. Benefits of job enrichment are stated in the chart that follows:

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Then, the difference between enlargement and enrichment is illustrated in the following figure:

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Applying Job Enrichment

Job enrichment occurs when the work itself is more challenging when achievement is encouraged, when there is opportunity for growth and when responsibility, feedback and recognition are provided. However, employees are the final judges of what enriches their jobs. Since job enrichment must occur from each employees personal viewpoint, not all employees will choose enriched jobs if they have an option. A contingency relationship exists in terms of different job needs, and some employees may prefer the simplicity and security of more routine jobs.

Core dimensions: A Job Characteristic Approach

J. Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham developed a job characteristics approach to job enrichment that identifies five core dimensions: skill, variety, task identity, significance, autonomy and feedback.

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CORE DIMENSIONS (A job characteristic approach) 1. Skill variety 2. Task identity 3. Task significance 4. Autonomy 5. Feedback

SKILL VARIETY: allows employees perform different operations than often require different skills. It differs from the job breadth element since an enlarged job may still use the same skills on different tasks or products. TASK IDENTITY: allows employees to perform a complete piece of the work. In the past, individual employees work on such a small part of the whole that they were unable to identify any product with their efforts. They could not feel any sense of completion or responsibility for the whole product. When tasks are broadened to produce a whole product or an identifiable part of it, then task identity has been established. TASK SIGNIFICANCE: refers to the amount of impact, as perceived by the worker that the work has on other people. The impact can be on others in the organization, as when the worker performs a key step in the work process. AUTONOMY: job characteristic that gives employees some discretion and control over job-related decisions and it appears to be fundamental in building a sense of responsibility in workers. FEEDBACK: refers to information that tells workers how well they are performing. It can come directly from the job itself or it can be given verbally by management and other employees. It can be positive or negative but its best when properly balanced. It should also be clearly and continuous rather than delayed and sporadic.

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Contingency Factors Affecting Enrichment

Job enrichment does not apply to all types of situations. It appears to apply more easily to higher-level jobs, which are less likely to be dictated by the technological process. If the technology is stable and highly automated, the costs of job enrichment may be too great in relation to its reward. LIMITATIONS TO JOB ENRICHMENT Unable to tolerateincreased responsibility Dislike more complex duties Uncomfortable with group work Dislike relearning Prefer security and stability Comfortable with supervisory authority Skills are nor adaptable Expensive equipment may not be adaptable Program may unbalance production system Supervisory or staff roles may be reduced Enriched jobs may increase pay dissatisfaction Costs may increase Unions may oppose some enrichment efforts

Therefore, those planning job enrichment programs needs to ask such questions as the following about employee needs and attitudes: 1. Can the employee tolerate responsibility? 2. How strong are the employees growth and achievement needs? 3. What is the employees attitude and experience regarding group work? 4. Can the employee intellectually and emotionally handle more complexity? 5. How strong are the employees drives for security and stability? 35 | P a g e

6. Will the employees view the job changes as significant enough to justify the costs? 7. Can a job be overenriched?

Thought to Ponder:
There are many contingency elements to consider when exploring the possibility of job enrichment as a QWL approach. Both employee attitudes and the capabilities of employees to handle enriched tasks are crucial. Although it is tempting to consider job enrichment as good , it is more consistent with human values to recognize and respect individual differences that exist among employees.

The Individuals Responsibilities to the Organization

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A discussion of the individual in the organization is incomplete if it covers only organizations impositions on, and obligations to, the individual. The employment relationship is two-way. Without question, the organization has responsibilities to individual, but also the individual has responsibilities to the organization. "Employment is a mutual transaction. Each employee makes certain

membership investments in the organization and expects profitable reward in return. The organization also invests in the individual, and it, too, expects it profitable rewards. A relationship is profitable for either party when benefits (outputs) are larger costs (inputs) measured in a total value system. In the usual employment both parties benefit, just as they do in the usual social relationship. Both parties benefit because the social transaction between them produces new values that exceed the investment each makes. The profitable relationship deteriorates if either party fails to act responsibly toward the needs of the other.

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REFERENCES:

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