Employee Attitudes and Their Effects

Chapter 9
Employee Attitudes and Their Effects

 

True/False

 

1.  The organizational costs associated with poor employee attitudes can severely reduce an organization’s competitiveness.
Ans: True    Page: 219 Difficulty: Easy

 

2.  Employee satisfaction, along with high productivity, is a hallmark of well-managed organizations.
Ans: True    Page: 219    Difficulty: Easy

 

3.  A key challenge for managers is dealing with employees who increasingly expect to have concern shown for their attitudes and feelings.
Ans: True    Page: 219    Difficulty: Easy

 

4.  People are predisposed to be satisfied or dissatisfied, so managers can only partially affect their responses.
Ans: True    Page: 220    Difficulty: Easy

 

5.  Job satisfaction typically refers to the attitudes of a group of employees.
Ans: False
Feedback: Job satisfaction typically refers to the attitudes of a single employee.    Page: 220    Difficulty: Medium

 

6.  Group attitudes often conform to those of the strongest group member.
Ans: False
Feedback: Individuals adapt their attitudes to conform to those of the group, not the reverse.   
Page: 220    Difficulty: Medium

 

7.  Job satisfaction can be viewed as an overall attitude, or it can apply to the various parts of an individual’s job.
Ans: True    Page: 220    Difficulty: Easy

 

8.  Job-related attitudes predispose an employee to behave in certain ways.
Ans: True    Page: 220    Difficulty: Easy

 

9.  Managers should average an employee’s high satisfaction rating of one job element with the high dissatisfaction rating of another in order to obtain an “average” rating.
Ans: False
Feedback: Job satisfaction is best viewed as being multidimensional; managers should not allow an employee’s high satisfaction rating of one job element offset high dissatisfaction on another.   
Page: 220    Difficulty: Medium

 

10.  Attitudes tend to develop very quickly, usually after a disturbing incident.
Ans: False
Feedback: Attitudes are generally acquired over a long period of time.   
Page: 220    Difficulty: Medium

 

11.  Job satisfaction can decline even more quickly than it develops.
Ans: True    Page: 221    Difficulty: Easy

 

12.  The nature of a worker’s environment off the job directly influences his or her feelings on the job.
Ans: False
Feedback: The nature of a worker’s environment off the job indirectly influences his or her feelings on the job.    Page: 221    Difficulty: Medium

 

13.  Both individuals and society can benefit if knowledge of organizational behavior is used to build better organizations.
Ans: True    Page: 221    Difficulty: Medium

14.  The spillover effect only impacts job satisfaction.
Ans: False
Feedback: the spillover effect occurs in both directions between job and life satisfaction
Page: 221         Difficulty: medium

15. Christina has been exhibiting poor concentration at work due to problems at home. This is an example of the life-work balance  effect.
Ans: False
Feedback: this is an example of the spillover effect.
Page 221          Difficulty: medium

 

16.  Many “satisfied” employees have simply resigned themselves to their work situation.
Ans: True    Page: 222    Difficulty: Easy

 

17.  As workers grow older, they set their job expectations higher.
Ans: False
Feedback: As workers grow older, they lower their expectations to more realistic levels and adjust themselves better to their work situations.    Page: 222    Difficulty: Medium

 

18.  People with higher-level occupations tend to be less satisfied with their jobs.
Ans: False
Feedback: People with higher-level occupations tend to be more satisfied with their jobs.   
Page: 222    Difficulty: Medium

 

19.  Evidence suggests that levels of job satisfaction are lower in smaller organizational units.
Ans: False
Feedback: Levels of job satisfaction tend to be higher in smaller organizational units.   
Page: 222 Difficulty: Medium

 

20.  Analysis of group relationship allows managers to predict which groups are likely to exhibit problem behaviors associated with dissatisfaction.
Ans: True        Page 222          Difficulty: easy

 

21.  Affective commitment is an negative emotional state in which employees do not want to exert effort and choose to leave the organization.
Ans: False       
Feedback:  Affective commitment is an positive emotional state in which employees want to exert effort and remain with the organization.
Page 223          Difficulty: Medium

 

22. Organizationally committed employees will usually have good attendance records, adhere to company policies and have lower turnover rates.
Ans: True        Page 223          Difficulty: easy

23.  A broader base of job knowledge often translates into loyal customers.
Ans: True    Page: 223-224    Difficulty: Medium

 

24.  Once established, an employee’s feelings about the job are static; they seldom if every change.
Ans: False
Feedback:  An employee’s feelings about the job are highly dynamic; they can change within a day, hour, or minute.    Page: 224 Difficulty: Medium

 

25.  Work moods are indirectly affected by managerial actions.
Ans: False
Feedback: Work moods are directly affected by managerial actions.   
Page: 224 Difficulty: Medium

 

26.  High satisfaction always leads to high employee performance.
Ans: False
Feedback: Although many managers cling to this myth, it is an incorrect assumption.   
Page: 225    Difficulty: Medium

 

27.  Employees who voice their dissatisfaction to their managers often get undue attention.
Ans: True    Page: 225    Difficulty: Medium

 

28.  High performance contributes to high job satisfaction.
Ans: True    Page: 225    Difficulty: Medium

 

29.  A bonus for striving to diminish the dissatisfaction of certain employees is that all other employees benefit as well.
Ans: False
Feedback: While managers strive to diminish the dissatisfaction of some employees, they may be simultaneously increasing the dissatisfaction of many others who feel that such special treatment is unfair.    Page: 225    Difficulty: Medium

 

30.  The level of satisfaction leads to either greater or lesser commitment, which then affects effort and eventually affects performance again.
Ans: True    Page: 226 Difficulty: Easy

 

31.  Devoting effort toward aiding employee performance will likely produce satisfaction and commitment as a by-product.
Ans: True    Page: 226    Difficulty: Medium

 

32. Higher job satisfaction is associated with higher employee turnover.
Ans: False
Feedback: lower employee turnover
Page: 227         Difficulty: easy

 

33.  No one has yet developed a way to predict the likelihood of an individual being fired or quitting within the first 30 days of being hired.
Ans: False
Feedback: A study of 43,000 job applicants determined that a simple pre-employment questionnaire could predict the likelihood of an individual being fired or quitting within the first 30 days of employment.    Page: 228    Difficulty: Medium

 

34. In addressing turnover, managers should be asking themselves, “Are the right people staying and are the right people departing?”
Ans: True        Page 228          Difficulty: easy

35.  Dissatisfied employees plan to be absent more often than do satisfied employees.
Ans: False
Feedback: Dissatisfied employees do not necessarily plan to be absent, but they find it easier to respond to the opportunities to do so.    Page: 229    Difficulty: Medium

 

36.  Tardiness is another way in which employees physically withdraw from active involvement in the organization.
Ans: True    Page: 230    Difficulty: Easy

 

37.  A pattern of tardiness is often a symptom of poor management.
Ans: False
Feedback: A pattern of tardiness is often a symptom of negative attitudes requiring managerial attention.    Page: 230    Difficulty: Medium

 

38.  Employees may justify unethical behavior as a way of re-establishing lost equity.
Ans: True    Page: 230    Difficulty: Easy

 

39.  Employee theft is part of a much broader ethical problem in organizations—bending the rules.
Ans: True    Page: 231 Difficulty: Medium

 

40.  Work stress can be either the cause of workplace violence or the aftermath of it.
Ans: True    Page: 231 Difficulty: Easy

 

41.  Sharing equipment with another worker is a demonstration of organizational citizenship.
Ans: True    Page: 232 Difficulty: Medium

 

42.  Organizational citizenship behaviors are usually appreciated by the organization, but are resented by co-workers.
Ans: False
Feedback: Organizational citizenship behaviors are usually appreciated by both the organization and co-workers.    Page: 232 Difficulty: Medium

 

43.  A survey can determine how employees feel about their jobs and on which part of the job those feelings are focused.
Ans: True    Page: 233 Difficulty: Medium

44.  Surveys can serve as a safety valve that allows people to get things off their chests and later feel better about them.
Ans: True    Page: 233 Difficulty: Easy

 

45.  Employee records provide quantifiable data and are a good measure of trends over time.
Ans: True    Page: 234    Difficulty: Easy

46.  Closed-end questions seek responses from employees in their own words.
Ans: False
Feedback: Open-end questions seek responses from employees in their own words.   
Page: 234    Difficulty: Easy

 

47  A valid instrument will produce consistent results, regardless of who administers it.
Ans: False
Feedback: A reliable instrument will produce consistent results, regardless of who administers it.   
Page: 236    Difficulty: Medium

 

48.  A manager should be sure that any instrument used is either valid or reliable.
Ans: False
Feedback: Any instrument used should be both .   
Page: 236 Difficulty: Medium

 

49.  In larger organizations, starting a competition between departments is an effective way to encourage managers to take note of satisfaction data.
Ans: False
Feedback: In larger organizations, making a comparison between departments is an effective way to encourage managers to take note of satisfaction data.    Page: 237 Difficulty: Medium

 

50.  A manager’s interest in job satisfaction statistics can be heightened by asking him/her to predict subordinates’ attitudes toward various items and then compare the predictions with survey results.
Ans: True    Page: 237 Difficulty: Easy

 

51.  A good practice is to give a survey immense attention for a few weeks and then forget about it until the next survey is run.
Ans: False
Feedback: It is a mistake to give a survey immense interest for a few weeks and then forget about it until another survey is run.    Page: 237 Difficulty: Medium

 

52.  When corrective action is taken as the result of a survey, details of what was done should be shared with employees as soon as possible.
Ans: True    Page: 237    Difficulty: Easy

 

53.  If a job satisfaction survey is made, management should be disciplined enough to keep from acting on the results.
Ans: False
Feedback: If a job satisfaction survey is made, management should be prepared to take action on the results.    Page: 238    Difficulty: Easy

 

54.  A sure way to close off future employee opinion is to fail to take action on opinions already given.
Ans: True    Page: 238 Difficulty: Easy

 

55.  Company intranets is a useful tool for transmitting attitude survey and results.
Ans: True        Page 238          Difficulty: easy

 

56.  Gen Y respondents often use an abbreviated language when inputting survey results, creating an unexpected benefit of decreasing processing timing of surveys.
Ans: False
Feedback: this is actually an unexpected problem.
Page: 238         Difficulty: Medium

 

57.  Closely tying rewards to individual or team performance can change employee attitudes in a negative direction.
Ans: False
Feedback: Closely tying rewards to performance can change employee attitudes in a more favorable direction.    Page: 238    Difficulty: Medium

 

58.  Showing appreciation for citizenship behavior can push employee attitudes in a more favorable direction.
Ans: True    Page: 238 Difficulty: Easy

 

59.  Whenever possible, managers should hire staff who exhibit positive effectivity.
Ans: True    Page: 239     Difficulty: Easy

 

60.  Having co-workers share their attitudes will have no effect on an individual employee’s attitude.
Ans: False
Feedback: Having an employee’s co-workers share their attitudes can create implicit peer pressure to fall into line.    Page: 239 Difficulty: Easy

 

61.  Attitudes influence behavior, but behavior has no effect on attitudes.
Ans: False
Feedback: Attitudes influence behavior, just as behavior affects attitudes.  
Page: 239    Difficulty: Medium

 

62.  It is advisable to get employees to change their behavior first; the desired attitude shift will follow later.
Ans: True    Page: 239 Difficulty: Easy

 

63.  Higher job involvement leads to higher levels of dedication and productivity in workers.
Ans: True    Page: 239    Difficulty: Medium

 

64.  Committed employees are more likely to embrace company values and beliefs.
Ans: True    Page: 239 Difficulty: Easy

Multiple Choice

 

1.  Managers are vitally interested in the attitudes that employees have toward all of the following except:
A)  spirituality
B)  careers
C)  jobs
D)  the organization
Ans:  A    Page: 220    Difficulty: Medium

 

2.  People who are optimistic, upbeat, cheerful, and courteous are said to have positive _______________.
A)  attitude
B)  affectivity
C)  influence
D)  All of the above.
Ans:  B    Page: 220    Difficulty: Medium

 

3.  Attitudes consist of all of the following except:
A)  Morale
B)  Feelings
C)  Thoughts
D)  Intentions to act
Ans:  A    Page: 220    Difficulty: Medium

 

5.  Fiona is having a difficult time balancing life and work. When she is at her children’s sporting events she is often pulled away to take business calls; at work she feels guilty she isn’t able to be a parent helper in her daughters kindergarten class. This is an example of the __________________ effect.
A) work-life balance
B) spillover
C) environmental
D) attitudinal
Ans: B   Page 221         Difficulty: Medium

 

6.  About _______________ of those in the workplace report that they are reasonably satisfied with their jobs.
A)  5 percent
B)  25 percent
C)  50 percent
D)  75 percent
Ans:  C    Page: 222 Difficulty: Medium

 

 

 

7.  Job satisfaction across groups is related to all the following key variables except:
A)  Age
B)  Educational level
C)  Occupational level
D)  Organizational size
Ans:  B    Page: 222    Difficulty: Hard

8.  Which of the following is not one of Alex Pattakos’ seven core principles for helping employees find meaning through their work?
A)  Let the situation guide your attitude
B)  Identify and commit to meaningful values and goals
C)  Shift your focus of attention when stressed
D)  Recognize ways in which you undermine your own happiness
Ans:  A    Page: 223    Difficulty: Medium

 

9.  Which of the following is not a form of organizational commitment?
A) Normative
B) Attitude
C) Affective
D) Continuance
Ans: B Page: 223         Difficulty: Medium

 

10.  Which of the following is not a visible indicator of a mood?
A)  Energy
B)  Vitality
C)  Enthusiasm
D)  Attention to detail
Ans:  D    Page: 224    Difficulty: Medium

 

11.  Which of the following is not a stimulating factor for employee commitment?
A) Employee participation and autonomy
B) Providing support to employees
C) Investments in employee training
D) Insincere gratitude
Ans: D             Page: 224         Difficulty: easy

 

12.  Daydreaming on the job is a form of _______________.
A)  physical withdrawal
B)  physiological withdrawal
C)  psychological withdrawal
D)  None of the above.
Ans:  C    Page: 225    Difficulty: Medium

 

13.  The ___________________  loop is a continuously operating sequence that can lead to better performance and typically leads to higher economic, sociological and psychological rewards.
A)  Effort – Satisfaction – Performance
B)  Performance – Effort – Satisfaction
C)  Performance – Satisfaction – Effort
D)  Satisfaction – Performance – Effort
Ans: C Page 226          Difficulty: Medium

 

14. According to the text, which is not a negative effect of turnover on an organization?
A) separation costs
B) vacancy costs
C) reengineering costs
D) training costs
Ans: C Page: 227-228  Difficulty: Medium  

 

15.  Which of the following is not a trait associated with a “turnover personality”?
A)  Introversion
B)  Bitterness
C)  Cynicism
D)  Hedonism
Ans:  A    Page: 228 Difficulty: Medium

 

16.  Employers with lower turnover do all of the following except:
A)  Watch for early signs of dissatisfaction
B)  Offer recognition and praise regularly
C)  Fire disruptive employees as soon as they are identified
D)  Clarify job expectations
Ans:  C    Page: 229    Difficulty: Medium

 

17.  Voluntary (attitudinal) absences tend to occur most often on _______________.
A)  Monday and Tuesday
B)  Monday and Friday
C)  Thursday and Friday
D)  There is no pattern to such absences.
Ans:  B    Page: 229 Difficulty: Medium

 

18.  Which ailment is most commonly linked to presenteeism?
A)  Sinus trouble or allergies
B)  Migraine headaches
C)  Acid reflux disease
D)  Arthritis
Ans:  A    Page: 230 Difficulty: Hard

 

 

19.  Which of the following would be most likely to cause employees to bend the rules in order to benefit themselves?
A)  Fear of job loss
B)  Paying back a favor
C)  Personal code of conduct
D)  Damage to reputation
Ans:  B    Page: 231    Difficulty: Medium

 

20.  A job satisfaction survey is a procedure by which employees report their _______________ their jobs and work environment.
A)  feelings toward
B)  attitudes toward
C)  complaints about
D)  All of the above.
Ans:  A    Page: 232    Difficulty: Medium

 

21. Which of the following is a benefit of job satisfaction studies?
A) A powerful diagnostic instrument
B) Identify training needs
C) Indicates specific areas of satisfaction or dissatisfaction
D) All of the above
Ans: D Page 233          Difficulty: Medium

 

22.  Which of the following is not a direct behavioral indicator of job satisfaction.
A)  Training records
B)  Turnover
C)  Absenteeism
D)  Tardiness
Ans:  A    Page: 234 Difficulty: Easy

 

23.  What are the two types of open-end questions?
A)  Managed and free-range
B)  Directed and undirected
C)  Supervised and unsupervised
D)  Intuitive and restricted
Ans:  B    Page: 235 Difficulty: Medium

 

24.  Ensuring reliability and validity is easier with _____________  questions.
A) closed-ended
B) open-ended
C) qualitative
D) crtiical
Ans: A Page 236          Difficulty: Medium

 

25. Which of the following is not a use of survey information?
A) committee review and follow-up
B) communicate results
C) take action on results
D) use comparative data to prevent competition
Ans: D             Page 237          Difficulty:  Medium

26. Which of the following is not a useful tool of the intranet?
A) improved response rates
B) transmitting attitude survey results
C) implement changes over the long run
D) welcomes by the younger workforce
Ans: C             Page: 239         Difficulty: Medium

Essay

 

1.  What is it about larger organizations that contributes to job dissatisfaction?
Ans: Larger organizations tend to overwhelm people, disrupt supportive processes, and limit the amounts of personal closeness, friendship, and small-group teamwork that are important aspects of job satisfaction for many people.    Page: 222    Difficulty: Medium

2.  Identify three factors that can inhibit employee commitment.
Ans: Any three of the following:  insincere gratitude, failure to follow through, inconsistencies and incongruities, inflated egos and bullying.    Page: 224    Difficulty: Medium

 

3.  Excessive employee turnover can have multiple negative effects on an organization. List four costs related to employee separation and/or vacancy.
Ans: Any four of the following: exit interview time, separation pay, unemployment tax increase, temporary help or overtime pay, productivity loss, service disruption.    Page: 227 Difficulty: Hard

 

4.  When does presenteeism occur?
Ans: Presenteeism occurs when employees come to work despite physical and emotional health problems that substantially affect their work performance.    Page: 230    Difficulty: Medium

 

5.  How can the response rate to a survey be raised?
Ans: The can be raised by requiring that surveys be returned in a short period of time, by sending periodic reminders, by keeping the survey short and easy to understand, or by offering a small incentive.   
Page: 236 Difficulty: Medium

 

6.  Tighter organizational controls or incentive systems do not always solve theft problems. Why?
Ans: Because they are directed at symptoms and not the underlying problems.   
Page: 230 Difficulty: Hard

 

7.  What are organizational citizenship behaviors? Provide an example of such behavior.
Ans: Discretionary actions above and beyond the call of duty that promote the organization’s success. For example, volunteering for extra assignment or sharing equipment with another worker
Page: 232 Difficulty: Medium

 

8.  What are the two primary ways in which managers stay in touch with the level of employee satisfaction?
Ans: Face-to-face contact and communication.    Page: 234    Difficulty: Hard

 

9.  What are the two chief advantages of surveys with questions?
Ans: They are easy to administer and easy to analyze statistically.    Page: 235    Difficulty: Medium

 

10.  What is the chief defect of closed-end questions on questionnaires?
Ans: None of the responses may be an accurate expression of employees’ real feelings.   
Page: 235 Difficulty: Medium

 

11.  What is the first step in using job satisfaction information?
Ans:  Communicating the information to all managers so they can understand it and prepare to use it through the use of a survey report..

 Page: 236    Difficulty: Hard

12. What is an unexpected problem with intranet responses and Gen Y respondents?
Gen Y respondent often respond using an abbreviated language in providing written inputs. This is a combination of shorthand and acronyms used in text messaging and carried over into narrative responses (i.e. Gr8 = great, IHNO – I have no opinion).
Page 238          Difficulty: Medium