Attitudes

Q. 1

Define attitude. How attitude is formed in an organization? How attitude could be changed in an organization. Attitude is defined as 1. A predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to someone or something in ones environment. 2. The way a person feels about something-a person, a place, a commodity, a situation, or an idea expressing his positive or negative feelings about some objects. Factors influencing the formations of attitudes: a) Psychological factors: A persons psychology is made up of his perceptions, ideas, beliefs, values and information which are crucial in determining a persons attitude. E.g. if a person perceives that all supervisors are exploitative, he is likely to develop a negative attitude towards his superiors who may not be exploitative. b) Family factors: People spend a major part of their time with their families which provide them with ready-made attitudes on education, work, health, religion, politics, economics, etc. Every family instills such attitudes depending on its socio-economic status. People form middle class families and affluent families may have different attitudes towards spending however this attitude can be influenced by any person whom we admire, respect or fear. c) Social factors: Societies differ in terms of language, culture, norms, values, and beliefs etc. all of which influence a persons attitude. E.g. people in India in general hold a different attitude towards communication than people of China. Thus people belonging to a nation may develop attitudes which would be in tune with the needs of the society. d) Organizational factors: People spend a majority of their life in the institutions where they work. Organizational factors such as nature of the job, office layout, colleagues, quality of supervision and monetary rewards associated with the job, trade unionism, informal groups, organizations policies and practices play an important role in shaping the attitudes of a person. E.g. if a creative person finds his job repetitive, dull, boring he is likely to develop a negative attitude towards this job. e) Economic factors:
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A. 1

A persons attitude towards pleasure, work, and marriage is influenced by economic factors like his economic status, rate of inflation in the economy, Governments economic policies and the countries economic condition. E.g. during the Gulf crisis a big campaign was started by the Government of India to save oil and cut the import bill by promoting a negative attitude towards pleasure drives and positive attitude towards proper driving and maintenance of vehicle. f) Political factors: Politics plays a crucial role in the administration of a country. Therefore, political factors such as ideologies of the political leaders greatly affect the attitude of the people. Change in attitude Attitude can be changed by changing any one of the following factors. 1) Change in ideas and beliefs: Insufficient and misleading information can be the reason for undesirable behaviour. Such behaviour can be altered by supplying sufficient amount of desired information to the person. E.g. People tend to possess a negative attitude towards the staff at the railway reservation counters believing that the staff avoids their work. This negative attitude is reflected in anguish when there is a delay in getting a reservation. This negative attitude can be changed by drawing their attention to the circumstances in which the staff works. 2) Change in feelings and emotions: Ideas and beliefs can be changed by giving facts can change the negative attitude towards something because of the strong impact of emotions on such attitudes. The most effective way in such circumstances is listening. Placing complaint boxes and organizing open house meeting with the public to listen to their grievances go a long way in changing the negative attitude of people 3) Change in situation: To change an undesirable attitude, some situational variables, causing an attitude, could be modified. E.g. interpersonal communication at work, job profile, management practices, supervision styles and group work are the situational variables which may affect attitude towards work. 4) Change in behaviour: The undesirable behaviour accompanying attitude is the focus of change. Though it is a direct method of changing some undesirable attitude, it is complicated and not likely to last long. E.g. if a person has a negative attitude towards work he may take more leaves than necessary. And if he is punished for this he may take less leaves but his attitude may not do a good job. Q. 2 Define communication. What are the barriers of communication?
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A. 2

Accomplishing a common objective through collective and unified efforts is the aim and objective of organization. But these collective and unified efforts are nothing but sharing of information and decision making which means interaction of individuals in an organization. Thus the process by which individuals share and cooperate is called communication Organizations owe their very existence to communication. Although it applied to all phases of management, it is particularly important function of leading. It is also s personal process that involves the exchange behaviour. Is also has certain behavioral implications. Fisher stated that the only means by which one person can influence another is by the behaviour he performs, this means that communicative exchange between people provides the sole method which influence and effect can be achieved. Thus the behaviour that occurs in an organization reflects the communication process. Communication can be viewed ad the flow of information, material, perception and understanding between various parts and members in the organization it includes all aspects of communication upwards, downwards, lateral, speaking, writing, listening, reading, methods, median, modes, channels, networks, flow, interpersonal, inter-organizational and intra-organizational issues. Barriers to communication: Barriers to communication can occur if the recipient has failed to convey the meaning and/or the importance of the meaning. 1. Sender breakdown too much information is being sent, so the recipient misses key points. Also language can be difficult to understand, as it can be too complex. 2. Method breakdown when information is very detailed or complicated, then written instructions are better than messages which can be misinterpreted. 3. Recipient breakdown the recipient deliberately makes a choice to misinterpret the message because of their attitudes to either the sender to the message at hand. Other problems with communication could be: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Long chain of command. Language complex and hard to understand. Vague purpose not detailed enough, more explanation required. Inappropriate medium (method used, e.g. written, electronic etc) Red tape message gets passed on to many different people before finally reaching the recipient making the process too long and the message changing. Also, actions can be delayed as a result of a late arrival of the message.
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6. Status of two parties can be intimidated by the other persons status because of their gender, age etc. 7. Location distance of recipient or where message has to reach. 8. Distraction communication channels breaking up. Various barriers are due to: 1. Semantic problems these are those problems which are caused by the emotional reaction to words. 2. Status effect 3. Physical distractions 4. Information download 5. Time pressure 6. Cultural difference 7. Trust level 8. Perceptual difference 9. Absence of two-way communication