Chapter 3 - Attitude and Motivation
Chapter 3 - Attitude and Motivation
Chapter 3 - Attitude and Motivation
Objectives:
a.) Define attitude and motivation.
b.) Develop positive attitude.
INTRODUCTION
An attitude is a positive, negative, or mixed evaluation of an object that is expressed
at some level of intensity. It usually implies feelings that are either positive or negative.
Attitudes are our established ways of responding to people and situations that we have
learned based on the beliefs, values and
assumptions we hold and our life
experiences. Our attitude towards a
person or event is displaced through our
behavior as a result of interaction with
that person. A person’s attitude
represents how he or she feels about something or their state of mind.
Example:
If one can have a good (or positive) attitude toward their work, it means they feel
good about their work, their job, their organization, etc.
If one can have a bad (or negative) attitude, it means they dislike their environment
no matter what is going around them.
CONCEPT OF ATTITUDE:
The concept of attitude occupies a very favoured position in social psychology and
is considered very important for every individual who wants success in their life.
Attitudes are evaluative statements, either favourable or unfavourable, concerning
objects, people or events. They reflect how one feels about something.
Example:
When you say “I like Mathematics”, you are expressing your attitude towards the
subject of mathematics.
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2. Affective Attitude:
It is the emotional or feeling segment of attitude.
Example: “I don’t like Jon because he discriminates against minorities.”
3. Behavioral attitude:
It refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.
Example: Employees working in an organization commonly can follow certain
behavior for the purpose of betterment of the organization
Example:
Journalists, friends, armed forces, Specialists and event their father laughed at an
idea of an aeroplane proposed by Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright (Wright brothers).
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Many people told “What a silly and insane way to spend money?” “Only birds can fly.
Machines cannot fly!”
The Wright brothers responded we have a dream and we can make it happen”. As a
result, the aeroplanes were invented.
This shows the importance of attitude towards the success.
1. Environment
Environment consists of the following:
Home: Parents, Siblings, relatives,
Neighbors and friends.
School: Teachers, school staff,
seniors, juniors.
Work place: Colleagues, superiors
and subordinates.
Media: Television, newspapers, magazines, radio, movies
Cultural background
Religious background
Traditions and beliefs
Social environment
Political environment
All of these environments create a culture. Every place, a home, organization or a
country has a culture. In countries where the government and political environment
is honest, generally you will find that the people are honest, law abiding and helpful.
And the reverse is true too. In a corrupt environment, an honest person has a tough
time whereas in an honest environment, the corrupt one has a tough time. In a
positive environment, a marginal performer's output goes up. In a negative
environment, a good performer's output goes down.
2. Experiences:
Our behaviour changes according to our experiences with people and events in our
life. If we have a positive experience with a person, our attitude toward him becomes
positive and vice versa.
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3. Education:
It refers to both formal and informal education, not just academic qualifications.
Knowledge strategically applied translates into wisdom, ensuring success. Education
makes the role of the educator vital. A teacher affects eternity. The ripple effect is
immeasurable.
We are drowning in information but starving for knowledge and wisdom. Education
ought to teach us not only how to make a living but also how to live.
POSITIVE ATTITUDE:
A positive attitude helps you to cope more easily with the daily affairs of life. It brings
optimism into your life and makes it easier to avoid worry and negative thinking. It
will bring constructive changes into your life and make you happier, brighter and
more successful.
People with positive attitudes have certain personality traits that are easy to
recognize. They are caring, confident, patient, and humble. They have high
expectations of themselves and others. They anticipate positive outcomes. A person
with a positive attitude is like a fruit of all seasons. He is always welcome.
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• increases productivity
• fosters teamwork
• solves problems
• improves quality
• makes for congenial atmosphere
• breeds loyalty
• increases profits
• fosters better relationships with employers, employees, and customers
• reduces stress
• helps a person become a contributing member of society and an asset to their
country makes for a pleasing personality
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NEGATIVE ATTITUDE:
People with negative attitudes will blame the whole world,
their parents, teachers, spouse, the economy and the
government for their failures. Some people criticize no
matter what. It does not matter which side you are on,
they are always on the other side. They have made a
career out of criticizing. They are "career critics." They
criticize as if they will win a prize at a contest. They will
find fault with every person and every situation. You will
find people like this in every home, family, office. They go
around finding fault and telling everybody how bad things are and blaming the whole
world for their problems. All that they are doing is causing more tension for themselves
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and for others around them. They spread negative messages like a plague and create
an environment conducive to negative results. Some people always look at the
negative side.
Pessimists
are unhappy when they have no troubles to speak
feel bad when they feel good, for fear they will feel worse when they feel better
spend most of their life at complaint counters
always turn out the lights to see how dark it is
are always looking for cracks in the mirror of life
stop sleeping in bed when they hear that more people die in bed than anywhere else
cannot enjoy their health because they think they may be sick tomorrow
not only expect the worst but make the worst of whatever happens
don't see the doughnut, only the hole
believe that the sun shines only to cast shadows
forget their blessings and count their troubles
know that hard work never hurts anyone but believe "why take a chance?"
1 They are always part of the problem They are always part of the answer
3 Sees a problem for every answers Sees an answer for every problem
4 Says “It may be possible but it is too Says “It may be difficult but it is
difficult” possible”
5 Says “It was not my fault Says “I was wrong”
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10 Always hates the work place Always work with lovely people
12 Always looks on the negative side Always looks on the positive side
13 They are always angry, frustrated and They are always happier, polite and
stressed. lovable
14. Always says “Impossible” Always says “Possible”
MOTIVATION
Concept of Motivation:
• Motivation is something that encourages action or feeling. To motivate means to
encourage and inspire. Motivation can also mean to turn on or ignite the feeling or
action.
• Motivation is powerful. It can persuade, convince and propel you into action. In other
words, motivation can be defined as motive for action. It is a force that can literally
change your life.
• Motivation is the driving force in our lives. It comes from a desire to succeed.
Without success there is
little pride in life; no
enjoyment or excitement
at work and at home.
Often life becomes like a
lopsided wheel giving a
bumpy ride.
The greatest enemy of
motivation is complacence.
Complacence leads to
frustration, and when people are frustrated they give up because they cannot identify
what is important.
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A. EXTERNAL MOTIVATION
External motivation comes from outside, such as money, societal approval, fame or
fear. Examples of external motivation are fear of getting spanked by parents and
fear of getting fired at work. A
company wanted to set up a
pension plan. In order for the plan to
be installed, it needed 100%
participation. Everyone signed up
except John. The plan made sense
and was in the best interest of
everyone. John not signing was the
only obstacle. John's supervisor and
other co-workers had tried to
persuade him without success.
The owner of the company called
John into his office and said, "John, here is a pen and these are the papers for you
to sign to enroll into the pension plan. If you don't enroll, you are fired this minute."
John signed right away. The owner asked John why he hadn't signed earlier. John
replied, "No one explained the plan quite as clearly as you did."
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Fear Motivation
The advantages of fear motivation are:
• It gets the job done quickly.
• It is instantaneous.
• It prevents loss, by meeting deadlines.
• In the short run the person's performance may improve.
The disadvantages of fear motivation are:
• It is external, which means the motivation is there while the motivator is there.
When the motivator goes, the motivation also goes.
• It causes stress. Performance is limited to compliance.
• In the long run, performance goes down. It destroys creativity.
• They get used to the stick and then need a bigger stick.
Example: A customer asked an employee, "When did you start working here?" He
replied, "Ever since they threatened to fire me."
Incentive Motivation
External motivation can also take the form of incentives, bonuses, commission,
recognition, etc.
What are the advantages of incentive motivation? The major advantage is that it can
work very well as long as the incentive is strong enough. Think of a donkey with a carrot
dangling in front and with a cart behind. Incentive motivation will only work if the donkey
is hungry enough, the carrot is sweet enough and the load is light enough. From time to
time, you have to let the donkey take a bite of the carrot; otherwise it is going to get
discouraged. After the donkey takes a bite, its stomach is full, and you need to wait for
the donkey to get hungry again before it will pull the cart. This is typically seen in our
business environment. The moment sales people meet their quota, they stop working.
This is because their motivation is limited to meeting their quota. That is external, not
internal.
INTERNAL MOTIVATION
Internal motivation is the inner gratification, not for success or winning, but for the
fulfilment that comes from having done it. It is a feeling of accomplishment, rather than
just achieving a goal. Reaching an unworthy goal does not give the gratifying feeling.
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Internal motivation is lasting, because it comes from within and translates into self-
motivation.
Motivation needs to be identified and constantly strengthened to succeed. Keep your
goals in front of you and read them morning and evening.
The two most important motivating factors are recognition and responsibility.
• Recognition means being appreciated; being treated with respect and dignity;
and feeling a sense of belonging.
• Responsibility gives a person a feeling of belonging and ownership. He then
becomes part of the bigger picture. Lack of responsibility can become
demotivating.
Monetary rewards are temporary and short-
lived; they are not gratifying in the long run. In
contrast, seeing an idea being implemented can
be emotionally gratifying by itself. People feel that
they are not being treated like objects. They feel
part of a worthwhile team. The reward of doing
the right thing by itself is motivating.
1. Motivated Ineffective
This is the stage when the employee is most open minded, receptive and easy to
mold to the culture of the organization. Training and orientation become imperative.
Professional organizations, on the other hand, take special care to induct people into
their organizations.
They explain to them, among other things, the following:
• the hierarchy
• expectations of each other
• do's and don’ts
• parameters and guidelines
• what is acceptable and what is not
• what are the resources
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2. Motivated Effective:
This is the stage when the employee has learned what to do and does it with drive
and energy. He has learned the trade and it reflects in his performance. Then he moves
on to the next stage.
3. Demotivated Effective:
After some time the motivation level goes down and the employee starts learning the
tricks of the trade. This is the stage when the employee is not motivated. He continues
doing just enough so that the employer has no reason to fire him but he is really not
motivated.
This stage is detrimental to growth--most people in organizations fall into this third
stage. A motivated professional learns the trade and leaves the tricks to cheats and
crooks, but a demotivated employee start sabotaging the company. His performance is
marginal. He makes fun of the good performers. He rejects new ideas and spreads the
negativity all around.
Our objective is to bring them back to the second stage of motivated effective through
training. An employee ought not to stay in the third stage too long; because from here
either they move back to the second stage, which is being motivated and effective, or
they move into the fourth stage.
4. Demotivated Ineffective:
At this stage, the employer does not have much choice but to fire the employee,
which may be the most appropriate thing to do anyway at this point. Remember,
employers want the same thing as employees do. They want to succeed and improve
business and if employees help in this objective, then they make themselves valuable
and achieve their own success.
DEMOTIVATING FACTORS:
Some of the demotivating factors are:
• Unfair criticism
• Negative criticism
• Public humiliation
• Rewarding the non-performer which can be demotivating for the performer
• Failure or fear of failure
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MOTIVATING FACTORS:
What we really want to accomplish is self-motivation, when people do things for their
own reasons and not yours. That is lasting motivation. Remember, the greatest
motivator is belief. We have to inculcate in ourselves the belief that we are responsible
for our actions and behavior. When people accept responsibility, everything improves:
quality, productivity, relationships and teamwork.
A few steps to motivate others:
• Give recognition
• Give respect
• Make work interesting
• Be a good listener
• Throw a challenge
• Help but don't do for others what they should do for themselves
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