Values Ethics and Attitudes in the Workplace - Research Paper Example

Leadership plays a central part in understanding group behaviour for it is the leader who usually provides the direction towards goal attainment (Robbins, 1993). Therefore, capability to influence the actions of the others towards goal attainment should be valuable in improving group performance. There are mainly three different performance culture factors namely; values, ethics and attitudes which play a significant role in inspiring high performers. As such, this paper seeks to critically analyse the extent to which these factors contribute in creating and sustaining a high performing positive or happy culture within an organisation. The paper will start by looking at the meaning of these factors as well as the rationale for managerial leaders to practice them. The managers’ job satisfaction tends to center on its effect on employee performance given that research has found that there is a strong correlation between job satisfaction and employee productivity (Robbins, 1993). As such, the early views on the satisfaction-performance relationship can be summarized as: “a happy worker is a productive worker.” This view is also supported by Schultz (2005) who suggests that employee satisfaction is a good recipe for organisational success given that satisfied workers will put optimum efforts in their performance which positively contribute to the growth and productivity of the organization. However, there are certain considerations that need to be put in place in order to create a high performing positive culture. Such a culture can be achieved through harnessing ethics, values and attitudes in the operations of the organisation. Basically, ethics can be loosely defined as the rules or principles that define right or wrong conduct (Robbins, 1993). Whilst leadership is primarily concerned with influencing the action of others towards the attainment of set goals within a particular organization, it can be noted that the concept of ethics has a great bearing on the overall performance of the employees. Each organization’s operations are usually guided by a specific code of ethics. Robbins (1993) posits to the effect that if the organization’s top leadership acts unethically, they implicitly encourage their employees to do the same. On the other hand, leaders who exhibit high ethical standards become role models for others in the organization and they greatly help in raising its level of ethical behaviour. It is the organisation’s top leadership that sets the ethical tone which plays a pivotal role in positively influencing the performance of the employees. For instance, leaders who set an ethical tone whereby they reward high performers while punishing transgressors have a strong influence on the performance of the employees. If the employees are assured that they will be rewarded for their hard work, then they are likely to be productive and this is very important in the creation of a happy performance culture within the organization. It can also be seen that the creation of a high performance culture within an organization can be attributed to the concept of values. Carrell (1995) posits to the effect that values represent a specific mode of conduct that is personally and socially preferred by the people. Basically, values portray ideas about what is right and good and they positively influence the behaviour of human beings. These values often form what is termed the value system and this is very important in the study of organizational behaviour because they lay the foundation for the understanding of attitudes, motivation and they also influences our perceptions (Robbins, 1993). Values help in creating a happy performance culture given that they shape the behaviour of the employees and the way they perceive their leaders and the organization as a whole. Another important aspect of the value system of an organization or a particular group is that it is relatively stable and enduring (Robbins, 1993). They mainly focus on positive and negative aspects of particular behaviour which is either desirable or undesirable. If such a value system is embedded in the organization’s culture, then there will be more chances that all the employees will share a common understanding of what is expected of them. Their behaviour is shaped in such a way that they are compelled to behave in a particular way which is desirable in as far as productivity of the organization is concerned. This positively contributes to the performance of the employees. It is therefore important to know the values of the individual given that they have an impact on that person’s attitude. An employee’s performance and satisfaction are likely to be higher if his or her values align with the dominant values of the organization. Managers are likely to appreciate, evaluate as well as reward the employees who can fit in the organization’s value system since they are likely to share a common understanding of the organizational goals which can positively contribute to their performance. The other important factor in the creation of a high performing positive culture is the concept of attitude. Basically, an attitude can be loosely defined as the degree of positive or negative feeling a person can have towards a particular object, place, situation or even a job (Swanepoel, 1998). Though it is different from values, the two are somehow interrelated. Usually, the employees have positive job attitudes when they have pleasant internal feelings about their jobs and it can be noted that these have a bearing on the performance of the organization. People who have positive attitudes towards their jobs can be said to be satisfied and this positively contribute to organizational goals such as [productivity. Usually, a person who has a high job satisfaction is likely to be committed to the organization which has a bearing on performance. Satisfied employees are productive compared to those who are not. It is the role of the managerial leaders to create a culture that can foster high performance among the employees since this will positively contribute to the way they perform. Over and above, it can be noted that performance in an organization is mainly influenced by mainly three factors namely ethics, values and attitudes. These are not synonymous but they are closely related since they have a bearing on the performance of different individuals. A high performing positive/happy culture in an organization can be attributed to these three factors given that they can positively influence the employees to improve their performance if the managerial leaders take a leading role in setting the direction that can be taken by the organization towards the attainment of its set goals. References Carrell, R. et al (1995). Human Resources Management: Global Strategies for managing a diverse workforce. 5th Edition. NY. Prentice Hall. Grobler, P. Et al (2006). Human Resource Management. 3rd Edition. London. Thompson Learning. Robins, S.P (1993). Organisational Behaviour: Concepts, controversies and applications. New Jersey: NJ. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs. Rollinson D. et al (2008). Organisational behaviour and analysis: An integrated approach. 4th Edition. Pearson. Schultz, H. et al (2003). Organisational behaviour. CT. Van Schaik Publishers. Swanepoel, B.J (Ed) (1998). Human resources management: Theory and practice. JUTA. Read More