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Creating a Plan for Positive Influence University of Phoenix LDR 531 Sylvester Fadal June 08, 2010 Creating a Plan for Positive Influence There are different types of attitudes: emotions, personalities, and values in your collaboration, and how each influences your behavior. We will show everyone a plan of how to deal with this area. Attitudes are evaluative statements either favorable or unfavorable concerning objects, people, or events. When someone says, “I like my job or I hate my job,” they are expressing their attitude about work. The main components of attitude could be defined into different components. The behavioral component of an attitude refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something. To continue our example, I might choose to avoid Jon because of my feelings about him. Behavior is helpful in understanding their complexity and the potential relationship. Between attitudes and behavior, keep in mind that these components are closely related. In particular, in many ways cognition and affect are inseparable. Research has generally concluded that people seek consistency among their attitudes between their attitudes and their behavior. This means that individuals seek to reconcile divergent attitudes and align their attitudes and behavior so they appear rational and consistent. When there is an inconsistency, forces are initiate to return the individual to an equilibrium state in which attitudes and behavior are again consistent; this can be done by altering either the attitudes or the behavior, or by developing a rationalization for the discrepancy (75). During the late 1950s, Leon Festinger proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance. This theory sought to explain the linkage between attitudes and behavior. Dissonance means inconsistency. Cognitive dissonance refers to any incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more attitudes, or between behavior and attitudes. The degree of influence that individuals believe they have over the elements will have an impact on how they will react to the dissonance. If they perceive the dissonance to be due to something over which they have no choice, they are less likely to be receptive to attitude change. Common sense, too, suggests a relationship. Is it not logical that people watch television programs that they say they like or that employees try to avoid assignments they find distasteful' During the late 1960s, this assumed relationship between attitudes and behavior was challenged by a review of the research. Based on an evaluation of a number of studies that investigated the attitudes-behavior relationship, the reviewer concluded that attitudes were unrelated to behavior or, at best, only slightly related. More recent research has demonstrated that attitudes significantly predict future behavior and confirmed Festinger’s original belief that the Relationship can be enhanced by taking moderating variables into account (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p.78). Emotions Thinking types use reason and logic to handle problems. Feeling types rely on their personal values and emotions. Emotional stability (often labeled by its converse, neuroticism) taps a person’s ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident, and secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure. The other aspect of negative emotional stability—a depressive outlook is bad for every job. It is very difficult to motivate yourself when you are depressed or to make a decision, or to take a risk. Compared to introverts, extraverts tend to be happier in their jobs and in their lives as a whole. They usually have more friends and spend more time in social situations than introverts spend. However, they also appear to be more impulsive, as evidenced by the fact that extraverts are more likely to be absent from work and engage in risky behavior such as unprotected sex, drinking, and other impulsive or sensation-seeking behavior. You might expect agreeable people to be happier than disagreeable people might, and they are, but only slightly. When people choose romantic partners, friends, or organizational team members, agreeable individuals are usually their first choice. Agreeable children do better in school, and, as adults, are less likely to get involved in drugs or excessive drinking (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 112). Personalities The most important reason managers need to know how to measure personality is that research has shown that personality tests are useful in hiring decisions. Scores on personality tests help managers forecast who the best bet for a job is. In addition, some managers want to know how people score on personality tests to understand and more effectively manage the people who work for them. There are three main ways personality is measured: • Self-report surveys—, which are completed by the individual—are the most common way to measure personality. One concern with self-report surveys, however, is that the individual might lie or practice impression management— that is, the person could “fake good” on the test to create a good impression. • Observer-ratings surveys have been developed to provide an independent assessment of personality. Therefore, instead of an individual taking the survey—as in the case of self-report surveys—perhaps a coworker could do the rating (sometimes with knowledge of the individual, sometimes not). • Projective measures (Rorschach Inkblot Test and Thematic Apperception Test) In the Rorschach Inkblot Test, the individual are supposed to state what inkblots seem to resemble. The TAT is a series of pictures (drawings or photos) on cards. People differ in the degree to which they like or dislike themselves and whether they see themselves as capable and effective. This self-perspective is the concept of core self-evaluation. Self-esteem is defined as individuals’ degree of liking or disliking themselves and the degree to which they think they are worthy or unworthy as a person. It is easy to see why self-esteem is a reflection of core self-evaluation: People who have a positive view of themselves and their capabilities tend to like themselves and see themselves as valuable. People who have a positive view of themselves and their capabilities tend to like themselves and see themselves as valuable. People with low self-esteem, however, are more susceptible to external influences, suggesting that low-self-esteem individuals depend on the receipt of positive evaluations from others. As a result, people with low self-esteem are more likely to seek approval from others and are more prone to conform to the beliefs and behaviors of those they respect than are people who believe in themselves. While we look at each employee differently, his or her attitude could be difference than want we want of our employee. We have to guide them through different components than others, the way that that the attitude, emotion, and personalities were describe. It may be difference from the way that I motivated my team. It will depend on the person. Some team members would need to be motivated different from others. Reference Robbins, S., & Judge, T. (2007). Organizational behavior (12th ed.)