Attitude

Management Concept Compendium Topic

Attitude

An attitude can be defined as a persistent tendency to feel and behave in a particular way toward some object.

Attidues have three characteristics. They tend to persist unless something is done to change them. Second, attitudes can fall anywhere along a continuum from very favorable to very unfavorable toward specific objects. Third, attitudes are directed toward some object about which a person has feelings and beliefs.

Attitudes can be thought of as having three components - Informational, emotional and behavioral. The informational component consists of the beliefs and information the individual has about the object. The emotional component involves the person’s feelings – positive, negative, or neutral. The behavioral component consists of a person’s tendencies to behave in a particular way toward an object.

Out of the three components, the behavioral component can be directly observed. The other two components can either be inferred from observed behavior or brought out through specially designed questionnaires.

Changing attitudes

Attitudes of people can be changed. There are two basic barriers that can prevent people from changing their attitude. The first one is prior commitment. People feel commitment to a particular course of action and are unwilling to change their attitudes toward objects that are coming in the way of success of their committed course of action. The second barrier is a result of insufficient information.

Approaches to changing attitudes

Providing new information

Sometimes new information will change a person’s belief and in the process change his or her attitude.

Use of fear

A moderate degree of arousing fear may be of help in changing attitudes towards life threatening objects like cigarettes etc.

Influence of friends or peers

Persuasion by friends or peers can change attitudes.

The co-opting approach

In this method, persons with negative attitudes about an object are co-opted in efforts to improve the objects. The process of improvement may change the attitude of person.

Reference

Fred Luthans, Organizational Behavior, 10th edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2005
Chapter 7, “Personality and Attitudes”