4-1
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Chapter
4
Attitudes
4-3
What is an Attitude?
Attitude
Thoughts
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Human Relations, 3/e
Feelings
Actions
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4-4
Attitudes and Self-Esteem
Positive
attitude
High
self-esteem
Attitudes can make or break
your relationships with others.
Negative
attitude
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Human Relations, 3/e
Low
self-esteem
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4-5
What Makes a Good Attitude?
 Many studies have shown that you can
choose to have a happy or positive attitude.
continued
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4-6
What Makes a Good Attitude? continued
Four characteristics that happy people share:
 Healthy self-esteem
 Optimism
 Extraversion
 Personal control
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4-7
Changing Attitudes
 The key to changing a negative
attitude into a positive one is
feedback.
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Human Relations, 3/e
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Positive Attitudes
and Optimal Experiences
4-8
 What makes you happy?
 What do you love to do?
continued
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Human Relations, 3/e
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Positive Attitudes
and Optimal Experiences continued
4-9
Achieved
goal
Optimal
experience
Flow
continued
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Human Relations, 3/e
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Positive Attitudes
and Optimal Experiences continued
4-10
 Optimal experience is the pleasure
in performing the process of an
activity itself, rather than achieving
the goal.
 Flow is the motion in which each
step of a task seems to flow into the
next.
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Eight Components of the
Flow Experience
4-11
1. The activity requires a specific skill
and is challenging.
2. Attention is completely absorbed by
the activity.
3. There are clear goals for the activity.
4. Feedback is clear about how you are
doing.
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Human Relations, 3/e
continued
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Eight Components of the
Flow Experience continued
4-12
5. You are concentrating only on the
task itself.
6. You achieve a sense of personal
control.
7. You lose a sense of self-awareness.
8. You lose your sense of time.
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Human Relations, 3/e
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4-13
“Flow” in Our Everyday Lives
 One key to personal happiness and
life satisfaction is to take
responsibility and find out what
makes you feel flow in your work.
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4-14
Attitudes and Job Satisfaction
 The degree of satisfaction any
employee feels is based on the extent
to which the job, and benefits
associated with it, fulfill the
employee’s needs and desires.
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Positive Attitudes and Managers:
Theory X and Theory Y
4-15
 Psychologist Douglas McGregor coined the
terms Theory X and Theory Y to show the
two opposite types of managers in terms of
their attitudes toward people.
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Human Relations, 3/e
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Theory X Managers
Theory X managers believe that:
 Most people hate to work.
 Most people have to be forced or bribed
into working.
 Most people don’t want responsibility.
 Most people want security above all else.
 Threatening employees is often
necessary.
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Human Relations, 3/e
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4-17
Theory Y Managers
Theory Y managers believe that:
 Work is a natural activity.
 People will find rewards in a job well
done.
 Most people like and seek responsibility.
 Most people are creative and original.
 The mental abilities of most people are
sadly underused.
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Implementing a Theory Y
Management Style
4-18
Three factors must be considered before
implementing Theory Y management:
 The maturity level of the employees.
 The meaningfulness of the work.
 The speed of the transition.
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Human Relations, 3/e
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Strategy for Success 4.1:
4-19
Changing Pessimism to Optimism
Follow these steps when faced with a
terrible situation:
1. Describe the situation.
2. What is the worst possible outcome of this
situation, and is there anything you could do to
prevent this outcome?
3. What is the best outcome that could occur in
this situation, and is there anything you can do
to make the best outcome occur?
4. What do you see as the most likely outcome,
and what will you do to cope if the most likely
outcome occurs?
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Human Relations, 3/e
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Strategy for Success 4.2:
4-20
Building Positive Attitudes
1. As much as possible, be positive.
2. Don’t get trapped in someone else’s
negative attitude.
3. Look for the good qualities in yourself, in
others, and in your organization.
4. Don’t let situations outside of you push you
around.
5. Become goal oriented.
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Human Relations, 3/e
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Chapter
4
End of Chapter 4