POSITIVE ATTITUDE BUILDING T.M.JAYASEKERA B Sc. Eng.,C Eng., MBA,MICE,MSLIM,MSLITD,FIE,FIM,FCIWEM MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT WHAT IS MEANT BY ATTITUDE  WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO SAY? WHAT IS AN ATTITUDE?  Attitude is a state of mind  Your attitude is your mind-set  It is the way you look at things mentally  Attitudes are evaluative statements  They indicate one’s feelings either favourably or unfavourably to persons objects and or events ATTITUDES ARE EVALUATIVE STATEMENTS  Attitude reflect how one feels about something Ex. When someone says “I like teaching” he is expressing his attitude about his work HOW ATTITUDE WORKS  It is a cognitive and affective evaluation that predisposes a person to to act in a certain way Cognitive Affective BEHAVIOUR THREE COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES?  Cognitions (Thoughts)  Affections (Feelings)  Behaviour ( Actions and reactions) THREE COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES- AN EXAMPLE  Cognitions (My job is interesting)  Affections (I love my job)  Behaviour ( I am going to get to work early with a smile on my face- my intention to act) DEFINITION OF ATTITUDE?  Attitude is defined as the persistent tendency to feel and behave in a particular way towards some objects, persons or events WHAT ARE THE SALIENT FEATURES ABOUT AITUDES?  Attitudes are related to feelings and beliefs about people  Attitude is a response to persons objects or events  Attitudes affect behaviour positively or negatively  Attitudes undergo changes  Attitudes affect perception, and in turn, behaviour HOW ATTITUDES ARE FORM ED- DIRECT LEARNING AND SOCIAL LEARNING  Attitudes are not inherited  They are acquired or learned by people from the environment in which they interact  The formation of attitudes is broadly classified in to two sources namely  1. Direct experience  2. Social Learning PROCESS OF LEARNING ATTITUDES FROM OBSERVATION- DIRECT LEARNING  One’s direct experience with an object or person serves as a powerful source for his or her attitude formation  In other words attitudes are formed on the basis of one’s past experience in concerned object or person PROCESS OF LEARNING ATTITUDES FROM OBSERVATION- SOCIAL LEARNING  The process of deriving attitudes from family peer groups religious organizations and culture is called social learning  In social learning a person acquires attitudes from his or her environment in an indirect manner  They acquire it mainly by observing their models PROCESS OF LEARNING ATTITUDES FROM OBSERVATION- SOCIAL EARNING  Attention - focus on something  Retention - what observed must be retained  Reproduction - Behaviour must be practiced again and again  Motivation - learner must be motivated to learn from it ROLE OF CULTURE IN ATTITUDE FORMATION  Culture plays a definitive role in the formation of attitudes  Ex- Sri lankans earn for future requirements  Americans for that matter earn to enjoy the present THREE TYPES OF JOB RELATED ATTITUDES  Job satisfaction - Individual’s pleasurable or positive emotional state toward his job  Job Involvement - the degree to which people immerse themselves in their jobs - It is identifying with one’s job  Organizational commitment - it is about employees loyalty towards their organizations - It is identifying with one’s organization JOB SATISFACTION IS RELATED WITH FIVE SPECIFC JOB DIMENSIONS  PAY  WORK ITSELF  PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES  SUPERVISION  CO-WORKERS JOB INVOLVEMENT  It is the degree to which employees immerse themselves in their jobs, invest time and energy in them and consider work as central part of their overall lives  Such employees tend to be high performers and seldom tardy and get absent ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT  It is an attitude about employee’s commitment to the organization  It is the process by which an employee identify with the organization and and want to maintain membership with the organization WHAT IS A POSITIVE ATTITUDE  WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO SAY? WHAT IS A POSITIVE ATTITUDE  Attitude is the way you communicate your mood to others  The way you perceive the world and your position in it directly affects your dealings with others  a positive self image will reinforce and improve both professional and personal relationships ATTITUDE IS YOUR MENTAL FOCUS ON THE OUTSIDE WORLD  Like using a camera you can focus or set your mind on what appeals to you  You can see situations as either opportunities or failures  Examples – A hot summer day may be beautiful or ugly – A departmental meeting is either interesting or boring ARE YOU AWARE OF THIS?  When you are optimistic and anticipate successful encounters you transmit a positive attitude and people usually respond favourably  When you are pessimistic and expect the worst your attitude is often negative and people tend to avoid you  Quite simply you take the picture of life you want to take EMPHASIZING THE POSITIVE AND DIFFUSING THE NEGATIVE  Emphasizing the positive and diffusing the negative is like using a magnifying glass  You can place the glass over good news and feel better or you can magnify bad news and make yourself miserable  Magnifying situations can become a habit  if you continually focus on difficult situations the result will be exaggerated distortions of problems A BETTER APPROACH  Imagine you have binoculars  Use magnifying end to view positive things  Use the other end whenever you encounter negative elements to make them appear smaller  Once you know to highlight the positive you are on the right road WHAT CAN WE LEARN FORM THIS  Think more about the positive things and try to make use of the positives to drive your life  This means that you have learnt to alter your imagery to highlight the positive  This means that you are on the right road REMEMBER! ATTITUDE IS NEVER STATIC! IT IS AN ONGOING DYNAMIC PERCEPTUAL PROCESS Unless you are on constant guard negatives can slip in to your mind which make your mind time spend on difficulties rather than on opportunities If negative factors stay around for a long time they will be reflected in your disposition The positive may be still there but may be overshadowed by the negative Challenge!  Push the negative factors to the outer perimeter of your thinking  Those who will learn the trick will reflect it and others will notice it Challenge!  Of course! No one can be positive all the time  Excessive optimism is not realistic  Positive attitude is not an act. It must be genuine HOW TO MEASURE ATTITUDES  Self- Report  Indirect tests  Direct observation Techniques  Psychological Reaction Techniques HOW TO CHANGE ATTITUDES  Filling in information Gap  use of fear  Resolving Discrepancies  Impact of peers  The co-opting approach Thank you very much! T.M.Jayasekera