EXECUTIVEEYEMANAGEMENT.ADRIANFURNHAMONTHEPSYCHOLOGYOFMANAGEMENT"Thereareimportantobjectionstoattitudesurveys.
Forone, theyallproducethesameresults"i Uiij,,@thenchanginganirudcsmllstleadCO
changedbchavioul'.ButiEthecausal
pathgoestheoeherway- thatis,
thatartirudesgetchangedifbehav-
iouris changed- thenit rnakesin-
formationabourattitudesfarless
imporranr.A waste 01 time:
testsf'tprovldesotutTonsADRIANfURNHAMisprofes:.orefpsy-
chology atUniversityCollege, Landen,
andanauthor.HislatestbookisManage-
mentIntelligence(PalgraveMacmillan,
ISBN978--0-230-21664-8.C20).Somedatashowthatitisindeed
changedbehaviourrhatchangesat-
citudes. 00 youremcmberadver-
eisemenrs warningpeople ofthe
dangers ofnot using seat behs?
Most peopleignored tbem.Thcnlawswereintroducedforcingpco-
pie ro usethcm.Since tben, atti-
rudeshavechanged,too.However.
morerecentstudies,whichlooked
artheanirudelbehaviourdehatein
termsofjohsatisfactionandprod-
ucriviry,didn'tfindanysignifieam
links.Thcquestionwas:arehappy
peoplcmore productivc? Ordoes
productivirybringhappiness?Now,
rhat'saquesrionYOllmayaskyour-
self. We psychologisrs cenainly
don'rhavemeanswer. IIIAttitude-surveyresultsarescldom
fascinating. Ifyouaska dientto
predicttberesultshcforethesuevey,
they areofeen so accurare. you
wonderwhytheycommissionedthe"
studyinthefirst placc.Andwhile
arritudesurveysmayact'LIfate1yde-
scribeartitudes.thcy danoteven
hin[atwhatcausedthcmorwhat
actionisneededtochangethern.
Therehasbeenadebateinpsy-
chologysincetheFirstWorldWar
abolltrherelarionshipberweenbe-
haviourandanitudes.lfthecausa!
pathis fromanitudestobehaviour,managershavea hugenumberof
importantsecretstheyarenotwill-
ingtoshare.
Thesecondpredictableresultisdis-
satisfactionwiehpayand benefits.
Rcspondenrs almoS! always sa)'
chey'renotbeingpaidfairlyorac-
cording[0markerrates.Theresult
is sopredicrablethat rhose who
commi..sionthesrudyoftenaskfor
payquestionstobeexcluded.
Seaffwillalsoalwayssaycompa-
ny mora[eislow.They'llsay[hat
it'sbeendroppingforsometime;
that morale is fine in tbeir own
areaburbadelsewherc.Andrhey'll
rypically say ther havc a paar
work-lifebalance,thatthey'reex-
pcctcd toda more work in less
time,andthattheyhavcjobStress.Areemployee-attjludesurveysever
worth thcmüneyandeffortspent
onrhem?By3skingHaffhowthcy
fcelabourrheirworkaodworkre-
larionships, they providea snap-
ihmofcampanymorale, weare
told.Andtheyshowmanagement
whatitneedstoconcemrateon.
Theindus[ry(hatdevelops and
implementsanitudesurveysisbig.
So(herearea lotofpeopleeagcrtu
seilthebenefitsofthesrudies.
Thosewhofavour rhembelieve
rhat:theyseparatefactfromfjeriol1;
thcyprovideobjecrivcinformation;
thcy helpdiscoverwhetheran0(-
ganizationismeetingirsobjectives;
thcyimprovestaffmoraleandmo-
tivation; they ~staffneeds;
they idcmify opportunities for
growth,changeaodimprovemem.
Buttberearethreeobjectionsco
attitudesurveysinfirms.First.they
allproducepracticallythesamere-
sults.Second,eheyrarelyofferso-
lutionstoproblems.Andthird,you
cannat~peoplc'sbehaviour
bascdontheirnttieudes.
Respondenrs will always say
there'sa companycommunicarion
problem- despite"beingrcgularly
informedrhrougbe-mails,meetings
orthefirm'sintranet.Thcrcseems
[0 be a generalized beliefrh:uassesssth.[:l'SCS} --;;"' -;etw.einscMtzen
attitudesurvef[';o:ulju:d,S3:VCI! Verhaltensstudie,Mllarbeiterbefragung
C..ttitude Einstellung.Haltung!
benefill'bemfltl hier:Zusatzleistung
commlsslonslh.lt~'nllJonl etw.inAuftraggeben
eager:be- 10 dosth.I'i:y,,] da.raufaussein.etw.zutun
hintatsth.['hmt:ttl etw.andeuten
implementsth. ['nnplrmcnl] elw.umsetzen
lndustryI'md:"lril Branche
IntermsaL.lm'[3:ml"vI imHinblickauf..
Inthefirstplace[mö"'f~:SIplersl Oberhaupt
marllelrate('mo:kllrell[ marlitOblicheLOhneundGehalter
ob;e<:tion["""d3~lr.f·n] Einwand
objectiYel:lb'd3CtuV] Ziel
predlcl5th.Ipri....hkt] etw.vorhersagen
predictableIpri'd,lr.I:lb>Ij vomersehbar
snapshoIl'SnrepJDlj Momentaufnahme
WOft(-lifebalance(,"~.J:k'bllr,bd:llld VerMlIniszwischeflArbeitund
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