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Taurai Musakaruka
Compliments of the new season and I am pleased to be back from the “sabbatical leave”.

In this article the focus will be on employee attitude as it relates to productivity and realisation of set objectives or targets. A bad attitude is like a flat tire, if you don’t change it, you will not go anywhere. These were the wise words of one management scholar.

This is indeed true and attitude is everything. Generally, employees with a right or positive attitude tend to be more productive as opposed to those with negative one, even if they possess top-notch skills and expertise. This applies to all facets of life, work, and sports and so on.

Attitudes are evaluations people make about objects, ideas, events, or other people. Attitudes can be positive or negative. Explicit attitudes are conscious beliefs that can guide decisions and behaviour. Implicit attitudes are unconscious beliefs that can still influence decisions and behaviour. Attitudes can include up to three components: cognitive, emotional, and behavioural.

Negative, like positive attitude, starts and end somewhere. The cycle starts with negative thoughts, leading to negative feelings and then negative actions resulting in decreased productivity and job satisfaction.

Attitude is important as it influences behaviour and choice of action and ultimately affects performance and productivity. From an organisational behaviour theoretical point of view attitude is defined simply as the way employees feel inside.

This feeling in turn affects behaviour which is a measure of how they react to their attitude. This can either come out positively or negatively. Simply put negative attitude results in negative behaviour which can be a deliberate commission or omission.

An employee with a negative attitude can sabotage the employer through producing a bad product (commission) or deliberate failure to produce a product (omission).

Experience has taught me that attitude is everything. We have our local heroes in music, sport, politics, economics and many different fields. If you look back carefully, you will find that they are where they are because of positive attitude (merit and not charity).

Sport is a good testimony of how attitude can make or break a person. You can look at people like Kirsty Coventry, Charles Manyuchi, the Black family, the Ndlovu brothers and so on and never ever think that they owe their success to traditional healers or prophets.

I am not surprised to see my young brother Costa Nhamoinesu sitting where he is today. He is up there because of a positive attitude. I had the privilege of playing football with him at high school though he was playing for the juniors at Seke High One.

He had this positive attitude and passion for football and despite being kept on the bench at times by the then coach, the late Regis Chirapa, you would see him giving 100 percent whenever given a chance. At times, he would come to borrow my soccer boots when he was in Form Two while I was in upper six because he loved his sport and would not allow anything to stand on his way.

Yes, he could fit in those boots because of his big feet. I am sure you have seen his feet and what it is capable of doing. There were better players than Costa then but because of their attitude, some are failures in life. Where is Costa . . . big in Europe! You may have the right skills but if you do not have the right attitude, you will not go anywhere. Even in the human resources field, we hire for attitude and train for skills. This confirms that attitude is everything.

Therefore, do not allow your bad attitude to influence your actions. This explains why some people have ended up in jail simply because they killed someone whom they just did not like.

That’s negative attitude and it does not have positive results as it always results in negative action. That is why you have never bought something good or a present for your enemy because your actions are driven by negative attitude towards something. You can also check voting patterns in an election . . . it is all about attitude.

Sungura maestro Alick Macheso (2016) confirmed my sentiments through one of his songs, “Mude Mude” off his latest album, “Tsoka DzeRwendo”, where he echoed that if you do not like your job, how you could enjoy it. It shows that attitude is everything. Have a positive attitude towards your spouse and the rest will follow. Have a positive attitude towards your job and results will follow.

Employees display negative attitude at the workplace for a number of reasons, which in turn affect their behaviour and performance negatively. This can be caused by both internal as well as external factors.

Internal factors could be directly linked to the working environment itself in the form of the working conditions, quality of supervision, general management style, culture, general remuneration levels etc.

External factors could be everything ranging from social, economic, political and of course person specific depending on the size of the grey matter in one’s head. Some people are just like that and they should not be allowed to escape through the recruitment and selection net, as they will be a big problem and threat to the organisation. There are people who generally and naturally tend to have attitude problems.

However, if there is something you do not like at work please do not act out, but engage. Acting out will not do any good for you. Some people tend to act overtly while others use the covert route to air out their grievances.

Dialogue is the best and most organisations through best practice and ex-lege (operation of the law), have platforms to resolve any concerns in the form of grievance procedures, workers committee/representatives or works council, tip off anonymous, suggestion boxes, office of the ombudsman, workplace counsellors etc.

Research has shown that employees who have a negative attitude towards their work tend to be bad apples, as they also tend to have bad attitude even towards workmates and their leaders or supervisors.

There are also supervisors who tend to have an attitude problem which in turn create a bad working environment for employees.

Supervisors who have a bad attitude are a recipe for a disaster and should be helped to change their attitude. If they cannot, they should be managed up or out, whichever is easier and cheaper. This is because negative attitude is contagious.

Good employees and even customers may be forced out of an organisation if negative attitude holders are given free play to exhibit their bad talent.

Employees with a bad attitude, irrespective of their level tend to be less productive, counterproductive, and a good breeding ground for rumours, confusion and chaos at the workplace.

They speak badly about others and tend to backbite other employees or managers. Generally they “work-to-rule” i.e. adhering to narrow interpretation of rules or following exactly all working rules, including health and safety procedures as well as the working hours, in order to reduce output and efficiency.

They tend to lead people astray as they play a prophet of doom role. Anything about the organisation is seen in bad light in their eyes. They view the employer in bad light and as an exploiter and they are generally negative and tend to behave as “an opposition party” at workplace.

People with an attitude problem tend to be indecisive, very radical, and disrespectful and believe that they are always right and never give in during any argument or discussion. They also tend to jump into conclusion.

People with bad attitude tend to feel bitter when good things happen to others and feel happy when the opposite happens. In addition, some get extremely angry when a mistake occurs at workplace.

They also tend to exaggerate such mistakes and try to spread it as far as possible (pull her down syndrome-PHD). Reacting in such a manner all the time is a clear indication of a bad attitude. Understanding that at times things can go wrong is a sign of maturity but fuming at everyone, hitting tables and sending rats packing all the time is a clear sign of an attitude problem.

Disclaimer: I do not accept any liability for any damages or losses suffered because of actions taken based on information contained herein. The information contained herein does not serve as alternative to legal advice and these views are personal.

Taurai Musakaruka is Human Resources Practitioner and for feedback e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]