Employee attitude surveys: Their interpretation and use

This paper evaluates the uses of attitude surveys as a guide to management decision-making and identifies some of the problems of carrying out such studies and implementing the results. The concepts of attitude, value, personality, motivation, morale and job satisfaction are reviewed and their relevance discussed. A model of the determinants of attitudes is developed and used as a basis for a consideration of the problems of effecting change and increasing job satisfaction. Finally, the types of action that might be recommended on the basis of attitude survey data are considered and the roles of management and researchers in the interpretation and implementation of conclusions discussed.