Studying Organizational Attitudes from Individual and Organizational Frames of Reference

Attitude data were gathered on 307 managerial personnel from a large midwestern manufacturing company. The respondents represented different functional divisions, levels in the hierarchy, and departments in the organization. Discriminant analyses were done for groups formed on the basis of these organizational structure variables and the individual difference characteristics of age, tenure, and years of education. Group differences were highly significant for all analyses and multidimensional in all but one solution. The estimated power of the organizational structure groupings to account for individual attitude differences was 60, .43, .82, respectively. The power for the individual characteristic groupings ranged from 40 to .37. In addition to the apparent differences in the power of the structure versus individual characteristic solutions, the primary interpretation of group differences varied in the two sets of analyses. Groups formed on individual characteristics differed mainly in terms of job satisfaction. The differences between the organizational structure groups were more complex involving evaluations of line-staff relations, production management, and supportive services. Job satisfaction variables accounted for less of the between-group differences in the structure analyses.