Changing Attitudes

Dear Reader,
Given below is an article which was posted on one of the forums by a member of the forum.
The article has been reproduced here in detail as given.

Regards,
A.S.Prasad

Changing Attitudes
by Harold D. Stolovitch, Ph.D.

Sometimes getting people to change their performance seems impossible, despite the urgent need to do so. Here are some examples.

The press highlighted rising conflict incidents - some resulting in violence - related to racial, cultural and linguistic differences between public transit riders and bus drivers. Bus drivers were convinced riders were at fault. "They should go back to where they came from if they can't act decently," the drivers complained.

Firefighter hand injuries increased sharply. A major contributing cause was not wearing gloves at fire scenes. "Real men don't wear gloves," characterized the prevailing attitude.

Women enrolled, through a recent company campaign, in traditionally male-only, well-paying trades were abandoning the program at an alarming rate. They claimed discrimination and harassment. Men ridiculed these grievances, with the attitude, "If they can't take the heat, they should get out of the kitchen."

Each case investigation turned up evidence indicating deeply embedded attitudes, ignorance of the consequences of one's actions and cultural norms as major contributors to the undesirable outcomes. In the public transit case, the majority of drivers were unaware of their own contributory actions that triggered conflicts and had no knowledge of the consequences to themselves and their jobs. Firefighters firmly believed they knew what they were doing. This, coupled with a macho culture, created barriers to improved safety behaviors. As for the women entering hitherto closed job categories, job loss fears, misunderstandings concerning appropriate conduct and blindness about the impact of their actions inhibited the men from changing entrenched behaviors.

Transforming how someone troubleshoots equipment or processes claims basically requires goal setting, practice, feedback and reinforcement. In areas of strong emotion a different paradigm is required, one that focused on replacing deep-rooted beliefs and habitual behaviors. What follows is a six-step strategic approach for transforming attitudinally biased, counterproductive performances into ones that generate positive results for both the organization and the performers themselves.

1. Perception:
Awareness is a critical first step. For the bus drivers, ridership was declining - and affecting their jobs - except in one category: the newly landed immigrant riders with whom they were having conflicts. Drivers were amazed by a video about immigrant riders' fears and perceptions of bus driver hostility. Exposure to statistics about injuries, the long-term health consequences of hand injuries and their effect on absenteeism, budgets and jobs opened firefighters' eyes to how their individual neglect was creating widespread negative consequences.

2. Acknowledgement:
Perception must lead to acceptance of the negative consequences of deep-seated attitudes - short and long term - on all involved.

3. Valuing:
The negative impact of time-honored beliefs and behaviors has to be exposed and replaced with a new value system. Role-play, success examples, informal leader encouragement and reinforcement of all values are useful.

4. Actions:
From words to deeds, models of conduct, practice, feedback and reinforcement come into play. Appropriate policies, pro-cedures, expectations and consequences are critical in this step. Encouraging on-the-job initiatives and monitoring to foster appropriate actions strengthens the probability of performance changes.

5. Support:
A major step forward occurs when performers act appropriately and assist in others' efforts to do so. Encouraging informal support, communicating positive outcomes and recognizing support efforts accelerates the performance transformation.

6. Advocacy:
When key group members assume leadership and press for the new performance, success has occurred.

In all three examples, not only were strategies implemented, they resulted in significant performance improvements. Incidents dramatically declined aboard buses; firefighter hand injuries steadily decreased; women are increasingly succeeding and remaining in their new trades. All were difficult performance changes; all had positive outcomes.


[About the Author: Harold D. Stolovitch, Ph.D., CPT is a principal of HSA Learning & Performance Solutions LLC and is emeritus professor of instructional and performance technology at the Universite de Montreal.]