Patterns of Job Attitudes in Two Assembly Technologies

Abstract

In this report the job attitudes of workers in two assembly plants were examined by applying a factor analysis to data obtained from a content analysis of interviews. For both plants the attitude variables could be described as the following three independent factors: affective components, instrumental components, and job involvement. In the auto assembly plant technological variables describing the jobs broke down into two independent factors, one dealing mainly with the variety present in the job, and the other with physical strain, mechanical pacing, and the like; these were termed variety and assembly-line syndrome respectively. In the electronics assembly plant one technological factor accounted for all the variance in jobs except that of utility operator. It was concluded that this pattern of attitude factors constitutes a replication, with different methods and a different sample, of the work of Herzberg et al.1 and that there may therefore be some general theoretical basis for the distinction between the satisfiers and motivators as expressive and instrumental aspects of job attitudes respectively. Finally, possibilities for changing the nature of the assembly-line job were examined.2 Thomas M. Lodahl is associate professor of administration in the Graduate School of Business and Public Administration, Cornell University.