After working through this chapter you should be able to:

• define values, beliefs, attitudes, behaviour and motivation

• explain the theory of reasoned action

• identify and describe key motivational theories

• explain why behaviour is (usually) the ultimate out- come of the interaction of values, beliefs, attitudes and motivation.

Consider for a moment the plight of Sherlock Holmes engaged in bringing to justice the perpetrator of some dastardly deed. To solve this mystery, the detective required key pieces of information about context, motives and other circumstances. Service managers are no different in their quest to understand their workers. Necessary organizational variables need to be analysed and arranged in a particular order to help managers make sense of them. Only then can informed and effective decisions be made in an organizational behaviour context.

In Chapter 4 we discovered that personality, perceptions and ability have a powerful impact upon individuals and how they act in the workplace. In addition, the process of behaviour modification or learning and its impact on training were also explained. However, there remain other crucial pieces of this complex puzzle which must be positioned before service managers can hope to understand their employees and predict their behaviour. In other words, so far we have only discussed those issues that suggest individuals might hold particular values, beliefs, attitudes and motivations. We have yet to learn about the chronology and true meaning of these elements.