motivational analysis of organizations

RATIONALE FOR THE QUESTIONNAIRE
The Managerial Attitude Questionnaire was designed to tap individual propensity to
cope with ambiguity either by seeking closure or by seeking a broad range of options.
Those taking the questionnaire are asked to distribute one hundred points over six
responses for each of ten situations. A logarithmic transformation is then used to
categorize individuals as having high, medium, or low tolerance for ambiguity
(Shannon, 1948). The greater the number of categories over which points are distributed,
the higher the assumed tolerance. The lower scores may indicate too low a tolerance for
ambiguity or singlemindedness, while a high score may indicate lack of a clear direction
or too much acceptance of ambiguity.
One bit of data that tends to support such interpretations is that the obtained
correlation between scores on the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale (1960) and scores on the
Managerial Attitude Questionnaire is -.36 in a sample of thirty working adults. This
finding indicates that those people who are more tolerant of ambiguity are less dogmatic
in their personal belief systems, which is as one would predict.
USES FOR THE QUESTIONNAIRE
Participants may be asked to discuss the ten incidents and the weights they assigned to
the various alternatives. This can prove interesting and show those who tend to
discriminate the most and the least. Comparisons between groups of students and groups
of managers can be made. The following means were computed for business
administration students and working adults.
Incident 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 X
Students
N = 90
87 97 89 82 99 88 73 87 101 99 90.2
Adults
N = 40
Working
Adults
N = 30
16 ❘❚
69 70 90 57 86 83 74 65 78 83 75.5
78 81 78 57 86 61 67 68 90 88 75.3
SD 23 29 26 30 19 41 30 27 22 31 16.55
Low Medium High
Students 0-84 85-99 100-156
Managers 0-65 66-95 96-156
The mean for students is generally about 90, while that for working managers is
about 75. This leads to the question of whether experience may result in tunnel vision or
may allow people to reject unsound alternatives more easily. Discussions of such
questions are fruitful and very useful in management-training groups. Results from the
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 19, 2nd Edition. Copyright © 1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer
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