Firoz, a 28-year-old woman, works in a mental hospital as a technician for the last three years. In the beginning, she found the job interesting and value added. As time passed, the environment began to affect Firoz in a negative manner. As a medical technician, she was not given the opportunity to utilize the skills and knowledge she possessed as she had experience in social service for four years. At the start, Firoz was allowed to chart on the patients and to engage in conversation with the patients. These interactions helped Firoz to make her believe that she is making a difference to somebody. After one year, a new policy was implemented where only the licensed staff could prepare the charts. There was also a change in the job of a technician; they were now only supposed to visit patients and keep track every 15 minutes. Firoz was most affected as she was underutilized and needed to not use her experience and skill. Even after she completed her bachelor’s degree, the hospital did not increase her pay. Also, the yearly hikes were very low and all the employees in the hospital were told that they all were lucky to have the job during slack. In contrast, the hospital continued to make improvements in its infrastructure. The mentor was difficult to deal with, as he was unpredictable and maintained distance believing that the staff have minimal skills. Firoz noticed that her attitude toward work has become negative. She gets up in the morning, goes to work, and never smiles while she is in the office. She was affected by the work and was often feeling boredom. She followed the hospital policies and found that her stress level and negative attitude toward the job have started affecting her personal life. About two months ago, a job offer for a counselor training was there in a nearby clinic. Firoz did not want to go for a job change at that time. Still, she went for the interview and was selected. After getting the new job, her stress level decreased and she started feeling good and regained positive attitude. She again started working at her best at the work. Firoz was now able to have one-on-one sessions with the patients and felt that her skills were being fully utilized. This was extremely satisfying and her pay was much better than that of the previous job. As the supervisor was cooperative and kind, Firoz was very comfortable and could really begin to build her career in the new job.
Questions
1. Does individual behavior always follow from attitude? Explain.
2. What are the negative and positive attitudes being observed in Firoz?
3. What are the personality traits you see in Firoz?