Life Attitudes of the Government Employees at the City Council of Davao

LIFE ATTITUDES OF THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AT
THE CITY COUNCIL OF DAVAO

MARIA CHERIZZ G. BURLAT
DANICA ANA B. BENDIGO

SUBMITTED TO MR. CHRISTHOFFER LELIS OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL,
UNIVERSITY OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, BONIFACIO ST. DAVAO
CITY IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE COURSE: STATISTICS WITH
COMPUTER (EDUC 200)

MARCH 2012
Introduction

A major part of our life concerns our attitudes toward ourselves and others and how we feel as a result of those attitudes. Fulfillment in our attitudes can contribute to leading a satisfying and successful life. Factors involved in having satisfying attitudes are that we should enjoy life, be accountable for our own well being, and think in terms of taking care of our whole person.

Positive attitude helps to cope more easily with the daily affairs of life. It brings optimism into your life, and makes it easier to avoid worry and negative thinking. If you adopt it as a way of life, it will bring constructive changes into your life, and makes them happier, brighter and more successful. With a positive attitude you see the bright side of life, become optimistic and expect the best to happen. It is certainly a state of mind that is well worth developing and strengthening.

Based on the facts stated above, the researchers opted to investigate the life attitudes of government employees at City Council Davao City.

Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to investigate the general Life Attitudes of the government employees at City Council in Davao City; specifically it sought answers the following:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

1. Gender; and

2. Age?

2. What is the life attitude of the respondents?

3. Is there a significant difference in the life attitude of the respondents when they are grouped according to age and gender?

Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant difference in the life attitude of the respondents when they are grouped according to age and gender.

Methodolgy

This study made use of a descriptive-comparative design. Survey questionnaires were used as instruments for data collection. The respondents of this study were the employees of the City Council chosen using the simple random technique. The study was conducted throughout the City Council’s operating hours from Mondays through Fridays starting last January 16 to January 20, 2012 around 1-3 pm. The randomly sampled respondents were asked by the researchers for consent and approval to answer the questionnaire until the desired number of respondents which was 30 has been reached. The data were analyzed using appropriate statistical tools. The mean was used to determine the employees’ life attitude. The frequency and percent distribution were utilized in determining the employees’ profile in term of gender and age. The independent sample t-test and One-way analysis of Variance were employed in testing the difference in the life attitudes of the respondents when grouped according to gender and age, respectively.

Results and Discussion

Table 1.1 Frequency and percent distribution of the respondents according to gender

| GENDER |FREQUENCY | |PERCENT |
| MALE |15 | |50.0 |
|FEMALE |15 | |50.0 |
| TOTAL |30 | |100.0 |

The findings reveal that the percentage of our sample between male and female is both equal. The researchers didn’t really intend this thing to happen since the distribution of questionnaires is random.

Table 1.2 Frequency and percent distribution of respondents according to age

| AGE |FREQUENCY | |PERCENT |
| 20-29 |7 | |23.34 |
|30-30 |10 | |33.33 |
|40-ABOVE |13 | |43.33 |
|TOTAL |30 | |100.0 |

Shown in table 1.2 is the frequency and percent distribution of respondents according to age. As reflected in the table 1.2, most of the respondents belong to the ages 40 and above (f= 13. %= 43.33). Group 2 were between ages 30 to 39 is 10% and Group 1 were between ages 20-29 is 7%.

Table 2. The life attitudes of the respondents
|Life Attitude Indicators |Mean |Qualitative Description |
|1. Financial security is very important to me. |4.60 |Agree |
|2. I’d say I’m rebelling against the way I was brought up. |2.96 |Disagree |
|3. I believe that industrial growth should be limited. |3.40 |Neutral |
|4. Generally speaking, most people are trustworthy and honest. |3.03 |Neutral |
|5. Everything is changing too fast today. |4.16 |Agree |
|6. In general, it’s more important to understand my inner self than to be famous, powerful, or |4.10 |Agree |
|wealthy. | | |
|7. My greatest achievements are ahead of me. |3.70 |Neutral |
|8. I believe a woman can work outside the home even if she has small children and still be a good|4.16 |Agree |
|mother. | | |
|9. I certainly am more conventional than experimental. |3.43 |Neutral |
|10. I like to try new and different things |4.00 |Agree |
|11. It’s very important to me to feel I am a part of a group. |4.23 |Agree |
|12. Overall, I’d say I’m very happy. |4.03 |Agree |
|13. TV is my main form of entertainment. |3.60 |Neutral |
|14. I’m a spender rather than a saver. |3.46 |Neutral |
|15. I would rather spend a quiet evening at home than go out to a party. |3.76 |Neutral |
|16. My family is the single most important thing to me. |4.16 |Agree |
|17. I think I have more self-confidence than most people. |3.80 |Neutral |
|18. I like to think I’m a bit of a swinger. |3.34 |Neutral |
|19. A woman’s life is fulfilled only if she can provide a happy home for her family. |4.83 |Agree |
|20. My social status is an important part of my life. |4.03 |Agree |
|21. I act on my hunches. |3.63 |Neutral |
| Average |3.77 |Neutral |

In table 2, results revealed a significant description on the Government Employees of the City Council of Davao City life attitude. In the first question, “Financial security is very important to me”. Most of the respondents answer is neutral. According to Marquit (2008), your attitude toward money is formed over a lifetime of financial experiences. It starts when you are young and can be greatly influenced by your upbringing. Moreover, financial security is the ability to meet future needs while keeping pace with day-to-day obligations. Preparing for retirement and potential long-term care costs takes planning, saving, and debt control. Your first task is to learn what to expect and how to plan for the “later life” you envision. In the data it suggests that most Government Employees of City Council Davao City agrees that financial security is important to them. In the second statement, “I’d say I’m rebelling against the way I was brought up”. Most of the respondents disagree to this statement. Based on the studies of American Association for the Advancement of Science (1990), Human behavior is affected both by genetic inheritance and by experience. The ways in which people develop are shaped by social experience and circumstances within the context of their inherited genetic potential. The scientific question is just how experience and hereditary potential interact in producing human behavior. Therefore, this statement doesn’t have great impact in the life attitudes of the respondents. In the third statement, “I believe that industrial growth should be limited”. The respondents have a neutral answer for this statement. 2011 Advertising Forecast MAGNAGLOBAL states that “As economies started to recover from the collapse of real estate-fueled bubbles in much of the world, 2010 brought a period of relative stability—and in many instances improvement - compared to the upheavals experienced during 2009. While painful adjustments to a state of equilibrium will take many years for some economies, especially Greece and Ireland, other nations such as China and India continued to rocket ahead as if the global financial crisis never occurred. In 2011, countries posting growth will more than compensate for the relatively small number of laggards”. Since Philippines belong to the Third World Country after the Marcos’s Rule. The respondents are not that affected to the industrial growth of the country. Poverty versus growth is not an issue anymore based on the data collected. Same as to the fourth statement, according to Magma (2006), “Generally speaking, most people are trustworthy and honest”. In business or personal life, people are everything. The key to becoming a people-oriented person is simple. Be honest and trustworthy in your dealings. Practice being kind, courteous and considerate when you deal with people. Treat them the way you would want them to treat you. The respondents are neutral when it comes to honesty and trustworthiness. In the fifth statement, “Everything is changing too fast today”. Respondents agree in this statement. Horone (2008), it seems that we are moving towards an historical turning point. For at least 150 years everything has been getting faster and for the most part speed was doing us better than harm in that time. But in recent years we’ve entered the phase of diminishing returns. Today we are addicted to speed, to cramming more and more into every minute. Every moment of the day feels like a race against the clock, a dash to a finish line that we never seem to reach. This roadrunner culture is taking a toll on everything from our health, diet and work to our communities, relationships and the environment. That is why the Slow Movement is taking off. In the sixth statement it is the as answering question number one. Respondents agree that financial security appears to be important. In the statement numbers 7,9,15,16-19 and 21. Respondents appear to be neutral. Besen & McNamara (2009), as the workforce ages, as stated in the explanation of table 1.2. With regard to Women, work and family, statements numbers 8 and 16, respondents agree in this matter. International Socialist Review (2004), THIRTY-FIVE years ago, the women’s liberation movement raised the hopes and expectations of a generation of women. This movement challenged the prevailing notion that women were supposed to spend their entire lives engaged in housework and raising children. It demanded equal pay for women in the workplace, publicly funded child care, and the legalization of abortion. Today, both the ideological and the material gains of the women’s movement have come under a sustained attack. This backlash has its roots in the assault on working-class people over the last three decades. The intent of this class attack has been two-fold: to roll back the social gains of the late 1960s and early 1970s and to transfer wealth upward. This has meant a gutting of working-class living standards at the same time as the social safety net has been systematically shredded. Statement no. 10, “I like to try new and different things”, respondents agree in experimenting things. Squidoo Community (2012), the one and only thing we can control in our lives is our attitude. Nothing else is within our capabilities to choose, define, accept and maintain. We cannot choose the time, the place, and the family in which we were born; we cannot choose our destiny; we rarely can make and complete a life-plan. Things happen all the time and divert us from the direction we once chose; but nothing, absolutely and positively nothing cannot influence the attitude we chose to life. And this fact alone is enough to allow us the freedom and the ability to control, direct and manage our lives to the extent allowing each of us to find happiness, or its closest resemblance. Statements no. 11 and 20 depicts the sense of belongingness. Respondents believe that social networking is somehow important part of our life. “A sense of belonging,” writes Dr. Kenneth Pelletier of the Stanford Center for Research and Disease Prevention “appears to be a basic human need – as basic as food and shelter. In fact, social support may be one of the critical elements distinguishing those who are main healthy from those who become ill.” “Overall, I’d say I’m very happy”, statement number 12. Respondents agree that they are happy in life. Quinece (2011), People who have an attitude of gratitude lead happier and healthier lives than those who don’t because grat­i­tude forces us to over­come what psy­chol­o­gists call the “neg­a­tiv­ity bias”—the tendency to dwell on problems, annoyances, and life’s lit­tle injustices. By focusing on the good parts of life—the things that we are thank­ful for—we are conditioning our­selves to fostering a positive atti­tude and a healthy sense of well-being which is what hap­pi­ness is all about. No. 13, “TV is my main form of entertainment”. Respondents imply that TV is not the main source of their life. HubMedia (2012), a common person in the city usually wakes up checks the TV news or newspaper, goes to work, makes a few phone calls, eats with their family when possible and makes his decisions based on the information that he has either from their co workers, news, TV, friends, family, financial reports, etc. No. 14 statement, “I’m a spender rather than a saver”. The respondents have a neutral answer to this. Author and financial planning expert Diane McCurdy states that there are four types of Money Attitude that people find themselves functioning with namely, the Spender, Builder, Saver, and Giver. In summary of the result of the table 2, Life Attitudes may vary in different paces of life. Attitude diverts in a day to day bases depending in the circumstances that we confronting to and depending on our gender, our age and roles in our society. Posner (2008), each of us is made up of various physical, vital, and mental parts. There is our physical body and its organs, muscles, etc; the vital being with its sensations, emotions and feelings, and the mental part with its thoughts, memories, reasoning power, beliefs, etc. Somewhere between our emotions and our thought processing lie our attitudes -- our emotional perceptions about ourselves, others, and life itself. Attitudes generally express positively and negatively. E.g., when I have good feelings towards my work or co-worker, my attitude is positive. When I feel reluctant to do certain things that are necessary, or show hostility towards certain individuals, then my attitude is negative.
Table 3. Differences in the Life Attitude of the respondents when analyzed by profile

| PROFILE |MEAN | |STATISTIC VALUE |P-VALUE |REMARKS |
|GENDER |3.78 | |0.29 | | |
|Male | | | |0.83 |Not Significant |
|Female |3.76 | | | | |
|AGE | | | | | |
|1 (20-29) |3.80 | | | | |
|2 (30-39) |3.81 | |0.28 |0.76 |Not Significant |
|3 (40-above) |3.73 | | | | |

The findings reveal in Table 3, specifically in gender that life attitudes of male and female has no significant difference at all. Myers (1994), attitudes are learned and, therefore, are very susceptible to influence from the culture. In fact, as individuals grow up in a society many of their attitudes are learned through the process of socialization. Several institutions are involved in this process: family, church, school, clubs, etc. Through the process of socialization/acculturation individuals learn a society’s shared values, beliefs, norms, mores as well as world-view and other attitudes. Adina (2006), the matter of equality between women and men has however became an obsolete and even taboo subject. This issue is now part of the social conversations, listed among subjects like "Corruption" or "Global Warming" or "Money doesn 't bring happiness" and so on. The subject has been debated so frequently throughout the passing years, that now it is only a matter of principle, serving as subject of conversation among the ones who feel like uttering their opinions..

As reflected in the table 3, there is no significant difference in the life attitude of the respondents when they are grouped according to gender. We group the different age level into three and breakdown it from ages 20-29, 30-39 and 40-above. Although the respondents were grouped through different age brackets, the research shows that there is indeed no significant difference on how the respondents thinks and deals with life, particularly in their life attitudes. Some research may not agree with the result. According to Wiley and Sons (2012), Middle-age (40-65) adult thinking differs significantly from that of adolescents and young adults. Adults are typically more focused in specific directions, having gained insight and understanding from life events that adolescents and young adults have not yet experienced. No longer viewing the world from an absolute and fixed perspective, middle adults have learned how to make compromises, question the establishment, and work through disputes. Younger people, on the hand, may still look for definitive answers. Middle adults may develop and employ post formal thinking, which is characterized by the objective use of practical common sense to deal with unclear problems. An example of post formal thinking is the middle adult who knows from experience how to maneuver through rules and regulations and play the system at the office. However, in our research, it shows that men and women regardless of age basically have the same outlook in life. According to Shapiro (2002) unlike westerners who value individualism, Filipinos are usually collectivists. They identify with their families, regional affiliations, and peer groups. Filipinos self-concept and identities are strongly tied to their families. From birth to death, they see themselves in the context of their families. For many, everything they do – or fail to do – will ultimately affect their family’s reputation. This is because from childhood they have been admonished to accomplish and be the pride of the family. They are told that to do otherwise would shame the family. Although this may no longer be true to modern city-based individuals, still many Filipinos still value this very important culture. Important decisions and problems are only discussed within the immediate family – not among all the other relatives. Filipinos may be generous and hospitable to their extended family, but it is the welfare and wishes of their immediate family that drives them to work, sacrifice, and achieve.

And because of that, most Filipinos basically have the same life attitude, regardless of gender and age. And as the research shows, our respondents agree on the most important factors such as financial security, sense of belongingness, the importance of family and social status among others.

REFERENCES

SHERRI L. JACKSON - Research Methods and Statistics: A Critical Thinking Approach

Richard Ronay and Do-Yeong Kim 2006 - Gender differences in explicit and implicit risk attitudes: a socially facilitated phenomenon.

Erwin J. Haeberle - The Sex Atlas

Elyssa Besen and Tay McNamara 2009- Attitudes Toward Workers of Different Career Stages

2011 Advertising Forecast MAGNAGLOBAL http://www.magnaglobal.com/downloads/global-advertising-forecasts/magnaglobal-u-s-advertising-forecast-october-2011/

JEN ROESCH - Turning Back the Clock? Women, Work and Family Today http://www.isreview.org/issues/38/women_family.shtml

Roy Posner 2008 - A NEW WAY OF LIVING http://www.gurusoftware.com/GuruNet/ANewWayofLiving/Frame.htm

Robert Holden 2008 - Be Happy

Diane McCurdy - How Much is Enough? http://www.how-much-is-enough.com

Marsha E. Shapiro – Asian Culture Belief: Philippines http://www.ntac.hawaii.edu/downloads/products/briefs/culture/pdf/ACB-Vol2-Iss3-Philippines.pdf

References: SHERRI L. JACKSON - Research Methods and Statistics: A Critical Thinking Approach Richard Ronay and Do-Yeong Kim 2006 - Gender differences in explicit and implicit risk attitudes: a socially facilitated phenomenon. Erwin J. Haeberle - The Sex Atlas Elyssa Besen and Tay McNamara 2009- Attitudes Toward Workers of Different Career Stages 2011 Advertising Forecast MAGNAGLOBAL http://www.magnaglobal.com/downloads/global-advertising-forecasts/magnaglobal-u-s-advertising-forecast-october-2011/ JEN ROESCH - Turning Back the Clock? Women, Work and Family Today http://www.isreview.org/issues/38/women_family.shtml Roy Posner 2008 - A NEW WAY OF LIVING http://www.gurusoftware.com/GuruNet/ANewWayofLiving/Frame.htm Robert Holden 2008 - Be Happy Diane McCurdy - How Much is Enough? http://www.how-much-is-enough.com Marsha E. Shapiro – Asian Culture Belief: Philippines http://www.ntac.hawaii.edu/downloads/products/briefs/culture/pdf/ACB-Vol2-Iss3-Philippines.pdf