TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
“What causes someone to remain committed to their organization?”
Introduction
With respect to the perspective of a business organization behavior as well as industrial psychology, organization commitment refers to the individual psychological attachment to his or her business organization. This then means that each business organization is concerned with coming up with various methods which are directed at improving the manner in which employees feel about their works (Jex & Britt, 2008). Such methods are the ones which helps employees to be more committed to their business organization. Furthermore, the effectiveness of organizational commitment is that it is the one which is used for predicting the work variable for instance employees’ job performance, organizational citizenship behavior as well as business turnover. Factors for instance, employability, insecurity, and distribution of leadership are some of the issues which have shown a great impact on employees’ organizational commitment.
On the other hand, organizational commitment can be some extent is contrasted with various job-related attitudes for example job satisfaction. This refers to the feelings of employees about their job duties. Thus organizational identification comes as the extent at which a worker experiences a sense of oneness just within their business enterprise (Jex & Britt, 2008). In connection to that, below are the three models of organizational commitments which can be used to predict the extent at which a person can remain to be committed to his or her organization;
- A) Affective commitment
Affective commitment can be termed as being the positive attachment of employees to their organization. Therefore, a worker who is effectively committed strongly ends up identifying the organizational goals as well as desiring to remain part of the organization. The reason as to why he or she commits himself or herself to the organization is just because he or she wants to. This then implies that such willingness is influenced by various demographic factors or characteristics for instance, education, age, sex, and tenure (Jex & Britt, 2008). Regardless of that, is should be noted that all of these influences are neither consistent nor strong. The only difficulty with them is that although they can be seen, it is equally impossible to define then clearly.
Conversely, the positive relationship which exists between employee commitment and tenure comes as a result of the tenure-related differences in work quality and status.
- B) Continuance commitment
This means the need component or just the gains verse the losses which comes as a result of working in a particular organization. Investments are typically the returns or losses which arise in case an employee opts to stay or leave his business organization (McCarthy et al, 2013). Therefore, this is to imply that an employee may decide to be committed to his or her organization because of the high cost of losing the job that he or she perceives. Some of the factors which will in turn cost his or her organizational membership after losing the job include economics (i.e. pension accruals), social expenses (for instance the friendship ties with his or her co-workers), and so on (Stiffler, 2000). Consequently, in case a person may not regard the positive costs as being sufficient to stay within his or her organization, he or she should of course take into account all the alternatives which are available. Some of cost which would be incurred leaving his or her organization includes considering moving to another organization, disrupting his or her personal relationship. The problem with these factors is that although they don’t evolve once, they end up accumulating with tenure and age.
- C) Normative commitment
With normative commitment, what this means is that a worker commits to and will remain to be committed to his or her organization due to the feelings of obligation or responsibility. Such feeling are usually derived from the strain an individual experiences prior to and after joining a particular business organization (Stiffler, 2000). For instance, you might find that an organization had initially invested a lot in training a certain employee. Because of that such an employee may feel morally obliged when it comes to putting forth effort on his or her job. This will be connected to the desire of staying within such an organization in order to pay his or her debt. Yet, this can be due to the organization’s internal norm, which was already developed prior to the person joining it via socialization or family process that necessitates a person to be loyal to his or her organization. It implies that an employee will continue staying in a business organization just because he or she ought to.
Other than that, in case an employee extensively invests a great deal within his or her organization, he or she will end up receiving an advanced reward. Normative commitment remains to be of great relevance to business enterprises which values employee loyalty as well as systematically pass that information to all workers with incentives, rewards, and other strategies which are aimed at boosting their stay (Udechukwu, 2000). Moreover, it will also remain to be higher in case workers regularly witness their employers being committed to the well-being of their co-workers. Therefore, an employer how has extensive organizational commitment has higher chances of contributing a lot to the success of his or her organization hence experiencing a higher degree of job satisfaction. Such satisfactions, in return, decrease the workers’ turnover as well as increasing the capability of the organization to recruit and train talent.
Regardless of the above models, what this means is that the management of employees at work is regarded as being an integral part of the enterprise’s management process. Through getting a clear picture of the importance of workers to a business organization, it then means that the management will recognize the fact that human element and organization are two factors which are synonymous (Udechukwu, 2000). Therefore, it is easy for a worker to be perceived by a well organized organization as the chief source of its quality or productivity gains. This is due to the fact that it considers workers as the fundamental source of its success and not capital investment.
Thus an organization will remain to be effective and efficient to the extent at which it desires to achieve its goals through employees. In accordance to this consideration and to the above three models, below are the various factors which causes someone to remain committed to his or her organization;
Employee motivating factors
Motivation, commitment and employee loyalty are important factors when it comes to the success of a business organization. Despite of the likes and dislikes of a person, it is important for employers to stay on top of the employees’ needs so as to limit high turnover rates (McCarthy et al, 2013). The presence of absence of extrinsic and or extrinsic factors has a great impact on workers motivation to remain loyal as well as committed to their organization. These motivational factors include;
1) Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation _ This kind of motivation usual occurs whenever an employee does something not because he or she is eyeing to be rewarded at the end but rather because he or she feels much satisfied with his duty. This can be based on the positively valued experiences that one receives and passionate that a workers experiences from the work he or she does.
On the other hand, extrinsic motivations are basically the actions exhibited by an individual because of the reward anticipated for. Because of this, it then means that employees who are motivated extrinsically tends to work extra harder because of either they are striving to realize something they desire, because they working towards of great implication or just to avoid something which has a negative implication to their organization (McCarthy et al, 2013).
2) Employee loyalty _ Employees’ loyalty often exist in an organization only when workers do believe in the goals or the set objectives of their organization and no the goals of their own, working for the common welfare as well as wanting to stay in the organization. It is seen as being an action which arises from honest motives. It can also be perceived as being a form of commitment which demands actions from a worker. Because of that, it then means that a person will continue to remain in an organization due his or her loyalty directed at the betterment of their working relationship (Davies et al, 2015). Thus, the loyalty of an employee is then expressed through ones’ feeling of belonging to that organization as well as the team of co-workers that he or she desires to help.
3) Job satisfaction _ this factor is commonly affected by the absence or the presence happiness which in return had a profound on the employees’ behaviors and commitment. It is just an emotional state which results from the appraisal or evaluation of one’s job experience. It is a concept which can be used to illustrate the degree at which a person feels about his or her works as well as the one’s willingness to quit his or her job (Udechukwu, 2000). It is typical the extent at which workers remain to contented with the job they are doing.
Cognitive job satisfaction and effective job satisfaction are the forms of job satisfaction which how well a person fits in his organization or the job he or she is doing. For instance, effective job satisfaction determines employees’ pleasurable emotional feelings about their work while cognitive job satisfaction determines the extent at which employees will be satisfies with the various facets of their work e.g. pension management, wages and salaries or working hours (Davies et al, 2015). This then implies that in case a person is satisfied or believes in the work that he or she is offered, the quality and the quantity of his or her work will increase. Furthermore, this suggest that whenever an employee is satisfied with his or her job, it then remains to be the contingent upon which a person strives to achieve certain motivators. Employees can be in the position of achieving job satisfaction when it is only directly associated to the outcomes of the work itself as well as when they have that capacity of receiving recognition, attaining success, receiving promotional opportunities and so on (Gitman & McDaniel, 2008).
Whenever workers have at least everything they need with their current employer, it then means that they will never have any relevant reason of seeking employment in another organization. In return they will tend to remain committed and loyal to their organization. Employees who are loyal and committed are usually that person who doesn’t feel the essence of working elsewhere other than within their enterprise, simply because they can’t manage working in a different environment. In other words, when advantages outweigh the disadvantages, workers will always find a precise reason for staying with an employer who openly appears to be caring about their professional and personal welfare.
4) Position and title _ The position or the title that a worker holds in a certain organization will obvious describe the job that they are required to execute so as to realize the set objectives of their company. It then suggests that the position or the title which is held by an employee is the motivation factor for him or her to perform a particular task. People often do move to other business organizations which has the capacity of offering them higher scales as well as the appealing of the work title (Lussier & Kimball, 2014). Equally, the title or position also reflects the employee’s level of income which in turn acts as the motivating factor of staying in such an organization.
5) Job security _ To any business organization, job security is greatest motivating factor amongst employees. Mostly, to an organization which doesn’t value the work of its employees, it then means that workers will tend to be less motivated and loyal to their organization whenever they perceive some sense of job insecurity. With respect to that, it then means when an organization appreciates the work done by employees, in return makes them to be confident that they will not be laid off (Herzberg et al, 1993). They will then to be more and more productive, satisfied hence remaining to be committed to their organization.
6) Promotion potential _ in any business environment, one of the cruel components which foster employer-employee relationship is usually the perception of job promotion. For instance, whenever a person feels like there are chances of him or her advancing or receiving a promotion or increase in salary, he or she will tend to be always willing to execute any task given (Gitman & McDaniel, 2008). Equally, he or she will take on responsibilities which will in return afford him or her opportunity of receiving positive recognition and the chances of advancing up. This makes employees to be more committed to his or her organization.
7) Working environment and Peer Corporation _ The work environment has a profound impact on the manner in which employees will remain to be attached to their workmates and their organization. A good working environment comprises of things like an improved personal relationship with employers, teammates, job security and so on (Gitman & McDaniel, 2008). Therefore, this means that when a worker is in the position of doing what he or she loves, believes in the mission and vision of their employer as well as surrounding himself or herself with the people that he or she enjoys working with, he or she will remain to be more committed to such an organization (T.q.m, 2011). Hostility in a working environment makes employees to be demoralized hence making the quality and quantity of their job to diminish. This lowers ones attachment to such an organization.
In addition to that, in this current competitive labor market, majority of workers desires to be in a good working environment within their organization. This remains to be the case always because it the workplace which provides an image of the daily lives of all the people that comes to work , execute their duties as well as living within the framework of the company’s regulations (Mathe et al, 2012). Working environment is an important assortment of individuals who have diverse interests, lifestyle and personalities, who comes together for a common objective.
Therefore, workers who are happy end up creating a conducive environment which consists of efficiency and enjoyment. Thus an employee will enjoy working or thriving in an organization which has the capability of creating a positive work environment. A business organization which always solves any form of conflict within employees plays a significant role in motivating an employee (T.q.m, 2011). Nonetheless, collaboration amongst peer workers enables a good working relationship among employees. This motivates an employee to continue staying in such of an organization because he or she will not bear the burden of losing such a working relationship (Cassidy & Kreitner, 2009).
8) Employee benefits _ This comprises of things like compensation cost, occupational earnings, incidence, or provision of workers benefit plan. In most cases, workers do expect at least a core benefit for their health care, paid leave and pension and this means any employer how cannot manage to offer such will ultimately be faced by difficulties of hiring employees (Davies et al, 2015). Then this is to suggest that the benefits an employer receives from his or her organization is the one which has the capacity of retaining workers as well as making them to be loyal. In rapidly competitive environment, at times one business organization may be offering different employee benefits as compared to another (T.q.m, 2011). The benefits of the company which will appear to be more attractive will be the one which will retain a worker more so in this competitive labor market.
Conclusion
Regardless of the industry in which one works, every business organization owner will desire to recruit, hire, or train workers, who will in turn be motivated towards advancing its set objects, realizing its visions, as well as strengthening the organization’s internal and external relationship or association. In connection to that, an employee will be exhibiting either effective, normative or continuance commitment within his or her organization. This is to say that in case a worker is effectively committed, he or she will have no option but to remain committed to that organization, not just because he is forced to but because of the emotional attachment with it. When he or she exhibits continuance commitment, he or she will opt to stay with the owner of that organization, not because of the emotional attachment but because he or she recognizes the financial expenses linked with quieting the job. So he or she will be forced to remain so as to avoid such expenses. With regard to normative commitment and in association with the above discussed factors, an employer will opt to remain committed within that organization because he or she feels that he ought to and not because of their agenda with the respective employer. Finally, motivation either extrinsic or intrinsic is an important driving force as well as the deciding factor for whether or not a worker will remain committed or leave an organization.
Reference
Jex, S. M., & Britt, T. W. (2008). Organizational psychology: A scientist-practitioner approach. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
Stiffler, K. L. (2000). Direct support staff perceptions of frontline supervisor's skills: Correlation with organizational commitment and intent to leave. Minneapolis: Capella University.
Udechukwu, I. I. (2000). The relationship between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, intentions to quit, and perceived alternative employment in the assessment of employee turnover: A study of correctional officers. Fort Lauderdale: Nova Southeastern University.
McCarthy, S., Jaafar, J., Kamal, A., & Zubai, A. (2013). Psychology at Work in Asia: Proceeds of the 3rd and 4th Asian Psychological Association Conferences and the 4th International Conference on Organizational Psychology. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
In Davies, S. J., In Hertig, C. A., & In Gilbride, B. P. (2015). Security supervision and management: The theory and practice of asset protection.
Total quality management. (2011). Delhi: Pearson.
Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., Snyderman, B. B., & Herzberg, F. (1993). The motivation to work. New Brunswick [N.J.: Transaction Publishers.
Gitman, L. J., & McDaniel, C. D. (2008). The future of business: The essentials. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western.
Lussier, R. N., & Kimball, D. C. (2014). Applied sport management skills.
Mathe, H., Pavie, X., & O'Keeffe, M. (2012). Valuing people to create value: An innovative approach to leveraging motivation at work. Singapore: World Scientific.
Cassidy, C., & Kreitner, R. (2009). Supervision: Setting people up for success. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
