Organizational Commitment
What is Organizational Commitment?
Organizational commitment is defined by Colquitt, Lepine, and Wesson (2013) as, “the desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of the organization” (p. 63). Even without a background in organizational behavior, this simple definition makes it clear why the subject is important to organizations. Without retaining its employees, a business cannot function. Furthermore, the costs associated with finding and training replacement employees is substantial.
Organizational commitment is divided into three categories: affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment. The best employees of our company are generally characterized as having affective commitment. They’re engaged and involved, they participate in organizational functions and activities, they have social connections throughout the company, and they work for us because they want to (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 64). These are the employees that share our values and will go the extra mile for our organization. This is the most advantageous level of commitment and the one that we should strive to facilitate.
Employees that exhibit continuance commitment stay at the company simply to continue the status quo (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 64). They don’t stay because they really want to, but rather because they don’t think there are any better options. Contributing factors may be pay or benefits that are better than they’ll receive elsewhere or strong ties to their school, church, or community. Continuance commitment can be fleeting though. If the employee finds a better opportunity with more perks somewhere else, they often will take it.
If an employee remains at our company simply because they feel that they owe it to us, they’re exhibiting normative commitment. Normative commitment is usually created when an employee feels indebted to their company due to training programs, mentoring, or by offering someone their first job (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 69).
Employees can have a mix of the three categories of commitment, and our company needs to focus on maximizing those benefits in order to retain our best workers. The more committed our employees are, the more likely they will be to stay with us. Additionally, the more organizational commitment an employee has, the less likely they are to display withdrawal behaviors that hinder productivity. Withdrawal behaviors can be anything from daydreaming, socializing, and cyberloafing, to tardiness, absenteeism, and quitting (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 71-75).
How can it be maximized?
There are many different ways that managers can attempt to maximize the commitment of their employees. Affective commitment is the most difficult to facilitate, and usually requires company-wide practices that foster a supportive work environment. Unfortunately, generational differences are now making affective commitment increasingly rare (Morrow, 2011). Continuance commitment can be improved relatively easily by increasing salaries, providing better benefits, or offering services such as on-site day care. However, if these perks are ever reduced, or if they fall below what our competitors offer, employees relying on continuance commitment may seek work elsewhere, especially if they have not been with the company long. As noted earlier, normative commitment can most easily be improved through training and mentoring programs.
Given the specific challenges of our business, I would recommend two strategies for increasing the organizational commitment of our employees.
1. An emphasis on building trust throughout the organization.
2. Utilizing transformational leadership.
Organizational commitment is defined by Colquitt, Lepine, and Wesson (2013) as, “the desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of the organization” (p. 63). Even without a background in organizational behavior, this simple definition makes it clear why the subject is important to organizations. Without retaining its employees, a business cannot function. Furthermore, the costs associated with finding and training replacement employees is substantial.
Organizational commitment is divided into three categories: affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment. The best employees of our company are generally characterized as having affective commitment. They’re engaged and involved, they participate in organizational functions and activities, they have social connections throughout the company, and they work for us because they want to (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 64). These are the employees that share our values and will go the extra mile for our organization. This is the most advantageous level of commitment and the one that we should strive to facilitate.
Employees that exhibit continuance commitment stay at the company simply to continue the status quo (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 64). They don’t stay because they really want to, but rather because they don’t think there are any better options. Contributing factors may be pay or benefits that are better than they’ll receive elsewhere or strong ties to their school, church, or community. Continuance commitment can be fleeting though. If the employee finds a better opportunity with more perks somewhere else, they often will take it.
If an employee remains at our company simply because they feel that they owe it to us, they’re exhibiting normative commitment. Normative commitment is usually created when an employee feels indebted to their company due to training programs, mentoring, or by offering someone their first job (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 69).
Employees can have a mix of the three categories of commitment, and our company needs to focus on maximizing those benefits in order to retain our best workers. The more committed our employees are, the more likely they will be to stay with us. Additionally, the more organizational commitment an employee has, the less likely they are to display withdrawal behaviors that hinder productivity. Withdrawal behaviors can be anything from daydreaming, socializing, and cyberloafing, to tardiness, absenteeism, and quitting (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 71-75).
How can it be maximized?
There are many different ways that managers can attempt to maximize the commitment of their employees. Affective commitment is the most difficult to facilitate, and usually requires company-wide practices that foster a supportive work environment. Unfortunately, generational differences are now making affective commitment increasingly rare (Morrow, 2011). Continuance commitment can be improved relatively easily by increasing salaries, providing better benefits, or offering services such as on-site day care. However, if these perks are ever reduced, or if they fall below what our competitors offer, employees relying on continuance commitment may seek work elsewhere, especially if they have not been with the company long. As noted earlier, normative commitment can most easily be improved through training and mentoring programs.
Given the specific challenges of our business, I would recommend two strategies for increasing the organizational commitment of our employees.
1. An emphasis on building trust throughout the organization.
2. Utilizing transformational leadership.
Trust
Authors Colquitt, Lepine, and Wesson (2013) define trust as, “the willingness to be vulnerable to a trustee based on positive expectations about the trustee’s actions and intentions” (pg. 200). Furthermore, Liu and Wang (2013) define organizational trust as, “an employee’s belief that the organization will act as he or she has anticipated” (pg. 231).
If an employee does not trust his or her employer, then they rely on an economic exchange relationship. In this case, the only reason the employee keeps working for the company is for the paycheck and other associated monetary benefits (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 222). Economic exchange relationships are based solely on continuance commitment, and are not likely to be permanent and lasting (Liu & Wang, 2013). On the other hand, social exchange relationships are characterized by mutual trust. Here, the employee feels secure with the employer and is willing to invest more into the relationship (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 222).
Several methods have been shown to effectively build the foundations required to foster organizational trust. Watson and Papamarcos (2002) found that trust in management and reliability in communication both significantly improved commitment among employees. These findings emphasize the need for management to distribute effective and accurate information in a timely manner. Another study found that organizational trust is dependent on managerial and technical competence (Pirson & Malhotra, 2011). They also found that integrity is essential to building trust in shallow relationships, while benevolence is more important in deep relationships.
Furthermore, in a 2011 study, Morrow found that it was much more difficult to build affective organizational trust with short-term employees. Liu and Wang (2013) had similar findings where any perceived risk to employment that made the organization more unpredictable to the employee negatively affected affective and normative organizational commitment. In order to overcome these obstacles, our company needs to focus on building positive long-term relationships with our employees. While it is tempting to focus on the cost savings of utilizing temporary or short-term workers, it can have a very negative impact on organizational commitment, costing us more money in the long run.
Given this information, creating trust in order to facilitate organizational commitment can be done in three important ways.
1. By training management to treat employees with integrity and benevolence.
2. By ensuring that our communications are reliable and accurate.
3. By building positive long-term relationships with our employees
Transformational Leadership
Training our managers to lead with a transformational approach is the next step to building organizational commitment. Colquitt, Lepine, and Wesson (2013) write that, “Transformational leadership involves inspiring followers to commit to a shared vision that provides meaning to their work while also serving as a role model who helps followers develop their own potential and view problems from new perspectives” (pg. 462). Additionally, Dunn, Dastoor, and Sims (2012) identified five key components to transformational leadership: challenging the process, inspiring shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way, and encouraging the heart. They also found that leader communication, participative leadership behaviors, and leader consideration were positively correlated with organizational commitment.
If we don’t properly train our managers to use transformational leadership, their actions can have a very negative affect on commitment. Morrow (2011) found that affective organizational commitment was lowered by abusive supervisors and harassing work environments. On the other hand, mentoring programs and leaders that inspired vision and hope were found to increase affective commitment.
Authors Colquitt, Lepine, and Wesson (2013) define trust as, “the willingness to be vulnerable to a trustee based on positive expectations about the trustee’s actions and intentions” (pg. 200). Furthermore, Liu and Wang (2013) define organizational trust as, “an employee’s belief that the organization will act as he or she has anticipated” (pg. 231).
If an employee does not trust his or her employer, then they rely on an economic exchange relationship. In this case, the only reason the employee keeps working for the company is for the paycheck and other associated monetary benefits (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 222). Economic exchange relationships are based solely on continuance commitment, and are not likely to be permanent and lasting (Liu & Wang, 2013). On the other hand, social exchange relationships are characterized by mutual trust. Here, the employee feels secure with the employer and is willing to invest more into the relationship (Colquitt et al., 2013, pg. 222).
Several methods have been shown to effectively build the foundations required to foster organizational trust. Watson and Papamarcos (2002) found that trust in management and reliability in communication both significantly improved commitment among employees. These findings emphasize the need for management to distribute effective and accurate information in a timely manner. Another study found that organizational trust is dependent on managerial and technical competence (Pirson & Malhotra, 2011). They also found that integrity is essential to building trust in shallow relationships, while benevolence is more important in deep relationships.
Furthermore, in a 2011 study, Morrow found that it was much more difficult to build affective organizational trust with short-term employees. Liu and Wang (2013) had similar findings where any perceived risk to employment that made the organization more unpredictable to the employee negatively affected affective and normative organizational commitment. In order to overcome these obstacles, our company needs to focus on building positive long-term relationships with our employees. While it is tempting to focus on the cost savings of utilizing temporary or short-term workers, it can have a very negative impact on organizational commitment, costing us more money in the long run.
Given this information, creating trust in order to facilitate organizational commitment can be done in three important ways.
1. By training management to treat employees with integrity and benevolence.
2. By ensuring that our communications are reliable and accurate.
3. By building positive long-term relationships with our employees
Transformational Leadership
Training our managers to lead with a transformational approach is the next step to building organizational commitment. Colquitt, Lepine, and Wesson (2013) write that, “Transformational leadership involves inspiring followers to commit to a shared vision that provides meaning to their work while also serving as a role model who helps followers develop their own potential and view problems from new perspectives” (pg. 462). Additionally, Dunn, Dastoor, and Sims (2012) identified five key components to transformational leadership: challenging the process, inspiring shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way, and encouraging the heart. They also found that leader communication, participative leadership behaviors, and leader consideration were positively correlated with organizational commitment.
If we don’t properly train our managers to use transformational leadership, their actions can have a very negative affect on commitment. Morrow (2011) found that affective organizational commitment was lowered by abusive supervisors and harassing work environments. On the other hand, mentoring programs and leaders that inspired vision and hope were found to increase affective commitment.