3 Organizational

Commitment

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Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2011 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Learning Goals
 What is organizational commitment? What is withdrawal
behavior? How are the two connected?
 What are the three types of organizational commitment,
and how do they differ?
 What are the four primary responses to negative events
at work?
 What are some examples of psychological withdrawal?
Of physical withdrawal? How do the different forms of
withdrawal relate to each other?
 What workplace trends are affecting organizational
commitment in today’s organizations?
 How can organizations foster a sense of commitment
among employees?
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 Organizational Commitment
 Organizational commitment is defined as the desire
on the part of an employee to remain a member of
the organization.
 Organizational commitment influences whether an
employee stays a member of the organization (is retained)
or leaves to pursue another job (turns over).
 Employees who are not committed to their
organizations engage in withdrawal behavior,
defined as a set of actions that employees perform
to avoid the work situation— behaviors that may
eventually culminate in quitting the organization.

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 Organizational Commitment and Employee
Withdrawal
Figure 3-1

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 Discussion Question
 What creates a desire to remain a
member of an organization?

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 Types of Commitment
 Affective commitment – a desire to remain a member of an
organization due to an emotional attachment to, and
involvement with, that organization.
 You stay because you want to.
 Continuance commitment - a desire to remain a member of an
organization because of an awareness of the costs associated
with leaving it.
 You stay because you need to.
 Normative commitment - a desire to remain a member of an
organization due to a feeling of obligation.
 You stay because you ought to.
 Focus of commitment refers to the various people, places, and
things that can inspire a desire to remain a member of an
organization.
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Three Types of Organizational
Commitment
Table 3-1

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 Drivers of Overall Organization
Figure 3-2
Commitment

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 Affective Commitment
 Employees who feel a sense of affective
commitment identify with the organization,
accept that organization’s goals and values,
and are more willing to exert extra effort on
behalf of the organization.
“She’s committed”
“He’s loyal”

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 Continuance Commitment
 Continuance commitment exists when there is
a profit associated with staying and a cost
associated with leaving.
 Tends to create a more passive form of loyalty.
Increases to continuance commitment:
Total amount of investment (in terms of time, effort,
energy, etc.) an employee has made in mastering his
work role or fulfilling his organizational duties.
Lack of employment alternatives
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 Normative Commitment
 Normative commitment exists when there is a sense
that staying is the “right” or “moral” thing to do.
 The sense that people should stay with their current
employers may result from personal work philosophies
or more general codes of right and wrong developed
over the course of their lives.
 Build a sense of obligation-based commitment among
employees:
 Create a feeling that the employee is in the organization’s
debt
 Becoming a particularly charitable organization

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Slide
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 Withdrawal Behaviors
 Exit - active, destructive response by which an
individual either ends or restricts organizational
membership.
 Voice - an active, constructive response in which
individuals attempt to improve the situation.
 Loyalty - a passive, constructive response that
maintains public support for the situation while the
individual privately hopes for improvement.
 Neglect - defined as a passive, destructive response
in which interest and effort in the job declines.

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 Four Types of Employees
Task Performance
High Low
Organizational Commitment

Stars Citizens
High
Low

Lone wolves Apathetics

Table 3-3
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 Task Performance and Organizational
Commitment
 Stars possess high commitment and high
performance and are held up as role models for
other employees.
 Likely respond to negative events with voice
 Citizens possess high commitment and low task
performance but perform many of the voluntary
“extra-role” activities that are needed to make the
organization function smoothly.
 Likely to respond to negative events with loyalty

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 Task Performance and Organizational
Commitment, Cont’d
 Lone wolves possess low levels of organizational
commitment but high levels of task performance and
are motivated to achieve work goals for themselves,
not necessarily for their company.
 Likely to respond to negative events with exit
 Apathetics possess low levels of both organizational
commitment and task performance and merely exert
the minimum level of effort needed to keep their jobs.
 Respond to negative events with neglect

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 Psychological Withdrawal
 Psychological withdrawal consists of actions that provide a
mental escape from the work environment. (“warm-chair
attrition”)
 Daydreaming - when an employee appears to be working but is
actually distracted by random thoughts or concerns.
 Socializing - verbal chatting about non-work topics that goes on in
cubicles and offices or at the mailbox or vending machines.
 Looking busy - intentional desire on the part of the employee to
look like he or she is working, even when not performing work
tasks.
 Moonlighting - using work time and resources to complete
something other than their job duties, such as assignments for
another job.
 Cyberloafing - using Internet, e-mail, and instant messaging access
for their personal enjoyment rather than work duties.
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 Physical Withdrawal
 Physical withdrawal consists of actions that provide
a physical escape, whether short term or long term,
from the work environment.
 Tardiness - the tendency to arrive at work late (or leave
work early).
 Long breaks involve longer-than-normal lunches, soda
breaks, coffee breaks, and so forth that provide a physical
escape from work.
 Missing meetings - employees neglect important work
functions while away from the office.
 Absenteeism occurs when employees miss an entire day
of work.
 Quitting - voluntarily leaving the organization.
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Psychological and Physical Withdrawal
Figure 3-4

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 Psychological and Physical Withdrawal,
Cont’d
 Independent forms model of withdrawal argues that
the various withdrawal behaviors are uncorrelated
with one another, occur for different reasons, and
fulfill different needs on the part of employees.
 “I can’t stand my job, so I do what I can to get by.
Sometimes I’m absent, sometimes I socialize, sometimes I
come in late. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it; I just
do whatever seems practical at the time.”

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 Psychological and Physical Withdrawal,
Cont’d
 Compensatory forms model of withdrawal argues
that the various withdrawal behaviors negatively
correlate with one another—that doing one means
you’re less likely to do another.
 “I can’t handle being around my boss. I hate to miss work,
so I do what’s needed to avoid being absent. I figure if I
socialize a bit and spend some time surfing the Web, I
don’t need to ever be absent. But if I couldn’t do those
things, I’d definitely have to stay home . . . a lot.”

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 Psychological and Physical Withdrawal,
Cont’d
 Progression model of withdrawal argues that the
various withdrawal behaviors are positively
correlated: The tendency to daydream or socialize
leads to the tendency to come in late or take long
breaks, which leads to the tendency to be absent or
quit.
 “I just don’t have any respect for my employer anymore.
In the beginning, I’d daydream a bit during work or
socialize with my colleagues. As time went on, I began
coming in late or taking a long lunch. Lately I’ve been
staying home altogether, and I’m starting to think I should
just quit my job and go somewhere else.”
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 What Does It Mean to Be a “Committed”
Employee?
Figure 3-5

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 Trends that Affect Commitment,
Cont’d
 The change in employee–employer relationships brought
about by a generation of downsizing makes it more
challenging to retain valued employees.
 Psychological contracts reflect employees’ beliefs about what
they owe the organization and what the organization owes
them.
 Shaped by the recruitment and socialization activities
 Some employees develop transactional contracts that are
based on a narrow set of specific monetary obligations.
 Other employees develop relational contracts that are based
on a broader set of open-ended and subjective obligations.

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 Application: Commitment Initiatives
 Perceived organizational support reflects the
degree to which employees believe that the
organization values their contributions and
cares about their well-being.
From an affective commitment perspective,
employer strategies could center on increasing
the bonds that link employees together.
From a continuance commitment perspective, the
priority should be to create a salary and benefits
package that creates a financial need to stay.
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 Commitment Initiatives, Cont’d
 From a normative commitment perspective,
the employer can provide various training and
development opportunities for employees.
IBM
 If withdrawal behaviors occur, stop the
progression in its early stages by trying to root
out the source of the reduced commitment.

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