FACTORS INFLUENCING EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT
S.JailapDeen1 & Dr.P.Amuthalakshmi2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT
Over the last ten years, the study of commitment has advanced in many different directions. A
variety of disciplines have adopted the topic as a theme in their research and these have offered
fresh and significant insights. These recent advances include new approaches to both the
employee commitment and the different factors influence to increase it.
Present research concerning factors influencing on employee commitment highlights the pitfalls
of viewing commitment as a one dimensional construct that can be enhanced by a different
factors. This assumes that a different factor’s, for example offering valuable core corporate
value (CCV) such as (respect, communication, opportunity, relationship, consideration, and
innovation etc). By a particular HR practices (HRP) such as (Recruitment, Selection, Job
Description, Performance Appraisal, Etc.,). Modern management practices
and also by
family friendly policy, will have a significant and beneficial effect on employee commitment.
INTRODUCTION
The effective functioning of an organization highly depends on the commitment of employees. In
fact, the commitment of employees may be a key factor that determines the success of a
company in the modern world since, in the situation of the growing competition and the constant
implementation of new technologies a company needs to have well qualified and reliable
personnel to maintain its position in the market.
An employee's commitment to the company affects the quality and efficiency of his work.
Employees who are committed to the company show up on time and work hard every day, while
those who are not as committed might start to perform poorly or have a lackadaisical attitude. So
it is really very challenging situation, the corporate people used to follow different methods,
perhaps could help us to persuade to enhance their commitment. The different methods of
commitment enhancement may vary from their organizational culture.
1
2
PhD Scholar – Madras School of Social Work, Egmore, Chennai-600008
Asst. Professor & Research Guide - Madras School of Social Work, Egmore, Chennai-600008
DEFINITION
Commitment
a. According to Salanchik (1979) commitment is a state of being in which an individual
becomes bound by his action to beliefs that sustain his activities and his own
involvement.
b. Commitment is a psychological state that binds the individual to the organization (Allen
& Meyer, 1990)
Employee Commitment
As defined by Porter and Boulian, (1974), Employee commitment is the relative strength of the
individual's identification with and involvement in a particular organization. It consists of three
factors:
-
A strong desire to remain a member of the organization;
-
A strong belief in and acceptance of the values and goals of the organization.
-
A readiness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization.
EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT
High level of employee commitments means that employees are really enthusiastic about their
job and their performance will be better as well as the effectiveness and productivity of their
work higher.
The performance benefits accrued from increased employee commitment have been widely
demonstrated in the literature. To list but a few, these include:
 Increased job satisfaction (Armstrong 2006)
 Increased total return to shareholders (Barber et al, 1999)
 Decreased absenteeism (Cohen, 1993 & Barber et al, 1999)
 Decreased intention to search for alternative employers (Cohen, 1993)
 Decreased intention to leave (Cohen, 1993)
 Increased job performance (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990)
FACTORS INFLUENCING COMMITMENT (Kochan, Thomas A. (1999)
From the review of collected literature it is understood that number of factors can influence
employee commitment for organizational performance, and this review also gave a plot form to
understand that the workplace is a dynamic field and to remain competitive, employee
commitment is important, the following factors are the most significantly could persuade its
influence towards enhancement of employee commitment. (Affective Commitment, Normative
Commitment, Continuance Commitment).
1. Organizational Values
2. HR Practices
3. Modern Management Practices
Organizational Values (Finegan 2000)
Organizational values define the acceptable standards which govern the behavior of individuals
within the organization. Without such values, individuals will pursue behaviors that are in line
with their own individual value systems, which may lead to behaviors that the organization
doesn't wish to encourage. So it is their responsibility to ensure core corporate values, if
employees felt happy about the available values than they automatically fulfilled with high level
of commitment.
Shared
Organizational
Values
Humanity
Vision
Bottom line
Affective
Commitment
Normative
Commitment
Organizational
Performance
Continuance
Commitment
Dimensions of Organizational Values:
Humanity Values are Courtesy, Consideration, Forgiveness, Moral Integrity, Empathy and
Respect.
Vision Values are Employee Development, Initiative, Creativity, Loyalty, Teamwork and
Empowerment.
Bottom line Values are Flexibility, Employee Relationship, Job Security, Employee Motivation,
Communication, and Cooperation.
HR Practices (Wright, P. M. & Kehoe, R. R. (2007)
Why are employees in some companies happy to stick with the company while others look for a
change? The reason is that good HR practices, some companies know how to take good care of
their employees and provide a working environment that helps them retain their identity, while
proving themselves and growing along with the company. Here are some of the best HR
practices that help in the creation of a highly satisfied and committed work force to achieve
organizational goals.
Dimensions of HR Practices:
1. Induction and Training
2. Relationships with Managers
3. Organizational Justice and Trust
4. Promotion
5. Work-Life Balance
6. Pay and Reward
Modern Management Practices (Dr. Yasin Olum 2004)
Modern Management Practices in organizational activities is the act of getting people together
to accomplish desired goals and objectives by available scientific resources efficiently and
effectively. Eventually the scientific resources are used to make the work easy, minimize the
work load and accomplishing the goals in a systematic way, perhaps the modern management
practices profoundly encourage the employees to work with enthusiastic, which in turn useful to
enhance their commitment.
Dimensions of modern management:
1. 5S
2. JIT
3. Kaizen
4. Kaikaku
5. TPM
6. TQM
7. Jishu-Hozen
CONCEPTUAL ISATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING EMPLOYEE
COMMITMENT
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE
EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT
Modern Management Practices
HR Practices
Organizational Values
Different Sources
Leads to Improved Employee Commitment
Result & Conclusion
It is evident from the above process that factors (Modern Management Practices, HR Practices
and Organizational Values) play a vital role in determining employee’s commitment and the
different sources also play a pivotal role in contributing towards the enhancement of different
employee’s commitment (Affective commitment, Normative Commitment and Continuous
Commitment), these clusters perhaps could help them to persuade successful functioning of
organizational effectiveness. Hence, it is obvious that improved employee commitment is
possible only when the organization looks into these factors.
REFERENCES
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A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice
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A
deeper
examination
(CAHRS
Working
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#07-15
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cahrswp/472.
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