Commitment towards any aspect of life involves a certain degree of involvement. So, cultivating organizational commitment among employees becomes challenging for HRs, as your staff generally tends to not be involved emotionally with your company.
On the other hand, organizational commitment goes hand in hand with employee engagement and job satisfaction. While keeping your staff engaged is difficult, keeping them satisfied is just a part of the whole equation. Hence, we will be discussing commitment to the organization in detail to help you design innovative strategies to enhance it and keep your staff motivated.
What is Organizational Commitment?
Organizational commitment refers to the psychological attachment the employees feel towards their company and its staff. It is the sense of belonging employees feel towards their company.
Commitment to the organization can be used to monitor and understand various aspects of employees’ psychology towards your organization, which influences turnover, productivity, absenteeism, behaviour, performance, etc.
What are the Types of Organizational Commitment?
There are multiple types of commitment to the organization observed among employees. A robust segregation of various kinds of organizational commitment was undertaken by organizational scientists Meyer and Allen in 1991, who proposed the ‘Three Component Model’.
The Three Component Model proposes three different stages for each psychological state of the employee of the organization:
- Affective Commitment
- Continuance Commitment
- Normative Commitment
1. Affective Commitment
‘Affective Commitment’ is the emotional attachment the employee feels towards their organization and hence, they feel a desire to be a part of the organization for longer.
In the emotional state of affective commitment, the staff members would be actively engaged with the organization; they would be actively participating in meetings, as well as providing creative inputs in them, while also proactively displaying work ethics. Affective commitment also helps an employee to feel satisfied with the organization they work in.
2. Continuance Commitment
In the ‘Continuance Commitment’ stage of organizational commitment, the employee would weigh the pros and cons of leaving the company versus staying back and find that staying is beneficial for them.
They would want to remain in the company as they are emotionally invested with their organization. Such a state of continuance commitment is possible with the continued effort of HR and the management of an organization. Continuance commitment also enables an employee to have a high level of dedication towards the goals and values of the company.
3. Normative Commitment
In the ‘Normative Commitment’ stage of organizational commitment, employees will want to stay with their organization as an obligation.
They feel that is the right thing to do as their company has invested in them and they feel a moral obligation to stay. Normative commitment is greater in companies that display a commitment towards their staff.
Porter’s Theory of Organizational Commitment
The Porter’s Theory of Organizational Commitment is another perspective of looking at organizational commitment. It breaks down the concept of organizational commitment into three components:
➔ Belief
The first component is belief, where the staff member believes in the values of the organization and commit themselves towards the mission of their company. Since the employees believe in their company’s mission and vision, they wholeheartedly endorse it, transforming into promoters for their organization.
➔ Effort
The second component is effort, where the employee is willing to put in effort for the welfare of the organization. Since they understand the value their organization is bringing into the world, they put in hard work to fulfil the goals of their organization.
➔ Desire
The third component is desire, where the employee displays a desire to stay with the company for longer. Since they believe in their company’s mission, they wish to remain associated with their company as they believe they can make a difference by staying with their organization.
What are the Benefits of Organizational Commitment?
Now that you have a robust idea of organizational commitment, as well as understand its numerous types, we can move on to understanding its benefits for organizations.
Some of the major benefits of having staff with organizational commitment are:
1. Improved Productivity
Employees with organizational commitment will be dedicated towards their work. They believe in their company’s vision statement and mission, and hence, they are comparatively more productive.
Such enthusiasm to work for the organization also rubs on to other staff members, increasing their enthusiasm for work. As a result, organizational commitment helps improve the overall company’s productivity.
2. Employee Advocacy
Since the staff believe in the organization, they essentially become promoters of their company.
They understand that their company is committed towards their welfare as much as they are dedicated towards their organization. Hence, they believe in their company’s policies, services, and products, making them strong advocates for their company.
3. Decreased Absenteeism
With increased commitment towards their organization, employees will stop taking unnecessary time offs, effectively reducing the overall absenteeism rate in your organization.
Since committed staff look forward to attending work daily, and completing their work on time, it also leads to improved productivity throughout the company.
4. Increased Retention
Committed employees also wish to stay longer with their company since they are dedicated and loyal to their organization.
They also would not want to leave their company as they believe in their organization’s goals and values. They may also stay as they may be apprehensive of committing to another company and vary of their culture.
5. Better Employer Branding
Having productive staff who are also promoters of your products and services result in better quality output.
It increases the overall quality of your products and services, improving your employer branding and enhancing your company’s brand image. With better employer branding, you can also attract better talent, further improving your workforce’s productivity and performance management.
6. Enhanced Morale
Having a committed workforce also increases the collective morale of the company as everybody would trust each other to perform to the best of their abilities.
Such a company will thrive in the marketplace, further boosting their collective morale. With boosted morale, the company will also be able to provide better products and services, leading to a better brand image.
7. Healthier Culture
With a committed workforce, HRs can effectively manage their company culture since their employees are already engaged with their company.
The HR team simply needs to further enhance their efforts to ensure that their staff stay engaged using HR chatbot and other software, making it easier to develop and maintain a healthy work culture.
What are the Factors influencing Organizational Commitment?
The numerous benefits of organizational commitment can be better applied once you consider the factors that influence it. These factors are linked with the very fabric of keeping your employees engaged with your organization and enhancing your employer brand. Hence, let us discuss these factors and how they affect the commitment of your staff towards your company.
➔ Satisfaction of Employees
The job satisfaction and organizational commitment of your employees play a major role in dictating whether they stay with your company. Hence, HR should ensure that your staff is provided with adequate resources to keep them satisfied with their work. They should ensure that the necessary staff is allocated for each function and that nobody is facing burnout due to excessive work. It will lead to a satisfied workforce, who will remain committed towards your company for longer.
➔ Support from Managers
Manager support is equally important in the workplace for the employees since they require adequate supervision while accomplishing their tasks. The managers and supervisors can guide their staff with the right tools and control mechanisms, which will ensure that the staff members can perform to the best of their capabilities.
➔ Stress from Job Role
Another essential factor affecting organizational commitment is the stress the employees face from their role in their workplace. Certain positions, especially ones where the employee must face their user, are stress-inducing for them. Hence, HR and supervisors should provide adequate support to ensure that their staff remain committed to their workplace despite a higher amount of stress from their job function.
➔ Job Security
If a specific job role lacks enough job security, the employee will never be committed to their workplace despite the efforts of the HR and the management. Hence, you should provide your staff with the assurance of job security without explicitly stating it. For example, if you develop employee well-being initiatives, they will have faith in your organization’s commitment towards their welfare, leading to increased commitment.
➔ Employee Salaries
The compensation package of your staff plays a crucial part in developing their commitment towards your organization. If their salary package is fair and competitive, they will realize that they are being paid fairly for their work and hence, they would want to work with you for longer.
➔ Leadership Style
It is a commonly observed fact that employees leave companies due to poor management. The leadership style of the managers and supervisors affects the motivation and productivity of employees directly. Hence, it is essential for the managers to provide more responsibilities and autonomy to their staff to undertake their duties efficiently.
➔ Office Interactions
Additionally, having transparent communications and open interactions with the workforce is essential for keeping them motivated with your organization. Regular two-way interactions with your staff help them feel valued and heard. Hence, it is essential to provide them with a stress-free environment where they can speak their mind and think freely.
How to Boost Organizational Commitment?
Since we have understood the relevance of organizational commitment of employees towards their companies, it is evident that boosting it will bring a multitude of benefits for the company, the employees, and the management, creating a solution where everyone benefits. Hence, it is essential to understand how to boost organizational commitment amongst your staff members.
Some of the easiest options to boost organizational commitment include:
1. Develop a Strong Culture
A strong work culture is essential to maintain harmony in the workplace. Since an office is where people from different cultures and background needs to work in unison, it is essential to develop a work culture that is neutral towards their background, yet helps them stay committed to their company.
2. Improve Transparency
Similarly, by improving the overall transparency in the company, the management can capture the trust of their workforce. If the staff are kept in loop about the ongoing happenings at their workplace, they will stay dedicated with their organization. Having clear communication also helps set the employees’ expectation from their management, making it easier for them to commit to their companies.
3. Boost Innovative Ideas
By encouraging innovation in your organization, you can help your staff share their ideas without fearing ridicule, helping you choose the best one to move forward. They may even have better ideas for improving the efficiency of the business, which can prove to be beneficial for the company in general. Hence, boosting innovative ideas ensures commitment from the staff, who understands that their management understands their perspective and values them for their worth.
4. Provide Constructive Feedback
On the same note, you should also provide constructive feedback instead of criticizing them for their work. By providing them with better avenues to work, you will also be displaying leadership qualities, which will assure them of your support. It also assures them that you are willing to go the extra mile to ensure that they are doing their work well.
5. Offer Incentives and Rewards
By offering incentives and rewards for exceptional work, you are essentially motivating everyone to give their best to their organization. The recognition from work also enables them to understand that their supervisors value their contribution to their organization, further enhancing their commitment towards their company.
6. Promote Inclusivity
By promoting inclusive behaviour, you are expanding your mental horizons to more possibilities and inputs from individuals who have experienced life and cultures different from the norm. Studies have also indicated that a diverse team is one of the cornerstones of successful modern businesses. In turn, the diverse group of individuals will be committed towards their work and company, as they understand that their organization treats everyone equally.
7. Implement Pay Equity
Speaking of equity, pay parity is another essential factor that boosts organizational commitment among employees. When your staff understand that you are paying them fairly for their work, they tend to stay longer with your company. On the other hand, if they are underpaid, they would lack the motivation to work and move on to your competitor. Hence, implementing pay equity is one of the best ways to increase organizational commitment.
Conclusion
Developing organizational commitment among your staff is one of the best options to keep your staff engaged and productive. Hence, every organization should have a robust strategy to develop and maintain a cohesive and ethical work culture, which will enable the staff to remain committed to their company.
