Sunday, May 31, 2009

Employees' Commitment

A famous joke tells about a pig and a chicken walking together and discussing the possibility to open a restaurant. "How shall we name the restaurant?" asks the pig. "Simple", answers the chicken "We'll call it 'Bacon and Eggs'". "I am not sure about this idea", says the pig. "It's true that we are both partners, but while you are involved in the business, I am committed".
What is commitment and how should we create organizational commitment? These are the questions I would like to dwell on in this post.

Thinking of organizational commitment brings to mind issues of job satisfaction, feeling part of the organization and similar concepts. All these are related to commitment, but are not identical. Organizational commitment is a psychological engagement of the employee to the organization.

Why should an organization work towards such commitment? There are several reasons.
First, commitment improves employee retention. We invest a lot in Knowledge Workers; we spend many hours nourishing and deepening their knowledge. An employee that is leaving forces us to re-invest. Furthermore, we depend on many of our employees. In some organizations, employees have strong relations with customers, making the personnel change unpleasant to the customers; in many organizations employees hold invaluable information, which will be lost if they leave. If employee commitment to the organization reduces turnaround, no doubt that we should encourage such commitment.
We could settle for this reason, but apparently, there are other benefits to an employee that is committed to the organization.
A committed worker is more productive during his working hours; a committed worker, according to studies, works more hours and has better performance. A committed worker is less absent; and a committed worker identifies with the organization and better assists in meeting its goals (see Dr Sigal Weisner's PhD thesis on the importance of an individual's commitment))
In order to understand how to get employee commitment, it's important to understand the different types of commitment.

Commitment can be characterized by several dimensions: One dimension deals with the nature of the commitment: an emotional commitment that the employee develops, verses a beneficial commitment (the benefits of staying within the organization), verses a moral commitment.

This can be viewed also as intellectual motives affecting commitment, like a high chance of not finding an alternative job or the comforts of the current job; verses emotional motives affecting this commitment, whether positive (liking the people we work with) or negative (fearing from the need to get use to a new job).
Yet another aspect is the subject of commitment: An employee might be committed to the profession and thus (partly) to the organization; or an employee might be committed to people in the organization, either to top management, direct management, to colleagues or to customers; and some employees are committed to the organization itself, seeing themselves as part of it and wish for its success.
We can also refer to the scope of commitment: inter-personal or organizational. In the personal level, researches have found that older people are more committed than youngsters, women more so than men, educated professionals less committed than laymen. We also see personal character as an influential parameter of commitment.
The organization and its organizational culture play a major role: a culture of sharing, teamwork and participation in decision making enhances employee commitment.

The professional aspect has great influence on the level of commitment: Job description clarity, volume of activity and personal ability to develop, all affect commitment level.

If I had to choose one parameter affecting commitment, just one tool, I'd choose reciprocity: be committed as a manager to your employees and to their wellbeing. The rest will follow.

Yours,
Moria

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