3

Organizati
onal
Commitme
nt

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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 todays organizations?
How can organizations foster a sense of
commitment among employees?
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Organizational Commitment
Organizational commitment

Employees who are not committed to

their organizations engage in
withdrawal behavior.

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Figure 3-1

Organizational Commitment and

Employee Withdrawal

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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
Continuance commitment
Normative commitment
Focus of commitment
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Table 3-1

Three Types of
Organizational Commitment

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Figure 3-2

Drivers of Overall Organization

Commitment

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Affective Commitment
Employees who feel a sense of
affective commitment identify with
the organization, accept that
organizations goals and values, and
are more willing to exert extra effort
on behalf of the organization.

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A Social Network Diagram

Erosion model

Social influence
model
Figure 3-3

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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.
Embeddedness
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Table 3-2

Embeddedness and Continuance

Commitment, Contd

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Normative Commitment
Normative commitment
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
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Discussion Questions
Which type of organizational
commitment (affective, continuance,
or normative) do you think is most
important to the majority of
employees?
Which do you think is most important
to you?
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Withdrawal Behaviors
Exit
Voice
Loyalty
Neglect
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Task Performance
Low

High

High

Stars

Citizens

Low

Organizational Commitment

Four Types of Employees

Lone wolves

Apathetics

Table 3-3
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Task Performance and

Organizational Commitment
Stars
Citizens
Lone wolves
Apathetics
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Discussion Questions
How big of a problem is
psychological withdrawal?
Is withdrawal always bad?

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Psychological Withdrawal
Psychological withdrawal consists
of actions that provide a mental
escape from the work environment.
(warm-chair attrition)
Daydreaming
Socializing
Looking busy
Moonlighting
Cyberloafing
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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
Long breaks
Missing meetings
Absenteeism
Quitting

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Figure 3-4

Psychological and Physical

Withdrawal

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Psychological and Physical

Withdrawal, Contd
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.

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Psychological and Physical

Withdrawal, Contd
Compensatory forms model of
withdrawal argues that the various
withdrawal behaviors negatively
correlate with one anotherthat
doing one means youre less likely to
do another.

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Psychological and Physical

Withdrawal, Contd
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.
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Figure 3-5

What Does It Mean to Be a

Committed Employee?

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Trends that Affect

Commitment
Diversity of the workforce
By 2012, minority groups will make up
one-third of the workforce
47 percent of the jobs are filled by
women
The workforce is aging
More and more employees are foreignborn
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Trends that Affect

Commitment, Contd
The change in employeeemployer
relationships brought about by a generation
of downsizing makes it more challenging to
retain valued employees.
Psychological contracts
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.

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Commitment Initiatives, Contd

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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Takeaways
Commitment and withdrawal are negatively related
to each otherthe more committed an employee is,
the less likely he or she is to engage in withdrawal.
There are three types of organizational
commitment.
Affective commitment occurs when an employee wants to
stay and is influenced by the emotional bonds between
employees.
Continuance commitment occurs when an employee needs
to stay and is influenced by salary and benefits and the
degree to which he or she is embedded in the community.
Normative commitment occurs when an employee feels
that he or she ought to stay and is influenced by an
organization investing in its employees or engaging in
charitable efforts.
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Takeaways, Contd
Employees can respond to negative work
events in four ways.
Exit is a form of physical withdrawal in which the
employee either ends or restricts organizational
membership.
Voice is an active and constructive response by
which employees attempt to improve the situation.
Loyalty is passive and constructive; employees
remain supportive while hoping the situation
improves on its own.
Neglect is a form of psychological withdrawal in
which interest and effort in the job decreases.
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Takeaways, Contd
Consistent with the progression model, withdrawal
behaviors tend to start with minor psychological
forms before escalating to more major physical
varieties.
Psychological withdrawal examples include daydreaming,
socializing, looking busy, moonlighting, and cyberloafing.
Physical withdrawal examples include tardiness, long
breaks, missing meetings, absenteeism, and quitting.

The increased diversity of the workforce can reduce

commitment if employees feel lower levels of
affective commitment or less embedded in their
current jobs. The employeeemployer relationship
can reduce affective and normative commitment,
making it more of a challenge to retain talented
employees.
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