Organizational Commitment - Work Attitude

In the last byte, we looked at Job Satisfaction in a cultural context. In today's byte, we define a new concept Organizational Commitment and begin the discussion on it.

There exists a hotel in the town of Udupi, where the waiters have served the organization for more than 3 decades. It is rear to see someone stay with a hotel for that long! It is possible only if the individual has identified with the organization. There could be other reasons why one identifies with the organization, we shall explore these further.

The strength of an individual's identification with an organization is generally termed Organizational Commitment.

Organizational commitment is of three kinds

1. Affective Commitment
2. Continuance Commitment
3. Normative Commitment

Affective Commitment indicates the commitment of an employee to remain in the organization because of strong desire to do so. This desire could be due to the belief the individual holds in the goals and values of the organization or willingness to put forth efforts on behalf of the organization or a desire to remain a member of the organization.

Continuance Commitment indicates the employee’s tendency to continue with the organization because the person cannot afford to leave the organization. This is generally built on the belief that any shift in the work space would only get them to lose the investment of time and effort already done in the present organization.

Normative commitment indicates a perceived obligation an individual would have to remain with the organization. It is the individual's feeling that one has to say with the organization that makes him/her continue with the organization.

We shall deal about these in greater detail over the next few bytes.