Factors Influencing Organizational Commitment

The assignment discusses the factors that influence organisational commitment among employees. The key findings suggest that team-based work settings, job satisfaction, management practices, communication, employee empowerment and recognition of performances are significant determinants of organisational commitment. Additionally, it highlights the importance of understanding organisational commitment to evaluate employee attachment to their work and workplace. The essay concludes by probing whether organisational commitment reflects a true reflection of management's care in enhancing employee commitment.

1
Organisational Behaviour

2
Introduction
The essay on organisational behaviour would aim to generate potential inferences to different
human resources centred issues like significance of attitude for individuals, effect of attitudes
in determining work behaviour, understanding and evaluating factors determining
organisational commitment and would finally endeavour in evaluating organisational
commitment as a true mirror of staff commitment in a firm, Empirical research is focused on
being carried out based on consultation of journals for generating inferences to the stated
aspects.
Circumstances in which Attitudes determine Behaviours at Work
Martin Fishbein and Izek Ajzen contributed in the development of Theory of Planned
Behaviour. It identifies three different variables that in turn affect the relationship of attitude-
behaviour nexus. The pattern of attitude towards the behaviour tends to determine the nature
of one’s behaviour at work. It is observed that the stronger the attitude the better the
behaviour in conducting the work. Again, the subjective norms or those things or that which
ones value tends to generates attitudes that determine the behaviour of the individual at the
workplace. Thirdly, the perceived nature of behavioural control or the extent to which one
tends to believe that one can actually conduct the behaviour predict one’s intention of
performing the behaviour thereby predicting the final behaviour of the person (Rozkwitalska,
2012).
Certain conditions are underlined in which attitudes tend to predict behaviour of individuals.
The first case is identified where both the attitude and behaviour both tend to occur along
similar situations in the social framework. Secondly such situations arise when the like
components pertaining to attitude can be accessed in terms of assessing the attitude and
performing the behaviour. Thirdly, attitudes are observed to determine behaviour of
individuals at workplace in a situation when the attitudes are measured in a specific fashion
rather in a general manner. Fourthly, in cases of existence of low self-monitors in place of
high self-monitors attitudes tend to predict or determine the behaviour of individuals at the
workplace (Shi & Wang, 2011).

3
Significance of Attitudes for an Individual
Attitude of an individual helps that person to face different ups and downs during the
lifetime. Attitude of a person tends to identify the manner the person copes a particular
situation or circumstance. Thus whatever perspective is held by an individual regarding an
issue or situation whether in the society or in the organisation the same tends to affect one’s
performance or the way the individual tends to handle rejections. Attitudes are identified to
represent a specific structure and are essentially developed by individuals. Bearing a specific
thought for a longer duration tends to make it permanent in one’s mind. The thought may
tend to generate whether a positive or negative influence on the individual. The bearing of the
thought for a longer period contributes in the generation of an attitude pertaining to an
individual (Podsiadlowski, Gröschke, & Kogler, 2013).
An individual is always required to have a positive attitude in dealing with the ups and down
of one’s life. An individual having a positive mindset and effective attitude contribute in
helping to face the upheavals of life with a smiling face. Further, the right type of attitude
towards an event or situation also helps in generating or brainstorming an effective solution
rather than being pressurised by the happening. Attitudes tend to be rooted to the beliefs of
individuals and are observed to be unique in nature such that they tend to differ from person
to person. Productivity of an individual pertaining to one’s own workplace is ideally
generated from one’s attitude towards the task or work. The right type of attitude inculcated
by an individual ideally contributes in encouraging the individual in working in a motivated
fashion for generating needed performance (Ferdman & Sagiv, 2012).
A study conducted by the Stanford Research Institute reflects that success is gained in any
walk of life or in any profession owing to 88 percent attitude and 12 percent knowledge about
the specific domain. Thus, the right type of attitude coupled by effective education and
training spells success for an individual in the long run (Olsen & Martins, 2012). Both
positive and negative attitudes are formed in an individual based on the level of experiences
and interactions carried down by the person during one’s lifetime. It is required of the
individual to forego the wrong attitudes such that the same hinders productivity and
efficiency of the individual at the workplace (Khanaki & Hassanzadeh, 2010).

4
Factors that Determine Organisational Commitment
Ordinary thinking presupposes that organisational effort taken towards career development of
individual employees, talent management and also generation of effective compensation for
the staffs are factors that would encourage an individual to work in a committed fashion
within the institution. However, in reality the encouragement of the organisational managers
and leaders regarding formation of teams and conducting work within the group or team
setting, availability of the right type of working conditions and management policies
exercising severe restraint on carrying out coercive leadership and emergence of sweatshops,
empowerment of individuals to take part in decision making activities and also recognition of
the performances and efficiencies of the individuals at the workplace are identified to be
effective determinants of organisational commitment of individuals at the different
workplaces. Similarly, the existence of performance oriented human resources practice in the
organisation also tends to influence the organisational commitment of an individual through
the generation of job satisfaction (Bhatia & Kaur, 2014).
Apart from working in teamwork setting the level of satisfaction gained by an employee at
the workplace stands as an effective contributor in enhancing the level of organisational
commitment of the individual. Studies also reflected that designing of jobs and role plays
within a firm, management of human resources, development of internal talents and
confidence, effective communication between supervisors and staffs within an organisation
and also the spirit and enthusiasm of working in a team are identified to be potential
determinants of organisational commitment. It is observed that increased level of
organisational commitment among staffs’ results not only in generating greater productivity
but also contributes in enhancing the level of customer satisfaction at the workplace and also
reducing the chances of employee turnover and absenteeism (Rozkwitalska, 2012).
Organisational Commitment and Staff Commitment
The aspect of organisational commitment is required to be effectively understood such that
the same helps in evaluating the degree to which an employee is attached to his or her work
and also towards the workplace. Failure in effectively understanding the role of
organisational commitment amounts to the generation of erroneous management strategies
that affect the potential of both the employees and the organisation in fulfilling the business
and customer servicing objectives. An employee with high amount of organisational

5
commitment reflects increased commitment in fulfilling the jobs and responsibilities
entrusted upon the individual by the organisational management with or without proper
supervision. Employees with high amount of organisational commitment reflect greater sense
of responsibility and accountability in meeting of stated tasks and account to be high
performers. They also reflect interests for working with the organisation for longer periods.
The same helps the organisation to gain effective returns from the care undertaken by the
management for enhancing staff/employee commitment through generation of effective
training and development programs and also in terms of generation of rewards and benefits
(Salas et al., 2012).
Apart from the above styles associated with Soft HRM concept, high amount of
organisational commitment suggests that management in the organisation have taken key
steps for enhancing the job security of the employees. A secured and safe working
atmosphere encourages the employees to work in a more committed fashion for generating
needed productivity (Jehanzeb & Bashir, 2013). However, the case of continuance
commitment is also required to be studied where the employees fearing problems in being
recruited elsewhere continue to work in a committed fashion within the firm. The same
affects the level of affective commitment of the employee. The management of the firm
herein fails to gain access to new and fresh talents and is required to depend on the
performances of the old staffs which in turn affect its productivity. Thus, here though the
level of organisational commitment is found to be higher on account of the responsibility of
the employees in meeting tasks yet it fails to reflect managerial care for sustaining employee
commitment within the firm (Dartey-Baah, 2013).
Conclusions
The essay contributes in answering different underlying questions associated to human
resources management. It analysed the significance of attitudes towards an individual while
also reflecting on the different circumstances where attitudes tend to determine the behaviour
of individuals at the workplace. The essay also reflects on the different factors that determine
organisational commitment of individuals in an institution. Finally, the essay probes that
whether organisational commitment is a true reflection of management’s care in enhancing
employee commitment at the workplace.

6
References
Bhatia, A. & Kaur, L., 2014. Global Training & Development trends & Practices: An
Overview. International Journal of Emerging Research in Management &Technology, 3(8),
pp.75-78.
Dartey-Baah, K., 2013. The Cultural Approach to the Management of the International
Human Resource: An Analysis of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions. International Journal of
Business Administration, 4(2), pp.39-45.
Ferdman, B.M. & Sagiv, L., 2012. Diversity in Organizations and Cross-Cultural Work
Psychology: What If They Were More Connected? Industrial and Organizational
Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 5(3), pp.1-51.
Jehanzeb, K. & Bashir, N.A., 2013. Training and Development Program and its Benefits to
Employee and Organization: A Conceptual Study. European Journal of Business and
Management, 5(2), pp.243-52.
Khanaki, H. & Hassanzadeh, N., 2010. Conflict Management Styles: The Iranian General
Preference Compared to the Swedish. International Journal of Innovation, 1(4), pp.419-26.
Olsen, J.E. & Martins, L.L., 2012. Understanding organizational diversity management
programs: A theoretical framework and directions for future research. Journal of
Organizational Behavior, 33(8), pp.1168-87.
Podsiadlowski, A., Gröschke, D. & Kogler, M., 2013. Managing a culturally diverse
workforce: Diversity perspectives in organizations. International Journal of Intercultural
Relations, 37, pp.159-75.
Rozkwitalska, M., 2012. Accepted and strong organisational culture in multinational
corporations. Journal of Intercultural Management, 4(3), pp.5-14.
Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S.I. & Kraiger, K., 2012. The Science of Training and Development
in Organizations: What Matters in Practice. Psychological Science in the Public Interest ,
13(2), pp.74-101.

7
Shi, X. & Wang, J., 2011. Interpreting Hofstede Model and Globe Model: Which Way to Go
for Cross-Cultural Research. nternational Journal of Business and Management , 6(5), pp.93-
99.