Module-3: Loyalty and Organizational Commitment

Employee Loyalty
Loyalty and trust have become more difficult to obtain and give in the work place.
Loyalty seems like a quality thats becoming increasingly harder to find whether
its employee loyalty to a company or consumer loyalty to a product. In the past,
employees believed when they were hired by a company that they would be with
that company until they retired. Starting in the 1980s as companies sought to
increase profits, workers perceptions of lifetime employment were shattered by
corporate downsizing, company relocations to other states or countries and static
wages.
Loyalty has two dimensions: internal and external. Loyalty is fundamentally and
emotional attachment. The internal dimension is the emotional component. It
includes feelings of caring of affiliation and of commitment. This is the dimension
that must be nurtured and appealed to. The external dimension has to do with the
way loyalty manifests itself. This dimension is comprised of the behaviors that
display the emotional component and is the part of loyalty that changes the most.
The first step is to redefine loyalty as internal feelings that can be manifested in a
variety of new ways. Instead what happens most often is that the leaders of an
organization feel that they are very loyal to their employees and that the
organization has polices in place to reflect that but that workers dont understand
what management is trying to do. On the other hand, employees who feel they are
very loyal to their companies arent demonstrating it in ways management
understands. The terms of the loyalty are far different from what they were in the
past. Rather than a blind corporate allegiance, employees show their commitment
through their efforts for the organization.
Employers, managers and supervisors who take steps to win their employee
loyalty now will reap the benefits when the pool of prospective employees
dwindles. Their track record for providing a desirable working environment will
draw the best people-those who will have their choice of companies and
organizations to join. Wise employers will also begin, if they havent already to
make their workplaces welcoming and rewarding for a diversity of people to take
advantage of the growing diversity of the population. Companies who fail to do
this will find their choice of employees severely limited.

One way to improve the work place for everyone is to create an atmosphere of
fun. According to Duane Smelser a trainer/coach in Beaverton, Oregon, people
who are lighthearted, having fun and in good spirits are more likely to be
successful. Their mental attitude produces increased oxygen, endorphins and
blood flow to the brain which enables them to think more clearly and creatively.
They are more relaxed and spontaneous, more accepting of others and more likely
to share their sense of humor. People like to be with others who are laughing and
having fun. As Victor Borge, the comedic concert pianist once said, Laughter is
the shortest distance between two people. Smart managers will let laughter be a
team-builder for them.

Employees Organizational Commitment (EOC)

Organizational commitment has been defined as a psychological state that
characterizes an employees relationship with an organization and has
implications for the decision to continue membership of the organization (Meyer
and Allen 1991).
There are three dimensions of organizational commitment.
1. Affective commitment refers to employees identification or strong emotional
attachment and involvement in the organization.
2. Continuance commitment refers to an awareness of the costs associated with
leaving the organization.
3. Normative commitment reflects an obligation to continue with the
organization.
Affective commitment refers to the employees emotional attachment to
identification with and involvement in the organization. Employees with a strong
affective commitment continue employment with the organization because they
want to. According to Mowday (1982), the antecedents of affective commitment
generally fall into four categories : (1) personal characteristics, (2) structural
characteristics (organizational), (3) job-related characteristics and (4) work
experiences. People with high affective commitment have been shown to actively
do extra role or organizational citizenship behaviors. They include providing extra
help to co workers being considerate volunteering for special activities and
making suggestions when problems arise. High affective commitment was
positively correlated to with willingness to suggest improvements accept things as
they are and negatively correlated with tendency to withdraw.

Continuance commitment refers to an awareness of the costs associated with

leaving the organization. The potential costs of leaving an organization include
the threat of wasting the time and effort spent acquiring nontransferable skills,
losing attractive benefits, giving up seniority-based privileges or having to uproot
family and disrupt personal relationships. Apart from the costs involved in leaving
the organization, continuance commitment will also develop as a function of a
lack of alternative employment opportunities. Employees whose primary link to
the organization is based on continuance commitment remain because they need
to.
Normative commitment reflects a feeling of obligation to continue employment.
Employees with a high level of normative commitment feel that they ought to
remain with the organization. Wiener(1982) suggests that the feeling of obligation
to remain with an organization may result from the internalization of normative
pressures exerted on an individual prior to entry into the organization(family of
cultural orientation) or following entry (organizational orientation). However,
normative commitment may also develop when an organization provides the
employee with rewards in advance (eg paying college tuition), or incurs
significant costs in providing employment (eg head-hunting fees or the costs
associated with job training). Recognition of these investments causes employees
to feel an obligation to reciprocate by committing themselves to the organization
until the debt has been repaid (Scholl,1981).