This essay focuses on organizational knowledge, and lost productivity. influences whether an employee stays a member of the organization

organizational knowledge, and lost productivity

organizational knowledge, and lost productivity.

Our attention in this chapter is focused primarily on reducing voluntary turnover by keeping the employees whom the organization wants to keep, though we will touch on involuntary turnover in a discussion of layoffs and downsizing.

Employees

who are not committed to their organizations engage in withdrawal behavior, defined as a set of actions that employees perform to avoid the work situation—behaviors that may eventually culminate in quitting the organization.4 The relationship between commitment and withdrawal is illustrated in Figure 3-1.

Some employees may exhibit much more commitment than withdrawal, finding themselves on the green end of the continuum. Other employees exhibit much more withdrawal than commitment, finding themselves on the red end of the continuum. The sections that follow review both commitment and withdrawal in more detail.

3.1 What is organizational commitment?

What is withdrawal behavior? How are the two connect? FIGURE 3-1 Organizational Commitment and Employee Withdrawal Withdrawal Behavior Low High Organizational Commitment High Low Final PDF to printer CHAPTER 3 Organizational Commitment 63 coL27660_ch03_060-090.indd 63 10/11/17 08:40 AM

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “COMMIT”? One key to understanding organizational commitment is to understand where it comes from. In other words, what creates a desire to remain a member of an organization?

To explore this question, consider the following scenario: You’ve been working full-time for your employer for around five years. The company gave you your start in the business, and you’ve enjoyed your time there.

Your salary is competitive enough that you were able to purchase a home in a good school system.

which is important because you have one young child and another on the way.

Now assume that a competing firm contact you while you were attending a conference and offered you a similar position in its company.

What kinds of things might you think about? If you created a list to organize your thoughts, what might that list look like?

TYPES OF COMMITMENT

One potential list is show in Table 3-1.

The left-hand column reflects some emotional reasons for staying with the current organization, including feelings about friendships, the atmosphere or culture of the company, and a sense of enjoyment when completing job duties.

These sorts of emotional reasons create affective commitment, define as a desire to remain a member of an organization.

due to an emotional attachment to, and involvement with, that organization.5 Put simply, you stay because you want to.

The right-hand column reflects some obligation-based reasons for staying with the current organization. Including a sense that a debt is owe to a boss, a colleague, or the larger company.

These sorts of reasons create normative commitment, define as a desire to remain a member of an organization due to a feeling of obligation.

7 In this case, you stay because you ought to. 3.2 What are the three types of organizational commitment, and how do they differ? TABLE 3-1 The Three Types of Organizational

Details;

Firstly, be sure

Secondly, be true

Lastly, be honest