Chapter 3 Organizational Commitment

Question 1

What is organizational commitment?

What is withdrawal behavior?

How are the two connected?

Answer 1

Organizational committment is the desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of the organization.

Withdrawal behavior is the set of actions that employees perform to avoid the work situation

Question 2

What are the three types of organizational commitment, and how do they differ?

Answer 2

• Affective commitment - defined as a desire to remain a member of an organization due to an emotional attachment to, and involvement with, that organization. Put simply, you stay because you want to.
• continuance commitment, defined as a desire to remain a member of an organization because of an awareness of the costs associated with leaving it. In other words, you stay because you need to.
• normative commitment, defined as a desire to remain a member of an organization due to a feeling of obligation. In this case, you stay because you ought to.

Question 3

What are the four primary responses to negative events at work?

Answer 3

1. EXIT - First, you might attempt to remove yourself from the situation, either by being absent from work more frequently or by voluntarily leaving the organization. Defined as an active, destructive response by which an individual either ends or restricts organizational membership.
2. VOICE - an active, constructive response in which individuals attempt to improve the situation
3. LOYALTY - just “grin and bear it,” maintaining your effort level despite your unhappiness; a passive, constructive response that maintains public support for the situation while the individual privately hopes for improvement.
4. NEGLECT - go through the motions, allowing your performance to deteriorate slowly as you mentally “check out.”; a passive, destructive response in which interest and effort in the job decline. Sometimes neglect can be even more costly than exit because it’s not as readily noticed. Employees may neglect their duties for months (or even years) before their bosses catch on to their poor behaviors.

Question 4

What are some examples of psychological withdrawal?

Of physical withdrawal?

How do the different forms of withdrawal relate to each other?

Answer 4

PSYCHOLOGICAL WITHDRAWAL:

• daydreaming
• Socializing
• Looking busy
• moonlighting
• cyberloafing

PHYSICAL:

• tardiness
• missing meetings
• quitting
• absenteeism
• long breaks

Consistent with the progression model, withdrawal behaviors tend to start with minor psychological forms before escalating to more major physical varieties.

Question 5

What workplace trends are affecting organizational commitment in today’s organizations?

Question 6

How can organizations foster a sense of commitment among employees?

Answer 6

Perceived organizational support reflects the degree to which employees believe that the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being.90