Why not ask about organisational commitment instead of organisational culture?

Frequently, I am asked the question, how do you change organisational culture? I can never quite work out if it’s a genuine or trick question (or one to entirely run away from!).
There is an abundance of literature and plenty of theories and models to address the subject; however, since I stumbled across the concept of organisational commitment, I can’t help but (cheekily) reply, why not focus on this concept instead?
Why am I so keen on going against the current focus on organisational culture? And what is this business of organisational commitment anyway?
In a nutshell, organisational commitment describes an attitude towards the organisation, reflecting individual acceptance of its goals and values, his or her wiliness to expend effort on its behalf and an intention to remain in the organisation Mowday et al. (1979).
Since then, a more refined version has been developed in 1991 by researchers Allen and Meyers and known as the Three Component Model of Commitment.
They describe this attitude as consisting of:
- Affirmative commitment: involves a person’s emotional attachment, identification and involvement with the organisation, usually by way of its goals and values
- Continuance commitment: persons perception of costs (sacrifice) and risks (alternatives) associated with leaving the organisation or put in another way, persons who have strong feeling in this area tend to describe themselves as “trapped” or in a “no choice” situation (though if affirmative and normative commitments are strong this may mean the person sees many benefits to the current situation)
- Normative commitment: involves a moral dimension based on the persons felt obligation and responsibility to the employer i.e. desire to do the right thing
Why do I find this interesting, and why do I believe it could be considered more useful than focusing on culture?
Simply stated, organisational culture is “the way things are done around here” (Deal & Kennedy, 2000).
However, I believe that culture only scratches at the surface of human behaviour, and I think we can go one step deeper.
Organisational commitment mimics something that I believe organisations are desperately trying to influence: attitudes, which in turn affects beliefs, emotions and behaviours.
The above three components of organisational commitment correspond to the three elements of an attitude as described by Breckler (2006):
- Cognitive component: beliefs about something (identification of a value)
- Affective component: an emotional feeling (like or dislike)
- Behavioural component: to act towards something consistently (i.e.in favour of)
I believe that if organisations work toward changing attitudes, they will gain organisational commitment which is far more powerful and enduring.
Some benefits associated with positive commitment are; increased performance, productivity, job satisfaction, tolerance for ambiguity as well as some positive organisational behaviours such as:
In-Role Behaviours: takes responsibility for core role and functions, i.e. completes task on time and in accordance with rules and regulations
Organisational Citizenship Behaviours
- Individual: behaviours that indirectly benefit the organisation, i.e. helps a work colleague who has been off ill and overs for them
- Organisation: behaviours that benefit the organisation in general, i.e. gives advance notice if unable to come into work
In other words, it’s what managers call that ever-elusive “proactive” employee.
So, how can we use this three-component model of commitment and develop it in teams and organisations?
Commitment is not something that employees necessarily bring to an organisation when they join, like trust, it must be mutually earnt, and employees usually feel committed to teams rather than organisations. It also involves the organisation giving back to the employees too.
Likewise, managers and leadership teams should not try to manipulate employee thinking while shaping attitudes.
The point here is authenticity.
On this basis, the model would suggest that managers and leadership teams would do best to develop affirmative commitment; this is due to the risk of employees who are reliant on continuance and normative commitment becoming demotivated quickly.
In doing so, managers can facilitate employees to feel passionate about their roles, finding ways that link individual goals and values with those of the organisations.
One way of doing this is by management through objectives; another is to use a broader framework as described in The Psychology of Organizational Change: viewing change from the employee’s perspective which also has a significant influence in developing affirmative attitudes:
- Impact factors: personal workload, role clarity, job security
- Attitudes and behaviours: discretionary support and retention policies
- Process factors: communication and employee input
- Individual differences: Job Crafting, Resilience
- Context Factors: leadership and trust in management
Promoting human Flourishing and Well-being has been shown extensively to have a considerable impact in shaping positive attitudes at work and can increase the likelihood of attachment of employees to the organisation and nurture behaviours such as those described by organisational citizenship.
While organisational culture is very influential, I believe that helping shape organisational commitment is a far greater cause. If we can shape and form more positive and connected attitudes (beliefs, feelings, actions) between employees and teams and therefore organisations, we all win, in performance, proactivity, well-being and job satisfaction.
