organizational commitment: definition
According to Britt and Jex (2008), organizational commitment can be defined as the, “extent to which employees are dedicated to their employing organizations and are willing to work on their behalf, and the likelihood that they will maintain membership.” There are generally accepted to be three types of organizational commitment; affective, continuance, and normative commitment. Affective commitment is a more emotional form of commitment that involves an employee’s sense of loyalty and identification with an employer. Continuance commitment is on the opposite spectrum of affective commitment and instead comes about when an employee weighs the relative costs of leaving an organization with the investments they have made in it. Normative commitment deals with the moral beliefs of an employee and their obligation because of those morals to stay with an employer.
I can say that as an employee I experienced all three types of organizational commitment. My examples here will reflect my experience as an employee of several years at a guest ranch in Loveland. Affective commitment was a measure I would most likely score high not necessarily because I felt that the ranch held procedural justice or that managerial support was high. I was committed because of the beauty of the ranch which made it feel like coming home, and the friends I had made there. While I had entertained thoughts of other job opportunities, my continuance commitment to the ranch was low because my decision to remain an employee there was not determined by my lack of other viable job options. Morally, I am a very loyal person. This may explain why despite many frustrations (sexual harassment that took awhile to be addressed, a culture of distrust, and organizational politics) at the ranch, I chose to stay there. Overall my normative and affective commitment to the ranch was very high.
A promotional video for Sylvan Dale before the flood of 2013
Recently, there was severe flooding in Colorado during September of this year. This flood claimed lives, destroyed homes and property, and forever changed the lives of many. During this time, the ranch where I was currently an Event Coordinator Assistant was destroyed. We lost buildings, infrastructure (water, power, sewer, road access, telephones, etc.), and all possible revenue. This event caused me to reflect on organizational commitment and its relationship to natural disasters. A study by Lilly, Kavanaugh, Zelbst, and Duffy (2008) examined organizational commitment in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Researchers for this study conductive basic qualitative research by interviewing participants outside of FEMA relief centers approximately one month after each disaster. Each response was analyzed based on six dimensions: HR practices before, during, and after the hurricane, employee attitude toward employer, organizational justice, organizational trust, commitment, and severity of personal loss.