Like various social groups at different times throughout history, organizations and corporations developed distinctive cultures.
Organizational culture is the entirety of socially transmitted behavior patterns that are typical of a particular organization or a company. Organizational culture encompasses the structure of the organization and the roles within it, the leadership style, the prevailing values, norms, sanctions, and support mechanisms, and the past traditions and folklore, methods of enculturation, and characteristic ways of interacting with people and institutions outside of the culture (such as customers, suppliers, the competition, government agencies, and the general public).
Consequences of Organizational Commitment Level for Individual Employees
- Low Organizational Commitment: Potentially positive consequences for opportunity for expression of originality and innovation, but an overall negative effect on career advancement opportunities
- Moderate Organizational Commitment: Enhanced feeling of belongingness and security, along with doubts about the opportunity for advancement
- High Organizational Commitment: Greater opportunity for advancement and compensation for efforts, along with less opportunity for personal growth and potential for stress in family relationships
Consequences of Organizational Commitment Level for the Organization
- Low Organizational Commitment: Absenteeism, tardiness, workforce turnover, and poor quality of work
- Moderate Organizational Commitment: As compared with low commitment, less absenteeism, tardiness, turnover, and better quality of work, as well as increased level of job satisfaction
- High Organizational Commitment: Potential for high productivity, but sometimes accompanied by lack of critical/ethical review of employee behavior and by reduced organizational flexibility
Companies need to engage their employees to capitalize on emotional energy and consistently achieve higher levels of performance than their competition. It’s critical for leaders to do their best to gain effective commitment, and reduce their teams’ reliance on continuance and normative commitment, so that they lead teams of employees who feel passionate for their roles in the organization.