HRM Essay Sample: The Moderating Role of Organizational Commitment

This article viewed the interaction between various factors of organizational performance and the impact that employee commitment to the organization has on the effective performance of the employee with regards to increasing overall productivity. The author notes the place of organizational development and change in the ability to ensure the successful development of a company in continuous pursuit of organizational goals. Therefore, organizational development is necessary for the achievement of relevant changes to ensure employee welfare and organizational safety in the face of changing business landscapes. However, effecting organizational change involves the interplay of various factors which ensure that there is a positive outcome for the intended change. The effecting of any change requires the active personnel being affected by the change to be actively participating in the implementation of the change. Processes such as human resource management practice, information management, and commitment are some of the operational factors that are required in the enactment of the desired change.

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The author links organizational productivity with the operational fruition of the implementation of changes. Absenteeism from the implementation of changes can become an important factor in determining the implementation of the change. Are the various stakeholders on board towards the implementation of the change? Employee involvement in organizational change will thus determine the success rate of the changes being implemented. Research has shown the correlation between higher employee engagements with increased organizational productivity. Moreover, sufficient infrastructure in the form of task designs, technology and structures has been found to be insufficient in achieving productivity (Phipps, Prieto, & Ndinguri, 2013). Participative management of the change, which could also be called employee commitment, is a key ingredient to the achievement of productivity. The author uses a theoretical approach to study organizations that have successfully implemented this practice.

The author makes use of the four precipitating for employee involvement in the analysis for their indication of employee involvement characteristics, and the furtherance of that involvement to become largely participative and therefore move into the realms of commitment. When considering the aspect of rewards, commitment is attained through the presentation of desirable rewards to the employee in a bid to engage them in the change (Vinton, 1987). For example, high commitment' reward packages often have contingent packages that are featured to woo the employee to being more dedicated to their task. Research has shown that economic incentives to employees have had outstanding results, reducing turnover and thus improving the overall productivity of the organization. In effect, the reduction of turnover means that there are higher levels of employee commitment (Gould-Williams, 2007). Organizational commitment is thus a mitigating factor in the relationship between productivity and rewards. This would assert that the relationship between rewards and productivity is stronger when employees are more committed to the organization.

With regards to knowledge and skills, delegation is also another factor to consider where the person best skilled at something is allowed to make decisions in that area. Research has found that the delegation of tasks can improve employee confidence and boost their commitment towards the organization at the completion of the task. This is because the employee feels that the action of delegation has fulfilled their need for personal importance by being engaged as a productive and valuable asset in the organization. Again the author proves that knowledge and skills are related to productivity so that commitment is again a moderating factor. Stronger commitment means the higher application of knowledge and skills towards productivity.

Similarly, this relationship is established for both the application of power as well as information tools. An employee who feels that they are part of the organization will interact with others to improve communication channels and subsequently achieve productivity (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Moreover, a committed employee will better perform their tasks in the workplace and ensure productivity. These two prove that the commitment levels of the employee would have an effect on the overall productivity of the firm (Deci, Eghrari, Patrick, & Leone, 1994).

In reviewing the article, however, I find that the role of commitment appears to be a precipitating factor to the productivity of the organization rather than just the moderating factor. While discussing the commitment of employees, the author often points to the commitment factor as both a cause for efficiency as well as a catalyst. However, this study has put commitment solely as a catalyst. Therefore, some information seems to be missing. This is because, from the onset, the reader is tuned to think along one line whereas the presentation of information brings into light more than the singular role of commitment that the author brings out. This should have been added at the introduction to allow the reader understand that despite the many roles of commitment, they will focus on the one commitment as a moderating factor.

Nonetheless, the correlation with my professional life is striking as experience can be a testimony that higher levels of commitment often pushed me to greater heights of achievement in an organization as opposed to low levels of commitment. Therefore, the applicability of these propositions is real. Moreover, this would mean that organizations should select ways of increasing overall commitment if they would desire higher levels of productivity. The authors provide a way to do this through the use of organizational tools.

References

Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.

Deci, E., Eghrari, H., Patrick, B., & Leone, D. (1994). Facilitating internalization: The self-determination theory perspective. Journal of Personality, 62(1) , 119142.

Gould-Williams, J. (2007). HR practices, organizational climate and employee outcomes: Evaluating social exchange relationships in local government. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 18(9) , 1927-47.

Phipps, S., Prieto, L., & Ndinguri, E. (2013). Understanding the impact of employee involvement on organizational productivity: the moderating role of organizational commitment. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict , 107-20.

Vinton, D. (1987). Delegation for employee development. Training & Development Journal, 41(1) , 65-67.