“Organizational Commitment thesis [Compatibility Model]”

Organizational Commitment thesis [Compatibility Model]

Mehrdad Salehi

MBA student, MSU, Faculty of Management

Mohammadreza Aghaei


Milad Abyari


NIMA SHAKOORI


Hanieh Mirzaei


Mojtaba Saeidinia


Abstract

This paper focus on Organizational Commitment thesis and different models including

Expectancy model are discussed. Review of MLQ and OCQ is also done. Literature is cited related to Organizational commitment to support the models and leadership theories.

Keywords: Organizational Commitment; Compatibility Model

Introduction

According to Hellriegel, Slocum, Woodman in Organizational Behaviour (2001),

“Motivation represents the forces acting on or within a person that cause the person to behave in a specific, goal-directed manner...Because the work motives of employees affect their productivity; one of management’s jobs is to channel employee motivation effectively toward achieving organizational goals.” In other words, motivation is the key to success in any organization. Management of an organization has the duty to both motivate its employees through daily tasks, and motivate its staff to produce at its most effective levels.

This motivational responsibility for managing and motivating the organizations staff is measured on two scales simultaneously. The everyday, black and white measurement of

“How many widgets did the company produce today” is the final measurement of an organization's effectiveness. But arriving at that goal involves the second measurement of how satisfied,

committed and productive its people are. By executing the correct motivational action, an organization can essentially operate smoothly and efficiently.

However, a mistaken used of motivation in an organization can lead to a much different outcome.

This paper’s focus is on motivational process in an organization; the different leadership styles that an organization can operate under, and how these styles affect the organizational commitment, and ultimately the productivity of an organization.

There are many measurements of leadership, management, and models which seek to measure the employees’ connectedness, or commitment to the organization. While a few of them will be examined herein, the thrust of this papers focus is a system of leadership measurement which is broken down into the following three categories.

Transformational leaders are those who guide followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements. They often are aware of personality traits, and blend their leadership directives with subtle motivational techniques.

Transformational leaders, who are charismatic and visionary, can often inspire followers to transcend their own self-interest for the good of the organization.

Transactional leaders hold a view of their tasks as a transactional process whereby leaders respond to subordinates' basic lower level and security needs. Similar to the exchange theory discussed previously, leaders and subordinates may be viewed as bargaining agents whose relative power regulates an exchange process as benefits are issued and received.

Laissez-Faire Leaders exercises little control over his / her group, leaving them to sort out their roles and tackle their work, without participating in this process himself. This approach often leaves the team floundering with little direction or motivation. On the other hand, this style of leader can be highly effective if his organization of team is highly skilled, fully understand the scope of their responsibilities, and have within their reach the tools and resources to fully complete their respective tasks.

The Expectancy model

In consideration of the management and leadership styles within an organization,

and how they affect the commitment of the staff to the organization, it is also necessary to

take into consideration the expectations of the staff when they enter the organization. The

expectancy model states, “People are motivated to work when they expect to achieve things

they want from their jobs. A basic premise of the expectancy model is that employees are

rational people. They think about what they have to do to be rewarded and how much the

rewards mean to them before they perform their jobs.” (Hellriegel, Slocum, Woodman,

2001, p.146)

In addition, Hellriegel, Slocum, and Woodman also explained, individuals decide

their jobs that are based on their needs, motivations and past experiences. “The expectancy

model holds that work motivation is determined by individual beliefs regarding effortperformance

relationships and the desirability of various work outcomes associated with

different performance levels.” (Hellriegel, Slocum, Woodman, 2001, p.147) Decisions

about how much to produce, how much to work and the quality of workmanship (jobperformance

decisions) are solely depend on the individual’s level of motivation.

The research of this study will add to this statement from Hellriegel, Slocum, and

Woodman. Staff of an organization can enter into the work contract with a moderate level

of expectancy, and an emotional connectedness to the reward they expect. However, the

organizational management can, and will have a transformational effect on that emotional

contract, and influence their staff positively or negatively.

Psychological Contracts

The idea of a psychological contract coincides with the expectancy model. When a

worker can voluntarily make an agreement with an employer to provide services for

compensation, there is a negotiated contract. The worker agrees that his or her material and

non-material compensation is of equal or more value than the time, energy and effort (s) he

will supply to the organization.

Similarly, the organization agrees to provide material and non-material

compensation in return for the resources, time, talent, and energy of the staff member. This

relation began to evolve as soon as a society moves away from a feudal, or slave based

worker – master relationship. However, these psychological contracts become of more

importance when the diversity of a population increases. The reasons Tom Jones works for

ABC Widget Company may be completely different than the psychological goals of Jim

Smith. In order for the organization to retain their services, (and thus reduce escape the

high cost of turn overs) the organization must be able to properly evaluate these emotional,

or psychological contracts and negotiate them successfully with the workers. The worker

and the organization assume a debt upon entering the relationship. If this debt is not paid,

to the reasonable expectation of either party, either or both are free to find staff /

employment elsewhere.

Review of MLQ and OCQ

The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) has excellent validity and

reliability, and has been used extensively worldwide. It has proven to be strongly predictive

of leadership performance across a broad range of organizations. The MLQ and its findings

are available in English, and a number of foreign languages.

Once the leader and raters have completed the MLQ, their responses are collated in

a well designed, easy to read, extensive and confidential report that enables leaders to

understand their scores. The report includes:

• Full descriptions of the various leadership styles

• Scale and item level information at all rater levels

• A narrative of the leader's style

• Agreement levels along ratings

• Expected leadership outcomes

• Tips for building leadership competency

• Suggestions for interpreting the report.

The MLQ has become a research standard over the past decade. Lowe, Kroeck &

Sivasubramaniam (1996) performed 33 independent empirical studies using the Multifactor

Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). They concluded that there was a strong positive

correlation between all components of transformational leadership and both objective and

subjective measures of performance. Among the leadership styles, transformational leaders

were found to generate higher commitment from followers in numerous studies (see

Avolio, 1999; Bass, 1998 for reviews of this literature).

In Austria, Geyer and Steyrer (1998) demonstrated that MLQ transformational ratings of 120 branch bank managers predicted long-term branch market share and customer satisfaction.

Bass and Avolio (2000) reported that the 72 U.S. light infantry platoon leaders who rated highest in transformational leadership, as rated 360° in garrison, led their platoons more effectively in near-combat readiness missions at the Joint Readiness Training Centers at Fort Polk. In Canada, Howell and Avolio (1993) indicated that the transformational scores of department supervisors in a large Canadian financial institution predicted consolidated departmental performance a year later.

The relationship between transformational leadership and performance was

observed in studies of managers in a Chinese state enterprise (Davis, et al. 1997), Polish

and Dutch managers (den Hartog, 1997), and supervisors on North Sea oil platforms off

Scotland (Carnegie, 1995).

The reason that the MLQ is so effective is that it receives input, and is able to

measure the level of leadership of a given individual, position, or organization from four

different perspectives. It has been said that the only way to really know yourself is to see

how you appear to others, as well as understand how you perceive yourself. The MLQ

measurement is similar. The issue of leadership is measured from 4 vantage points. Input

is received from those higher in position of authority, from those at the same level of

authority, or the leader’s peers, and from those (s) he leads. Finally the persons self

perception is measured. The resulting leadership quotients strip through any self deception,

and biases that would exist from any single perspective.

In recent years this use of 360-degree feedback, in which managers receive

feedback on their performance from their peers and subordinates as well as from their

bosses, has greatly increased. This process of receiving feedback from multiple sources is

seen to be fairer than top- down feedback from a single source and a number of studies

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have shown that 360-degree feedback accompanied by ongoing training or coaching does

enable employees to improve their performance significantly. The MLQ is designed to

give comprehensive 360-degree confidential feedback on managers' leadership styles that is

then followed up with individualized coaching by an Accredited MLQ Management Coach

over a period of several months. During this time, the manager and coach work jointly on

items chosen by the manager/leader from areas of leadership concern identified in the MLQ

Leadership Report.

Shared Vision - an important precursor to Organizational Commitment.

An important aspect of interpersonal dynamics within an organization is that of “shared

vision." The presence of this personal vision on the part of a leader, shared with members

of the organization that may differentiate true leaders from mere managers. A leader's

vision needs to be shared by those who will be involved in the realization of the vision.

This is not just a sharing of vision between the manager and his co-manager, but also an

equal sharing between the managers and those he or she leads. Applied shared vision

relates to policy makers and policy implementation. If there are gaps between policy

development and its implementation, these gaps also apply to current discussions of vision.

There needs to be the development of a shared vision throughout an organization. In the

workplace, it is rare to see a clearly defined vision articulated by a leader at the top of the

hierarchy and then installed throughout all levels of by followers. Whether the vision of an

organization is developed collaboratively or initiated by the leader and agreed to by the

followers, it becomes the common ground, the shared vision that compels all involved.

Vision comes alive only when it is shared.

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Staff members must be able to bridge the gap between what they are asked to do by the

requirements of their job, and their own personal psychological contracts before they are

ready to consider committing to an organization. After crossing this bridge, accepting the

leader’s vision is the next step toward making a complete commitment to the organization.

Organizational commitment

Organizational commitment (OC) has been described as consisting of three constructs -

affective, continuance or cost based, and normative, or moral based. (Allen & Meyer,

1990). As defined by Mowday, Porter, and Steers (1982, p.27), affective organizational

commitment is:

• A strong belief in and acceptance of the organization's goals and values

• A willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization

• A strong desire to maintain membership in the organization."

Affective commitment is mostly attitudinal in nature. An employee becomes emotionally

attached the organization and perceives a congruence between his or her goals and those of

the organization. (Mowday et. al., 1982).

The second basis for organizational commitment is continuance organizational

commitment, or calculative commitment. This result from the worker’s entering into an

exchange relationship with the organization. The degree of continuance commitment is

determines by the extent to which this exchange relationship continues to favor the

employee (Day 1987). Continuance commitment boils down to measurable qualities, and

considers the ideas that individuals do not leave a company for fear of losing their benefits,

taking a pay cut, and not being able to find another job, etc. (Murray, Gregoire, & Downey,

1991). Job satisfaction has been recognized as a component of organizational commitment

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(Kovach, 1977). It is suggested that job satisfaction is a state of pleasure gained from

applying one's values to a job (Locke, 1969). Spector (1997, p.2) believes that job

satisfaction "can be considered as a global feeling about the job or as a related constellation

of attitudes about various aspects or facets of the job."

The third aspect of organizational commitment is normative. This level of

organizational commitment is based on the social behaviors, or internalized desires within

the staff member to be part of the organization. Commitment behaviors are seen because:

• Commitment is socially accepted behavior that exceeds formal and/or

normative expectations relevant to the object of the commitment. (Weiner

and Gechman, 1977 p. 48)

• The totality of internal pressures acts in a way which meets the

organizational goals and interests. (Weiner, 1982. p. 421)

• The committed employee considers it morally right to stay in the company,

regardless of how much status enhancement or satisfaction the firm gives

him or her. (Marsh & Mannari, 1977, p. 59)

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Meaningful work

Challenging

work that

provides an

opportunity to

learn.

Opportunity to

create growthenhancing

relationships

Intrinsic Net

Gains

Nature of Job

Multiple targets

(people and groups)

Extrinsic Net Gains

Continuance

Committment

Affective

Committment

Job Characteristics

leading to individuals'

career success as

part of

psychological contract

with self, and

individual expectations

Organizational

factors that

enable individuals

to honor their own

psychological

contacts

Forms of

organizational

commitment.

Supervisor

Clients

Collegues

Work Group

Benefits

Lifestyle

Brand Image

Figure 1.

Normative, or

Moral Duty

Committment

Personal or Social Identity

Social

Identification Desire to remain

with loyal

Identify with

product / service

Figure one graphically represents the complex relationship between a given job

characteristics, and a staff members expectancies, psychological contracts, factors that

enable the given staff member to keep their personal psychological / emotional contracts,

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and the resulting organizational commitment. These factors are multi leveled, and

represent sets of hopes, personal values, goals, priorities that may be different for each staff

member. The combination of the MLQ and OCQ have proven to be very effective tools to

measure, evaluate, and choose a course of action to improve a given organizations

performance.

Summary of Leadership Styles as Measured by the MLQ

Although not specifically identified in the MLQ, leadership begins with character.

Honesty, ethical behavior, recognition of others' good deeds and care for others,

identification with the larger goals of the business and a maturity all contribute to your

impact in the organization. Leadership is the ability to influence individuals or groups

toward the achievement of goals. Leadership, as a process, shapes the goals of a group or

organization, motivates behavior toward the achievement of those goals, and helps define

group or organizational culture. It is primarily a process of influence.

Leadership is a dynamic or changing process in the sense that, while influence is

always present, the persons exercising that influence may change. Possession of influence

depends upon the situation and upon the relevancy of the individual's skills and abilities to

the situation. For example, if a particular individual has the expertise that is required to

solve a problem, then that individual may be assumed to have some degree of influence

over others.

If leadership is to be pro-active, it requires vision. This vision is a shared image of a

desirable objective, shaped and defined by the leader and the followers. However, vision

itself is not enough. In order to get others -- followers -- to move in the direction of the

desired goal (the vision), the leader must also be able to communicate that vision and the

followers must be motivated to follow. Ideally, the followers will internalize and fulfill this

shared vision. If the followers are inclined to act on reasoned argument, then

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communication will serve to convey the rationale for the vision. On the other hand, the act

of communicating may also touch the followers in an emotional way.

If this list if semi-transendental qualities are the measure of an effective leader, then

the absence of these abilities is the definition of an ineffective leader, one who will

discourage the workers, lower their expectations, make it more difficult to keep their

personal psychological contacts. The end result will be a decreasing amount of

organizational commitment, and an ineffective organization.

Transformational Leadership

The most effective leadership category measured by the MLQ is transformational

leadership. A person who leads his or her people from this perspective is:

• Idealized. (S) He tends to focus on attributes, attitudes as well as the

behaviors of his staff.

• Inspirational. This leader wants to motivate the staff from within, rather

than control from without.

• Intellectual. This leader will seek to stimulate his staff with new theories,

and opportunities, breaks from the routine, and by accepting input from his

personnel.

• Individualized. The transformational leader will take into individual

consideration the needs, talents, and desires of the organization, and work

toward fitting the pieces into the position most suitable for them, rather than

forcing the person to fit into the position.

The American Psychologist in February, 1997 reported that evidence supporting

the transformational leadership paradigm has been gathered from all continents except

Antarctica. This paradigm views leadership as either a matter of contingent

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reinforcement of followers by a transactional leader or the moving of followers beyond

their self-interests for the good of the group, organization, or society by a

transformational leader. The paradigm is sufficiently broad to provide a basis for

measurement and understanding that is as universal as the concept of leadership itself.

Numerous investigations (field studies, case histories, management games, interviews,

and laboratory studies) point to the robustness of the effects of transformational and

charismatic leadership." (p. 130)

Barling, Weber and Kelloway (1996) completed a field experiment with 20

managers trained in transformational leadership and compared them to control groups.

They found positive training effects, especially on the managers' intellectual stimulation.

Followers' commitments and financial performance also increased as consequences of their

managers' training to be more transformational in their leadership style.

Evaluation of training by Avolio and Bass (1998) found that for 115 community

leaders who had been rated by their followers prior to the training; there were significant

increases in inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation and a significant decrease

in managing-by-exception immediately following transformational leadership training. For

76 enrolled in a follow-up workshop between six months and two years later, such

increases were maintained only for components selected by the trainees early in the training

program as components on which they planned to work to make improvements. For

example, those 22 who had said they wanted to improve in individualized consideration

actually did improve, according to their followers' ratings.

Dvir (1998) conducted a true field experiment reporting that according to their

company leaders' and followers’ MLQ ratings of Israeli Defense Force infantry platoon

commanders, the platoon commanders who had undergone the transformational leadership

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training were more transformational, less passive, and less likely to manage by exception.

The comparison group did not demonstrate the same effects on either ratings of leadership

or performance. In contrast to the comparison group, the platoons led by the leaders trained

in transformational leadership had higher senses of self-efficacy and belonging, and were

higher in four of six measures of objective performance six months following training.

A transformational leader instills feelings of confidence, admiration and

commitment in the followers. He or she is charismatic, creating a special bond with

followers, articulating a vision with which the followers identify and for which they are

willing to work. Each follower is coached, advised, and delegated some authority. The

transformational leader stimulates followers intellectually, arousing them to develop new

ways to think about problems. The leader uses contingent rewards to positively reinforce

performances that are consistent with the leader's wishes. Management is by exception. The

leader takes initiative only when there are problems and is not actively involved when

things are going well. The transformational leader commits people to action and converts

followers into leaders.

Transactional Leaders

Stepping away from the personal attention given to staff by the transformational

leaders, and leaving the inspirational component on the shelf, the transactional leaders

focus more on the results of the organization via the individual transactions performed.

This style of leader attempts to de-personalize the job, its functions and thereby motivate

this staff by allowing their personal traits, or desires to be unmeasured.

The transactional leader believes that the unfair evaluation of staffs opinion and

feelings result in job dissatisfaction, and by eliminating any evaluation, (s) he will free the

staff to perform to there peak ability. The transactional leader utilizes:

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• Contingent Rewards: Based on the performance of his or her staff, the

workers are rewarded. This is not a pro-active response, like the

transformational leader, but a reactive response.

• Management-by-exception – active. Rather than involve the staff, this

leader assumes that his or her staff will “take care of business” on their

own, and only needs his input on an exception basis. This will free up

the leader to take care of his or her personal tasks.

• Management-by-exception – passive. This leader is most likely to have

difficulty with staff, as (s) he gets involves only when there is a problem.

This leader’s staff could be struggling with the day to day activities, but

as long as consistent progress is made, and problems do not escalate to

his or her desk, this leader assumes that the organization is performing

well.

Thus, a staff member may follow a leader so long as that leader is perceived to be in

a position to "deliver" some important needs. In some cases, the followers of a political

leader may be very fickle; if the desired needs of the followers are not met by the policies

enacted by that leader's government, these followers may readily give their vote -- follow

another -- at the next election.

Transactional leadership is based on the notion of a social exchange, as opposed to

personal growth and change. Leaders control followers' behaviors by imposing authority

and power on the one hand and satisfying followers' needs on the other. That is, leaders

offer organizational resources in exchange for followers' compliance and responsiveness.

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Unlike transformational leadership, in this transactional relationship, the leader

makes no particular effort to change followers' values or involve them in a process by

which they internalize organizational values. In times of crisis, people become sensitive to

the adequacy of their leadership. If they have confidence in it, they are willing to assign

more than usual responsibility to the leader. However, if they lack that confidence, they are

less tolerant of the leader than usual.

Furthermore, people are more likely to follow and to have critical decisions made

by the leader if they feel that somehow they, the followers, are taking part in the decisionmaking

process. Although, the formal definition of leadership given above will serve us in

our future discussions of leadership, the following comparisons of these two styles of

leadership are revealing.

Transformational leadership blends the behavioral theories with a little dab of trait

theories. Transactional leaders, such as those identified in contingency theories,

Transformational leaders appeal to followers' ideals and moral values and inspire them to

think about problems in new or different ways. Leader behaviors used to influence

followers include vision, framing, and impression management. Vision is the ability of the

leader to bind people together with an idea. Framing is the process whereby leaders define

the purpose of their movement in highly meaningful terms. Impression management is a

leader's attempt to control the impressions that others form about the leader by practicing

behaviors that make the leader more attractive and appealing to others. Research indicates

that transformational, as compared to transactional, leadership is more strongly correlated

with lower turnover rates, higher productivity, and higher employee satisfaction.

Transformational leaders are relevant to today's workplace because they are flexible and

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innovative. While it is important to have leaders with the appropriate orientation defining

tasks and managing interrelationships, it is even more important to have leaders who can

bring organizations into futures they have not yet imagined. Transformational leadership is

the essence of creating and sustaining competitive advantage.

Laissez-Faire Leadership

Laissez-faire literally means “with minimally restricted freedom in commerce, or

the operation of business.” This French term has long applied to the relationship between

government and the marketplace. These two entities, governmental bodies and the

commercial businesses both want to benefit from the generation of profit, capitol, and

wealth, but when the former makes the path to profit too rocky, business suffers, and in the

end so does government. However, the marketplace is governed by a set of universally

understood goals. To make money, and give value back to your customer so a business can

continue making money tomorrow. In the marketplace, competitive checks and balances

exist between price, performance, service, and costs. In the relatively closed system of a

business or organization, the checks and balances of the market do not exert themselves.

Thus, the Laissez-Faire leader’s hands off approach often is interpreted as a leader who

does not care, or does not really know what is happening in the everyday activities of his or

her organization.

However, there are situations in which the Laissez-Faire approach can be effective.

The Laissez-Faire technique is appropriate when leading a team of highly motivated and

skilled people, who have produced excellent work in the past. Once a leader has established

that his team is confident, capable and motivated, it is often best to step back and let them

get on with the task, since interfering can generate resentment and detract from their

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effectiveness. By handing over ownership, a leader can empower his group to achieve their

goals.

In a study on leadership styles, the dimensions identified at the University of

Michigan provided the basis for the development of the managerial grid model developed

by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton. While different names for the leadership styles were

used, this study identified five various leadership styles that take into account the concepts

of transformational, transactional, and laissez-fair leadership. This study correlated these

leadership styles with different combinations of concern for people vs. concern for

production. Managers who scored high on both these dimensions simultaneously (labeled

team management) performed best.

The Figure 2 is the results of this study.

The five leadership styles of the managerial grid include impoverished, country

club, produce or perish, middle-of-the road, and team. (Blake & Moutin, p.12.)The

impoverished style is located at the lower left-hand corner of the grid, point (1, 1). It is

characterized by low concern for both people and production. While this is not the primary

motivation of the Laissez-faire leader, (s) he can be easily mistaken for a leader with little

concern for his or her staff. The primary objective of the impoverished style is for

managers to stay out of trouble.

The country club style is located at the upper left-hand corner of the grid, point (1,

9). It is characterized as a high concern for people and a low concern for production. The

primary objective of the country club style is to create a secure and comfortable atmosphere

and trust that subordinates will respond positively. The produce or perish style is located at

the lower right-hand corner of the grid, point (9, 1). A high concern for production and a

low concern for people characterize it.

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Data Point

(5,5)

Middle of the Road

Leadership

Data Point

(1,1)

Data Point

(9,1)

Data Point

(1,9)

Data Point

(9,9)

Increasing concern for Production

Increasing

Concern

For

People

Impoverished Leadership

Produce or Perish

Leadership

Team or

Transformational

Leadership

Country Club Leadership

University of Michigan Managerial Grid

Figure 2

The primary objective of the produce or perish style is to achieve the organization's

goals. To accomplish the organization's goals, it is not necessary to consider employees'

needs as relevant.

The middle-of-the-road style is located at the middle of the grid, point (5, 5). A

balance between workers' needs and the organization's productivity goals characterize it.

The primary objective of the middle-of-the-road style is to maintain employee morale at a

level sufficient to get the organization's work done. A line could run diagonally from the

upper left corner to the lower right which would correctly correspond to the differing levels

of transactional leaders. The transactional leader works toward balancing the environment

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of the work place with the performance of the company, settling for a level of personal

comfort along this line.

The team style is located at the upper right-hand of the grid, point (9, 9). It is

characterized by a high concern for people and production, and this demonstrated, proactive

approach to leadership is the description of the transformational leader. The primary

objective of the team style is to establish cohesion and foster a feeling of commitment

among workers.

Consequences of Differing Levels of Organizational Commitment

Organizational Commitment (OC) is "the relative strength of an individual's

identification with and involvement in a particular organization" (Steers, 1977, p. 46).

Research in the marketing field has shown that there is a positive relationship between

corporate ethical values and OC (Hunt, Wood and Chonko, 1989). Some studies showed a

positive relationship between the congruence of corporate and employee value and

organizational commitment (Posner et al., 1985; Balazas, 1990; O'Reilly et al., 1991), and

an inverse relationship between such congruence and employee turnover (O'Reilly et al.,

1991). However, Posner (1993) found that clear personal values were more important in

relation to attitudes about work and ethical practices than clarity about organizational

values. This is probably because "ultimately it is people and not organizations that bear the

responsibility for decisions" (p. 346). One should bear in mind that the term "values" in the

literature reviewed refers to ethical (or unethical) attitudes.

The different leadership practices were significantly related to organizational

commitment. There was also a relationship found between gender and organizational

commitment, but not between job classifications and organizational commitment. The

findings of this study showed a positive relationship between all five leadership practice

variables and organizational commitment. Of the five practices, enabling others to act had

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the strongest relationship to commitment while inspiring a shared vision had the smallest

relationship. However, inspiring a shared vision was still a significant correlation to

organizational commitment.

Another study was performed to examine the effects of perceived leadership

practices on employee organizational commitment in the product engineering segment of

the North American automobile industry. Surveys were distributed to 170 employees in

various engineering departments of a major North American automobile manufacturer, of

which 127 were usable (75%). In addition to the Leadership Practices Inventory Observer

form about their supervisor, participants supplied demographic information and completed

the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (Mowday et al., 1979). The majority of

respondents were regular salaried employees (90%) in a staff or central support role (79%).

Seventy-two percent of the respondents were men, the majority between 40 and 59 years of

age (63%), and nearly 80% had a college or graduate degree.

The key findings included that there was a statistically significant relationship

between organizational commitment and each of the three leadership practices. However,

gender was a moderating variable in this relationship; with significant correlations for

males but not for females found. There was a significant correlation between all five

leadership practices and the commitment of respondents who are in a support role but not

for those with direct product responsibility. These findings, suggested the researcher,

"Demonstrate that continued development, by industry leaders, of the three dimensions of

leadership practice will result in improved employee commitment to the organization with

potential benefits in performance and turnover"

A touch of ethics

Business practices, and job performance are not achieves in an amoral environment.

And due the personal and value based psychological contracts that workers form with

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themselves, ethics also enter into the equation of leadership styles and organizational

commitments. In this area, the research becomes less clear. To be an effective manager at

any level, education of the staff must also include practical training and information about

managing ethics. This problem was explained very well by Stark in his article, "What's the

Matter with Business Ethics?" published in the Harvard Business Review (1993, May/June,

pp. 38-48).

Brenner (Journal of Business Ethics, V11, pp. 391:399) notes "while much has been

written about individual components of ethics programs, especially about codes of ethics,

the literature is much more limited on ethics programs." Wong and Beckman (Journal of

Business Ethics, V11, pp. 173-178) note that "researchers are claiming that current

literature is filled with strong arguments for more ethical corporate leadership and

incorporation of ethics in business curriculum, but what is conspicuously missing is the

"how to" in actually putting ethical goals and theories into practical action."

Summary of Commitment Studies

Researchers have found that job satisfaction is correlated with turnover but not to

the extent that a predictive model can be created. (Kraut, 1975; Mobley, 1982; Mobley

Griffeth, Hand, & Meglino, 1979). Wasmuth and Davis (1983) and Rose (1991) estimated

the average cost of an hourly hotel employee leaving was $1,500 per incident. They

estimated that this cost rose to $3,000 for salaried employees. Their analyses did not

distinguish between various hotel departments such as food and beverage, room attendants,

or front desk. A more recent study by Hinkin and Tracey (2000) estimate turnover costs

exceeded $12,000 per hospitality employee. Other negative consequences of turnover

include: an increase in recruiting, hiring, assimilation, training, and closing paperwork; and

the disruption of communication, productivity, and satisfaction among employees who stay

(Dalton & Todor, 1982; Mobley, 1982). In an effort to evaluate the relationship between

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job satisfaction and organizational commitment within foodservice operations, two widelyused

and validated instruments that assess these phenomena were identified - the Minnesota

Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) short form (Weiss, Dawis, England, & Lofquist, 1967;

Dawis & Lofquist, 1984) and the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ)

(Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979; Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982; Rose, 1991) - and

implemented at two locations of a national restaurant

Findings on Comparison of Leadership Styles and Organizational Commitments

The relationships between the different leadership styles, the amount of

organizational commitment which a staff member will devote to his or her organization

have been highly weighted in the direction of the transformational leader. However, before

ascribing to this type of leader as the Superman of the modern American business world, a

business should ask “what type of leader do they need. The success of failure of an

organization depends largely on the quality of its management and leadership people;

however, the highly involved, inspirational leader may not be the optimal solution for all

circumstances. In an article by Fiedler, he points out “How to get the best possible

management is a question of vital importance, but it is perhaps even more important to ask

how we can make better use of the management talent we already have. . . Fitting the man

to the leadership hob by selection and training has not been spectacularly successful. It is

surely easier to change almost anything in the job situation than a man’s personality and

leadership style. Why not try, then, to fit the leadership to the man?” Taking stock of the

leaders that exists in an organization, and utilizing their skills in positions for which they

are suited is the first step in developing the leadership management potential of any

organization, and for this purpose, the MLQ is of great benefit.

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The Influence of Transformational Leadership

The concept of transformational leadership has been touted as the most validated

Leadership construct in scholarly use today (Parry 1998, p. 85). Descriptions of this

leadership construct capture much of what is referred to in the literature as `desirable' leader

behavior. Bass and Avolio's (1985; 1997) transformational factors of charisma, idealized

influence, individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation have been implicated as

factors that broaden and elevate the interests of employees, generate trust and acceptance of

an organization’s mission, in addition to motivating employees to go beyond self-interest

(Yammarino & Bass 1990). Research findings have consistently highlighted the positive

influence of transformational leadership on organizational outcomes. For example,

transformational leadership was found to result in lowered intention to leave an

organization, increased organizational citizenship behavior (Bycio, Hackett & Allen 1995;

Pillai, Shriessheim & Williams 1999) and lead to stronger organizational commitment

(Bycio et al. 1995; Podsakoff et al. 1996). It is also said to inspire employees to develop

their full potential and exceed performance expectations both at an individual level (Hartog,

Van Muijen & Koopman 1997) and at the group level (Sosik, Avilio & Kahai 1997).

Bass (1997; 1998) cites an extensive range of studies from almost every sector and

every continent to support the effectiveness of transformational leadership and also the

validity of the multi-factor leadership (MLQ) questionnaire that measures the

transformational leadership approach. He states that the paradigm involving

transformational leadership is universal and has transcended organizational and

intercultural boundaries. Likewise, Hartog, House, Hanges, Ruiz-Quintanilla and Dorfman

(1999) found that aspects of transformational leadership were universally endorsed as

contributing to outstanding leadership across 62 cultures. Nevertheless, Bass (1997) also

noted that exceptions could occur as a consequence of unusual attributes of the organization

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or its culture. Specifically, cultural attributes of the organization could mitigate the effects

of transformational leadership. Such factors may help to explain contradictory findings

similar to Basu and Green's (1997) findings which reported that transformational leadership

was negatively related to innovative behavior.

Yammarino, Spangler and Dubinsky (1998) found that relationships between

transformational leadership and positive organizational consequences were based on

individual differences, rather than the transformational characteristics of the leader. The

failure of transformational leadership to moderate the relationship between a numbers of

determinates and organizational outcomes also led Whittington (1998) to conclude that it

would be best to think of transformational leadership as a situational, rather than a

universal, phenomenon. Although this literature is atypical compared to the myriad of

results communicating the benefits of transformational leadership, it does question the

`blanket effect' of transformational leadership within an organizational context.

In the UK, Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe (2001) extended the MLQ further

with qualitative and quantitative research to develop the TLQ-LGC (transformational

leadership questionnaire-local government version). However, negligible empirical research

has been undertaken on transformational leadership within the Australian public sector.

Given the significant changes in government organizations that have occurred over the past

decade, together with the impact that managerial decisions can have on the physical and

psychological conditions for employees (Gilmore, Shea & Useem 1997; Nelson, Cooper &

Jackson 1995; O'Neill & Lenn 1995; Schweiger & De Nisi 1991), transformational

leadership may well be critical to ensuring effective public sector management.

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(ends)

Measures of Leadership, Leadership Library of America, West Orange, NJ

Documents

“Organizational Commitment thesis [Compatibility Model]”