Organizational Commitment Essay

Organizational Commitment of Teachers in Higher Education with special reference to Kumaun University

*B. P. Durgapal

1. Introduction

Critical variable that may be supportive or detrimental to the performance of workforce have been indicated in organizational behaviour studies. This idea is appropriate while focussing on quality of human resources that is believed to be a major factor adding to the success of organizations (Pohlman & Gardiner, 2000). The precursors of employees’ performance - Organizational commitment and Job Satisfaction are widely studied factors in management literature (Bodla & Danish, 2009; Parker et al, 2005; Allen & Meyer, 1990). These factors become more important to study in academic institutions, especially universities

It is generally considered as three dimensional construct comprising of affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment (Boehman, 2006; Turner and Chelladurai, 2005; Greenberg, 2005; Allen and Meyer, 1996; Karrasch, 2003). It is believed that affectively committed employees continue working with great devotion on voluntary basis, continuance commitment ensures that employees retain their organizational membership, however those who are normally committed usually feel obligation on their part to stay in the organization. While defining organizational commitment, Porter et al., (1974) defined it as “strong belief in and acceptance of the organizational goals and values, willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization, and a definite desire to maintain organizational

(1982) have suggested that gaining a greater understanding of the processes related to organizational commitment has implications for employees, organizations, and society as a whole. Employees' level of commitment to an organization may make them more eligible to receive both extrinsic (e.g, wages and benefits) and intrinsic (e.g. job satisfaction and relationships with coworkers) rewards associated with membership. Organizational Commitment is a core predictor of employees’ attitude to the organization and is a strong indicator of turnover behavior, withdrawal tendency and organizational citizenship behavior (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Morrow, 1993; LePine, Jeffrey A.; Erez, Amir; Johnson, Diane E,(2002) ;Sinclair and Wright, (2005). Additionally, committed employees may be more likely to engage in "extra-role" behaviors, such as creativeness or innovativeness, which are often what keeps an organization competitive (Katz & Kahn,