EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEES’ COMMITMENT ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
In an era of limited resources, governments at all levels are pressured to produce maximum output with the least input. A great deal of attention has been given to a variety of Performance improvement strategies, including public-private partnership, and Balanced Score Card (BSC), in the hope that such strategies are a starting point for Performance improvement. It should be noted, however, that no Performance improvement strategy alone is perfect. As such, various strategies should be used at the same time. Since Performance improvement is a function of too many factors, ranging from top management support to feedback on budget based decisions, it is essential to be aware that all factors are equally important (Holzer & Callhan, 1998; Lee, 2000a).
Among others, the backdrop of Performance improvement is an employee’s desire to be maximally productive. As Guy (2002) points out, “it is the people who, in the long term, control the Performance of any organization” (p.307). Even if there might be a number of reinvention efforts and top management support, unless employees at all levels are willing to improve Performance, all eorts toward Performance enhancement will come to nothing. Modern day Organization is concerned with the analysis and diagnosis of the factor that determine organizational effectiveness, and the planning and delivery of programmes to increase that effectiveness. Organizations want to obtain the commitment of their employees. Management would like its employees to identify with the values, norms and artefact’s of the organization, hence the need for organizational culture. Management needs to explain and imbibe its culture in its employees; this will enable the employee to get familiar with the organizational system. During this process of explanation, the employee learns about the organizational culture and decides whether he can cope with it or not. This means that each organization is a learning
environment. It is the proper understanding of the organizational culture that the performance of the employee in the organization. Performance is the extent to which an individual is carrying out assignment or task. It refers to the degree of accomplishment of the task that makes up an employee’s job (Cascio, 2006).
Commitment has a rational element: Most people consciously decide to make commitments, then they thoughtfully plan and carry out the actions required to fulfill them (Meyer, et al, 2004).Because commitments require an investment of time as well as mental and emotional energy, most people make them with the expectation of reciprocation. That is, people assume that in exchange for their commitment, they will get something of value in return—such as favors, affection, gist, attention, goods, money and property. From this perspective, this paper sheds light on the importance of a multidimensional view of employee commitment. This paper starts with an assumption that the previous concept of organizational commitment may not tell the whole story about individual performance and Performance. Identifying multiple foci of employee commitment beyond the organization helps explain various motivational bases among employees toward Performance improvement efforts.
