Organizational Behavior (Stephen Robbins)

Exit and neglect behaviours encompass our performance variables—productivity,

absenteeism, and turnover. But this list expands employee response to include voice

and loyalty—constructive behaviours that allow individuals to tolerate unpleasant

situations or to revive satisfactory working conditions. It helps us to understand sit-

uations, such as those sometimes found among unionized employees, where low job

satisfaction is coupled with low turnover.^83 Union members often express dissatis-

faction through the grievance procedure or through formal contract negotiations.

These voice mechanisms allow the union members to continue in their jobs while

convincing themselves that they are acting to improve the situation.

Organizational Commitment

Organizational commitmentis defined as a state in which an employee identifies

with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in

the organization.^84

Professor John Meyer at the University of Western Ontario and his colleagues have

identified and developed measures for three types of commitment:^85

• Affective commitment.An individual’s relationship to the organization: his or
  her emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the
  organization.


• Normative commitment.The obligation an individual feels to staying with the
  organization.


• Continuance commitment.An individual’s calculation that it is in his or her
  best interest to stay with the organization based on the perceived costs of
  leaving the organization.
  Affective commitment is strongly associated with positive work behaviours such as
  performance, attendance, and citizenship. Normative commitment is less strongly
  associated with positive work behaviours. However, when affective and normative
  commitment decline, individuals are much more likely to quit their jobs.^86
  Because continuance commitment reflects an individual’s calculation that it is in
  his or her best interest to stay with the organization (perhaps because it would be dif-
  ficult to find a job elsewhere), it is often associated with negative work behaviours.

88 Part 1 Understanding the Workplace

Source: Reprinted with permission from Journal of Applied Social Psychology15, no. 1, p. 83. V. H.

Winston and Sons, 360 South Beach Boulevard, Palm Beach, FL 33480. All rights reserved.

Active

Destructive Constructive

Passive

EXIT VOICE

NEGLECT LOYALTY

EXHIBIT 3-5 Responses to Job Dissatisfaction

organizational commitment
A state in which an employee identi-
fies with a particular organization
and its goals, and wishes to main-
tain membership in the
organization.