Performance and Retention - Emotional and Rational Commitment

Positive commitment can result in significant cost savings for an organization, and it can be measured in terms of business impact. To build a highly engaged workforce, leaders must first distinguish between the Two types of commitment: Rational commitment and Emotional commitment ( Turner, 2020) Rational engagement is defined as an employee's understanding of a positive attitude toward leadership and strategy. It is the motivation that is solely based on the exchange of time, expertise, and energy for monetary compensation. Emotional Commitment is where employees are motivated to work primarily for their passion and purpose and are based on an employee's feelings about their role and the organization (Harward Business Review, 2004)

According to the Corporate Leadership Council (2004) engagement model, the two types of commitment results in two possible outcomes: Discretionary effort (going above and beyond the call of duty) leading to increased performance, or Intent to stay (employees desire to stay with the organization) leading to retention.

 

Figure: 1.0 Corporate Leadership Council Employee Engagement Model

Source: Corporate Leadership Council (2004)

Emotional commitment has been demonstrated to be four times more powerful than rational commitment in maintaining productivity (Harward Business Review, 2004) Understanding that an organization is approachable and cares not only about the outcomes of projects, but also about the people behind them, can make all the difference for the success of the organization. Organizations consist of employees who are 'True Believers,' 'Disaffected,' or 'Agnostic.' (Corporate Leadership Council, 2004; Gallup, 2006). Based on research carried out by The Corporate Leadership Council, (2004) approximately 11% of the workforce as "true believers," demonstrating very high levels of both commitment types; the remaining 13% demonstrate depressingly low levels of commitment. This segment is more valuable to the organization than the 'disaffected' and 'agnostic' segments because it has higher retention and company loyalty. Those who are dissatisfied are regarded as underperformers, whereas those who are satisfied are regarded as overperformers (Karsnia, 2009)

Each of these types of commitment is unique. Employees may be committed to the organization because it meets a logical and rational need for income or a source of financial stability (Chandani, Mehta, Mall, and Khokhar, 2016).  Employees may also be committed to their jobs because they serve a long-term purpose related to their career goals or professional needs.  According to Rodwell, Kienzle and Shadur, (1998), Organizations recognize employee engagement as an unceasing process hence leaders who focus on incorporating these emotional drivers into their organizational culture will not only improve their organizational culture, but also their employees' overall attitude, commitment, and performance.

Considering this scenario, according to the Harvard Business Review, it was identified that 3 out of 4 employees have been engaged and 1 has been actively disengaged. There are too many employees out there just for salary, and they are doing at a level where they can get less work done than the best work. Also, many employees are below average because they are either indifferent to their current role or have not been challenged with adequate responsibility. Understanding the key emotional drivers that motivate employees is the key to a high-performance culture and if a company can build emotional bonds with its employees, it can diverse its performance from happy employees to enthusiastic employees, and see measurable increases in productivity, profits, and sales.

 Emotional Employee engagement drivers:  (Bedarkar and Pandita, 2014)

1.  Pride: Employees are more likely to be involved when they are proud of what they do and believe that their performance is important to the success of the company. They are valuable, proud, and ready to contribute when they work for a company that has a solid reputation based on trust and integrity and feels that their work brings value to their customers.

2. Awards: Gratitude and awards have a positive impact on motivation, happiness, and contentment, and respondents believe there is still room for improvement in the gratitude culture. Awards expressed to an individual have a greater impact than gratitude expressed to the team.

3.  Inspire work: Employees become more active when they can inspire and challenge daily. Challenge your employees by providing projects that help them grow and improve their skills.

4.  Self-development: Employees not only want to be passionate about work, but also want to feel that they are growing through their work. If employees are in the same position within five years and know that they have no opportunity to grow further, it will be difficult for them to commit to working at a high level.

5. Clarity: Employees become more active when they have a clear vision and mission for the organization and understand the relationship between their role and the impact of their work on their performance. It provides clear expectations and role responsibilities so that employees can understand how their work contributes to the goals of the organization.

6. Positive Work Environment: Employees perform better in a positive work environment. Being surrounded by active and supportive colleagues has a great impact on the willingness of people to get involved. Building personal relationships within an organization create emotional bonds and a stronger sense of teamwork and engagement.

7.  A Voice: Employees are more likely to be involved when given a platform where they can hear and hear, especially regarding strategies and issues within the department

Each of these forms of engagement is different. Employees can commit to the organization so that it meets the logical and rational need to provide a source of income or financial stability. (Markos and Sridevi, 2010). Employees can also focus on their work to achieve long-term goals related to their career goals and professional needs. Further as highlighted by Armstrong, (2010), Leaders focused on creating a culture that attracts this emotional satisfaction not only improves the organizational culture but also improves the overall attitude, involvement, and performance of employees.

 

References

•   Armstrong, M., 2010. Armstrong's essential human resource management practice: A guide to people management. Kogan Page Publishers.

•  Bedarkar, M. and Pandita, D., 2014. A study on the drivers of employee engagement impacting employee performance. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 133, pp.106-115.

•   Chandani, A., Mehta, M., Mall, A. and Khokhar, V., 2016. Employee engagement: A review paper on factors affecting employee engagement. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 9(15), pp.1-7.

•  Council, C.L., 2004. Driving performance and retention through employee engagement (Vol. 14). Washington, DC: Corporate Executive Board.

•  Harvard Business Review (2004). [Online]. Available at https://hbr.org/2004/12/the-things-they-do-for-love [Accessed on 19th April 2022]

•   Karsnia, E.J., 2009. APprOV~ lJest~ Credits (Doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Stout).

•  Markos, S. and Sridevi, M.S., 2010. Employee engagement: The key to improving performance. International journal of business and management, 5(12), p.89.

•  Rodwell, J.J., Kienzle, R. and Shadur, M.A., 1998. The relationship among work‐related perceptions, employee attitudes, and employee performance: The integral role of communications. Human Resource Management: Published in Cooperation with the School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan and in alliance with the Society of Human Resources Management, 37(3‐4), pp.277-293.

• Turner, P., 2020. What Is Employee Engagement?. In Employee Engagement in Contemporary Organizations (pp. 27-56). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.