Organisational Behaviour Case Study

ORGANISATIONAL (AFFECTIVE) & CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT

Meyer and Allen (1991) proposed a three-component model that an employee will remain with an organisation because they want to (affective), have to (continuance) or are compelled to (normative).

Organisational commitment is characterised by three related factors (Baker et al.):
• A strong belief in organisational goals and values
• A willingness to exert considerable effort to achieve those goals
• A strong desire to maintain membership

Fran’s organisational commitment is low at best. As she is not made aware of any goals or values, any effort to achieve them is difficult and her desire to remain in the organisation declines steadily.

Moreover, Fran experiences continuance commitment, trapped by the knowledge that a meagre five month tenure would not look good to future employers.

At the time of her dismissal, Fran is emotionally exhausted and inherently stressed.

CIRCUMPLEX MODEL OF EMOTIONS

Russell’s (1980) valence-arousal model highlights a bipolar valence dimension ranging from positive (happy) to negative (sad) emotions and an orthogonal arousal dimension ranging from emotions low in arousal such as calm to high in arousal such as tense (Larson & McGraw, 2011).

Fran’s emotions change during her time at Dairy Engineering.

Initially Fran’s emotions are within the high activation/positive quadrant of the circumplex model. She is enthusiastic to be leaving university to gain practical experience and earn an above average starting salary.

After discovering the job isn’t everything she hoped for, Fran’s emotions move into the low activation/negative quadrant. Fran is unhappy with the menial duties and bored due to having very little to do.

Fran transitions briefly back to a high activation/positive emotional state when she enjoys a workshop opportunity and a chance to mix with experienced managers.

Unfortunately for Fran however, it is short lived and she finds herself squarely in the high activation/negative emotional state for the remainder of her time at Dairy Engineering. She is verbally abused by her manager, the victim of weak management, forced to request a transfer and ultimately dismissed in front of her colleagues.

PSYCHOLOGICAL HARASSMENT

Bullying at work means harassing, offending, socially excluding or negatively affecting someone’s work tasks (Samnani & Singh, 2012).

Peter targets Fran with verbal abuse, accusing her of being conniving and sneaky (insults/belittling), stating no other section would want her (exclusion), demanding other colleagues don’t talk to her (ostracism) and that her employment at the company is doomed (affecting her dignity/integrity)

Rob contributes to the situation by not consulting Peter originally regarding the workshop and then not smoothing the issue, not confronting Peter with Fran’s issues at the management meeting as promised, dismissing the situation to the point Fran feels she must transfer or exit completely.

Both managers enjoy claiming subordinates’ ideas/work as their own, demonstrate poor ethics and appear to be conspiratorial in their management technique.

EXIT-VOICE-LOYALTY-NEGLECT

Hirschman (1970) proposed that people faced with dissatisfaction will either exit (leave the relationship) or voice (attempt to change the relationship) and that the decision would be moderated by the degree to which the employee was loyal to the entity. Add to this an additional element of neglect (reducing work effort)to make four ways employees respond.

Being a high-achiever, Fran does not adopt a neglect strategy

In response to job dissatisfaction and conflict, Fran initially holds enough loyalty toward the business and to her own self-concept to voice her concerns. She speaks with Peter, Rob, Vernon and co-workers on a number of occasions alerting them to the various problems and seeking solutions.

Fran is then led to the exit strategy, not to leave the company entirely but to take up Vernon’s offer and transfer to the cost accounting department. Fran attempts to remove herself from the stressor by choosing flight over fight. But Rob and Peter have other ideas.

References

Baker, T., Hunt, T. & Andrews, M. (2006). Promoting ethical behaviour and organizational citizenship behaviors: The influence of corporate ethical values. Journal of Business Research, Vol. 59, pp. 849-857

Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press

Goleman, D. (2001). An EI-based theory of performance. In C. Cherniss & D. Goleman (Eds.), The emotionally intelligent workplace. How to select for, measure and improve emotional intelligence in individuals, groups and organizations, pp. 27-44. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Hirschman, A.O. (1970). Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Larsen, J.T. & McGraw A.P. (2011). Further evidence for Mixed Emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 100, No.6, pp. 1095-1110

Russell, J.A. (1980). A circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 39, pp. 1161-1178

Samnani, A., & Singh, P. (2012). 20 Years of workplace bullying research: A review of the antecedents and consequences of bullying in the workplace. School of Human Resources Management, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Strandmark, M.K. & Hallberg, L.R. (2007). The origin of workplace bullying: Experiences from the perspective of bullying victims in the public service sector. Journal of Nursing Management, Vol. 14, pp. 1-10

References: Baker, T., Hunt, T. & Andrews, M. (2006). Promoting ethical behaviour and organizational citizenship behaviors: The influence of corporate ethical values. Journal of Business Research, Vol. 59, pp. 849-857 Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press Goleman, D. (2001). An EI-based theory of performance. In C. Cherniss & D. Goleman (Eds.), The emotionally intelligent workplace. How to select for, measure and improve emotional intelligence in individuals, groups and organizations, pp. 27-44. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Hirschman, A.O. (1970). Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Larsen, J.T. & McGraw A.P. (2011). Further evidence for Mixed Emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 100, No.6, pp. 1095-1110 Russell, J.A. (1980). A circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 39, pp. 1161-1178 Samnani, A., & Singh, P. (2012). 20 Years of workplace bullying research: A review of the antecedents and consequences of bullying in the workplace. School of Human Resources Management, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada. Strandmark, M.K. & Hallberg, L.R. (2007). The origin of workplace bullying: Experiences from the perspective of bullying victims in the public service sector. Journal of Nursing Management, Vol. 14, pp. 1-10