Excerpt
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Research Question
1.4 Objective of the Study
1.5 Hypotheses of the Study
1.6 Significant of the Study
1.7 Scope of the Study
1.8 Limitation of the Study
1.9 Definitions of Term
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Conceptual framework
2.1.1 Emotional/affective commitment
2.1.2 Continuance commitment
2.1.3 Normative commitment
2.1.4 Strategies Used For Motivation as Organizational Commitment
2.1.5 Salary, Wages and Conditions of Service
2.1.6 Staff Training
2.1.7 Communication
2.2 Review of Relevant Study
2.2.1 Organizational Commitment
2.2.2Levels of Commitment - Forms of Commitment
2.2.3 Antecedent to commitment in work place
2.2.4 Consequences of workplace commitment
2.3 Theoretical Framework
2.3.1. The Early Era
2.3.2 Middle Era
2.3.3 The Third Era the Multi-dimensional Approach
2.3.4 Model Based on two Dimensions
2.3.5 Era of multiple competitions
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Research design
3.2 Population of study
3.3 Sample and sample technique
3.4 Source of data
3.5 Scoring Instrument
3.6 Method of Collecting Data
3.7 Method of Data Analysis
3.8 Decision Criteria
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Data presentation
4.1.1 Number of questionnaire administered and returns to the researcher
4.1.2 Presentation of data by sex
4.2 Data Analysis/Interpretation
4.3 Test of hypotheses
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.0 Introduction
5.1 Summary
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Recommendation
Bibliography
Appendix
Questionnaire
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between organizational commitment, moral or affective commitment, calculative or continuance commitment and normative commitment and job performance. The population of the study is made up of 300 academic and non-academic staff of Ritman University, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State. The paper used purposive sampling for the selection of the respondents. Questionnaires were distributed to the respondents for statistical analysis. The study utilized linear correlation coefficient to analyze the data collected. The study revealed a number of findings including: there is a significant correlation between organizational commitment and employee performance, there is a significant correlation between moral or affective commitment and job performance, there is statistically significant correlation between continuance commitment and job performance Based on the findings, some recommendations were made most importantly: Nigeria University should lay more emphases on the provision of social responsibility to its workers, owners, society and other stakeholders. Finally, the success or failure of any organization depends on its workforce. Adequate motivation and remuneration boost the employee moral to work harder towards achieving or accomplishing challenging task or goals.
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Background to the study
Organizational commitment is one of the basic concepts describing the relationship between an employee and an organization. The researchers’ great interest in the construction of organizational commitment is a result of its role in individuals’ functioning in the place of work. For example, there are numerous arguments that strongly committed employees work more and have better results than those with lower level of commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1997).They are also more willing to assist other co-workers, to undertake additional actions in the workplace and to take active part in solving problem situations (Shore & Wayne, 1993) . As the success of a company may depend on how its employees get committed to it, understanding which factors determine commitment development and what keeps it on the same level seems to be particularly important. It is commitment that gets the job done. This intense dedication is more powerful than our best intentions, willpower, or circumstances. Without commitment, influence is minimal; barriers are unbreakable; and passion, impact, and opportunities may be lost (Maxwell, 1999).
Organizational commitment is the employees’ state of being committed to assist in the achievement of the organization’s goals, and involves the employees’ levels of identification, involvement, and loyalty (Caught & Shadur, 2000). It is an emotional response that can be measured through people’s behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes and can range anywhere from very low to very high. John Meyer and Nancy Allen (1997) have identified three types of organizational commitment: affective, continuance, and normative In 1991, Meyer and Allen recommended that employee commitment be studied from both the attitudinal and behavioral perspectives.
Organizational commitment is defined as “a state in which the employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organization (Robbins, 2001). Newstrom (2007) calls it employee loyalty. Schultz and Schultz (2002) say it is manifested in the employees’ acceptance of organizational values and goals and his loyalty to the organization reflected by his continual desire to remain in the organization. McMahon (2007) claimed that it is what binds an employee to the organization. Liou (2008) attributes the success of an organization to the employees’ commitment and participation. She said that a high-commitment environment improves employee retention rate, reduces operating costs and promotes employee performance and efficiency.
Employee’s performance is one of the most important dependent variables and has been studies for a long decade. Borman and Motowidlo (1993) identified two types of employee behavior that are necessary for organizational effectiveness: task performance and contextual performance. Task performance refers to behaviors that are directly involved in producing goods or service, or activities that provide indirect support for the organization’s core technical processes (Borman and Motowidlo, 1997; Werner, 2000). These behaviors directly relate to the formal organization reward system. On the other hand, contextual performance is defined as individual efforts that are not directly related to their main task functions. However, these behaviors are important because they shape the organizational, social, and psychological contexts serving as the critical catalyst for task activities and processes (Werner, 2000). Therefore, this study will to investigate secondary data in order to construct a conceptual framework for implementation of structural equation model that affects employees’ performance.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
By understanding when and how commitments develop and how they shape attitude and behavior, organizations will be in a better position to anticipate the impact that change will have and to manage it more effectively (Meyer & Allen, 1997). By knowing what drives the commitment of employees, positive environment can be created to deliver tangible results quickly. Lack of organization commitment gave negative effects on employee performance which to a large extent contribute immensely to failure of organization not achieving their goals. Lack of organizational commitment on the part of employees has resulted in a lot of turbulence, laxity, high rate of absenteeism and resignations. These have caused severe negative impacts on the services delivered. The variables under study are organizational commitment as independent variable and employee performance as dependent variable. Commitment has been further disintegrated into four parts attitudinal commitment, emotional commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment. Therefore this study seeks to assess the relationship between organizational commitment and employee performance in Ritman University.
1.3 Objective of the Study
i. To examine the factors that promotes positive motivational behavior among the employees to guarantee organizational commitment and success.
ii. To ascertain consistencies in the rewarding system and the corresponding result in employee behavior as the motivated, satisfied, committed and loyal employees are vital part in the workplace
iii. To ascertain the concept of organizational commitment on employee’s performance.
iv. To examine employee’s sense of obligation and job performance.
1.4 Research Questions
The following research questions were formulated:
i. Is there any relationship between organizational commitment and Employee performance?
ii. To what extent has emotional commitment affect employee’s performance?
iii. To what extent has Fear of loss (continuance commitment) contribute to Employee performance?
iv. Extent to which an obligation (normative commitment) towards work affect employee performance?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were formulated in the null (Ho) form
Ho1: There is no positive significant relationship between organizational commitment and employee performance.
Ho2: There is no positive significant relationship between emotional/affective commitment and employee performance.
Ho3: There is no positive significant relationship between continuance commitment and employee performance.
Ho4: There is no positive significant relationship between normative commitment and employee performance.
1.6Significance of the Study
This study is significant in a number of ways: It is design to unveil the hidden treasure awaiting employees/employers in the discharge of organizational commitment to their immediate environment. The study will expose readers to the magnificent contributions of organizational commitment on employee performance. It is hope that this study will add to existing body of knowledge on the subject matter understudy and also incite for the research on the organizational commitment and it impact on Employee performance in business organization. The finding of the study will serve as a reference point for further studies.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The study is intended to brief the human side of the employees to know the level of organizational commitment prevailing in the employee performance. It attempts to evaluate their individual perception and its influence on their performance. This study includes both male and female workers of Ritman University, Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State.
1.8 Limitation of the Study
Some of the major limitations anticipated in this study were: The time required for this research was short coupled with other academic works. Due to the current situation in the country’s economy (recession) there is no fund to carry out the research effectively. The nature of data needed for this research is difficult to collect.
1.9 Definition of terms
Organizational commitment:strength of the feeling of responsibility that an employee has towards the mission of the organization. In order words it is the individual'spsychological attachment to theorganization.
Employee:An employee is a person who has agreed to be employed to work for some form of payment under a contract of service. People who have been offered and have accepted a job, butare yet to start working.
Performance:The accomplishment of a given task measured against preset known standards of accuracy, completeness, cost, and speed. In a contract, performance is deemed to be the fulfillment of an obligation, in a manner that releases the performer from all liabilities under the contract.
Affective commitment:AC is defined as the employee's positive emotional attachment to the organization. Meyer and Allen pegged AC as the "desire" component of organizational commitment.
Continuance commitment:Continuance commitment is the "need" component or the gains versus losses of working in an organization.
Normative commitment: The individual commits to and remains with an organization because of feelings of obligation, the last component of organizational commitment.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.0 Introduction
Early researchers of organizational commitment (Becker, 1960; Kanter, 1968) identified that commitment is primarily a function of individual behavior and willingness of individuals to give their energy to the organization through actions and choices over time. In other words, Becker (1960) described commitment as the tendency to engage in consistent lines of activity, such as intent to stay in the organization. Schneider et al (1970) demonstrated that when the goals of the organizations and the members of the organizations integrated or congruent, attitudinal commitment occurs. Therefore, attitudinal commitment represents a state in which an individual identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and maintains membership in order to facilitate these goals (Mowday et al, 1979).
2.1 Conceptual Framework
Organizational commitment is conceptualized in varies forms and tried to be measured. Researchers suggest that organizational commitment forms in two ways in the organizations. The first is the attitudinal commitment and the other is the behavior commitment. The attitudinal commitment emerges from the relationships between the employee and the organization centers on what the employees think about their organization. According to Grusky (1966), attitudinal commitment represents the individual’s identification with a specific organization and the organizations goals, his/her willingness to continue to work in the organization to facilitate reaching these goals and the employees’ emotional commitment to a social system. Allen and Meyer’s (1990) work revealed the differences in the attitudinal commitment definitions, developed a measure for each and showed that each and every one of these measures has different relationships with the previous works. Meyer and Allen (1991) treat organizational commitment in three groups; affective-emotional, continuance and normative commitment. This mode of classification is still valid today and is still considered to be fundamental in the commitment studies.
2.1.1 Emotional Commitment
The most popular approach to the organizational commitment is the emotional commitment. It can simply be defined as strong sense of belonging to the organization and/or identification with the organization. “Cohesion Commitment” which is defined by Kanter (1968) as individuals’ emotional investments is phrased by Buchanan as the emotional involvement or affiliation with the business organizations goals and targets. This, according to him is in a way a type of commitment for the sake of organization. The date obtained from the results of the studies on emotional commitment show that emotional commitment stems from work experiences (Allen and Meyer, 1990). Emotional commitment in its most general form can be described as sentimentally the individuals’ willingness to stay at the business organization by their own will.
2.1.2 Continuance Commitment
According to Becker (1960) is a type of commitment which forms as a result of the cost that must be paid by the individual who discontinues his/her activities. The basic future of this commitment which is defined by Kanter (1968) as the cognitive-continuance commitment is that it is correlated with gain in continuance and cost in discontinuance or withdrawal. The reason for the employees desired to stay in the organization is the sense of deprivation from the present/prospective salary gains, statue, freedom and promotional opportunities. Becker grounds continuance commitment on two main factors: individual investments in the organization and the individuals perceived lack of alternatives. Employees cannot easily give up the investments they have made through their talents/knowledge, the time and energy they have spent and transfer to another organization. For this reason, they have the tendency to continue in their organizations.
2.1.3 Normative Commitment
The basis of this type of commitment is the benefits accomplished by the employees from the organization and his feeling of indebtedness, gratitude and respect to the organization in return for the reciprocal good relations that he/she developed with the organization (Seçkin 2011: 352). For Allen and Meyer (1990), the reason for employees continuing to work for the organization is his/her feeling of responsibility for the organization. According to Wiener (1982), the motivating factor behind reaching organizational goals and targets employees feeling of normativity and for the employee this feeling is moral and right. This is, under the influence of familial, cultural life, individual experiences and his/her identification with the organization the belief developed that it is right and morally appropriate for the employee to stay in the organization.
Commitment refers to a person’s dedication to a person, job or organization. It is reflected in the person’s “intention to persevere in a course of action” (Meyer & Allen, 1997). Soliven (2009) defines it more strongly as a sacred covenant, without which life is unimaginable. Commitment has always been believed as the driving force behind a person’s success. A person who has committed himself to a task will pursue it until its completion even if he experience obstacles during the process. It is his commitment that will drive him to rise above the challenges. Organizational commitment is defined as “a state in which the employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organization (Robbins, 2001). Newstrom (2007) calls it employee loyalty. Schultz and Schultz (2002) say it is manifested in the employees’ acceptance of organizational values and goals and his loyalty to the organization reflected by his continual desire to remain in the organization. McMahon (2007) claimed that it is what binds an employee to the organization. Liou (2008) attributes the success of an organization to the employees’ commitment and participation. She said that a high commitment environment improves employee retention rate, reduces operating costs and promotes employee performance and efficiency. Allen and Meyer (2004) believe that strong organizational commitment causes employees to work harder in order to achieve the objectives of the organization. An employee with high level of organizational commitment sees himself as a true member of the organization and is more likely to embrace company values and beliefs and will be more tolerant of minor sources of dissatisfaction (Lai, 2001). Meyer and Allen (1990) defined commitment as the employee’s feelings of obligation to stay with the organization: feelings resulting from the internalization of normative pressure exerted on an individual prior to or following entry.
2.1.4:Strategies Used For Motivation as Organizational Commitment
Organizational Commitment can be achieved through, organizational trust and motivation. Motivation is one of the most important factors for any organization. According to Thompson and McHugh (2002), it is one of the five factors that determine the existence of any organization, as they put motivation on an equal footing with men, money, machines, and morale. Determining and understanding the factors that motivate employees is an essential need, since the performance of any organization depends on the availability of a satisfied and motivated workforce. Moreover, motivation can influence managers’ effectiveness as, Analoui (1999-2007), motivation is one of the parameters of managerial effectiveness. Gage and Berliner (1992) see motivation as the engine and the steering wheel of a car as they believe that motivation generates the energy and controls the behavior of any person. Because, if we discover and understand what motivates an employee, we will then be able to know the correct button to press to make him work harder, the correct levers to drag to make him change his behavior, and the correct rewards that can be used to direct his attitudes (Huczynski, 2001). The term “motivation‟ can be traced to the Latin word “Movere” which means “to move” (Luthans, 1995). However, this is an inadequate explanation of the complex process of motivation. A more detailed definition was presented by Analoui, (2000) when he illustrated that “motivation is the internal drive necessary to guide people’s actions and behaviors toward achievement of some goals. This drive or force comes from the desire to satisfy certain needs and expectations (Mullins, 2005). Similarly, Kast and Rosenzweig (1979) defined motivation as “what perhaps prompts a person to act in a certain way or at least develop a propensity for specific behaviour”. Motivation is a basic psychological process. A recent databased comprehensive analysis concluded that competitiveness problems appear to be largely motivational in nature. Along with perception, personality, attitudes, and learning, motivation is a very important element of behaviour. Nevertheless, motivation is not the only explanation of behaviour. It interacts with and acts in conjunction with other cognitive processes.
The following strategies are used for motivation as organizational commitment:
2.1.5 Salary, Wages and Conditions of Service
To use salaries as a motivator effectively, personnel managers must consider four major components of a salary structures. These are the job rate, which relates to the importance the organization attaches to each job; payment, which encourages workers or groups by rewarding them according to their performance; personal or special allowances, associated with factors such as scarcity of particular skills or certain categories of information professionals, or with long service; and fringe benefits such as holidays with pay, pensions, and so on. Money Akintoye (2000) asserts that money remains the most significant motivational strategy. As far back as 1911, Frederick Taylor and his scientific management associate described money as the most important factor in motivating the industrial workers to achieve greater performance. Taylor advocated the establishment of incentive wage systems as a means of stimulating workers to higher performance, commitment, and eventually satisfaction. Money possesses significant motivating power in as much as it symbolizes intangible goals like security, power, prestige, and a feeling of accomplishment and success, Katz, in Sinclair, et al. (2005) demonstrates the motivational power of money through the process of job choice. He explains that money has the power to attract, retain, and motivate individuals towards higher performance. Banjoko (1996) states that many managers use money to reward or punish workers.
2.1.6 Staff Training
No matter how automated an organization may be, high productivity depends on the level of motivation and the effectiveness of the workforce. Staff training is an indispensable strategy for motivating workers. The organizational members must have good training programme. This will give them opportunities for self-improvement and development to meet the challenges and requirements of new equipment and new techniques of performing a task.
2.1.7 Communication:
One way managers can stimulate Motivation is to give relevant information on the consequences of their actions on others (Olajide, 2000). To this researcher it seems that there is no known organization in which people do not usually feel there should be improvement in the way departments communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with one another. Information availability brings to bear a powerful peer pressure, where two or a more people running together will run faster than when running alone or running without awareness of the pace of the other runners. By sharing information, subordinates compete with one another. Studies on work motivation seem to confirm that it improves workers’ performance and satisfaction. Certain environmental and motivational factors are predictors of job satisfaction. Most firms invested only in skill formation and direct communication, which can affect job related commitment to a limited extent.
2.2 Organizational Commitment
Workplace Commitment has been defined as the degree of pledging or binding of the individual to a set of behaviors and motivates one to act (Kiesler, 1971). Once identification with the organization begins, individuals are likely to become concerned with the broader interests of the organization including its reputation, survival, and continued success, that generates activity and resource exchange (reflecting enhanced concern between firm and employee) fostering further identification (Rousseau, 1998). Katzenbach (2000) describes an energized workforce as high performance (those that perform better than industry norms) and whose emotional commitment enables them to make and deliver products or services that constitute a sustainable competitive advantage. Commitment in the workplace or understanding how people become committed to an organization is multifaceted (Meyer & Allen, 1997) consisting of the elements, antecedents and consequences, and forms such as organizational (affective), job, career, team, and supervisory commitment.
2.2.1 Levels of Commitment - Forms of Commitment
Commitment affects the organization and the person, making two levels. (a) Organizational commitment which is directed by organization attributes and defined as the psychological and emotional attachment of employees to their organizations (Morrow, 1993; Meyer & Allen, 1991; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990). (b) Individual employee commitment, guided by attributes that directly affect the person and is defined as the psychological and emotional attachment of individuals to their jobs, careers, work groups or teams, peers and supervisors (Cohen, 2003). Organizational commitment is the measure of strength of the employee’s identification with the goals and values of the organization (Mowday et al., 1982) and supervisor. Individuals committed to the organization exert extra effort, desire organizational membership (Morrow, 1993), protect company assets, and share company goals and values (Meyer & Allen, 1997). Supervisory commitment is defined as the strength of identification with supervisor and internalization of supervisor's values. Identification occurs when the subordinate admires certain attributes of the supervisor, such as attitudes, behavior, and accomplishments. Internalization occurs when the subordinate adopts the attitudes and behaviors of the supervisor because the supervisor's attitudes and behaviors are congruent with the subordinate's value systems (Becker, 1992; Gregersen & Black, 1993). Commitment to organization is related positively to a variety of desirable work outcomes including employee job satisfaction, motivation and performance, and related negatively to absenteeism and turnover (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990). (Meyer & Allen, 1997; Mowday et al., 1982; Cohen, 2003; Porter et al 1974). Employees continue with the organization because they want to do so (Meyer & Allen, 1997; Mowday et al, 1982) and feel proud to be part of the organization, respecting its values and accomplishments (O’Reilly & Chatman, 1986). The calculative or “side-bet” (Becker, 1960), also referred to as continuance (Meyer & Allen, 1997) and compliance (O’Reilly & Chatman, 1986), signifies the extent to which employees feel committed to their organization by virtue of the cost that they feel is associated with leaving it and their need to remain with the organization (Becker,1992; Meyer & Allen, 1997).
The affective (attitudinal) commitment approach provides a clearer and more focused scale of organizational commitment (Jaros, 1997) because the correlation between antecedents and attitudinal (affective) measures are stronger than those measures of the calculated or continuance approach (Hrebiniak & Alutto, 1972; O’Reilly & Chatman, 1986; Meyer & Allen, 1997). In addition, many existing measures of organizational commitment are attitudinal (Ko, Price & Mueller, 1997; McGee & Ford, 1987), and the construct validity of affective (attitudinal) commitment is supported (Ko et al., 1997), while the construct validity of continuance and compliance commitment is questionable (Ko et al., 1997). Individual commitment is the measure of strength of the employee’s identification with the values of other individuals and peers within the organization (team commitment), and their work (job commitment) and careers (career commitment) and encourages individuals to exert extra organizational citizenship behavior as active positive contributions to colleagues and avoid engaging in harmful behaviors. Team commitment is an individual’s identification and sense of cohesiveness with other members of a group. The importance of team commitment is its enhancement of social involvement that reinforces the social ties that the individual forms with the organization (Randall &Cote, 1991). Job commitment is the degree to which a person identifies psychologically with his/her work and is the internalization of the values and the importance of work for the person’s worth and the degree to which one’s work performance affects one’s self-esteem and self-image (Lodhal & Kejner, 1965; Rabinowitz & Hall, 1977). Career commitment (professional and occupational commitment) focuses on the employee’s career and the devotion to a craft or occupation (Blau, 1995; Morrow, 1983). Career commitment is defined as the magnitude of an individual’s motivation, attitude, affects, belief and behavioral intentions toward an occupation or vocation (Blau, 1995; Hall, 1971) or the degree of centrality of one’s career for one’s identity (Gould, 1979).
2.2.3 Antecedents to Commitment in the Workplace
Antecedents of commitment are actions or elements that cause commitment to occur. Congruency, interesting work, clarity of purpose, feedback, equity /fairness, empowerment, and autonomy are antecedent elements linked to organizational commitment that produces psychological states that lead to positive consequences for the organization and individual. The antecedents that lead to individual employee commitment are congruency, interesting work, feedback, and autonomy. Congruency is the quality of agreement that exists between the employee’s values and interests and those of the organization. If congruency exists between a person's interests, preferences, abilities (Holland, 1985) and values (Katzenbach, 2000), and organizational factors in the work environment, employees become more emotionally committed to the organization leading to improved performance (Holland, 1985; Katzenbach, 2000). Congruency or “fit” between the individual and his or her job/career increases commitment to the career and/or job (O’Reilly, Chatman, & Cadwell, 1991). Interesting work holds the individual’s attention, is challenging and rewarding, is significant to the organization, and allows utilization of a variety of skills and knowledge. Job characteristics such as job challenge, skill variety (different activities and talents the job requires), task identity (doing a job from beginning to end with visible results), task significance (the job’s impact on the lives of workers and the organization), degree of autonomy (freedom, independence and discretion in scheduling work and determining procedures) all improve commitment to the organization (Mathew & Zajac, 1990; Nelson, 1999), to the job (Hackman & Oldham, 1976 Varona, 2002), and one’s career (Person, 1997). The more important a task or job component (job significance) is, the greater the level of job commitment and job satisfaction, motivation and job performance (Hackman & Oldham, 1976). Organizations that ensure interesting work will improve employee commitment to the organization and the job itself. Clarity of purpose provides a clear identification of the intentions, ideas, goals and plans of the organization allowing employees to be informed, ask questions, share information, provide a clear sense of direction. Lack of clarity, about purpose, lies at the core of organizational ineffectiveness and inefficiency (Kaufman, 2000; Katzenbach, 2000). Organizations that provide a clear sense of direction (Greenberg, 1994), adequate explanation of new policy (Rhodes & Steers, 1981; DeCotiis & Summers, 1987) and purpose report high levels of organizational commitment (Mathleu & Zajac, 1990), workgroup commitment (Konovsky & Cropanzano, 1991) and individual commitment (Varona, 2002). Equity and fairness maintains a balance between and within the organization and its employees. Affective commitment and commitment between peers and supervisor is strengthen when employees’ perceptions are of a fair, trusting, and equitable environment (Konovsky & Cropanzano, 1991; Kim & Mauborgne, 1993; Rhodes & Steers, 1981). Feedback is the degree to which employees receive information that reveals how well they are performing on the job. Feedback that promotes continuous improvement and constant communication with employees leads to the development of organizational commitment (Luthans, 1998) and enhanced performance (Katzenbach, 2000; Nelson, 1999; Varona, 2002). Empowerment gives authority to the employees to make decisions about their work. Giving people latitude, flexibility, and empowerment to make decisions increases the chance that they will perform as desired bringing additional initiative, ideas, and energy to their jobs (Nelson, 1999). Autonomy is the degree of freedom, independence and discretion an employee is allowed in scheduling work and determining procedures.
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