Organisational Commitment

Assessment 2: Individual Written Assignment
•    Required Length: 2000-2500 words
•    Marks Allocated: 40
Organisational behaviour recognises that behaviour is influenced by both the specific workplace context, as well as the personal attributes (e.g., traits, values, interpersonal style) that people bring to their workplace. This assessment encourages you to critically reflect on how a personal attribute that is relevant to OB affects work outcomes, both for yourself and others.
You will be provided with a list of personal attributes on the LMS (see below). You will select one and work independently to analyse the OB research literature on your chosen attribute. You will also reflect on your own strengths and weaknesses with respect to this attribute.
Your analysis should demonstrate a clear understanding of the relevant academic literature. There is no minimum or maximum number of articles that you should read or include, but as a rough guide, a thorough analysis often means that you will be citing at least 10 articles from peer-reviewed journals. If appropriate, you should include references to additional credible sources (e.g., case studies, company reports, practitioner-focused articles).
Additional instructions, list of attributes, marking criteria, and the Turnitin dropbox are available via the links below.
Tips for Getting Started
Tips for Getting Started
This assignment encourages to explore an individual attribute (organisational commitment, emotional intelligence or conflict styles) in greater depth. You don’t have to analyse or explain everything about the attribute that you choose, and this is impossible to do in 2000-2500 words anyway. The scope of the assignment is broad to allow you to explore aspects of organisational commitment, emotional intelligence or conflict styles that you find interesting. Focus on developing an in-depth and high quality analysis rather than something that is overly broad and superficial.
To help you narrow your interests and literature search, consider the following:
?    Complete the self-assessment and reflect on your outcomes. Did anything surprise you about your results? Reflect on your experiences with the attribute. For example, you might consider the following:

?    Is your current organisational commitment quite high (or low)? Why do you think this is the case and how has it affected your current work behaviour? Is your current level of organisational commitment similar or different to what you’ve experienced in other jobs, and why do you think this is the case?
?    When have you used emotional intelligence in your interactions? How has your level of emotional intelligence helped or hindered you in your interactions? How did you develop emotional intelligence? How can you improve emotional intelligence?
?    What is your preferred conflict style? When has it been effective for you? Do you always use your preferred conflict style and why/why not? What conflict style seems to be most valued in your organisation? Your home culture?
?    The above are examples only; you might have other questions or reflections.
?    Read the relevant section of your textbook and lecture notes (if applicable). Also read the source article cited at the bottom of the self-assessment. These readings will give you a broad overview of the topic (i.e., attribute), such as the historical context, summary of research findings, controversies, etc.
?    Identify a small number of topic-related issues that interest you. For example, what do you find surprising or counterintuitive?

Instrument
Indicate your level of agreement with the following statements using the following scale:
5 = strongly agree;  4 = agree;  3 = neither agree nor disagree;  2 = disagree;  1 = strongly disagree

#    Question    Strongly
Disagree    Disagree    Neither agree nor disagree    Agree    Strongly agree
1    I feel that I have too few options to consider leaving this organization    1    2    3    4    5
2    I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization    1    2    3    4    5
3    I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own    1    2    3    4    5
4    One of the few serious consequences of leaving this organization would be the scarcity of available alternatives    1    2    3    4    5
5    If I got another job offer for a better job elsewhere I would not feel it was right to leave my organization    1    2    3    4    5
6    One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is that leaving would require considerable personal sacrifice – another organization may not match the overall benefits I have here    1    2    3    4    5
7    I do not believe that a person must always be loyal to his or her organization     1    2    3    4    5
8    I do not feel ‘emotionally attached’ to this organization     1    2    3    4    5
9    This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me    1    2    3    4    5
10    Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of necessity as much as desire    1    2    3    4    5
11    One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is that I believe that loyalty is important and therefore I feel a sense of moral obligation to remain    1    2    3    4    5
12    Jumping from organization to organization does not seem at all unethical to me    1    2    3    4    5
13    I do not think that wanting to be a ‘company man’ or ‘company woman’ is sensible anymore     1    2    3    4    5
14    I am not afraid of what might happen if I quit my job without having another one lined up     1    2    3    4    5
15    I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside it    1    2    3    4    5
16    It wouldn’t be too costly for me to leave my organization now     1    2    3    4    5
17    Too much in my life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted to leave my organization now    1    2    3    4    5
18    It would be very hard for me to leave my organization right now, even if I wanted to    1    2    3    4    5
19    I was taught to believe in the value of remaining loyal to one organization    1    2    3    4    5
20    Things were better in the days when people stayed with one organization for most of their careers    1    2    3    4    5
21    I do not feel like ‘part of the family’ at my organization     1    2    3    4    5
22    I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization     1    2    3    4    5
23    I think that I could easily become as attached to another organization as I am to this one     1    2    3    4    5
24    I think that people these days move from company to company too often    1    2    3    4    5

Scoring Key

To calculate your organisational commitment, reverse your scores for items 7, 8, 13, 14, 16, 21, 22, 23. The add up the scores as follows:

•    Affective: 2, 3, 8, 9, 15, 21, 22, 23
•    Continuance: 1, 4, 6, 10, 14, 16, 17, 18
•    Normative: 5, 7, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 24
Source

Allen, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. 1990. The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63: 1-18.

Emotional Intelligence

Instrument
Indicate your level of agreement with the following statements using the following scale:
5 = strongly agree;  4 = agree;  3 = neither agree nor disagree;  2 = disagree;  1 = strongly disagree

#    Question    Strongly
Disagree    Disagree    Neither agree nor disagree    Agree    Strongly agree
1    I know when to speak about my personal problems to others    1    2    3    4    5
2    When I am faced with obstacles, I remember times I faced similar obstacles and overcame them    1    2    3    4    5
3    I expect that I will do well on most things I try    1    2    3    4    5
4    Other people find it easy to confide in me    1    2    3    4    5
5    I find it hard to understand the non-verbal messages of other people    1    2    3    4    5
6    Some of the major events in my life have led me to re-evaluate what is important and not important    1    2    3    4    5
7    When my mood changes, I see new possibilities    1    2    3    4    5
8    Emotions are one of the things that make my life worth living    1    2    3    4    5
9    I am aware of my emotions as I experience them    1    2    3    4    5
10    I expect good things to happen    1    2    3    4    5
11    I like to share my emotions with others    1    2    3    4    5
12    When I experience a positive emotion, I know how to make it last    1    2    3    4    5
13    I arrange events others enjoy    1    2    3    4    5
14    I seek out activities that make me happy    1    2    3    4    5
15    I am aware of the non-verbal messages I send to others    1    2    3    4    5
16    I present myself in a way that makes a good impression on others    1    2    3    4    5
17    When I am in a positive mood, solving problems is easy for me    1    2    3    4    5
18    By looking at their facial expressions, I recognise the emotions people are experiencing    1    2    3    4    5
19    I know why my emotions change    1    2    3    4    5
20    When I am in a positive mood, I am able to come up with new ideas    1    2    3    4    5
21    I have control over my emotions    1    2    3    4    5
22    I easily recognise my emotions as I experience them    1    2    3    4    5
23    I motivate myself by imagining a good outcome to tasks I take on    1    2    3    4    5
24    I compliment others when they have done something well    1    2    3    4    5
25    I am aware of the non-verbal messages other people send    1    2    3    4    5
26    When another person tells me about an important event in his or her life, I almost feel as though I have experienced this event myself    1    2    3    4    5
27    When I feel a change in emotions, I tend to come up with new ideas    1    2    3    4    5
28    When I am faced with a challenge, I give up because I believe I will fail    1    2    3    4    5
29    I know what other people are feeling just by looking at them    1    2    3    4    5
30    I help other people feel better when they are down    1    2    3    4    5
31    I use good moods to help myself keep trying in the face of obstacles    1    2    3    4    5
32    I can tell how people are feeling by listening to the tone of their voice    1    2    3    4    5
33    It is difficult for me to understand why people feel the way they do    1    2    3    4    5

Scoring Key

To calculate your EI score, add up your responses to the 33 items; however, reverse your scores for items 5, 28 and 33. Overall scores range from 33 to 165. There are no definite cutoffs. However, the authors of this scale reported that mean score for therapists was 134.92. Women also tended to have a higher average score (M = 130.94) than the men in the sample (M = 124.78).

Source

Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Hall, L. E., Haggerty, D. J., Cooper, J. T., Golden, C. J., & Dornheim, L. 1998. Development and validation of a measure of emotional intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences, 25: 167-177.