The Structure Antecedents of Organizational Commitment in the Singapore Army

1. The Structure & Antecedents of Organizational Commitment in the Singapore Army Maj Don Willis Applied Behavioural Sciences Dept Ministry of Defence, Singapore Good morning. Thank you all for coming to this presentation. I�m Don and I work as a military psychologist with the Applied Behavioural Sciences Department in the Ministry of Defence Singapore. I am a Combat Engineer Officer by vocation and have been a psychologist in ABSD on and off since 1992, holding various Command and Staff appointments in between. It�s my honour to be here today to share with you project that I have been working on, so sit back, relax and I really hope you find my presentation interesting. [CLICK]Good morning. Thank you all for coming to this presentation. I�m Don and I work as a military psychologist with the Applied Behavioural Sciences Department in the Ministry of Defence Singapore. I am a Combat Engineer Officer by vocation and have been a psychologist in ABSD on and off since 1992, holding various Command and Staff appointments in between. It�s my honour to be here today to share with you project that I have been working on, so sit back, relax and I really hope you find my presentation interesting. [CLICK]

2. Overview Tested the applicability of the Meyer & Allen (1991) 3-Component Model of Organizational Commitment in an Asian/Military culture. Possible antecedents to the 3 approaches of Commitment. Mainly Exploratory Approach I�m gonna start off by giving a quick overview of this study. Essentially, there were two broad aims. [CLICK] Firstly to understand the structure/nature of Org Commitment in the Singapore Army and following this, to look for possible antecedents. [CLICK] To be honest, I was not sure if I would find anything at all or anything that would make people go �Ah-ha!�, as essentially what was being done here was to apply the findings gleaned from civilian organisations to the military. And as we all know the nature and culture in the military is somewhat rather different. [CLICK] Hence, I felt it was too premature to test models and elected to adopt a more conservative exploratory approach as the first step. [CLICK] I�m gonna start off by giving a quick overview of this study. Essentially, there were two broad aims. [CLICK] Firstly to understand the structure/nature of Org Commitment in the Singapore Army and following this, to look for possible antecedents. [CLICK] To be honest, I was not sure if I would find anything at all or anything that would make people go �Ah-ha!�, as essentially what was being done here was to apply the findings gleaned from civilian organisations to the military. And as we all know the nature and culture in the military is somewhat rather different. [CLICK] Hence, I felt it was too premature to test models and elected to adopt a more conservative exploratory approach as the first step. [CLICK]

3. Impetus for the Study Competitive labour market The New Deal. Organizations: No longer able to guarantee job security and career development prospects Operates largely on fixed and temporary term arrangements The need to understand the nature & antecedents of Org Commitment in the Singapore Army. [CLICK] The main impetus for the study really stems from the fact that the Army in Singapore today is facing stiff competition from both private commercial firms as well as the other government organizations for the best talent in the country. [CLICK] With the New Deal, Organisations have been forced to down-size, and streamline their functions in order to become leaner and meaner so as to stay relevant and competitive, and retain the ability and flexibility to react to changes in the economy. With this, most organisations can no longer offer people a �job for life�. Fixed term engagements and performance-based rewards charactersises the workplace of today. This has led to a fundamental change in people�s attitudes towards commitment to a workplace or organization. Given this scenario, inculcating organisational commitment can be seen as an uphill task for most organizations. [CLICK] The Army in Singapore is no different. Since the late nineties, the Army, in line with the New Deal, has been adopting, amongst other things, a fixed term engagement policy as well as performance related re-numerations. These steps was also in line with the policy of keeping the Army young and vibrant, and at the same time, releasing talented individuals to make contributions to other sectors, be it government or commercial. Given this, it thus became pertinent to look into ways to ensure that our people are given a challenging and stimulating career. [CLICK] [CLICK] The main impetus for the study really stems from the fact that the Army in Singapore today is facing stiff competition from both private commercial firms as well as the other government organizations for the best talent in the country. [CLICK] With the New Deal, Organisations have been forced to down-size, and streamline their functions in order to become leaner and meaner so as to stay relevant and competitive, and retain the ability and flexibility to react to changes in the economy. With this, most organisations can no longer offer people a �job for life�. Fixed term engagements and performance-based rewards charactersises the workplace of today. This has led to a fundamental change in people�s attitudes towards commitment to a workplace or organization. Given this scenario, inculcating organisational commitment can be seen as an uphill task for most organizations. [CLICK] The Army in Singapore is no different. Since the late nineties, the Army, in line with the New Deal, has been adopting, amongst other things, a fixed term engagement policy as well as performance related re-numerations. These steps was also in line with the policy of keeping the Army young and vibrant, and at the same time, releasing talented individuals to make contributions to other sectors, be it government or commercial. Given this, it thus became pertinent to look into ways to ensure that our people are given a challenging and stimulating career. [CLICK]

4. Method Regulars from 15 Battalions, n=621 Org Commitment measured using the revised 18-item scale (Meyer et al, 1993) 48-item questionnaire pertaining to employees� perception of various aspects of the work environment I shall mext provide a brief outline of the Method. [CLICK] Regulars from 15 different Army Battalions, across the various Combat and Combat Support Arms were surveyed. [CLICK] Organisational Commitment was measured using the 18-item Org Commitment Scale developed by Meyer et al (1993). This scale has been used extensively by various researches who have reported positively with regards to the scale�s psychometric properties. At this juncture, I would like to give a brief description of this model. Meyer and Allen (1991) pointed out, there seem to be three approaches to the definition of Organisational Commitment; an Affective, Continuance and Normative Components. Affective Commitment refers to an employee�s �emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organisation�. Employees with strong affective commitment stay with the organisation because they want to do so. Continuance Commitment refers to �an awareness of the costs associated with leaving the organisation�. Employees remain because they need to do so. It therefore arises from the accrued benefits of organisational membership versus the perceived costs of leaving the organisation. Normative Commitment reflects a feeling of obligation to continue employment. Employees stay because they feel that they ought to do so. It can be seen as a form of moral commitment, since attachment results from what the employee perceives as owing to the organisation . [CLICK] To test for possible antecedents, a 48-item questionnaire pertaining to employee�s perception of various aspects of working in a an organization was used. These items were developed by a colleague of mine in his study of Org Commitment in a Singapore government undertaking. [CLICK] I shall mext provide a brief outline of the Method. [CLICK] Regulars from 15 different Army Battalions, across the various Combat and Combat Support Arms were surveyed. [CLICK] Organisational Commitment was measured using the 18-item Org Commitment Scale developed by Meyer et al (1993). This scale has been used extensively by various researches who have reported positively with regards to the scale�s psychometric properties. At this juncture, I would like to give a brief description of this model. Meyer and Allen (1991) pointed out, there seem to be three approaches to the definition of Organisational Commitment; an Affective, Continuance and Normative Components. Affective Commitment refers to an employee�s �emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organisation�. Employees with strong affective commitment stay with the organisation because they want to do so. Continuance Commitment refers to �an awareness of the costs associated with leaving the organisation�. Employees remain because they need to do so. It therefore arises from the accrued benefits of organisational membership versus the perceived costs of leaving the organisation. Normative Commitment reflects a feeling of obligation to continue employment. Employees stay because they feel that they ought to do so. It can be seen as a form of moral commitment, since attachment results from what the employee perceives as owing to the organisation . [CLICK] To test for possible antecedents, a 48-item questionnaire pertaining to employee�s perception of various aspects of working in a an organization was used. These items were developed by a colleague of mine in his study of Org Commitment in a Singapore government undertaking. [CLICK]

5. Findings EFA of the 18-item scale