Factors influencing commitment of key individuals towards an organisational transformation

Abstract

Recent years have been marked by many significant changes in the technological, socio—cultural, competitive, political and legal conditions faced by Indian organizations. To sustain growth and profitability in such fast changing environments, many organizations find incremental changes in existing systems inadequate. Instead, they aim to transform the way they function. Anecdotal and case evidence on organizational change often places an exaggerated emphasis on a single leader at the top (e.g. the CEO). However, large, discontinuous changes in organizations (Often called organizational transformations; abbreviated as OTfs) are brought about not by just a single leader at the top, but by a larger set of key persons who make crucial contributions to the planning and implementation of the change The choice by these individuals to exert effort and persist in it is reflected in their commitment towards the organizational transformation (CT). Both the magnitude and the nature of their CT determine and guide the kind of effort they are likely to expend. Studies on OTfs, however, have used predominantly qualitative approaches to investigate commitment. On the other hand, there are well established scales to measure commitment to the organization and several other entities (in a quantitative manner). This study, therefore, tried to answer the following questions: 1) Can different dimensions of commitment to an OTf (CT) of key individuals in a transforming organization be separately identified and measured? 2) Which factors tend to strengthen or weaken CT of key individuals? Which of these factors have a stronger influence on CT? The study used a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. The nature and magnitude of changes occurring in each organization were examined through case studies. Commitment to an OTf (CT) was operationalsed using a three-dimensional model of commitment. Twenty-six factors potentially influencing CT were identified and grouped into three categories viz. organizational, task-related, and leadership and interpersonal. For measuring commitment, and factors influencing commitment, self-administered questionnaires were used. The study was conducted in four manufacturing organizations similar in size. On the basis of the type of transformation taking place in each organization, these organization were classified into two distinct sets: (a) those undergoing Growth & Diversification (the GD set), and (b) those Reengineering their Operations (the RO set); with two organizations in each set. Separate analysis was conducted for each set of organizations. Respondents were from senior and middle management levels. The main findings of the study were: 1) The type of OTf occurring in the organizations had a significant bearing on which factors influenced each dimension of CT 2) Factors influencing each dimension of CT were different: a) Organizational factors as well as task-related factors (as a group) contributed affective CT for both types of OTfs; but affected normative CT only for the RO set. b) (b) Leadership and interpersonal factors influenced affective and normative commitment in both sets. 3) Factor analysis of each category of influencer (viz. organizational, task-related, and leadership and interpersonal) yielded six meaningful factors (2 factors arising out of each category). These factors were organizational inertia, organizational systems, task content, future prospects, participation and expectations Differential relationships were observed between these factors and the three dimensions of CT. However, "organizational inertia" had the most widespread effect across the two sets and across the three dimensions of CT. 4) While specific influencers in each category influenced continuance CT, more variance in continuance CT was explained for the R0 set than for the GD set. The study led to: a) the development of a quantitative measure of CT; b) identification of factors influencing three dimensions of CT for two distinct types of OTfs; c) the development of a Framework for analyzing OTfs. Knowledge gained from this study is expected to help change managers during both planning and implementation of significant changes in their organizations. It would make it possible for them to: a) diagnose the commitment profile prevalent in their organizations; b) evaluate the likely impact of specific actions on each dimension of CT. c) identify and Specifically address those factors which help the most in modifying CT.