Managing employee commitment in the not‐for‐profit sector
| Pages | 536-548 |
| Date | 01 October 2004 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00483480410550143 |
| Published date | 01 October 2004 |
| Author | José Alatrista,James Arrowsmith |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Managing employee commitment
in the not-for-profit sector
Jose
´Alatrista and James Arrowsmith
Industrial Relations Research Unit, University of Warwick, UK
Keywords Job commitment, Employees, Voluntary sector
Abstract The voluntary and not-for-profit sector accounts for an important and growing
proportion of employment in the UK though it remains highly under-researched. Rates of pay are
often relatively low, necessitating forms of human resource management that emphasise
non-financial means of eliciting employee motivation and commitment. This paper examines HRM
in a major charity that provides services to adults with learning disabilities. It finds that the
intrinsic commitment to the job held by employees – which the organisation is trying to tap – can
form a competing commitment towards different entities of the organisation. This competing
commitment is difficult to reconcile to organizational objectives because it reflects ambivalences in
existing power structures and group dynamics. The results have wider relevance to the
management of employee commitment in other service sectors.
Introduction
Securing the commitment of employees to their organisation is in some respects the
“holy grail” of human resource management (HRM), at least in its “softer” guises
(Guest, 1987; Storey, 1992). This may be pursued in a number of ways, including
through team-working techniques, performance appraisals oriented to employee
development, highly developed bi-lateral communication processes, employee stock
ownership, a commitment to employment security, and forms of union-management
“partnership” ( Walton, 1985,pp. 48-9). The underlying principleis oftenmutua lity – in
terms of goals, influence, respect, responsibility, rewards – with the desired outcome of
better employee development and performance (Walton, 1985, p. 64). In this view,
workers who feel that the organisation is committed to them are likely to have a
positive perception of HRM practices and hence be committed to the organisation
(Eisenberger et al., 1990; Meyer and Smith, 2000).
In some ways the voluntary and not-for-profit (NFP) sector is an ideal test-bed for
high-commitment management practices because of the strong sense of altruistic
mission that can, potentially, underpin mutuality and participatory management
styles. Management structures in NFP organisations tend to be flatter and more
informal, and leadership may be more democratic than in commercial firms and the
public sector (Markham et al., 2001). Conver sely, the reality of tight resource
constraints and environmental uncertainty can introduce tensions in the employment
relationship such that job satisfaction and commitment are not translated to
commitment to the organisation, particularly as many NFP organisations are
increasingly commercial bodies (Leason, 2002). In this paper we examine the nature of
organizational commitment in a pseudonymous NFP organisation, Premier Trust, and
the implications it has for HRM.
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
PR
33,5
536
Received February 2003
Accepted May 2003
Personnel Review
Vol. 33 No. 5, 2004
pp. 536-548
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/00483480410550143
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