From Management to Leadership: Strategies for Transforming Health, 3rd Edition

Leadership Interventions

When a leader understands the essentials among the three types of organizational commitment, it becomes clear that efforts focusing on strengthening affective and normative commitment bring longer-term benefit. Makin, Cooper, and Cox (1996, p. 81) sum it up nicely: “In simple terms . . . people stay with the organization because they want to (affective), because they need to (continuance), or because they feel they ought to (normative).” The more a leader understands about the process of commitment, the more consciously he or she can select leadership behavior that encourages employees to form a commitment.

Recognizing the commitments and understanding the dynamics in severing or dissolving commitments is also crucial. ...