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A new work order is emerging based on a continuous change cycle in the nature of organizational life and the expectations of the workforce. Evolutions and revolutions in technology, globalization, business consolidation and marketplace fragmentation have fundamentally changed the nature of organizations. Simultaneously, a workforce has emerged that is more educated, mobile, diverse and discerning in work and life choices than ever before. Whatever was left of the old social contract between employer and employee has become a casualty of the race from an industrial society to the information age.
What will be the dynamics of the new "commitment contract" that will forge the employer/employee relationship into the twenty-first century? How much commitment will employees be willing to give to their organizations and what must organizations do to win that commitment? Those are the primary questions that have been investigated in an ongoing body of research called the @Work studies.
The @Work research design
Following nationwide focus groups and a review of previous workforce research, the first national commitment survey of 2,000 US workers took place in 1997. The research model postulated that there were six employee behaviors in the areas of productivity, pride and retention that could be attained in the modern era. These six behaviors, listed in Exhibit 1, make up the Workforce Commitment Index(TM) (WCI(TM)) within the study. The WCI is the dependent, or outcome variable, which sets the foundation for investigating what organization factors and conditions (independent variables) will have the most impact on commitment. The WCI is calibrated based on a national random sample of 1,800 participants reacting to the behavior statements on a five-point, agree/ disagree scale.
The study has been conducted annually since 1997. Each year, the overall WCI is calculated. More than 100 different question items have also been used in the survey to determine how workplace practices influence responses to the WCI items. The study was replicated in Canada for the first time in 1999. This exploratory research was based on a simple causality design, where workplace practices in organizational culture, leadership, training, benefits and compensation, HR practices, work/life balance and work environment were tested for their impact on the WCI.
The original research design was made up of the six WCI items and five categories...