Personality and Organizational Commitment Relationship

Personality and Organizational Commitment Relationship ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to explore the relationships between the personality traits and organizational commitment among non teaching employees in government schools in the Sultanate of Oman. Data was collected by using Big Five Inventory (BFI) and revised Organizational Commitment Scale (Meyer, Allen, Smith, 1993). Response was received from 95 non teaching employees with a response rate of 47.50%. The findings of this study suggest us the relationships between personality traits and organizational commitment among non teaching staff in the government schools. KEYWORDS Affective commitment, big five-factor model of personality, continuance commitment, normative commitment, organizational commitment. INTRODUCTION This study explored the relationship between personality traits and organizational commitment among non teaching employees in the government schools of Sultanate of Oman. Organizational Commitment is being considered as an underlying factor for organizational success. Shepherd and Mathews (2000) suggest that employers view Organizational Commitment with increasing interest and importance. Due to increasing interest of employers and researchers, organizational commitment has become highly researched job attitude. It is evident from the fact that commitment has been the subject of many meta-analyses (Cooper-Hakim Viswesvaran, 2005; Mathieu Zajac, 1990; Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, Topolnytsky, 2002) studies. Theoretical reviews by Lawler (1992) and Reichers (1985) have also widely explored this attitude. This job attitude has become important for employers because employees with low levels of commitment are more likely to leave their organizations (Meyer et al., 2002). Research into Organizational Commitment has focused on the relationships between various antecedents and the components of Organizational Commitment. The primary antecedents to organizational commitment are like age; gender; education level; marital status; position and organization tenure; personality; and role states (Camilleri, 2002). Meyer and Allen, (1984); Grusky, (1966) and Mowday et al (1982) have thoroughly examined various relationships between antecedents and organizational commitment. This study was designed to contribute to the Organizational Commitment related literature by exploring the relationships between age, tenure, personality traits (using Big Five Model) and organizational commitment. THE FIVE-FACTOR MODEL OF PERSONALITY The Big Five model of personality implies that personality consists of five relatively independent traits that provide a meaningful explanation for the study of individual differences (Kumar, Bakhshi Rani, 2009) and their responses. The five dimensions in Big Five model of personality are Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Each of the Big Five traits is a set of traits that tend to occur together in individuals (Kumar, Bakhshi Rani, 2009). Extraversion is the state of being predominantly concerned with and obtaining gratification from what is outside. The behavioral tendencies used to measure this factor are sociable, gregarious, assertive, talkative, and active (Barrick Mount, 1991). Conscientiousness refers to the tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully and be focused on the goals. It includes behavioral tendencies like being hard working, achievement- oriented, persevering, careful, and responsible (Barrick Mount, 1991). Openness to experience is a general appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, imagination and variety of experience. The behavioral tendencies associated with Openness to Experience include being imaginative, cultured, curious, original, broad minded, intelligent (Digman, 1990). It also reflects need for variety, aesthetic sensitivity, and unconventional values (McCrae John, 1992). Agreeableness refers to a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative. This factor includes behavioral tendencies like being courteous, flexible, trusting, good-natured, cooperative, forgiving, soft-hearted, and tolerant (Barrick Mount, 1991). Neuroticism refers to the tendency to experience negative emotions like anger, anxiety, or depression in a person. It is also called emotional instability. Behavioral tendencies associated with this factor include being anxious, depressed, angry, embarrassed, emotional, worried, and insecure (Barrick Mount, 1991). ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT Organizational Commitment refers to the degree to which an employee identifies with the goals and values of the organization and is willing to exert effort to help it succeed (Herscovitch Meyer, 2002). According to Allen and Meyer (1990) Organizational Commitment is made up of three components or dimensions. First component is affective commitment and it refers to the employees emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in, the organization. Second component is continuance component and it refers to commitment based on the costs that the employee associates with leaving the organization. Third component of organization commitment is normative component, which refers to the employees feeling of obligation to remain with the organization. DEMOGRAPHIC RELATIONSHIPS WITH ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT According to meta-analysis by Mathieu and Zajac (1990), age and organizational commitment yielded a medium positive correlation. Older employees tend to have a higher degree of organizational commitment because they view their past years of service to the organization as an investment (Camilleri, 2002). Therefore they would tend to be more committed to the organization. Thus, H 1: Non teaching employees commitment to the organization will positively relate to their age. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TENURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT Various studies show a weak positive relationship between tenure and organizational commitment. In these studies, job tenure has been shown to be more positively related to attitudinal commitment, while organizational tenure was more positively related to calculative commitment (Clayton, Petzall, Lynch Margret, 2007). The given explanation is that years spent in a particular position tend to increase an employees psychological attachment to an organization, while extended tenure also increases their stake in terms of benefits such as pension plans (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990, p.8). Thus, H 2: Non teaching employees commitment to the organization will positively relate to their length of tenure. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT Affective commitment refers to an employees positive emotional response to the organization. An employee, who is affectively committed, strongly identifies with the goals of the organization and desires to remain in the organization. While extroverts exhibit positive emotionality (Watson Clark, 1997) and it is reasonable to assume that those high in Extraversion experience higher affective commitment than those who are less extraverted. Many studies have also found significant bivariate correlations between positive emotionality and affective commitment (Williams, Gavin, Williams, 1996). Thus, H3: Non teaching employees extraversion will positively relate to affective commitment. CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT Continuance commitment refers to an awareness of the costs (economic and social) associated with leaving the organization. It develops through an employees perceptions of employment alternatives. Employees who perceive that they have several viable alternatives will have weaker continuance commitment than those employees who perceive that they have few alternatives (Meyer Allen, 1997). Extrovert individuals tend to be more socially active and may develop more social contacts than introverts. More social contacts of extraverts may bring them more job opportunities. Therefore, H4: Non teaching employees extraversion will negatively relate to continuance commitment. Neuroticism refers to an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states by an individual. Neurotic individuals tend to experience more negative life events than other individuals (Magnus, Diener, Fujita, Pavot, 1993). Due to this tendency, person may prefer to stick to same job instead of facing new work environment. Thus, H5: Non teaching employees neuroticism will positively relate to continuance commitment. Conscientiousness refers to the traits like self-discipline, carefulness, thoroughness, organization,  deliberation  (the tendency to think carefully before acting), and need for  achievement. According to Organ and Lingl (1995), due to conscientiousness nature, employee gets more opportunities to obtain formal (e.g., pay, promotion) and informal work rewards (e.g., recognition, respect). To the extent that a conscientious employee earns such rewards, they should have high level of continuance commitment. Therefore, H6: Non teaching employees Conscientiousness will positively relate to continuance commitment. NORMATIVE COMMITMENT Normative commitment refers to employees perceptions of their obligation to their organization. It develops from the investments that an organization makes in its employees (Meyer Allen, 1991). This will make employees feel indebted to his or her organization and want to respond his or her organizations initiatives favorably. Extraverted employees seek out more social interactions within the workplace and exhibit positive emotions. Therefore extroverts tend to respond favorably towards the organization due to perception of obligation. Thus, H7: Non teaching employees extraversion will positively relate to normative commitment. METHOD SAMPLE A sample of 95 non teaching employees was obtained from government schools in the Sultanate of Oman. Questionnaires were bilingual (English and Arabic). Response rate of 47.50 % (95 filled questionnaires received out of 200) was obtained. The gender composition of the sample was 53.7% male (N=51) and 46.3% female (N=44). The average age of the respondents was 35.85 years (SD=4.3). On an average, the respondents had the present organizational tenure as 7.46 years (SD = 3.2) and total job tenure as 8.21 years (SD = 2.9). MEASUREMENTS THE BIG FIVE The Big Five Inventory (BFI) (John et al., 1991) (John et al., 2008) consisting of total 44 items was used to measure personality traits of school laboratory technicians on a five point Likert-type anchoring ranging from strongly disagree (1) to 5 (strongly agree). It contains five dimensions corresponding to big five personality traits (Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Openness and Conscientiousness). The reliabilities (Cronbachs Alpha) for each facet were Extraversion (0.88), Neuroticism (.94), Agreeableness (.92), Openness (.91) and Conscientiousness (.91). AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT Affective Commitment was measured by revised version of Affective Commitment Scale (Meyer, Allen, Smith, 1993). Responses were collected on a seven-point Likert-type anchoring that ranged from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The reliability (Cronbachs Alpha) of this six item scale was 0.82. CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT Continuance Commitment was measured by revised version of Continuance Commitment Scale (Meyer, Allen, Smith, 1993). Responses were collected on a seven-point Likert-type anchoring that ranged from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The reliability (Cronbachs Alpha) of this six item scale was 0.88. NORMATIVE COMMITMENT Normative Commitment was measured by revised version of Normative Commitment Scale (Meyer, Allen, Smith, 1993). Responses were collected on a seven-point Likert-type anchoring that ranged from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The reliability (Cronbachs Alpha) of this six item scale was 0.89. RESULTS A factor analysis, which is confirmatory in nature, was performed on the different variables such as Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Openness, Conscientiousness, Affective commitment, Continuance commitment, and Normative Commitment. The factor analysis was conducted using principal axis factoring with varimax rotation as an extraction method (see for details, e.g. Nummenmaa et al., 1996, p. 244; Hair et al., 1998, pp. 87-120). The identified factors were selected whose Eigen values are greater than 1.0 from the graph of scree plot. Graph 01: Scree Plot Showing Eigen Values of Factors These variables within factors are correlated, is confirmed by the Bartletts test of sphericity. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy indicated a practical level of common variance (KMO = 0.587), which implies that the results obtained from factor analysis are appropriate. The factors identified with loadings in appendix 01 exhibits 74.22 percent of the variance of the variables. The table 01 comprises the means, standard deviations, partial correlations, and reliability coefficients for the proposed variables. The partial correlations among proposed variables provided initial support of our hypotheses. In the support of hypothesis 01 age is positively correlated with affective commitment (r = 0.255, p The table 02 shows the results obtained after running multiple regressions. It is evident from the table 02 that the correlations among variables are low. The coefficient of determination of three dimensions of organizational commitment such as Affective commitment, Continuance commitment, and normative commitment are 35.8%, 24.6%, and 20% respectively. The coefficient of determination indicates the change in dependent variable is explained from a change in independent variables. It is evident that the relationship in a linear is medium for affective commitment and small for continuance commitment and normative commitment as the value of the coefficients of determination are very weak. The F-ratio for the three dimensions of organizational commitment such as Affective commitment, Continuance commitment, and normative commitment are 5.255 (p When exploring the beta values of three dimensions of organizational commitment, the magnitude of approximately all values is low. The 35.8% explained variance in the coefficient of determination for the affective commitment may be attributed to organization tenure, job tenure, extraversion, and openness to some extent. The 24.6% explained variance in the coefficient of determination for the continuance commitment may be attributed to organization tenure, extraversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness to some extent. The 20% explained variance in the coefficient of determination for the normative commitment may be attributed to organization tenure, job tenure, and extraversion to some extent. DISCUSSION The findings suggest that the studied model serves as the foundation in the exploration of the various dimensions of organizational commitment. In particular, Age and organizational tenure has played substantial role in all three forms of the organizational commitment. Moreover, Extraversion has played a role of the most consistent independent variable of the all dimensions of the organizational commitment. Extraversion was positively associated with affective commitment because the positive emotionality is important dimension of personality (Watson et al.,1988; J. Erdheim et al. 2006). Secondly, Extraversion was negatively associated with continuance commitment. In general, extraverts have better relations with peers than introverts which may result into better career options (Watson Clark, 1997). Finally, Extraversion was positively associated with normative commitment. Because extraverts believe that their extraordinary service by providing congenial social environment may enhanc e the psychological contract with the organization (Watson, 2000; J. Erdheim et al. 2006). Correlation between Neuroticism and Organizational Commitment varied for three components of organizational commitment. Correlation between Neuroticism and Affective Commitment was found significantly negative and significantly positive with continuance commitment. While with normative commitment it was found negative (nonsignificant). Neurotics tend to be prone to negative experiences and negative affect. This tendency makes them low on affective commitment. Neurotic individuals used to be conscious of the costs associated with leaving the jobs so continuance commitment used to be high among neurotics. Conscientiousness displayed positive significant relationship with continuance commitment while nonsignificant relations with affective and normative commitments. Since conscientious individuals tend to be highly involved in to their jobs (Organ Lingl, 1995) and it increases their chances of workplace rewards. These rewards will have impact on the continuity of individuals in the organizations. THEORETICAL AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS The results of the present study reflect that the role of personality is vital in the development of organizational commitment. It gives a scope of relationship between personality job attitudes and organizational commitment. This theoretical implication gives further scope of study pertaining to the factors of other dimensions of the job attitudes such as job involvement, job embeddedness etc. Managerial implications of the study are primarily in the personnel selection. Since different components of organizational commitment are correlated with personality traits, organizations need to judge personality traits at the time of selection and foresee the impact on the candidates commitment. It has been found in meta-analysis that employees with low level of commitment are more likely to leave their organizations (Meyer et al., 2002). LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS Furthermore, this study suffers from three limitations whereas the results are statistically in most parts. The first limitation is related to the sample size which is relatively small in comparison to similar other studies. The second limitation pertains to the coefficients of regression model which are relatively low and may affect the reliability and validity of findings. The third limitation which is prominent in nature is that the proposed model was tested using correlation and regression analysis among variables. However, this technique can only examine a single relationship at a time (Hair, at el, 1998). An area of upcoming research is to test the proposed model using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) which may provide better results. SEM is a multivariate statistical technique used to estimate a number of interrelated dependence relationship simultaneously. The present study will give additions in the literature of the factors pertaining to the organizational commitment in various dimensions. There are evidences of outcomes of the study that the application of the five-factor model of personality assisting the prediction of three forms of the organizational commitment. This model paves the way to a new dimension of the research which may explore the extensive relationship between the unexplored dimensions of personality and organizational commitments. Our findings have various practical implications in the selection procedure of the organization. Further research may be extended to explore the utility of using personality tests to predict organizational citizenship behavior in a selection setting. REFERENCES Allen, N.J., and Meyer, J.P. 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New York, NY: Guilford Press. Kumar K., et al (2009). Linking the Big Five Personality Domains to Organizational Citizenship Behavior. International Journal of Psychological Studies. Vol. 1, No 2 Lawler, E. J. (1992). Affective attachment to nested groups: A choice process theory. American Sociological Review, 57, 327-339. Magnus, K., Diener, E., Fujita, F., Pavot, W. (1993). Extraversion and neuroticism as predictors of objective life events: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1046-1053. McCrae, R. R., John, O. P. (1992). An introduction to the five-factor model and its applications. Journal of Personality, 2, 175-215. Mathieu, J. E., Zajac, D. M. (1990). A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of organizational commitment. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 171-194. Meyer, J.P. and Allen, N.J. (1984) Testing the Side-Bet Theory of Organisational Commitment: Some Methodological Considerations, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 69: 372-378. Meyer, J. P., Allen, N. J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Human Resource Management Review, 1, 61-89. Meyer, J. P., Allen, N. J., Smith, C. A. (1993). Commitment to organizations and occupations: Extension and test of a three-component conceptualization. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 538-551. Meyer, J. P., Allen, N. J. (1997). Commitment in the workplace: Theory, research and application. California: Sage Publishers Inc. Meyer, J. P., Stanley, D. J., Herscovitch, L., Topolnytsky, L. (2002). Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: A meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61, 20-52. Mowday, R., Porter, L.W. and Steers, R.M. (1982) Employee-Organisation Linkages: The Psychology of Commitment, Absenteeism, and Turnover. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Nummenmaa, T., Konttinen, R., Kuusinen, J., Leskinen, E. (1996), Tutkimusaineiston Analyysi , Analysis of Research Data WSOY, Helsinki, . Organ, D. W., Lingl, A. (1995). Personality, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Social Psychology, 135, 339-350. Reichers, A. (1985). A review and reconceptualization of organizational commitment. Academy of Management Journal, 10, 465-476. Shepherd, J. L. Mathews, B. P. (2000). Employee commitment: Academic vs practitioner perspectives. Employee Relations, 22(6): 555-575. Watson, D., Clark, L. A. (1997). Extraversion and its positive emotional core. In S. R. Briggs, W. H. Jones, R. Hogan (Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology. New York: Academic Press. Watson, D., Clark, L. A., Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070. Watson, D. (2000). Mood and temperament. New York: Guilford Press. Williams, L. J., Gavin, M. B., Williams, M. L. (1996). Measurement and nonmeasurement processes with negative affectivity and employee attitudes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 88-101. Personality and Organizational Commitment Relationship Personality and Organizational Commitment Relationship CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Chapter Overview This study will focus on the relationship between personality and organizational commitment. This chapter includes background of the study, problem statement, research question, research objectives, significant of the study and the scope of study as well. In addition, the conceptual and operational definitions of terms are discussed to provide an understanding on their usage in this study. Lastly, this chapter concludes with a summary. Background of the Study Organizational commitment is a positive psychological state of attachment that pushes the employee’s performance upward to successfully turn the firm’s strategic vision into a reality (Hawass, 2012) 8964-35144-1-PB (2). Although there are many kind of definitions by different researchers, all of them unanimously attempted to place emphasis on the relationship between employees and organization (Ekmekci, 2011) Darbanyan. Over the past two decades, there has been a huge increase in the research efforts trying to explore and understand the nature, antecedents and consequences of organizational commitment (2-4) Kumar. Many of research reviews and meta-analysis have done on organizational commitment because it plays an important role in predicting work behavior (kumar, 2010) kumar. According to Klein, Backer, Meyer (2009) Hackney, organizational commitment is so well studied due to the impact of organizational commitment is associated with work outcomes such as turnover intention, absenteeism, job performance, motivation and job withdrawal behaviors. Organizational commitment is a multidimensional framework that can bring effect to many factors in organization and draw out various positive implication for organization and its workers (Darbanyan et al. 2014) Darbanyan. For example, there is an inverse relationship between organizational commitment and absenteeism, turnover intention and dysfunctional job behavior (Amiri, 2009) Darbanyan. Moreover, meta-analyses also indicate that organizational commitment is positively related to job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and job performance (Vandenberghe and Bentein, 2009; Su et al. 2009) 09593841211204335. A study conducted by Sjoberg and Sverke (2000) Darbanyan in Sweden found out that organizational commitment has multiple effects on absenteeism. Researchers have identified different factors that can be affected for organizational commitment. Personal characteristic, work experience, role related characteristics are considered as common antecedences of organizational commitment (Meyer and Allen, 1993). Personality characteristics are one of the antecedents of commitment and studies of personality as it relates to commitment are few (Klein rt al., 2009) Hackney. Personality is another variable that examined in this study as well as addressed by many theorists. Different researchers possess different approaches and came up with various definitions of personality in line with their approaches (Darbanyan, 2014). According to Peryin John (2009) 8964-35144-1-PB (2), each level of these personality traits has special contribution to the understanding of individual differences in behavior and experience. Individual’s personality can define how he or she views the world around him, react to situations and interacts with others in the organization (Michaud, 2013) 8964-35144-1-PB (2). Understanding employee’s personality is very important due to its usefulness on placing people into jobs and gives clues to managers about how an employee is likely to act and feel in a variety of situation. According to Kumar and Bakhshi (2010) SSRN-id2220719, individual’s personality is a good predictor of work attitudes and work outcomes. The dispositional factors are always referring to the Five-factor model of personality (Kumar and Bakhshi, 2010). Big Five personality is one of the most prominent models in contemporary psychology to describe the most salient aspects of personality (Goldberg, 1990; John Srivastava, 1999) SSRN-id2220719. Most of the studies on organizational commitment focus on identifying the environmental factors such as low salary, highly stress environment and low motivation (Hoffmann, Ineson.., 2004) 109_327_3rdICBER2012_Proceeding_PG1583_1592. However, employee dispositional sources mainly known as personalities are being ignored. A study done by Kumar †¦ (2010) stated that there is little attention given in investigating the relationship between personalities, using the Big Five personality model with organizational commitment. This study proposes to investigate the relationship between Big Five personality and organizational commitment among employees in Aon Insurance Brokers Sdn Bhd, Bangsar. Problem Statement Research Questions Research questions of this study are: What are the personality traits among employees in Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd. What is the level of organizational commitment of employees in Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd? Is there any relationship between Big Five personality and organizational commitment among employees in Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd? What is the effect of Big Five personality to organizational commitment among employees in Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd? Research Objectives The research objectives of this study are: To identify the personality traits among employees in Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd. To determine the level of organizational commitment of employees in Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd. To investigate the relationship between Big Five personality and organizational commitment among employees in Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd. To determine the effect of Big Five personality to organizational commitment among employees in Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd. Scope of the Study This study is to identify the relationship between personality and organizational commitment among the employees in Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd. The study will be conducted by having the Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd’s employees as respondents to identify the personality traits and organizational commitment of them. There are around 110 employees who work in Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd and there will be a total number of 86 employees been chosen randomly as research sample to participate in this study. The employees will be chosen based on random sampling and the data will be collected via questionnaire from the employees in Aon Insurance Brokers (M) Sdn Bhd. The independent variable will be measured by Big Five Inventory (BFI). The dimensions of the Big Five personality are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. For the dependent variable, Three Dimensional Commitment Scale questionnaire will be used to measure the organizational commitment of employees. There are three dimensions of organizational commitment that will be measured: affective organizational commitment, continuance organizational commitment and normative organizational commitment. Total of 24 items will be used to measure organizational commitment by using 5 point Likert Scale. Significant of the Study Many researchers have widely discussed the study on organizational commitment (Lin, Lin and Lin, 2010; and Judge, Klinger, Simon and Yang, 2008) 109_327_3rdICBER2012_Proceeding_PG1583_1592. However, there is not much attention given on the study of relationship between Big Five personality and organizational commitment especially in Malaysia. Thus, this study will contribute in adding more literatures on personality and organizational commitment specifically in Malaysia context. The study brings attention to the importance of talking personality into consideration while measuring employees’ organizational commitment. Additionally, this study will help managers to understand more about employees’ personality and how they react toward organizational processes. Understanding employees’ personality is very useful to managers because managers can predict how the employees are likely to act and feel in different kind of situation. Moreover, findings of this study could help managers to increase employees’ loyalty in particular company. Job satisfaction will also increase and followed by decrease in turnover rate in that company. Conceptual Definition 1.8.1Personality: Big Five Model Personality is a subfield of psychology (Friedman Schustack, 2008). Personality is basically not studied in terms of non-psychological concepts. These non-psychological concepts included profits and losses, souls and spirits, or molecules and electromagnetism. According to the founder of personality psychology, Gordon Allport, personality is defined as the inner organization of psycho physiological system of a person to create a person’s unique behavior, feeling and thoughts (Lin, 2010). For this research, Big Five personality approach will be used to identify employees’ personality traits. The Big Five personality factors include extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. Big Five personality is also known as OCEAN, NEOAC or CANOE (Feldman, 2011). 1.8.2Organizational Commitment As Meyer and Allen (1991) suggest, organizational commitment is defined as the psychological state that links an employee to the organization where the employee has strong involvement and desire to exert effort in achieving organization’s goals. There are three types of commitment, which are affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment. Brown (1996) and Brickman (1987) 1-s2.0-S105348220000053X-main who provided general definitions of commitment noted that commitment is different from motivation or general attitudes. They suggested that commitment influences behavior independently of other motives and attitudes and, in fact, might lead to persistence in a course of action even in the face of conflicting motives or attitudes (†¦,2001). Operational Definition Big Five Personality Big Five personality is the five basic factor develop by the researcher Norman through measure of the factor analysis of peer’s personality trait. The factor that concludes from Norman’s Big Five factor is extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and culture (Lin 2010) yuchuan. However, the Big Five Model that we going to used in this study is the Big Five model which modified by researcher McCrae where the â€Å"culture† dimension is changed to â€Å"openness† dimension (Lin, 2010). Individual who high in extraversion tend to be energetic, talkative, enthusiastic, sociable and dominant. Individual low in this dimension tend to be introvert, quiet, shy, submissive and retiring (Friedman Schustack, 2011) ting. For agreeableness, individual high in this dimension is friendly, warm, cooperative and trusting whereas individual low in this dimension are unkind, cold and quarrelsome (F.., 2011). Neuroticism also known as emotional instability. Individual who has this personality dimension tend to be moody, nervous, tense, high-strung and worrying. Individual low on this dimension is emotionally stable, calm, contented and stable. Conscientiousness also known as lack of impulsivity. Early research in personality psychology mentioned this dimension as Will. Conscientious individual are generally responsible, cautious, organized, dependable and persevering. Individual low on this dimension is impulsive, undependable, careless, disorderly (F†¦, 2011). Besides that, openness also known as culture or intellect. Individual who has this personality dimension tend to be artistic, imaginative, original creativity and witty. Individual low in this dimension are shallow, simple and plain (F, 2011). Organizational Commitment Meyer and Allen’s Three-Component Model of commitment (1991) is used to measure the level of organizational commitment of employees in this study. Organizational commitment refers to the level to which the employees’ emotional connection and their identification with the company where they currently working in. Three dimensions of organizational commitment proposed by Meyer and Allen (1991) is investigated in this study, namely affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment. According to Meyer and Allen (1997), affective commitment is the employee’s emotional attachment and participation of the employee in the organization. In this study, it refers to the employees’ emotional commitment towards their company, their identification and the desire to remain in the company. The second dimension proposed by Meyer and Allen is continuance commitment, which refers to the awareness of the cost of leaving associated with leaving the organization. In this study, continuance commitment means the consciousness of the employees on the perceived prices associate with quitting from their company, such as limited job opportunities. Lastly, normative commitment is the feelings of employee’s obligation to remain in an organization and it also used to describe the degree to which the employee believes him or herself should committed to their organization. Summary In conclusion, this chapter outlines the background, problem statement, research questions, research objectives, study scope as well as significance of study. The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between employees’ personality and their organizational commitment. The conceptual and operational definitions of research variables such as personality and organizational commitment are also being discussed. The relevant literatures, previous empirical research, models and theories related to this research will be explained and discussed in chapter 2.

Saurer

Saurer: The China Challenge Question 1 Comparing with the China staple fiber twisting machines, Saurer Twisting Systems (STS) has a number of strengths. The STS are leading product and incorporated state-of-the-art engineering. The technology and R&D helped STS to build up functional brand, the STS machines helped the customers to improve efficiency, quality and productivity. Hence STS is a strong brand and highly regarded by many customers. Being the largest manufacturer of textile machinery, Saurer can offer full solutions to customers.According to Exhibit 4, there are Sauer’s products in different steps of the textile value chain from spinning to embroidery. Thus, Saurer has the capability to penetrate into textile industry in a great depth by extensive product offering. However, STS do not have the price advantage comparing with local Chinese competitors. STS had simplified the functions of the sophisticated machines into â€Å"good enough† machines so as to cater f or the needs of China market, however, the pricing is 31. % more than Muratec, and twice the price of Rifa i. e. the close competitor. As Chinese customers tend to be price-sensitive, they would prefer low-priced manufacturers like Rifa for faster pay-back. In addition, STS products are imitated and the functions copied by Chinese competitors because of weak protection of intellectual property in China. This weakened the strength of STS in terms of product functionality. Most of the locally made twisting machines were copies of those manufactured by Saurer or a Japanese competitor.In some cases, the colors of the machines and the brochures – including printing errors – were reproduce Saurer’s usual position in the high-end market meant that identifying and reaching customers for low-end solutions would be challenging for its sales force. Since the company had historically focused on customers with high-end needs, it sales force had little contacts with the low-e nd segment. Saurer also encountered the difficulty to adopt to Chinese market.The Chinese customers only ordered new machines after receiving orders for yarn, which meant that they then needed very quick delivery. Additionally, they tended to be less interested than their Western counterparts in machine ergonomics – labor costs were low and replacing workers was easy – although some had begun to appreciate that more efficient machines could enable them to increase revenue. Question 2 Saurer should enter the China market with lower functionality. Firstly, Chinese customers are price-sensitive and they concern about the pay-back period.By offering low-functionality machines at lower price, Saurer can captured this low-end customer groups by fulfilling their basic needs. Secondly, Saurer can build up the customer base for future business, as Saurer can introduce other textile machines for their customers. However, margins on the new product were likely to be significantly lower than on their existing products, and even if they managed to achieve some aggressive cost targets, there was a concern that the new product could cannibalize their high margin, premium machines.So Saurer lost its product leadership by lowering the machines functionality. Hence, the good enough machines do not help Saurer to win customers by brand and functionality for this low-end segment. The pricing of STS machines become critical as customers are price-sensitive. Question 3 To protect Saurer’s brand, they should use a dual brand marketing strategy for the new products and sophisticated products. Its Volkmann brand was the leader in the premium end of the market, both in China and globally.In order to avoid jeopardizing the brand and minimize sales canalization, Saurer should adopt a different brand name for its low-end and lower-priced machines. As for pricing, Saurer should try to match with the competitors so as to win a bigger market share in this low-end market. To improve the margin, Saurer may consider to lower the production cost. As the low-end customers had little interest in preventive maintenance and annual contracts, Saurer had to change its business model for the low-end market segment.Since customers preferred quick repair service in proximity, Saurer may consider to develop partnership with local machine repairing centers by supplying the components at lower cost, so as to increase the competitiveness of Saurer machines as comparing with other low price competitors. Currently, Volkmann had 7 sales staff for China market. To cater for this fast growing low-end segment, the company should develop a separate local sales team for low-end market so as to penetrate into the low-end market. According to the company’s quick analysis, 85% of the potential demand of the new machines would be in 6 of China’s 22 provinces.Saurer may allocate the sales team into 6 geographical areas and launch the new machines. Question 4 If Sa urer decided not to introduce the new product, it will have to set its premium position and target the high-end segment, i. e. the export-oriented state-owned firms which were typically able to get licenses to buy imported textile machines. Being the global leader in textile machines, Saurer can ride on its competitive advantage by offering full solutions in different stages of value chain and helping these high-end customers to achieve economy of scale.

The Odyssey – What Is a Hero

Ashley Literature and Composition 1 8 March 2010 â€Å"The Odyssey† by Homer What is a hero? One who holds a proud countenance or obtains a strong build? Different cultures and ethnicities may have their own, unique definition of a hero. Although the Greeks believed that such a principled individual is someone that people look up to, and a title such as this cannot be bestowed upon the ordinary. In Homer’s â€Å"The Odyssey†, it is Odysseus who possesses the true characteristics of a hero wisdom, loyalty and showing moral improvement.Homer describes Odysseus as an intelligent individual; this statement is proven fact when in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, Odysseus’s first thought was to kill the giant. Instead of acting upon his first thoughts Odysseus takes the time to use his intelligence and realize that Polyphemus is the only way out of the cave. Odysseus offers wine to Polyphemus who then asks his providers’ name, Odysseus wittily replies with â€Å"Nohbody: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbody† (Homer Lines 360-361). Even as he spoke, he reeled and tumbled backward, his great head lolling to one side and sleep took him like any creature† (Lines 360-366). Odysseus and his men blind Polyphemus while sleeping which results in the giant yelling to his brothers that, â€Å"Nohbody, Nohbody’s tricked me. Nohbody’s ruined me! † and no one came to his aide (Line 443). In this example, Odysseus shows his intelligence, a trait one can infer that the Greeks admired, by lying to Polyphemus to save the lives of his men.Also, after 2 eturning home to Ithaca to find many suitors begging for his wife’s hand in marriage, Odysseus disguises himself as a beggar to avoid attention. The seemingly beggar at first glance enters the home of Odysseus to witness the emotional destruction of his wife Penelope. Odysseus is disguised until the last possible moment when he eventually rev eals himself after completing the task to win Penelope’s hand in marriage. Odysseus is a marvel character whose characteristics allow readers to infer that the Greeks held the trait f intelligence in respect for a hero. During 720 BC, when â€Å"The Odyssey† was first published, the book explained that Odysseus preferred not to go to war, especially a war fought for an unfaithful woman. The Greeks showed no signs of disloyalty as a respectable trait for any man or woman, therefore when Odysseus is described as a faithful man, he is immediately categorized as a hero. To an extent Odysseus’s bravery can be substantiated by Athena’s constant support, and also proving his loyalty to the Greek Gods during his twenty years away from home.Locked away on the goddess Calypso’s island, Odysseus, despite the attraction he feels toward the nymph goddess, stayed as faithful as possible to his Penelope proving his devoted love for her. Calypso had offered him im mortality and a life bound her, but with his one goal in mind, (to return home) Odysseus declines the offer proving his loyal character. Along with the promised loyalty to his wife, Odysseus was equally faithful to his men. When in the face of danger, his men looked to Odysseus for help and guidance knowing that he will come to their aide.An example of this mutual relationship is when Odysseus and his followers landed on the island of Aeaea, where they rested to replenish their strength. His men were divided in half and Odysseus and his half of followers stayed behind when the rest of his men journeyed through the island to investigate. After finding the palace of the goddess Circe the men were 3 welcomed into the palace by the goddess herself. One man, Eurylochus, sensed danger and stayed hidden outside while the others ate and drank the pleasures provided by Circe.The win was drugged, causing the men to forget all memories of their home. After drugging the men, Circe used her twis ted magic and transformed the men into swine. Eurylochus quickly returned to Odysseus and explained the evil doings of Circe. Odysseus traveled to the house of the goddess alone, where she invited him in and gave him the same drugged wine. With the help of the Messenger God Hermes, Odysseus managed to escape the magic of Circe and threatened her with his sword into changing his men back.Taking responsibility for his men’s lives and sacrificing his own instead of running away from the danger is proof of his loyal character. Odysseus’s principle attribute is loyalty which the Greeks believe, is in belonging to a heroic figure. Everyone deserves a second chance; learning from your mistakes provides evidence of your improving character. Throughout â€Å"The Odyssey† one may make comments about the numerous faults they find in Odysseus’s character such as; his love of glory, and his abiding arrogance.However, nearing the end of the tale Odysseus does not immed iately react violently upon the dreadful sight of the many suitors destroying the heart of his Penelope. Instead of acting quickly, Odysseus patiently waits until the right time to reveal his identity and surprise the suitors with their own death. Learning and improving your reputation are the qualities one can infer from the epic that were greatly admired by the Greeks as a heroic trait. During the period where heroes were described as intelligent, loyal, and dedicated, Odysseus is described as a model warrior in Homer’s â€Å"Odyssey† and a true heroic being.With his intelligence Odysseus saves the lives of his devoted followers when a desperate situation calls for hero. His loyalty provides reassurance to his wife 4 Penelope and his men that he will soon return home. Odysseus shows his improving character by learning from his past mistakes to improve the future. These traits are just a few traits that the Greeks, during Homer’s time period, held in the highes t regard for a hero. 5 Works Cited Homer. â€Å"The Odyssey†. New York: Ballantine Books, 1973

Immortal Gods and Goddesses From Greek Mythology

There are many types of immortal beings in Greek mythology. Some are depicted as humanoid, some as part animal, and some personifications are not readily visualized. The gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus can walk among mortals undetected. They each tend to have a special area they control. Thus, you have the god of thunder or grain or the hearth. Individual Gods and Goddesses From Mt. Olympus HadesZeusPoseidonApolloAresDionysusHephaestusHestiaDemeterHeraArtemisAthenaAphrodite The Titans are among the more confusing of the immortals of Greek mythology. Some of them are stuck in the Underworld suffering for their misdeeds against the Olympian gods. Special Female Deities: Muses and Nymphs The Muses were considered responsible for the arts, sciences, and poetry and were the children of Zeus and Mnemosyne, born in Pieria. Nymphs appear as beautiful young women. There are several types and some individual nymphs who are famous in their own right. Naiads are one variety of nymphs. Roman Gods and Goddesses When talking about Greek mythology, the Romans are usually included. Although their origins may have been different, the main Olympian gods are the same (with a name change) for the Romans. Even before the Romans started expanding their empire around the time of the Punic Wars, they came in contact with other native peoples in the Italic peninsula. These had their own beliefs, many of which influenced the Romans. The Etruscans were particularly important. Other Creatures Greek mythology has animal and part animal creatures. Many of these have supernatural powers. Some, like the Centaur Chiron, are capable of giving up the gift of immortality. Others can be killed with great difficulty and only by the greatest of the heroes. Snake-haired Medusa, for instance, killed by Perseus aided by Athena, Hades, and Hermes is one of the three Gorgon sisters and is the only one who can be killed. Perhaps they dont belong in a grouping of immortals, but they arent quite mortal, either. Beliefs There were many beliefs in the ancient world. When the Romans started expanding, they sometimes joined together native deities with ones that sounded similar from back home. In addition to the religions with many gods, there were others like Judaism, Christianity, and Mithraism  that were basically monotheistic or dualistic.