This type of commitment can be seen when a worker is emotionally connected to the organisation he/she is working for. In case of affective commitment, the workers ensures that he/she dedicates himself/herself to serve the company he/she is employed in. The worker strongly believes in the values and the aims of the organisation and strives to work hard so as to ensure that the organisation is successful, hence, displaying affective commitment to the organisation (Allen, et al, 1990; Mowday, et al, 1979).
Normative Commitment In this type of commitment a works understands that his/her work is their duty and they feel responsible towards the organisation they are employed with. This kind of commitment demonstrates an obligation to do well. The worker feels compelled to work so that his/her duty towards the organisation is fulfilled completely. A worker demonstrating normative commitment stands out owing to the fact that they work hard not just to perform well in their job to get benefits out of it but they work hard because they know that they are morally obligated to do so (Wiener, 1982).
Calculative Commitment In this type of commitment as the name suggests a worker works because he expects something in return. In 1981, a researcher stated that this type of commitment is a give-and-take affair (Etzioni, 1981). A worker only works hard as he/she expects some kind of return such as a reward, a promotion, etc. from his/her superiors. This type of commitment is only called calculative because it is calculated strategically by the employee as the employee works hard and in return he/she calculates that he/she will get something back from the organisation he/she works for (Randall, et. al, 1997).
Altruistic Commitment In this type of commitment, the worker gives a lot of significance to the organisation he/she is employed with. The primary reason why a worker is connected to his/her organisation is because he/she identifies with the organisation and feels a strong connection towards it. Therefore, altruistic commitment is mostly related to others, i.e. the worker is connected with the organisation due to his/her strong commitment and connection with it (Peccei, et al, 1997). It will not be wrong to say that in this type of commitment, the organisation a worker is associated with is truly the one to benefit from such a commitment. Therefore, this type of commitment is very different to the other types of commitments discussed earlier.
At this point, it is beneficial to understand the term psychological contract. This is owing to the fact that due to the nature of the healthcare sector, such a contract with the organisation is not simply work related; it goes beyond the terms of service present in the contract of employment. Such a contract focuses on employment relations that link the employer and the worker at the same level (Guest, 2004). Such a contract encourages workers to not just focus on rewards, benefits, etc. linked to their jobs but also to their duty towards organisations operating in the healthcare sector. Therefore, workers must have some say in how that organisation functions so that they do not feel that the psychological contract between them and the organisation is being disturbed due to any reason (Paton, 1992).
Non-cooperation in Organisations Non-cooperation in organisations or conflict is present in very organisation. A large number of organisations may deny having any conflict but it still exists. Management of an organisation may say that other than some workers in our company most workers within our company co-operate with one another. Also, they may say that they are the part of a successful team only because they get along with one another and are successfully able to work with one another forming a successful organisation (Von Haller, 1971).
A large number of researchers have claimed that literature on non-cooperation in organisations exists but it is so limited that non-cooperation, conflict, etc. need to be researched further, especially in case of the healthcare sector. Many researchers have carried out chapters of research related to non-cooperation in organisations but those researches are very limited. Most literature does not even index the term non-cooperation in organisations (Rosenfeld, 1990; Thompson, et al, 2003).
Problems linked with non-cooperation, conflict, etc. are covered by researchers under the term “change”. A vast amount of research focuses on dealing with non-cooperation in organisations (Likert, et al., 1976). Non-cooperation has also been discussed as frustration in workers that results in absenteeism, not being able to accomplish goals and aims of the organisation, etc. (Luthans, 1972).
A large number of researchers such as Robinson, et al. and Boye, et al., define non-cooperative behaviour as “voluntary behaviour” that impacts the rules and regulations of a particular company and together with that it also has an impact on the well-being of the workers of the organisation as well as the organisation. Other researchers add saying that non-nonoperational behaviour is counterproductive to the functioning and to the success of the organisation (Robinson, et al., 1995; Boye et al., 1997).
According to researchers such as Taylor, et al., and Thompson, et al., the literature related to non-cooperation has seen a decline since the 90s (Taylor, et al., 2003; Thompson, et al., 1995). However, in the present scenario where the interests of the workers and the organisation’s management are similar to one another especially in the healthcare sector, it is significant that non-cooperation be clearly comprehended (Flemming et al., 2003).
Many researchers have studied non-cooperation and conflict in organisations in other sectors but non-cooperation and conflict in healthcare organisations that are publically funded is still largely unsearched. Not only does non-cooperation include union activities, strikes, etc. it also includes workers who do not perform well, fiddle during work, day-dream during work and so on (Flemming et al., 2003; Noon et al., 2002).
Many researchers have conducted studies that point towards a link between commitment in organisations and non-cooperation in organisations. In cases where workers are feeling less committed to the organisations they work for there is a possibility that the worker will display behaviour resulting in non-cooperation, conflict, etc. The extent to which this happens in organisations will be delved deeper into by means of this dissertation exploring this in the context of the healthcare sector.
Methodological Approach
Owing to the nature of the dissertation and the topic selected for the research a phenomenological approach has been adopted for this study. This means that detailed information is collected by means of interviews, discussions, observations, etc. If we speak epistemologically, a phenomenological approach is based on the paradigm of knowledge and subjectivity. According to researchers, there is no specific reason why a particular worker feels more committed towards the organisation he/she is associated with (Arnold et al., 1998). To know why this happens, it is important for this research to understand and delve deep into what workers have to say and draw a conclusion based on that. As stated earlier, a phenomenological approach gets an insight into what a worker is actually thinking and therefore it will not be wrong to say that this approach is apt for this dissertation.
Research Design
This dissertation uses the case study method for research. The reason why the researcher has chose this method is because this would help the researcher to study the data related to this dissertation in its actual context. Researchers state that a problem can only be understood completely if the surroundings that the problem exists in is also understood completely (Yin, 1994; Cavaye, 1996).
In addition, the case study method provides the opportunity to carry out detailed studies and help in answering “how” and “why” questions that would otherwise need a lot of detailed study in order to explain. Case studies are exploratory and this would help in answering questions about organisational commitment and non-cooperation in organisations in the healthcare sector in a much better way. The case study method has some limitations as well. One of the limitations that stands out the most is that such a study cannot represent results from the complete sector in question (Yin, 2003).
Another significant limitation related to this dissertation was limited time. This is the reason why only the NHS where the researcher works was studied in order to find answers to the research questions. In addition, owing to the fact that the researcher was associated with the organisation, led to a good understanding of the problems related to workers in the organisation. The research was carried out at all levels of the organisation; this was done so that the findings and the results would correctly portray what the workers felt. Therefore, a sound conclusion could be drawn out based from the findings of this dissertation.