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Hi Jim

For commitment, I would find it hard to go past

Cohen, A. (2003) “Multiple Commitments in the Workplace”, Mahwah:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Less broad in its cope, but useful is

Meyer, J. and Allen, N. (1997) “Commitment in the Workplace”, Thousand
Oaks: Sage.

If you want something recent, then

Meyer, J. Jackson, T. and Maltin, E. (2008) “Commitment in the
workplace: Past, present and future”, in Barling, J. and Cooper, C.
(eds) “The Sage Handbook of Organisational Behaviour Volume 1 Micro
Approaches”, Los Angeles: Sage.

I hope this helps.

Kind Regards

Gordon

Gordon Brooks
Lecturer
Economic and Financial Studies/Business Department
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY NSW 2109

Phone: +61 (0)2 9850 7472
Fax: +61 (0)2 9850 6065
www.mq.edu.au

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>>> Jim Jones <jimjones@MAIL.UNOMAHA.EDU> 07/03/09 10:17 PM >>>
Dear Colleagues,

Greetings. Due to budget constraints that have tightened our
staffing flexibility, I have been asked on somewhat short notice to
develop and deliver an MBA-level seminar for the upcoming Fall semester
(beginning August 24). The course is titled, "Employee Attachment in
Organizations," and will revolve around the forms, causes, and outcomes
of
organizational attachment. A more accurate title probably would be,
"Member Attachment in Organizations," as many of the concepts could
apply
to non-employment settings as well, but most of the students will be
looking for corporate applications. To give some background on what I
have planned thus far and the course parameters:


* Major attachment concepts planned to be covered: organizational
commitment; loyalty; employee engagement; others(?)

* Potential contributing correlates to be covered: satisfaction,
organizational rewards, P-E fit, etc.

* Potential outcomes to be covered: retention,
individual/organizational productivity, OCB, etc.

* Potential weekly assignments: student team-led readings
discussion; case assignments; experiential activities; guest subject
matter experts from academic and/or corporate settings

* Potential semester assignments: 1) attachment "audit" of local
non-profit organization (team assignment); 2) proposal for researching
some aspect of attachment (individual)

* Text/readings content assessment: Three quizzes, given about
every
four weeks

* Semester length: 16 weeks (11 - 13 class "learning" sessions)

* Student profile: 20 - 25 students, predominantly MBAs (3 - 5
economics and communication graduate students); students usually have
little academic or corporate experience in OB/HR

* Team composition: five 5-person teams


As this is a brand-new prep. for me, I'm trying to start
broadly,
and then winnow down into something manageable. What I would greatly
appreciate would be any suggestions relative to:

1) Any text(s) that would be useful as a comprehensive source on
attachment in general (I'm currently compiling a list of appropriate
research- and practitioner-based articles)

2) Suggestions for other "major" attachment concepts that could be
covered

3) Cases and/or experiential activities that might fit this general

framework

4) Other team and/or individual semester assignments that might fit

this general framework


I appreciate the opportunity to brainstorm this with you, and I
thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide. Please let me
know if you have any questions about any details of the course. Take
care.

Jim

James R. Jones, Ph.D., SPHR
Associate Professor oOmaha, NE 68182-0048
(402) 554-2605
jimjones@mail.unomaha.edu

Dear Jim:

Listed below is a recent book on employee engagement that you may find useful.

Macey, W. H., Schneider, B., Barbera, K. M., & Young, S. A. (2009).
Employee engagement: Tools for analysis, practice, and competitive
advantage. UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Best regards, June

June M. L. Poon
Graduate School of Business
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 Bangi, MALAYSIA
Tel: +603-8921-3455
Fax: +603-8921-3161
e-mail: jpoon@ukm.my



Quoting Jim Jones <jimjones@MAIL.UNOMAHA.EDU>:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> Greetings. Due to budget constraints that have tightened our
> staffing flexibility, I have been asked on somewhat short notice to
> develop and deliver an MBA-level seminar for the upcoming Fall semester
> (beginning August 24). The course is titled, "Employee Attachment in
> Organizations," and will revolve around the forms, causes, and outcomes of
> organizational attachment. A more accurate title probably would be,
> "Member Attachment in Organizations," as many of the concepts could apply
> to non-employment settings as well, but most of the students will be
> looking for corporate applications. To give some background on what I
> have planned thus far and the course parameters:
>
>
> * Major attachment concepts planned to be covered: organizational
> commitment; loyalty; employee engagement; others(?)
>
> * Potential contributing correlates to be covered: satisfaction,
> organizational rewards, P-E fit, etc.
>
> * Potential outcomes to be covered: retention,
> individual/organizational productivity, OCB, etc.
>
> * Potential weekly assignments: student team-led readings
> discussion; case assignments; experiential activities; guest subject
> matter experts from academic and/or corporate settings
>
> * Potential semester assignments: 1) attachment "audit" of local
> non-profit organization (team assignment); 2) proposal for researching
> some aspect of attachment (individual)
>
> * Text/readings content assessment: Three quizzes, given about every
> four weeks
>
> * Semester length: 16 weeks (11 - 13 class "learning" sessions)
>
> * Student profile: 20 - 25 students, predominantly MBAs (3 - 5
> economics and communication graduate students); students usually have
> little academic or corporate experience in OB/HR
>
> * Team composition: five 5-person teams
>
>
> As this is a brand-new prep. for me, I'm trying to start broadly,
> and then winnow down into something manageable. What I would greatly
> appreciate would be any suggestions relative to:
>
> 1) Any text(s) that would be useful as a comprehensive source on
> attachment in general (I'm currently compiling a list of appropriate
> research- and practitioner-based articles)
>
> 2) Suggestions for other "major" attachment concepts that could be
> covered
>
> 3) Cases and/or experiential activities that might fit this general
> framework
>
> 4) Other team and/or individual semester assignments that might fit
> this general framework
>
>
> I appreciate the opportunity to brainstorm this with you, and I
> thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide. Please let me
> know if you have any questions about any details of the course. Take
> care.
>
> Jim
>
> James R. Jones, Ph.D., SPHR
> Associate Professor of Management
> RH 508-F
> College of Business Administration
> University of Nebraska at Omaha
> 6001 Dodge Street
> Omaha, NE 68182-0048
> (402) 554-2605
> jimjones@mail.unomaha.edu



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Hi Jim,

Gordon gave you a good start with org commitment (OC). Another important
concept to discuss would be organizational identification (OID). Whereas OC
deals with various reasons (value alignment, self-interest, norms) that the
individual may be interested in continuing with the organization or
advancing its goals, OID addresses the potentially more powerful
psychological phenomenon of individuals defining themselves in terms of
their organizations.

OID theory draws largely upon social identity and self-categorization
theories - both of which have huge literatures. A good starting point
for reading would be:

D. A. Whetten, & P. C. Godfrey (Eds.). 1998. Identity in organizations:
Building theory through conversations: 245–256. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.

There's a very interesting chapter in this text about OID pathologies by
Dukerich, J. M., Kramer, R., & Parks. They discuss the problems associated
with too much and too little identification.

Also, you may want to see the special topic forum in AMR's first issue in
2000 see:

Albert, S., Ashforth, B. E., & Dutton, J. E. 2000. Organizational identity
and identification: Charting new waters and building new bridges. Academy of
Management Review, 25: 13-17.

A good text for covering the broader topic of social identity theory would be:

Brewer, M. B., & Hewstone, M. 2004. Self and social identity. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Publishers.

Best of luck with the prep.

Jason

Jason R. Pierce
Doctoral Candidate
Organizational Behavior
Kelley School of Business
http://mypage.iu.edu/~jrpierce/
jrpierce@indiana.edu