IDENTIFICATION OF THE FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT USING SYSTEMS THINKING

Abstract

In our increasingly globalised economy, managing continuous change and remaining competitive has become a central issue for organisations in the industrial sector. Building a sustainable competitive advantage through effective decision making and the use of decision making tools has been widely studied [1,2]. The success of a company will be dependent on the skills of the workers, their capacity for learning, and adapting to special and evolving client necessities. Culture change via, communication and participation are the elements of change identified for engineering companies [3]. Thus, the main objective of this research is to understand the behaviour of commitment, the variables that influence it and the variables that are influenced by it. Commitment is considered a key factor due to its influence on performance. The methodology that was followed was based on the modelling methodology proposed by Sterman [4]. The first step was the problem definition, the second step was data collection. The purpose was to define the feedback loops of which the conceptual model (CM) is composed. Thirdly, conceptual model definition was developed. As a result, the final outcome that is achieved through this research is a conceptual model. The main function of this model is to facilitate the understanding of the behaviour of commitment through Systems Thinking tools. This research contributes to both Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Systems Thinking (ST) fields of study. The most notable contribution for ST is the fact of combining more than one input source (Literature + Group Model Building + prior research) for the conceptual model definition. The combination of these input sources for an ST model is not common in the scientific community. Moreover, the use of ST in SHRM is limited. Keywords: Commitment, Systems Thinking, Group Model Building, Strategic Human Resource Management.