To Have and to Hold: Gaining loyalty by being supportive

To Have and to Hold: Gaining loyalty by being supportive

This month we summarise three articles with a common theme: managers and organisations as a whole need to create a culture of support as part of their strategy to attract, motivate and retain talented people.

The first article is by a team led by Robert Eisenberger from the University of Delaware. They established a relationship between the support given by individual supervisors and people's perception of the supportiveness of the entire organisation. The organisations which were perceived to be supportive were found to have a lower turnover. This research links with an investigation by Mary Kernan, also of the University of Delaware, and Paul Hanges into 'survivor' reactions following a reorganisation. Far from being grateful to have survived, these people's commitment can be erased by the reorganisation if it is handled badly. In particular, survivors are affected by the:

Procedure by which people are selected for redundancy
Accuracy and quality of explanations for the change
Respect and dignity accorded to people, and the concern shown for them

The third article by Sandy Wayne from the University of Illinois describes how people who are treated well feel a sense of obligation to reciprocate, particularly by offering commitment to the organisation. The research identified that organisations which are seen to treat people well have the following characteristics:

A just pay system
Perceived fairness of decision-making procedures
Good performance is recognised by supervisors
People are included in decisions and communication (therefore, they are perceived to be trusted by the organisation)

So, we have three recent research articles serving as a reminder that people's commitment and intention to stay in an organisation is a reciprocation of how the organisation and their particular leader / supervisor treats them.

How Can Human Assets Help?
We have an established expertise in helping clients to Win the Talent War. We can assist you by carrying out research to identify what your organisation and individual managers are doing well and less well to generate people's commitment and loyalty. The use of external consultants in this process will help to ensure that people are honest and open about their views.

We will examine the array of factors using a combination of focus groups, interviews, and questionnaires. These include the:

Fairness of procedures and reward
Atmosphere of support
Opportunities people have to meet their needs for development, achievement, advancement and work-life balance
Extent to which they feel they are treated as trusted members of the organisation

We will then present to you our findings, and discuss changes that could be implemented to ensure that you are doing everything possible to retain the people upon whom your organisation's success depends.

To read more about our approach to Talent Management, you might look at Charles Woodruffe's book 'Winning the Talent War'.

References
Eisenberger, R., Stinglhamber, F., Vandenberghe, C., Sucharski, I. L., and Rhoades, L. (2002) Perceived supervisor support: contributions to perceived organizational support and employee retention. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 87 no 3, pp 565-573.

Kernan, M.C., and Hanges, P. J. (2002) Survivor reactions to reorganization: Antecedents and consequences of procedural, interpersonal and informational justice. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 87 no 5, pp 916-928.

Wayne, S. J., Shore, L.M., Bommer, W. H., and Tetrick, L. E. (2002) The role of fair treatment and rewards in perceptions of organizational support and leader-member exchange. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 87 no 3, pp 590-598.

Newsletter: 2003