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 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.