Manager-employee interaction and its effect on employee commitment

¶ … Employees'-Managers Interaction on Employees Attitude towards their Company

In the contemporary turbulent business environment, executive managers are very critical for the success of an organization. (Florescu, Stela, & Marian, 2014). A quality of a manager is to have a strong interpersonal relationship to enhance effective interactions with subordinates. An effective communication between managers and employees is critical for organization effectiveness because it creates positive relationships, breeds trust within an organization, creates a condition of commitment and foster team cooperation. The history of managerial communication started in 1916 when Henry Fayol showed that central functions of an organization are to organize a plan, coordinate, control and command the subordinates. However, modern management studies have found the system too rigid. In 1970, Henry Mintzberg argued that verbal and written contacts between managers and employees are very essential. Mintzberg further managers must be able to communicate efficiently and easily to share their visions with employees. Thus, effective managerial communication enhances a flow of success. For example, management-employee interaction assists in enhancing total quality management, and is an antecedent to employee commitment.

Problem Definition

Communication between management and employees is vital for a smooth running of any organization because it breeds familiarity, fosters trust, and creating healthy relationships between managers and employees. Positive relationships create a sense of commitment and translate to greater team cooperation. As Abugre (2012) points out, "managerial interaction is the communication between management and employees within an organization; and communication is the essence of what we do each day in our professional lives" (p. 204). Moreover, managerial interaction is the communication between management and subordinates. In other words, managerial communication is defined as the manager's stewardship of speaking and writing to get work done through employees. (Rogers, 2013). In the contemporary business environment, management views communication as something to be exploited to enhance organizational objectives since managers are corporate individuals who make decisions for an organization. Managers spend a large number of time diagnosing unstructured organizational problems, managing information, implementing plans, and relaying decisions to achieve strategic goals. Nevertheless, employees' productivities are improved when there is a mutual relationship between managers and their subordinates. Additionally, effective managerial interactions with employee enhance employee retention, employee commitment, and customer retention. (Yang, & Mallabo, 2003). Despite the benefits associated with managers employees interaction, some managers face challenges in enhancing effective networking and coordination to harmonize interactions within the organization.

Research Problem

Among the most challenging tasks that manager's face is the inability to coordinate and harmonize the personal goals of employees and other stakeholders within the organization. (Marshall, 2010). In a corporate communication, relationship management has to do with an organizational "ability to develop mutually satisfying relationships between managers and employees" (Abugre, 2012, p. 2015). It is about using employees' resources rather than capital, as "the fundamental source of improvement" (Tella, Ayeni & Popoola, 2007, p.1). Numerous studies have established a direct relationship between management and customer retention (Peltier & Dahl, 2009), employee retention (Brown, McHardy, McNabb, & Taylor, 2011), and employee commitment (Abugre, 2012).

Employee-management interactions have been linked to positive attitudes and employee commitments. Brown et al. (2011) express that employee-management interactions foster work schedule flexibility, which is a fundamental factor in employee commitment. Effective interactions and communication helps a trust building and lead to total quality management (Marshall, 2010). Communication is the backbone of employee loyalty and commitment; it builds healthy interpersonal relations, bringing about a sense of commonality and belonging, makes employees be committed and work towards the realization of the shared organizational objectives (Chew, Cheng & Petrovic-Lazarevic, 2006). However, as significant as they may be, studies only concentrate on the relationship between communication in general and employee attitudes or commitment towards the organization, but notably fail to give detail on how managerial interactions influence these attitudes. Moreover, most studies have concentrated on western and African economies, creating an empirical knowledge dearth in America, and particularly the United States. To this end, the existing literature body exposes knowledge gaps, more so when it comes to context and scope.

Abugre (2012) expresses that "in order to achieve a coordinated way towards the desired purpose in work organizations, managers must communicate with subordinates in a manner which communicates expectations clearly" (p. 205). Tella, Ayeni and Popoola (2007) point out that organizational success is approximately 50% dependent upon the extent of management-employee interaction and communication Thus, an effective organizational communication is a critical component of positive corporate citizenship because it fosters performance, commitment, and motivation, and enhances employee trust, organizational networks, and worker relations.

Research Objective

This study aims to address the knowledge gaps- in terms of context, by examining the possible effects of employee-management interactions on employee attitudes, loyalty, and confidence levels; and in terms of scope - by focusing on the effects of employees and manager's interaction and how it can affect the employee's outlook. The command will be used as case a study, although it is expected that the findings will be relevant to all other organizations within the sector, especially given that the managerial and cultural practices are significantly similar. If corporations understand the effect of managerial employee interactions on worker productivity, efficiency, and work quality, then they could devise more serious ways to provide training for their managers and helping them to become more effective communicators (Abugre, 2012).

The objective of this research is to assess the effects of manager-employee interactions on employees' attitudes. To sub-research objectives are as follows:

1. To investigate the effects employee-management interactions on employee loyalty

2. To investigate the impacts of employee-management interactions on employee trust and loyalty.

3. To investigate the effects of employee-management interactions on employees' confidence and company's future.

Research Questions

What are effects of employees managers interactions on employee's attitudes towards their organizations?

What are the impacts of managerial employee interactions towards organizational performances?

To what extent managerial-employee interactions enhance employees' loyalty, workplace performance, and worker commitment?

Assumptions

The study provides the following assumptions:

The research assumes that participants will provide accurate data that will enhance the research findings.

The inclusion criteria for the sample population is appropriate and it assumed that participants have experienced similar to the research objective.

The economy is not experiencing recession that may affect the performance of organizations.

Organizations where participants are working are not in distress which may affect the employees managers interactions.

Theoretical framework

The research uses the theory of motivation to enhance a greater understanding of the impact of employees managers interaction on the attitude of workers towards their company. Typically, the theory of motivation is critical for this study because it assists in enhancing a greater understanding of the relationship between employee-manager relationship and job satisfactions.

Significance of the Study

In addition to the contextual and scope exposed by the existing literature, this study provides a behavioral direction for managers to assist them paying more attention to the activities that will engage workers in the day-to-day organizational activities. Marshall (2010) points out that the consequences of ineffective manager-employee interaction are quite severe and often result in massive employee walk-outs. In addition to the financial costs associated with such walk-outs, affected companies often find themselves having to deal with the larger problem of rebuilding their reputations. With a level the globalization transforming the world to a more competitive marketplace, almost all companies are upgrading their product to meet the global standards, and customer loyalty to enhance a company's reputation and employee satisfactions.

Moreover, the study enhances a greater understanding of the effectiveness of managerial interactions on employee's output. Aburge (2012) argued that effective employee managers interaction increase job satisfactions leading to employees' work performances.

The study also elaborates how manages worker's interactions motivate an employee, and enhance their work attitudes. Typically, most employees prefer manager to treat them with respects because respects couple with effective communication make employees be more productive.

Definition of Terms

The study defines all the unique words related to the research objective:

Managerial-employee interaction is defined as the communication between manager and employee.

A manager is an executive of an organization responsible for directing, planning, and monitoring the work of employee within an organization.

An employee is an individual working as a part-time or full-time working under the contract of employment, and has a recognized responsibility and duty.

Employee attitude is the work related behavior that can influence an organizational performance.

Employee morale is the attitude, emotion, satisfaction as well as overall employee's outlook in the workplace environment.

An organization is an entity that comprises of multiple of people having a collective goal and defined objective

Scope of the Study

The study is limited to the investigation of the effect of employee-managers interaction on employee attitude. The research findings can only be applied to the location and country, which the companies are located. Moreover, the research findings can be applied to other organizations with similar goals and objectives.

Delimitations of the Study

The author recognizes that given the expansive nature of employee and manager interactions, this number is quite insignificant, and may therefore not provide a sufficient basis for generalization. Additionally, a sample of 250 respondents may be significantly unrepresentative for a perceptual study of this magnitude, and the author figures out that the findings would have been more accurate had a larger sample been used. To this end, there is a need for future research to replicate this study to ascertain its generality on the basis of a broader scope.

Chapter 2: Review of the Related Literature

Historical & General Background

Rogers, (2013) defines managerial communication as the study of stewardship of speaking and writing from managers to employees to get work done. Management views communication as something that should be exploited to achieve organizational objectives. Managers are individuals having the responsibilities of making decisions for an organization or subunits to achieve organizational objectives. Typically, managers spend their entire working time diagnosing unstructured problems, implementing a business plan, and managing financial information and assigning tasks to the subordinates. The historical development of managerial communication started from the classical management theoretical framework. The classical theorists develop the principles of management principles between 19th and 20th century. In 1918, a classical theorist such as Henry Fayol identified that the central function of management is to coordinate, plan and control the subordinates. Frederick Taylor contributed to the management theory by developing administrative principles of management that serve as the bedrock of managerial communication. (Abdelkarim, 2016).

However, it was modern management theorists who identified the importance of managerial communication as an important tool to achieve organizational objectives. Typically, modern management approach uses the contingency approach for employee motivation to increase productivity. However, Rogers, (2013) argued that history of management communication within the business arena is relatively new. The importance of managerial communication to business goals made Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1881 to start courses to train managers in the business communication. (Knight, 1999, Knight, 2005). In 1979, the top ranking business school and universities such as Yale universities and MIT Sloan Business School also took a responsibility to teach management communication.

Employee Loyalty

Peloso (2004) defined employee loyalty as an active relationship between an employee and his organization "willing to give something of themselves in order to contribute to the organization's well-being" (p. 39). The author posited that employee loyalty, though immeasurable per se, can be assessed on the basis of how strongly an employee believes in and accepts the organization's values and goals, how willing they are to put in extra effort to the benefit of the organization, and how strong their desire is to maintain membership therein.

Peltier and Dahl (2009) carry out a study on employee loyalty in the New York Hospital and the result reveals that only 24% of the sampled population considered themselves truly moral and loyal to the organization. A total "of 31 hospital departments were selected for inclusion in the study." Most of the respondents in the Peltier and Dahl (2009) study felt that they were not being engaged in the organization's decision-making processes.

The findings of the Peltier and Dahl (2009) study were replicated by Tella, Ayeni and Popoola (2007) in Nigeria's Oyo State who established a positive correlation between employee motivation, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, which can be interpreted as employee loyalty (Tella, Ayeni & Popoola, 2007). The organizational commitment construct yielded a worryingly low of 0.83 cronbach alpha out of a sample of 200 respondents (Tella, Ayeni & Popoola, 2007). The study went a notch higher, revealing that most employees considered communication and information availability a better basis of a commitment than financial benefits. This finding resonates with the findings of Abugre (2012), who held that employees are likely to be less loyal and committed to achieving the organization's goals if they feel that their contributions are either being taken for granted or are not being taken seriously, regardless of the financial benefits advanced.

Carnegie (2012) laid out three fundamental drivers of employee engagement, "relationship with immediate supervisor, belief in senior leadership, and pride in working for the company" (p. 2). A national representative 1500-respondent sample showed that "it is the personal relationship with their immediate supervisor that is a key driver of employee satisfaction." (p. 2). Brown, McHardy, McNabb et al. (2007) posited that a supervisor's actions and attitude are the key determinants to subordinate engagement or disengagement. In the Brown et al. (2007) study, only 29% of 1500 respondents considered themselves fully loyal to their workplace.

Undermined Importance of Employees

Peloso (2004) points out that many scholars and managers alike have undermined employees with reference to management issues. Typically, many companies are so busy rushing towards achieving heightened competitiveness and efficiency and seemingly forgetting that the workforce is "the fundamental source of improvement" (Tella, Ayeni & Popoola, 2007, p.1). According to Nayar (2013), this tendency reflects a lack of concern for employees and gives the impression that an organization does not care a great deal about their employees. Nayar (2013) continued to point out that the greatest mistake a company can make is putting its customers before its employees. This point-of-view is supported by Marshall (2010) who believed that a satisfied workforce would automatically translate to a satisfied customer community, and consequently, to heightened customer loyalty.

Marshall (2010), Nayar (2013), and Peloso (2004) concurred that the reason manager-subordinate communication is potentially insufficient in most organizations today is an increased emphasis on marketing communication usually aimed at expanding the external publicity about services and products. Nayar (2013) expressed that there is a need for organizations to reconsider their communication strategies, rather, they should keep all their internal and external communications intact. As Peloso (2004) points out, employees are the link between a company and its customers, and hence the development and sustenance of employee loyalty ought to be the core focus of any manager. The enhancement of employee loyalty leads to a streak of beneficial outcomes, "including increased levels of customer loyalty, higher levels of efficiency, lower recruiting costs, and higher levels of innovation" (Peloso, 2004, p. 39).

Employees' Trust for Managers

Business ethics scholar Caroll Archie (as cited in Brown et al., 2011) noted that people enjoy working in an environment where they can both enjoy the company of those they work with and take pride in the people for whom they work. According to Branham (2012), organizational ethic entails among other things, taking care of employees' needs, building trust through positive communication, acting with integrity in human resource relations, and showing respect for subordinates at all times. Tsai (2011) expressed that employees are likely to have less trust in their managers if the latter does not display a willingness to listen, be supportive, be in genuine caring, be transparency, and honesty. In this case, employees become less committed and ineffective towards customer needs. Positive communication presents opportunities for employees to acquire crucial skills and knowledge not only towards their jobs but the organization as a whole, which enhances organizational outcomes. (Peloso, 2004; Naseem et al., 2011; Marshall, 2010).

As being pointed out by Abugre (2012), internal public relations provide a stepping-stone for the recognition of employees as well as providing equal attention to both investors and customers. Peloso (2004) blames the narrow scope of marketing communications from the low level of communication and employee commitment. The author maintains that workplace values can be evaluated by assessing the role played by communication. According to Gallardo, Sanchez-Canizares, Lopez-Guzman, & Jesus. (2010), internal communication is a fundamental aspect of organizational evaluation because it determines the levels of trust between managers and their subordinates. The extent to which a manager engages in communication with subordinates can reinforce, or weaken the trust between them (Gallardo et al., 2010; Peloso, 2004; Abugre, 2012).

Employees' Inclination to Leave a Company

Numerous studies have established that there is indeed a positive relationship between employee satisfaction and adequacy of the information provided by management (Marshall, 2010; Peloso, 2004). This explains why employees are seen to prefer face-to-face interactions and public forums, as opposed to written communication, news briefings, or telephone calls, when communicating with their managers (Tella, Ayeni, & Popoola, 2007; Branham, 2012). Branham (2012) posited that this tendency is due to the belief that communication is never effective unless it is interactive. Lack of a two-way communication mechanism makes employees feel less important, which sufficiently weakens their trust and commitment.

The belief that employees already know, or worse still, do not care about what goes on in their organizations, therefore, a source of the fallout between employees and their managers, which is one of the reasons why employees would prefer one company to another (Braham, 2012). A study carried out by Tella, Ayeni & Popoola (2007) reveals that employees prefer a work environment that recognizes their efforts and makes them advancing their financial benefits.

As Brown et al. (2011) point out, gone are the days when employee trust, commitment, and loyalty were bought using money; today, being part of the employee class has a lot to do with the availability of career advancement, innovation opportunities and avenues for improving oneself and the organization as a whole (LaMalfa, 2007; Peloso, 2004; Tella, Ayeni & Popoola, 2007). This point-of-view is supported by Abugre (2012), who posits that "when the social distance between managers and subordinates is too high, majority of employees (subordinates), particularly those in the lower echelons," are in no position to conduct a realistic evaluation of the actions of their managers, and would often resort to making attributions and assumptions that may adversely affect the communication pattern" (p. 207).

According to LaMalfa (2007), "the average company loses 20-50% of its employee base" every year; yet replacing a single employee costs approximately 150% of the lost employee's annual salary (p. 1).

Employee Motivation and Engagement

Lindner (1998) pointed out that contrary to the past, when employees "were considered just another input into the production of goods and services," today's workforce is not solely money-motivated; the performance of the workforce today is highly dependent upon the individuals' attitudes. This change in managers' ways of thinking has been largely attributed to Elton Mayo's Hawthorne studies conducted between 1924 and 1932 (Trevino & Nelson, 2010; Lindner, 1998). Numerous studies have been carried out to establish the link between employee engagement (motivation) and performance. Crim and Seijts (2006), for instance, sought to determine the intensity of the relationship between organizational performance and employee engagement indices. The study findings led to the conclusion that "employee satisfaction and engagement are related to meaningful business outcomes at a magnitude that is important to many organizations" (Crim & Seijts, 2006).

Numerous case studies have depicted the difference between the yields of an engaged, motivated workforce, and a disengaged one. Trevino and Nelson (2010) referred to the case of the New Century Financial Corporation where disengaged employees in the wholesale division were observed to produce 28% less in sales revenues than their actively engaged colleagues within the same division. The New Century Financial Corporation's case is a perfect demonstration "that employee engagement does not merely correlate with bottom-line results -- it drives results" (Crim & Seijts, 2006).

Employee engagement is about showing appreciation for employees and effort they put in and getting actively involved in their efforts to contribute to organizational success (Lindner, 1998; Trevino & Nelson, 2010). Employee engagement influences people's mindset. Crim and Seijts (2006) pointed out that "engaged employees believe that they can make a difference in the organizations they work for."(p 2). Such employees put passion, rather than time, into their jobs because they are profoundly connected to their organizations, and have a drive to see them move forward (Trevino & Nelson, 2010). They are cognitively vigilant, have the organization's future at heart, and work towards ensuring the success of that future by positively impacting the organization's products or services (Crim & Seijts, 2006). As Crim and Seijts point out, "confidence in the knowledge, skills, and abilities that people possess -- in both themselves and others -- is a powerful predictor of behavior and subsequent performance." (p 3).

Several studies have sought to determine just how managers can get their employees more engaged, and hence, get their organizations to reap the full benefits of optimum engagement. LaMalfa (2007), for instance, put forward five principles through which managers can get their workforce to be better-engaged:

• Being helpful and promotional to employees' efforts; helping them see the bigger picture

• Making employees feel improved and confident

• Making employees feel accepted

• Making employees feel respected

• Understanding employees' hearts and minds

Methodology

The research uses the quantitative technique to collect and analyze data. Based on the Roger, (2014) definition, "quantitative research encompasses a range of methods concerned with the systematic investigation of social phenomena, using statistical or numerical data." (p 44). Thus, the quantitative research assumes that the phenomenon under investigation can be measured and verified using the statistical techniques. Sarah, (2014) supports the argument of the previous author by pointing out that quantitative research involves a collection of numerical data to explain the phenomenon. Moreover, the quantitative research uses percentages and Mean as the tools for the analysis. The survey method is the data collection in quantitative research that assists in preparing the data analysis.

Instrumentation

In the quantitative research, the Likert scale serves as the survey instrument used to collect data. The structures of the Likert scale are as follows:

Strongly Disagree -Disagree- Neutral-Agree-Strongly Agree

Very High -- High - Neither High nor Low- Low-Very Low.

A major advantage of the Likert scale is that it provides an easy method to collect data.

Statistical Approach

The research uses the quantitative technique for the data analysis using the descriptive statistics to summarize the raw data in a manageable form. The frequency distribution arranging data in percentage form is one of the statistical tools used to summarize data. The graphical illustration is another statistical tool assisting in presenting the data in a graphical form. Thus, this research uses the percentage form and graphical illustrations for the data analysis The strategy assists in the presenting the research findings.

Summary of Literature Reviewed

The literature is reviewed to investigate the effects of employees managers interactions on the employee attitudes towards their organizations. The study identifies the theory of motivation to achieve the research objectives. The literature is also reviewed to discusses the historical overview of managerial communication. The concepts such as employee loyalty, and a trust of the employee towards their manager are also discussed. The review assists in identifying the gap in the literature, which this study attempts to fill. This investigation is necessary because the only way for managers to make communication with their subordinates more effective is by first developing effective interactions with them. The study also provides the methodology used to collect and analyze data. However, the existing literature concentrated on establishing the links between communications in general, positive employee attitudes, and positive organizational outcomes; yet it notably fails to outline the drivers of organizational communication. It would, therefore, be necessary to investigate the effect of one such driver -- manager-employee interactions -- on employee attitudes.

Chapter 3 Methodology

Research Methodology

This Quantitative study uses a combination of published secondary data (pre-existing data) and surveys monkey website to develop a survey and provide the web link to access the survey. This survey link will be sent out through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to all the participants with the intent to receive between 200 and 300 responses that would provide a sample size large enough to produce a substantial amount of data to provide the research findings. Additionally, the purpose of the research is to show the positive and negative effects on employee and manager interaction on employees' attitude towards a company. The study also investigates the effect of employees' viewpoint on work production. The research process will be deductive with following from the research question -- how does the frequency of manager-employee interactions influence employee attitudes towards their jobs, superiors, and work centers? Based on this research question, the research objectives have been classified into three parts: employee loyalty, employee trust, and employee confidence about their company's future. The hypotheses from these objectives are presented in table 3.1, alongside the respective independent, dependent, and control variables.

Table 3.1:

Objectives Hypothesis

Hypothesis

Independent Variable

Control variable

Dependent variable

H1: Employees who interact with their managers more often are more loyal to their companies than employees who interact with their managers less often

Employee-manager interaction

Employee loyalty

Work center performance

(work quality, accuracy, production rate and product quality)

H2: Employees who interact with their managers more often are more likely to trust the management of their companies than employees who interact with their managers less often

Employee-manager interaction

Employee trust

Work center performance

(work quality, accuracy, production rate and product quality)

H3: Employees who interact with their managers more often are more confident about the future of their company than employees who interact with their managers less often

Employee-manager interaction

Employee confidence about the company's future

Work center performance

(work quality, accuracy, production rate and product quality)

Instrumentation

The study employs self-administered survey questionnaires made up of 10 questions for the collection of research data. Data will be collected between the 20th and the 29th of June 2016. The survey questionnaire employs fixed-response alternative questions requiring the respondent to choose from a pre-determined answer set. As Abugre (2012) pointed out, this data collection technique ensures both simplicity and consistency in the collection of research data. A survey will be constructed using survey monkey website where the survey can be accessed, and a link will be sent out through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to the participants with the intent to receive 200-300 responses. The survey questionnaires are based on the Likert non-comparative scaling technique, a commonly-used technique that requires respondents to indicate their extent of agreement or disagreement (O'Reilly, Caldwell, Chatman, Lapiz, & Self, 2010). As the authors pointed out, such a scale is readily understandable and quite advantageous to respondents. This study employed a balanced, odd-numbered Likert scale, with equal numbers of unfavorable and favorable categories, as proposed by O'Reilly et al. (2010). The authors reported that such a balanced state ensures the collection of objective data by avoiding forced choices and allowing for the 'no opinion' option. In this study, the 'neither low nor high' option will be used in place of the 'no opinion' choice option. Each of the questions has a five-scale category answer set from which the respondent can choose in line with the traditional guidelines postulated by O'Reilly et al. (2010), which require a category scale for a research project to be between five and nine.

Research Methods

In order to effectively investigate the study objectives and validate the hypotheses, the in-depth interview research method will be employed. Data will be collected using the questionnaire survey technique, requiring respondents to provide answers to a set of self-constructed questions. The questions are on variables used to assess the effect of manager-employee interactions, employee loyalty, employees' trust in their managers, and employee confidence about the company's future. The rating scale runs from 'very low' to 'neither high nor low.' Refer to appendix B for complete details of the questionnaire.

Field Procedures

The questionnaires are administered at the selected facilities, but respondents will be allowed to fill the questionnaires at home if it is needed. The choice is very important given the fact that most hospital employees are often very busy, and would have little or no time to attend to the questionnaires while on duty.

Sample

The target population consists of workers in the pre-defined hospital whose age are between 21 and 65. The selected sample population are junior and senior employees assisting in enhancing a greater understanding on their level of interaction with their managers. The criteria for the selection of the sample are as follows:

Sample population will be a full-time worker of an organization.

They can be male or female.

Aged between 21 and 65 years of age.

The sample population should have at least a high school diploma.

The sample population should work in an established formal organization.

The study uses the Excel 2013 software to record and analyze the data. The analysis assists in enhancing the reliability and validity of the data.

Data Collection and Recording Procedures

The study collects data by email or by hand. After the data collection, all the data are stored in the Excel software for the analysis. Moreover, the data are checked for an eventual error. After the data are free from errors, and recorded in the software, the researcher uses a strong password to protect the data from an unauthorized access. (Pallant, 2007).

Data Processing and Analysis Procedures

The analysis is both descriptive and inferential, with the ?2 statistic being used to "assess the occurrences of the relationship between variables (managerial interactions and employee work output) and to measure the statistical significance of the relationship between the variables" (Abugre, 2012). Answers to questions requiring respondents to rate their managers' interactions, as well as their own attitudes towards their jobs and work centers will be rated 'very high,' 'high,' 'low,' 'very low' and 'neither high nor low' and valued 1-5 respectively. Questions requiring respondents to indicate the frequency with which they interact with, or receive constructive feedback from their managers, will be rated 'three or more a month', 'twice a month', 'once a month', 'once or twice a year' and 'never' will be valued from 1-5 respectively. The third set of questions, requiring respondents to rate colleagues, and their work centers' moral levels will have answers rated 'very high', 'high', 'low', 'very low' and 'neither high nor low,' and valued using codes 1-5 respectively.

Variables such as age, gender, educational levels, income levels, and marital status will be crucial to the study because of their invaluable role in an individual's commitment to their organization. Age and annual income will be coded 1 to 5, with the least bracket ranking as 1 and the highest 5. The rest will each be assigned dummy variables; gender will have one dummy variable, taking a male as 1 and female as 0; whereas educational level and marital status will have four dummy variables a piece.

The study's consistency and validity are calculated using the p-value, which is a measure of the "probability that a sample drawn from a population is tested given that the assumptions proposed by the study are true" (Abugre, 2012, p. 215). A 0.05 p-value indicates a 95% confidence level, and is regarded as the typical threshold, implying that any value below it is considered significant. (Pierce, 2013 ).

Methodological Assumptions

The study provides the following methodological assumptions:

First, it is assumed all the participants will answer the survey question correctly.

Moreover, the research assumes that participants will return the survey question on time.

The study also assumes that the participants are educated enough understand the contents of the survey question.

The research also assumes that the participants answer the survey questions honestly.

Methodological Limitations

The project is limited to participants aged between 21 and 65. Moreover, the data are only collected from participants working in a formal organization, and people not belonging to any organization is excluded from the sample population.

Ethical Considerations

The ethical consideration is the process whereby the research adheres to the research ethics in the course of the investigation. As part of the ethical considerations, it is the responsibility of a researcher to protect the private information of the sample population to minimize the risks of misusing their information. Thus, this study applies the concept of ethics in the research process. First, the researcher discloses all the risks and benefits associated with this study before collecting information from the participants. Moreover, the researcher ensures that all the participants private information is protected and not sent to the third party without the authorization from the participants. Moreover, the study uses codes to replace the private information of the participants to protect them from an authorized access. (Resnik, 2010).