Created For Commitment

This fascinating acount portrays God's power in the lfe and ministry of A. Wetherell Johnson, from her overseas mission work to the founding and remarkable growth of Bible Study Fellowship.

Saying that political and social oppression is a deeply unjust and widespread condition of life is not a terribly controversial statement. Likewise, theorists of justice frequently consider our obligation to not turn a blind eye to oppression. But what is our culpability in the endurance of oppression? In this book, Mara Marin complicates the primary ways in which we make sense of human and political relationships and our obligations within them. Rather than thinking of relationships in terms of our intentions, Marin thinks of them as open-ended and subject to ongoing commitments. Commitments create open-ended expectations and vulnerabilities on the part of others, and therefore also obligations. By this rationale, our actions sustain oppressive or productive structures in virtue of their cumulative effects, not the intentions of the actors.When we violate our obligations we oppress others. Over the chapters of her book, Marin applies her model of commitment to caregivers, marriage, and bargaining power between labor and employers, and examines three types of social relations: political-legal relations, intimate relations of care, and work relations. By linking habitual action to obligation, Marin argues that we should see our responsibilities within such relationships as political and as creating norms for behavior over time. Commitment both points to the support our actions give to oppressive structures and to the ways in which our actions can weaken the same structures. Connected by Commitment examines our obligations to transform structures of oppression and offers commitment as a model for solidarity across race, gender, and class.

Contrary to popular belief, most people truly desire to commit to the organizations for which they work. Just as most of us would prefer not to drift from one relationship to the next, the majority of workers would rather not live like corporate gypsies. So why, at a time when employee retention is so critical to success, do so many businesses find it hard to hold on to their best people? Why, despite the perks, bonuses, and all the other "goodies" with which companies attempt to create employee commitment, does turnover continue to be such a serious problem? In this groundbreaking book, Michael O'Malley-an acknowledged expert with more than two decades of experience helping the Fortune 500 attract and retain the brightest and best-provides answers to these questions. More importantly, he spells out proven strategies for fostering solid employee/employer relationships that last. Deftly interweaving personal insight, case histories, and the latest research in the field, O'Malley explores the nature of employee commitment. He shows how many of the same needs and passions that bind people to one another in their personal lives also bind employees to managers and organizations. O'Malley describes the roles played by factors such as compatibility, trust, predictability, dependability, sensitivity to individual needs, and a willingness to compromise. He explains why organizations invariably fail when they attempt to buy employee commitment. Conversely, while more money is the most commonly cited reason for employee defection, O'Malley reveals that the real reasons often have to do with neglect, distrust, burn-out, inconsiderateness, and other nonmonetary considerations. The lion's share of Creating Commitment is devoted to detailing a practical approach to building commitment in your organization. O'Malley describes specific attitudes and behaviors that either encourage or discourage commitment and provides guidelines for assessing your company's standing on commitment. He also outlines specific steps you can take to find and hire employees who are compatible with your corporate culture; to foster a sense of belonging among employees; to build trust and reciprocity; to promote economic interdependence; and much more. A complete guide to understanding and overcoming one of the greatest challenges to business success today, Creating Commitment is must reading for every manager. Advance Praise for Michael O'Malley's Creating Commitment "Michael O'Malley has found the key to employee retention-commitment! He has taken a rigorous, research-based approach to understanding employee commitment and its implications for organization health, while using examples and comparisons from everyday life to make his insights accessible to all. The result is a must-read book for any leader concerned about keeping the best employees."-Dr. Susan Gale, Vice President, Change Management and Human Resources, Howrey Simon Arnold & White "Michael O'Malley has created a work of great insight that all professionals charged with attracting, retaining, and developing the leaders of today and tomorrow will want to read."-Corey Seitz, Senior Vice President, Executive Development, Bank of America Corporation "The two most important human aspects of organizations today are trust and commitment. Creating Commitment covers both and is loaded with stories and examples that are both readable and timely. O'Malley's contribution to today's business leaders is truly a gift."-Dr. W. Warner Burke, Chair, Department of Organization and Leadership, Teachers College, Columbia University "This is an important book for companies seeking a competitive advantage. Read Creating Commitment, and you'll know how to build lasting bonds with the employees you want most to keep."-Matt Broder, Communications Executive, Otis Elevator Company

In this unique and provocative look at work, career counselor Rick Jarow argues for a return to the concept of vocation--finding a "calling" instead of a job. Traditional career guides inventory the individual skills, talents, and abilities that correlate to specific existing jobs. Creating the Work You Love presents a unique alternative approach, using self-reflective exercises based on the seven chakras, to help you determine the elements you need to create a life filled with meaning and purpose. Jarow believes that it is possible to live and act from the most authentic part of oursleves, and to express our strongest values, energies, and talents through our work in the world. Concentrating on the attributes associated with each of the body's energy centers, or chakras, Dr. Jarow helps us form a bridge between our personal priorities and the external activities of the work world. Once this bridge is established, strategies are developed to find a career that nourishes all aspects of our lives.

How to create the high-performance, high-commitment organization Integrating knowledge from strategic management, performance management, and organization design, strategic human resource expert and Harvard Business School Professor Michael Beer outlines what the high-commitment, high-performance organization looks like and provides practitioners with the transformation process to help them get there. Starting with leaders who have the right values, Beer shows how to weave together a complete system that includes top-to-bottom communication, organization design, HR policies, and leadership transformation process, and outlines what practitioners must do in HR, structure, systems, goals, culture, and strategy to create high-performance organizations.

The United States currently has formal security relationships with over forty nations, and implicit commitments to many more. The desirability of these security relationships has been called into question in the post-Vietnam era, as the United States reassesses its international role and seeks a more flexible and pragmatic approach. This kind of examination can be facilitated by a systematic analytical approach to discern the extent of our commitments and to identify those which best serve our salient national interests.

Formation of company citizenship leads to success for the multinational companies by creating psychological alignments of the employee. This, therefore, should be considered as the international strategy of a multinational firm to create unique resources for competitive success. Successful multinational firms develop a common pattern of business performance by creating company citizenships, which include a primary focus on such values as organizational innovation, and a goal orientation. These values ultimately create commitment of the employees. This book proposes that there are some specific espoused values in every important multinational company, which form their organizational cultures and create values, which in turn may create enhanced performance of the organization. We can call this interrelationship between culture and performance as the company citizenship. This company citizenship can be transmitted from one part of the globe to another through the transmission of its corporate management and operations management system as a strategy of a multinational company.