IBAM 8 - San Diego, CA November 9-11, 2000 Commitment as a Communicative Process: Using Communication Boundary Management when Disclosing Private Information at Work Melody L. Wollan Clemson University

Why commitment is important... 4 How employees are perceived impacts mentor resources and promotability 4 Serves to categorize an employee’s intentions with the organization, their career, their jobs, and loyalty to supervisor 4 Impacts the amount of resources (training, assignments) invested in employees

Assessing Commitment 4 Should be assessed on the basis of two distinct constructs: –Level of commitment (normative, affective, continuance –Foci (Supervisor, Job, Organization, Career 4 Is assessed through communicative processes

Communication of Commitment 4 Commitment is a symbolic process involving identification with organizational structures and strategies 4 Employee shares private information as way of managing identities 4 However, once engaged in disclosure, sender loses ability to control message the receiver(s) interpret

Communication Boundary Management Theory 4 Petronio (1991, in press) 4 Theoretical model and is just starting to be used in exploratory empirical situations 4 Four parts of boundary structure: control, ownership, levels and permeability 4 System is: formation of rules, rule choices, rule coordination, violation management

CBM

Boundary Structure 4 Control: Risks vs. Gains of Disclosing –Lack of Control once private info is disclosed and how that information is utilized 4 Ownership: Receiver(s) own information and go through CBM process independent of the original sender

Boundary Structure (continued) 4 Levels: Where can information be shared? Peers, Subordinates, Superiors 4 Permeability: Level of concealment vs. revealing –New Employee information might be revealed until they have proven themselves

Boundary Rule Foundation 4 Formation of Rules: –Using criteria such as culture, individual characteristics, gender and motivation 4 Culture: determines openness/privacy –High organizationally committed employees may be become unethical/illegal due to culture of org to keep information within organizational boundaries

Boundary Rule Foundation 4 Individual Characteristics: tolerance of ambiguity or locus of control –low toa employee will have higher levels of commitment in org and job that is highly structured 4 Gender: –women more likely to disclose private information at work

Boundary Rule Foundation 4 Motivation: –Motivation to disclose based on control needs in organizations based on structure and hierarchy or Needs fulfillment in jobs where high levels of job commitment or lack of opportunity to promote

Boundary Rule Foundation 4 Choices of Rules: –Topic –Content –Target –Timing –Depth –Breadth 4 Rules become triggered and routinized

Boundary Rule Coordination 4 Interaction and coordination of the sender and the receiver(s)’s rules 4 Strategies developed to thwart or cope disclosures and private information 4 The better the coordination, the better management of people skills, org. citizenship behaviors

Boundary Rule Turbulence 4 Negotiation phase of coordination and rewriting of rules and choices when violations occur in handling private information and disclosures at work 4 Inadequate coordination and negotiation leads to lower levels of commitment and person-job/person-organization fit issues 4 Dual obligation turbulence (to organization and to employee)

CBM and Commitment 4 The disclosure of private information is part of the process of being perceived as a committed employee 4 Early exploration applying a new communication model in an organizational context 4 Empirical evidence needed and development of major vs. minor parts of the model