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The new economic reforms package marks a strategic step forward towards the integration of India’s economy in the global mainstream. This has generated the need for new skills and a high level of employee commitment to produce goods and services of the highest quality. It is not redundant to state that all industrial managers are seriously concerned about a vital question: what can be done to elicit the best efforts of the organization members towards the realization of the organizational goals? The raising up of this question opens our eyes to two strong implications. Firstly, neither gaining access to the state-of-the-art technologies and building up contemporary expertise, nor indulging in the head-hunting of outstanding managerial leaders can effectively solve the problems associated with productivity and quality of products. And secondly, the success of any organization ultimately hinges on the hard work and vigorous commitment of its employees.

Naturally, the term “employee commitment” enjoys an increasing vogue in organizational settings. People concerned about the attainment of organizational goals invariable attempt to identify the factors that determine employee commitment. Mostly, a few facts in work situations such as structural characteristics, job characteristics, work experiences and personal characteristics have been studied in relation to employee commitment, such excluvistic studies have not presented a holistic picture of the problem. Then, emerged the concept of organizational culture (OC) in management theory and practice. Organizational culture is now widely acknowledged as a meaning base that guides commitment of employees at all levels in organizations. This means that OC manifests itself through its cultural dimensions, which gradually convey a sense of purpose to employees. The employees absorb the vital aspects of organizational life and start developing beliefs and assumptions about their organization’s culture. Their level of commitment is determined by their perception of organizational culture. OC thus becomes an important independent variable that exerts influence on employee commitment. Organizational culture refers to a set of beliefs and assumptions of employees about their organization’s practices. These practices are observed and judged by the employees in terms of the following eight dimensions: organizational philosophy, group norms, teamwork, management support, organization of work, reward system, decision making and conflict management. By appraising the organization on these eight dimensions, a composite picture of the organization’s culture is formed.

Employee commitment refers to the degree to which employees identify themselves with their organization and want to continue actively participating in it. It has been operationally defined as the perception of employees regarding their affective attachment, continuance tendency and obligation to their organizations. Thus, the EC model consists of three

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From the Z-test, it is evident that there is variation in the perception of OC between (a) Workers and Managers (b) Workers and Supervisors (c) Supervisors and Managers.

The workers and the supervisors are found to agree to the management practices based on organizational philosophy. They are supportive of the practice of giving promotions to employees on the basis of seniority. They also appreciate the way, the superiors recognize their contribution to the growth of the organization. On the contrary, the managers are not satisfied with the promotions policy, as they allege that meritorious work performance is mostly ignored within the organization in favour of seniority in job tenure. In addition, the managers feel aggrieved that they have no forum to voice their work life grievances, since they are not permitted to form employees’ union.

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