Connection of organizational commitment and motivational structure of employees

Successful organizations in the world consider their employees to be the primary developmental resource and for that reason place the great importance on active managing of their potentials (Raletić, Ratković, Dašić, 2015). Motivation and organizational commitment become key issues of modern business. An important element of human resource management of successful organizations is a system of motivation of employees. With appropriate combination of factors of motivation, management successfully develops the motivation of employees, and creates an good atmosphere for success of the organization (Dašić, et al., 2021). In modern business conditions, organizational commitment is becoming increasingly important especially because of the fact that most employees do not spend entire working life in an organization, due to changes caused by transition processes as well as desires of the employer (dašić, Jeličić, 2016). Management of the organization should contribute to the development of organizational commitment of employee and attempt to increase the level of identification with the norms, values and success of the organization.

Work motivation

The complexity of the motivation phenomenon is especially underlined in the contemporary business where the significance and the notion of the key resource have been placed on man. Inadequate motivational activities, improper structure of employees, low expectations and weak motivation of the capable ones amount to the serious difficulties in management and thus to the prevention of the further development of an organization (Turčinović, 2021; Gavri-lović, 2024). The essence of motivation is for organization to find the answer to the question of how to satisfy the needs of individual holders of business process activities. Adequate motivation which emphasises common interests and goals of all participants in the business process can have a stimulating effect on employees and make them work better (Zubić, 2022). This kind of complex, consistent, dynamic and integrative motivation fosters the creation of a profitable organization. Motivation represents introducing a stimulus – an award in a working process to persuade employees to behave in a specific manner that benefits the organization, while at the same time satisfying their personal desires and needs (Vujić, 2003).

Factors of motivation, stimuli or incentives, are situations or means by which certain activities are directly fostered or interrupted, accelerated or decelerated, strenghtened or weakened (Petković, 1994). In theoretical considerations and research motivational factors are usually divided into repressive and developmental (Radaković, et al., 2023). Repressive motivational factors include: individual earnings, righteousness or the distribution of the earnings, housing solutions, the possibility of losing employment. On the other hand, developmental motivational factors include: the satisfaction of performing a certain job, professional adjustment, advancement of staff, awards and acknowledgements and interpersonal relations (Mi-hajlović, Ristić 2007).

The most frequent subject in the work motivation research is the material motivational factors most clearly identified by the individual earnings. It is a widespread belief that the need for higher salary is the greatest work stimulus (Tošić, 2023), however, in the numerous research performed it has not been confirmed. Instead of the dominance of material factors, a dynamic hierarchy of motives for work engagement has been discovered. Material wellbeing gives a person certain social status and markers, therefore one cannot neglect the symbolic status or other values of presonal earnigns (Kovačević, Dašić, 2022).

While considering the amount of personal earnings as a stimulating work factor one can not ignore its important element - the righteousness of distribution. The way salaries are distributed among the organization often has greater importance than the salary itself. Employees are highly sensitive to the differences in salaries, especially when those differences arise in situation where two or more employees perform similar tasks. Unjust differences have a highly destimulating effect on employees (Ratković, 2023).

Global economic and social crisis in recent years, tranzition, decrease of real wages and of standards of living have influenced the revitalization of motivational values of personal earnings. In atmosphere produced by these factors higher motivational stimuli of self-development are lost, giving way to satisfaction of lower existential needs. Development of personal abilities and creativity lose their significance when there is a need to satisfy material needs of a family and individual. Therefore, material elements have had the highest motivational force. Personal earnings and their distribution must be under-

Zubić, I. Connection oforganizational commitment and motivational structure of employees stood as key motivational factors responsible for work efficiency.

The possibility of losing employment represents powerful, coercive factor of work motivation. However, in the process of tranzition and the conditions created by it, secure emlopy-ment has become very important motivational factor, especially in private organizations and in small and medium private enterprises.

Developmental motivational factors have a more subtle influence on a conduct of employees, therefore monitoring and analyzing their effect is more complex than that of repressive factors. Their connection to the goals of motivational behaviour is not very clearly expressed, and the goals alone are harder to set. It is often the case that employees are even not aware of the stimuli that guide them towards specific activities and goals.

There is also a belief that approval, awards and acknowledgements have a much greater motivational effect and that they are appriciated more than prize money. Having that in mind, management of an organization has to develop a practice of acknowledging the achievments of its employees. The acknowledgement given to employees can have different forms, for instance, verbal praise, acknowledgement in written form, effective messages left on a worktable, day off, or simply a pat on a shoulder to a person that deserves acknowledgement (Peters, 1996).

Advancement of the staff represents different kinds of vertical movement of employees. It can refer to professional development, which includes the opportunity to acquire higher knowledge, ranks and qualifications, or it can mean a promotion to a higher position, which includes the higher managerial role. The advancement can be directed towards better payed positions in a company, positions with better working conditions, positions with higher responsibility or reputation etc.

Inetrpersonal relations have is also concerned as important factors of work motivation. In a group where every employee accepts the common goals of a group as his own, where there is mutual cooperation of group members, there is also coordinated effort and provided help to group memebers with the aim of achieving certain goals. When such atmosphere is created, there exist positive incentives among employees which favorably affect the motivation of a whole group. On the contrary, conflicts in a group disturb its cohesion and have negative effect on productivity and other work characteristics. In a certain organization in a specific period of time and according to obtained motive hierarchy it is possible to determine motivational structure of employees in that organization. It needs to be said that it is very important for defining motivation within an organization how employees experience what they are given, what pleases them and to which extent, and what is more and what less important to them. Those kinds of references, levels of satisfaction, relative strength and interrelationships of certain motivational needs can be labelled with the heading of motivational structure of certain individuals or groups of members of a given organization in a specific period of time (Čukić, 2004). It is necessary for managers to have an insight into the motivational structure of their coworkers, so that they can be able to propose an efficient motivational system, that is, to choose the right motivational activities. An important task for management of any organization is to recognize the motivational structure of employees and to implement strategies for motivation of employees.

Organizational commitment

Organizational commitment is a psychological phenomenon which strives to explain the nature of the relationship which an individual forms with an organization in which he/she is employed. There are numerous definitions of organizational commitment and what all of them have in common is the notion of connection of an employee to his/her organization. This connection is most of the time seen as closeness and loyalty towards an organization, therefore, as a positive emotional reaction of an employee. The connection affects the identity of an individual, that is, fosters the identification with norms, values and success of an organization.

Over the last ten years, multidimensional model of organizational commitment, which was first proposed by Allen and Meyer (1990), represents the foundation for the research of this phenomenon. This new concept of organizational commitment differentiates between three mutually independent components of organizational commitment: affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment. Affec-tive commitment exists when an employee wants to remain a part of an organization because of emotioanl attachment to an organization and identification with its goals and values. Normative commitment stems from the feeling of duty of an employee to remain a part of an organization because of recieved incentives or services (for instance, paid cost of education), that is, it exists when a person feels that he/she is obliged to stay in an organization without questioning his/her decision. Continuance commitment refers to employee’s awareness of the potential price of leaving an organization, that is, his/her awareness that there is accumulated in-vesment that may be lost if one leaves the organization (friends at the workplace, benefits specific to a cerain organization). Availability of alternative employment opportunities influences the level of development of this component of commitment (Lunić, Pe-nezić, 2024; Penezić, Bajić, 2024).

Employees with highly developed affective commitment will stay in an organization because they want to, those with expressed normative commitment will stay out of a sense of duty and those with developed continuance commitment because they have to. Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993) point out that above mentioned components of commitment are psychological states that „charac-terize the relationship between the employee and an organization or have implications on employee’s decision whether or not he/she will continue to work in an organization“. These authors also underline that affective, normative or continuance commitment are only components of commitment, not its types. Therefore, a person can at the same time feel strong emotional commitment towards an organization and the duty to remain its member. Organizational commitment can be determinated with the certain level of desire, need and duty that a person feels towards the organization he/she works for. This is the reason why the organizational commitment of an individual is better understood if all three components of commitment are taken into consideration, that is, if organizational commitment is treated as multidimensional phenomenon. Meyer and Allen describe a „commited“ employee as a person who stays in an organization, ensures that his/her work is done properly, expands corporate assets and believes in organization’s goals.

Mathieu and Zajac (1990) divided antecedent factors of organizational commitment into five groups: individual characteristics, work characteristics, characteristics of management and interpersonal relationships, characteristics of an organization and characteristics of roles. Generally speaking, individual characteristics represent a weak predictor of organizational commitment. Positive, but weak, correlation with the age and years of service was found and negative, but also weak, correlation with education. Significant positive correlation with commitment was found in the variable of personal assesment of competency, while the antecedent factors such as gender, abilities and salary did not emerge as significant predictors. Characteristics of an organization also did not emerge as a good predictor, while on the other hand, characteristics of a manager such as initiative, concern for employees, communication skills, possibility of participation in the process of making important decisions for organization and providing feedback emerged as an important predictor. Results have also shown that tasks which employees consider more complex or enriched produce higher level of commitment. Dependancy on other employees in job perofrmance proved to be in moderate relation to organizational commitment, while the relation to the levels of group cohesiveness was very low. Negative correlates of organizational commitment also include conflict and va-guely defined roles.

Dornstein and Matalon (1998) describe eight variables that are important for the concept of commitment: the possibility to work on an interesting task, the attitude of an employee towards an organization, age of employee, education, the possibility of employment in another organization, dependancy of an organization, the attitude of family and friends towards the organization in which a person works. The stated variables can account for 65% of variance in organizational commitment.

Method

The objective ofthis research

The objective of this research was to estimate the correlation between motivational structure (personal importance and satisfactory presence of factor of motivation), and organizational commitment among employees.

Questionnaires

The motivational structure of employees was measured by the "Questionnaire of motivation and job satisfaction" (Čukić 2006, Čukić, 2013), specifically part of the questionnaire which was taken from the research of Robert Kan (by Likert, 1961). It consists of 20 items (10 items related to the personal importance of factor of motivation, as well as 10 items that relate to a satisfactory presence of factor of motivation). Resonses were collected using a Likert scale which ranged from 1 to 7. Cronbachs' alpha of the part of the questionnaire relating to the personal importance of factor of motivation is .752, while the Cron-bachs' alpha of the part of the questionnaire relating to satisfactory presence of factor of motivation is .847.

Organizational commitment among employees is measured by the "Questionnaire of motivation and job satis- faction" (Čukić, 2006), specifically part of the questionnaire which was questionnaire OCQ (The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire). OCQ was constructed by Porter, Mowday, Steers in 1979. This questionnaire consists of 15 items and resonses were collected using a Likert scale which ranged from 1 to 5. Cronbachs' alpha of OCQ is .763.

The sample

The research was conducted with a sample of 120 respondents, both sexes, of different age and of different level of education and years of service. Respondents are administrative workers, production workers and managerial workers of one Serbian corporation. The research was conducted in an organization chosen to be the most conveniance, and the sample of respondents was random, stratified and representative for that organization. The sample is comprised of 35% workers with secondary school education, 8,3% with high school education, 34,2% with vocational education, 0,8% of workres with prequalification, 20,9% of qualified workers and 0,8% of highly qualified workers. The sample is comprised of 56,7% of male and 43,3% female workers. The number of managerial staff in a sample is 21, and the other positions comprise the group of remaining 99 respondents.

Statistical methods

The statistical methods used in this research are the techniques of descriptive statistics, and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Analytical results were processed using the software package "SPSS 22. 0 for Windows."

Results

Table 1. Correlation between personal importance of certain factors of work motivation and organizational commitment among employees

personal importance of certain factors of work motivation	organizational commitment		* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001 .
equity of distribution of the salary	r	-,207 *
the salary	r	-,237**
pensions and security for old age	r	-,120
not so intensive labor	r	-,267*
good communication with colleagues	r	-,190*
good communication with executives	r	,348***
possibility of quality work	r	-,009
possibility of interesting work	r	,039
opportunities for advancement	r	,033
good physical working conditions	r	-,216*

Table 1 contains information about the correlation between personal importance of certain factors of work motivation and the level of organizational commitment among employees. The results show that there is a statistically significant correlation between personal importance of the following factors of work motivation: the salary, equity of distribution of the salary, not so intensive labor, good communication with colleagues and executives and good physical working conditions with the level of organizational commitment among employees.

The table 2. shows correlation between a satisfactory presence of certain factors of motivation and the organizational commitment among employees. The results show that there is a statistically significant correlation between satisfactory presence of certain factors of work motivation: the salary, equity of distribution of the salary, not so intensive labor, good communication with executives, possibility of quality and interesting work, opportunities for advancement, good physical working conditions with the level of organizational commitment among employees.

Table 2. Correlation between a satisfactory presence of certain factors of motivation and the organizational commitment among employees

satisfactory presence of certain factors of motivation		organizational commitment
equity of distribution of the salary	r	,345***
the salary	r	,521***
pensions and security for old age	r	,150
not so intensive labor	r	-,259**
good communication with colleagues	r	,169
good communication with executives	r	,524***
possibility of quality work	r	,540***
possibility of interesting work	r	,611***
opportunities for advancement	r	,562***
good physical working conditions	r	,687***

* p < 0.05;

** p < 0.01;

*** p < 0.001 .

Discussions and conclusions

The aim of this research is to examine the correlation between motivational structure and organizational commitment among employees. The employees who have more obviously expressed satisfactory presence of the above mentioned factors of work motivation are more commited to the organization. They feel a close relationship to their working environment, to the goals, values and successes of their organization, but also express loyality. The employees who are satisfied both with the economical means of motivation and those of other types - opportunities for specialization by attending seminars and trainings, possibility for advancement, praises, acknowledge-ments-have a positive attitude towards their job and organization. The sources of their satisfaction are both material incentives, such as salary, awards and benefits, and working conditions, such as interesting tasks, a chance to express creativity and possibility for further development. These kinds of employees have a positive emotional connection to their job and organization, they are ready to invest additional amount of effort which can lead to development of the whole organization and have a strong desire to stay in the organization.

Some of the employees do not expressed satisfactory presence the above mentioned factors of work motivation, therefore their organizational commitment is not on the high level. They are not satisfied with their salary, working conditions, high production norm, working in shifts. Their tasks are monotonous and uniform, do not offer the possibility of expressing one’s creativity and developing one’s potentials. They have a negative attitude towards work, since it does not allow them to express their skills and knowledge; they invest minimal effort in performing certain job, have a higher rate of absenteeism and are convicted that they can not advance if they stay in organization for longer period of time. Their negative attitude towards work is in a close conncetion to the negative attitude towrds the organization and its values, goals and policies. With this group of workers, there is a greater possibility of leaving both job and organization.

Employees who are motivated with satisfactory presence of the salary and with the equity of distribution of the salary mostly have a higher degree of organizational commitment. They feel a close connection to their working organization, with its goals and success in business, since their earnings and employment directly depend on it. Employees who participated in this research are contemporaries of tranzition process and economic crisis which our country has been going through these past years; in these conditions many enterprises cease to operate, many go through the process of privatization and thus many workers are made redundant or are fired and lose not only their job, but also their salary. The employees who are less motivated by the satisfactory presence of fairness of earning distribution and their salary have a lower degree of organizational commitment. It is assumed that, even though the employees are aware of the current economic crisis the country has been going through, they still feel they are not adequately paid for their work and responsibility, thus the degree of their organizational commitment is lower.

Higher degree of organizational commitment exist when employees have a satisfactory presence with factor-good communication with executives and greater understanding with their superiors. Satisfying level of this motivational trait includes: good communication, providing feedback about their achievements, acknowledgements and praises for good performance, interest and the initiative to solve employe’s personal problems. Developing positive relationship between an employee and his/her superior fosters development of emotional conectedness and lo-yality between the two, and at the same time, towards the organization. Some employees do not have developed understanding with their superiors, which leads to lower degrees of organizational commitment. Employees on whose motivation influenced satisfactory presence of high quality of working conditions, interesting tasks and the possibility of advancement are more commited to the organization. The corporation provides to some employees opportunities for permanent specialization through attendting different kinds of seminars, courses and trainings and in this way invests in the development of their careers. This further provides them with an opportunity fos self-actualization, strenghtens their self-respect and their feeling of belonging to the organization. By providing these possibilities to employees, identification of their personal values and goals with those of the organization is increased, that is, it fosters the identification which is an important component of organizational commitment. Providing these possibilities also strenhtens the desire of an amployee to stay in the organization, that is, his/her loyality.

On the other hand, some employees are less motivated by satisfactory presence of the quality and interesting work and the possibility of advancement, so their organizational commitment is on the lower level. We assume that this applies to the production workers whose tasks are uniform, monotonuos, where they can not express hteir creativity, and the possibility of advancement is very low.

Employees who on their job have satisfactory presence of good working conditions in the most cases show greater level of organizational commitment. It is assumed that in this group are administrative workers, who perform their tasks in airconditioned offices with modern and comfortable furniture and electronic gadgets. They are aware of the fact that their working conditions are better than those in production department, therefore they express strong desire to stay in the organization. Employees who are less motivated by satisfactory presence of the good working conditions have a lower degree of organizational commitment. We are assuming that these are the primarily production workers, whose job is difficult since production norms are high, they work in shifts, on high temperatures, with a lot of noise, chemical evaporation etc.

It has also been found that changes in satisfactory presence of factor of motivation-not so intensive labor have low and negative relation to variations in organizational commitment. In this case, organizational commitment is somewhat lower in degree with workers who are highly motivated with the possibility to work without investing much effort. These are the employees who perform their job half asleep, do what they have to and are not willing to invest an additional amount of effort. On the other hand, the employees who show lower satisfactory presence of factor of motivation-not so intensive labor have higher level of organizational commitment. Those are the employees who are willing to work hard to benefit the organization.

It is necessary that the management of the corporation stimulate labor efficiency consistently throughout applying system of rewarding and punishing employees based on the results they achieved and level of work discipline they reach. The largest reserves of motivating employees lies in increasing the height of wages and their equitable distribution of wages. However, due to many years of poor economic conditions and economic crisis, management of the organization is not able to increase motivation in this way. The greatest opportunities for increasing motivation are in the area of the ego motivation. The organization can increase the motivation of their employees without additional financial investment funds, such as for example: personal affirmation, respect of personality of emploee, to schedule employees in accordance with the degree of their skills and educational level, to praise them, giving them recognitions etc. Based on the results of our research, we suggest that, in the current economic climate management of the organization, should use in greater extent forms of motivation that meet the needs of growth and also needs for social interaction with coworkers. This would give the opportunity of professional development and career advancement of employees, encouraged them and valued their creative contribution to the execution of tasks, it also could improve interpersonal relationships with colegues, which would ensure an atmosphere of mutual respect and support.