Abstract
In this chapter, we explore the building blocks of commitment. We see commitment shaped by the way in which individual contributors conceive of their role functioning in real time both emotionally and conceptually, rather than in terms of timeless abstractions as pervasively found in conventional role definitions. We make use of findings from adult-developmental research for recasting roles as co-constructed by role owners’ interpretive process and thus as “made” (mentally constructed) rather than simply “taken.”
In the first section, we show why a conventional role-making model cuts down on the complexity and ensuing ambiguity of role definitions. In the second section, we explore four dialogue practices for exploring work commitments: (1) the dialogue on the framework within which to deliver work, (2) the dialogue on priorities for the sake of transcending the short-term focus on output quality, (3) the group-focused organization of performance feedback aiming for achieving broader role fulfillment, and (4) the role integration dialogue held in terms of the scaled agile framework (SAFe).
Managers assume that employees will execute their role as agreed upon, without noticing that this agreement is flawed to the extent that the employee’s developmental size of person may be incommensurate with the complexity of his or her role.
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De Visch, J., Laske, O. (2020). The Commitment Dialogue: How We Agree on What Needs to Be Done. In: Practices of Dynamic Collaboration. Management for Professionals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42549-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42549-4_5
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