In 2000, when we started building our pyramid of organizational behaviors at The Loyalty Institute, we found that Affiliation was a key driver of employee commitment. In particular, the #1 driver in the U.S. as well as in other countries was the organization’s efforts to build a sense of spirit and pride. I guess that this really shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. When employees feel that the organization wants them they are more inclined to feel tied to the organization.

One of the questions that came up was which was more important to commitment – the supervisor and work group, the organization as a whole, or one’s personal values. The basic conclusion was that there was no one answer for all situations. We could each give real-world examples supporting each of the premises. But it did emphasize that we needed to study the issue more deeply.

In looking at Affiliation it was clear that there were four sources of affiliation: Team, Organization, Personal, and Supervisor. We were planning to use the acronym TOPS (though STOP, POTS, POST, and OPTS could also have been used.) Well, regardless of the name, we decided not to use this “model within a model” because we thought that it didn’t add sufficient value to warrant the potential confusion. I think that that was the correct decision at the time, but I also think that there is some merit in recognizing these four sources of affiliation.

It reminds us that we are members of several teams – our work group, our department, our branch/location, our organization. It also reminds us that we are at the center of these groups. No, I am not suggesting that we think that the universe revolves around us, but that it is our responsibility to ensure that we are contributing to each of these teams. If everyone in every team felt this way, organizational success will come. There is no one source for affiliation or commitment. They must all work in concert.

So, when HR begins thinking about camaraderie and team building they must remember that it is more than just building strong intact work groups. That may be a good place to start but unless those work group teams are then linked together as super teams; HR may actually create a situation where commitment to the organization itself is diminished. HR must also tap into employee’s personal motivations. Hey, nobody said this was going to be easy.