The art of managing commitments to groups

Groups are a part of daily life. People who share the same goals and interests interact regularly through staff meetings, family dinners or sports activities. In addition, people engage in "life-enriching" events through religious, community and social group activities. A University of Missouri-Columbia professor says that people will prioritize their life-enriching activities over regular activities if the former is temporary and the participants have a strong interest in the activity.

Michael Kramer, an MU associate professor of Communication, recently studied members of a community theater group. He examined how these people managed their time in order to produce a performance while overcoming potential conflicts with roles in other work, social and family groups.

"The most significant findings suggested that members of the community theater group made a strong temporary commitment that prioritized membership in the theater group over other group memberships until the production ended," Kramer said. "Then, commitments to other groups resumed normal levels. Membership in life-enriching groups is nonessential, but most of us know individuals who seem to work and live for their participation in sports, religion or artistic groups."

Kramer, who auditioned and earned a role in the play, observed the cast, director, executive director and stage manager at all group functions including the audition, rehearsals over six weeks, a dress rehearsal and three performances. He interviewed 24 of the 25 adults involved in the production. The most surprising finding was that while the group members said that work and family were more important than the performance, they mentioned letting things slide at home, forgoing social contacts and even missing or adjusting work to be involved in the production.

"Life or death emergencies seemed to be the only thing that would prevent many of them from attending the last weeks of rehearsals and performances," Kramer said.

Kramer believes there is no doubt that managers would pay dearly to gain this level of employee commitment. However, the commitment seems to be a function of two characteristics of the situation that probably cannot be duplicated in employment settings. First, these individuals are making a voluntary commitment when they join a community theater group. Commitments come from intrinsic motivations such as a chance to perform or be creative. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the commitment was short-term. Group members knew their commitment would end after six weeks, and then they could return to their normal routines.

Kramer’s study has been published in the Summer 2002 issue of Communications Studies.

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Michael Kramer
Debbie Dougherty
Department of Communication

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