People and Organizations: Principles and Practice in Global Contexts – MN7181 – Employee Engagement – Blog # 7

   People and Organizations: Principles and Practice in                                   Global Contexts                                                                                                                             

Employee Engagement – Blog # 7

What is Employee Engagement?

There are many definitions of Employee engagement. The basic of it is how an employee is being utilized in many ways which will benefit the organization.

‘Engagement has become for practitioners an umbrella concept for capturing the various means by which employers can elicit additional or discretionary effort from employees – a willingness on the part of staff to work beyond contract. It has become a new management mantra.’ As David Guest (2013) remarked: ‘One of the attractions of engagement is that it is clearly a good thing. Managers are attracted to the concept because they like the idea of having engaged employees and dislike the prospect of having disengaged employees’.

Kahn (1990) defined employee engagement as ‘the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances’. There have been dozens of definitions since the explosion of interest in the concept during the 2000s. Harter et al (2002) stated that engagement was ‘the individual’s involvement and satisfaction with as well as enthusiasm for work. A later definition was produced by Macey et al (2009) who defined engagement as ‘an individual’s purpose and focused energy, evident to others in the display of personal initiative, adaptability, effort and persistence directed towards organizational goals’.

It happens when ‘People are committed to their work and to the organization’               ( Armstrong  , 2017 ).

Why is Employee Engagement Important?

Employee engagement is important for organizations to retain the employees , get the maximum amount of work done for the payments made to the employees and also to create a healthy work environment where employees feel that they belong to the best employment / organization.

Components of Employee Engagement.

• Commitment
• Organizational Citizenship
• Motivation

( Armstrong et al , 2000 )

Outcomes of Employee Engagement 

   

Stairs and Galpin (2010) claimed that high levels of engagement have been shown to relate to:

·        lower absenteeism and higher employee retention

·        Increased employee effort and productivity

·        Improved quality and reduced error rates

·        Increased sales

·        Higher profitability, earnings per share and shareholder returns

·        Enhanced customer satisfaction and loyalty

·        Faster business growth

·        Higher likelihood of  business success.

 Alfes et al (2010) asserted that engaged employees perform better, are more innovative than others, are more likely to want to stay with their employers, enjoy greater levels of personal well-being and perceive their workload to be more sustainable than others. However, Sparrow (2013) warned against over-confident claims that high engagement results in high performance. He suggested that it is possible that being in a well-performing unit makes employees engaged, not the other way round a possible. In other words ‘reverse causation’ (A situation where A might have caused B but it is just as likely that B caused, A).  

Measuring Engagement

Engagement surveys provide the basis for the  development and implementation of engagement strategies. A review by Vance (2006) of a number of such surveys identified the following common themes:

·        Pride in employer

·        Satisfaction with employer

·        Job satisfaction

·        Opportunity to perform well at challenging work

·        Recognition and positive feedback for one’s contributions

·        Personal support from one’s supervisor

·        Effort above and beyond the minimum

·        Understanding the link between one’s job  and the organization’s mission

·        Prospects for future growth with one’s employer

·        Intention to stay with one’s employer.

The important thing to do with an engagement survey, as with any form of attitude survey, is to ensure that proper use is made of it through the ‘triple-A’ approach: Analysis, Assessment and Action. It is also important to inform employees of the results of the survey in full and involve them in assessing the results and agreeing actions.

References

Alfes et al, 2010. Components of employee engagement.

Armstrong et al , 2000. Components of employee engagement.

Armstrong et al.;, 2013. Human Resources Management in practice. 13th ed.

Guest, 2013. employee engagement.

Hareter et al, 2002. employee engagement.

Kahn, 1990. Employee engagement.

Macey et al, 2009. Outcomes of employee engagement.

Sparrows, 2013. Employee engagement. 

Stairs and Galpin, 2010. How to measure employee engagement.

Vance, 2006. HRM in practice.