Category: Employee Engagement

The consequences of the level of capability and level of effectiveness of employee enthusiasm of worker engagement. With respect to the level of capability, it shows that all signs are discreetly acceptable on current situation, worker acknowledgment open pass out on information, reasonable compensation and striking reward. The uppermost mean is on the sign on eye-catching reimbursement. It indicates that the association is rationally providing an eye-catching reimbursement and advantage to the staffs. Henceforth, the worker is already emphasized to work when he or she is receiving a decent and equitable pay. While, the lowermost mean is on rational compensation. It specified that the worker incentive system is not yet in habitation, reasonable and adequate. It has still to be enhanced. The study on the worker engagement is discreetly active on all the signs excluding on current atmosphere and reasonable compensation. The uppermost sign on efficiency is on striking reimbursement. It means that the when the organization delivers the staffs an eye-catching reimbursement, they are encouraged to become productive and performance efficient.

A hard wage earner, a crew player, an involved employee

A hard operative is not one who reasons that it is just a occupation and does plenty to keep it even though complaining about what is partial or not accurate at work. They are the individual who are entirely occupied and passionate about their effort and earnings confident action to further the company’s status and benefits.

A crew performer works absolutely organized with the rest of their contemporaries to get the work done with the finest method possible. The more appointment a member has with his/her business, the more determination they put forward. An involved employee lead to improved business results and at the same time can improve their individual wisdom of well-being.

“When an employee obliges, the organization participates with them and both the employee and business outshine.”

In Summary,

Irrespective of your chosen description of employee engagement, it all drives back to thoughtful your employees and providing for them. Knowing whether employees are engaged or detached is only the primary stage. Administration can consider how to engage employees in direction to be able to encourage a confident business values.

Respectable companies also need to be clever to recognize what motivates employees and act on the outcomes to have the excessive influence on increasing engagement.

Executives have a direct outcome on employees’ inspiration and engagement. While an engaged employee is passionate around their job and is eager to subsidize, an employee who isn’t engaged is unenthusiastic and sterile.

As per to Gallup, in 2016, 33% of U.S. employees were engaged. Utmost were not – and hadn’t stood for a while.

Companies observing to growth presentation and improvement their lowest line should concentrate on engaging, inspiring and subsidiary their staffs. As Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer declares, “It’s about the people, getting the best people, retaining them, nurturing a creative environment and helping to find a way to innovate.”

Objective as you cherish your spectators to translate them into trustworthy clients, so too must you cultivate your employees. Later all, they might become your chief brand supporters. An engaged labour force is life-threatening to the achievement of your business. Engaged employees are thrilled to come to slog and constantly put their finest foot advancing, which in turn deciphers to high construction and enlarged success for your company.

But if you’d moderately branch to the position quo and squeeze employee engagement from the flinch, then this controller is for you. Now are some do’s and don’ts that immoral executives regularly track to a T – and some guidelines on how you can alter course to begin improved engaging your employees currently.

Don’t Heed to Employees

Decent executives are lively spectators who are observant, ask questions, stay on topic, and don’t intrude. Immoral executives don’t do at all those possessions, and are more appropriate to want to receive themselves express than attend to what their employees are saying. Or, they may basically tune out while employees are trying to make their speeches perceived.

On the other hand, attending to employees and compensating devotion to their thoughts varieties them trust your attention around them and what they deliberate. Engaged employees texture like their voices are perceived and that what they say staples.

“Once individuals are financially participated, they want a return,” articulates headship expert Simon Sinek. “When people are passionately invested, they want to subsidize.” Virtuous supervisors permit their employees to subsidize. This might be by questioning their thoughts up forward-facing or setting up an employee recommendation program.

In addition, guaranteeing they recurrently interconnect with employees, good executives also make certain that their statement is advantageous. This means constructing a solid affiliation with employees and generating an atmosphere where they feel contented conversing with you.

Do Avoid Interacting Frequently

The best way to become a bad correspondent is to avoid it. Good announcement is finest completed in individual, so immoral managers incline to plan isolated conferences or refer emails as an alternative. Pay attention to nonverbal philological, too: upright with your arms overlapped or your feet piercing towards the door can both be apparent as undesirable and indication that you aren’t attentive in interactive.

“The best executives make an intensive determination to get to recognize their employees and support them feel relaxed speaking about any subject, whether it is work related or not,” says Jim Harter, Ph.D., principal scientist of workplace management and well-being for Gallup.

Managers who need to see them supervises flourish set up consistent consultations with them to deliberate their goals, development, apprehensions and more. This permits employees to feel better associated to their manager and, in turn, their establishment.

Don’t Recognize Employees

Employees want to feel like identical, they are respected by the company they slog for. That way, they feel interested to do their superlative work. By distinguishing and gratifying employees for their exertions, executives can guarantee they remember their best employees.

Bad administrators flop to identify employees once they’ve completed a good job. This generates an undesirable atmosphere for the employee and reasons them to develop discontented and fruitless.

Good administrators identify their employees in a multiplicity of ways. This might be a humble thank you, a superior memo or calling the employee out publicly. Executives may even indicate to take possessions a phase further and prize the operative with a gift or dine or set up an advanced employee acknowledgement program.

Do Micromanage

If your famine to be a wicked manager, micromanagement is one of the upper skills to study.

Micromanagement origins employees to texture strained and unenthusiastic. Nobody adores someone else influence them in what way to do their work, abundant, a reduced amount of doing it for them. Managers who micromanage are in danger of losing their employees’ trust and risk having them quit.

Good managers know their employees don’t need their hands held every step of the way. Instead, they support them in their duties and ensure they have everything they need, but they also pace back and permit them to complete the job at hand. They effort with the employee, but they don’t go beyond.

Don’t Offer Development Opportunities

If employees don’t get a forthcoming at your business, they won’t be driven to do their finest exertion. When they do their finest work, they need to be documented and satisfied, with the capability to transfer up the company hierarchy.

Look at Chipotle, for illustration. They take one of the contented company principles available there. Why? Because they have a solid concentration on employee engagement – unambiguously, on employee progress. They encourage from in the interior, and have confidence in that their existing employees make the best executives.

To help employees cultivate within the establishment, executives should set up steady presentation assessments. While you undoubtedly by now have roughly type of company-mandated database set up, take it a phase further. Don’t make presentation analyses simply a annual manifestation. Instead, set up systematic gatherings to deliberate your employees’ goal line, development and presentation.

Good executives are counsellors to their employees, serving them accomplish their goals and initiative achievement. They control their employees on their occupation voyage and safeguard they are undertaking the finest work they can. Once employees feel involved, it is a replication on you as an executive, and underwrites to the complete achievement of your business.

Constructing Employee Engagement Application to the Head, Heart and Hands

Your part as an executive in appointment is to arrest the unrestricted determination of employees by undertaking all that you can to formulate workforces to be effective. A useful representation that can control your activities as an executive must do with the anticipated conclusion, specified in terms of head-heart-hands. In all your communications with your straight intelligences, pursue to help them be completely involved:

• HEAD — “I am mentally engaged in the work”
• HEART — I am emotionally engaged in the work”
• HANDS — “I am engaged in doing the work”

Catalyse Daily Development and Eliminate Barriers

HBS Professor Teresa Amiable trusts that our highest promoter on the job is the aptitude to make everyday development on significant effort, which she has measured The Progress Principle.2 In her article, co-written with Steven Kramer, The Power of Small Wins, Professor Amiable deliberates the character that administrator’s performance in providing the possessions and situation for day-to-day advancing development. As a supervisor, you can assistance by eradicating barriers to advancement when conceivable as well as by providing goal line, possessions, and sustenance to squad associates to catalyse their improvement.

Equated to other presentation administration actions, your capability to conventional representative presentation opportunities has the extreme influence on employee engagement. To successfully set accurate presentation opportunities, you can have goal situation deliberations presently after presentation assessments and once your straight intelligences alternate from one development to the following. Here are about queries that can help you contemplate finished the procedure of situation employee presentation opportunities:

• Are the goals appropriate to the business?
• Is the possibility of the goals suitable?
• Are there too insufficient or too many goal lines?
• Are the goals synchronized with others’ goals?
• Are the goals results-based and assessable?

Download this CLC Resource*: Key Manager Questions for Impartial Setting and Goal Announcement

Share this related sequence for employees: Dealing Up

1. Corporate Leadership Council, Best Practices to Engage Employees, 2009.
2. The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, by Teresa Amiable and Steven Kramer, HBR Press, 2011.

Engaging Conversations

Variety Networks to the Organization

By illumination of the construction among employees’ specific occupations and the organization, you can importantly increase employee consummation with their day-to-day work. An investigation of concluded 300 changed ways to encourage employees originate that this is the finest way to intensify the struggle they put into their effort. To attach your employees’ exertion to the association, you have constant discussions with employees all over the year. Three life-threatening fragments of evidence to interconnect to personnel through these discussions consist of:

• “Who We Are” — The administration’s goals and approach, how the association activates, and what senior management faiths to accomplish.
• “Why We Exist” — The administration’s assignment and apparition and why the organization’s approach and goals staple.
• “How You Help Us Succeed” — How the employee’s part helps accomplish the assignment for which the society exists.

Segment this linked sequence for workforces: What Determines You?

Give Response and Ask for Feedback

As a manager, part of your role is to deliver steady feedback to your employees. There are numerous prospects to offer feedback to your shortest reports deprived of taking important quantities of period missing from your other happenings. Reminisce to ask your employees for feedback as well.

One helpful formulary for providing response is the Behaviour desirable Impression model (plus Alternative Positive Behaviour in cases of constructive criticism); affirming the behaviour, its influence, and conceivable alternatives helps to guarantee that the feedback is stranded in observation and comprises definite recommendations for enhancement. The more you prepare using this formula, the more it will sense accepted to you when giving feedback.

Download this CLC Resource*: Identify Opportunities to Provide Informal Feedback Share this related course for employees: Manufacture the Most of Feedback

Be a Training Manager

Maximum workforces need to make an alteration in the workroom and to consume a speech, a say in how the effort is done. As a manager, you act as a coach to your employees to bring out their best while emerging their services. The GROW Model is a modest agenda for organizing training discussions. You can benefit your employees to create a goal, scrutinize the present authenticity, discover choices, and resolve what they will do.

Joseph Weintraub3 defines this type of training as “an ongoing dialogue with the goal of increasing learning and improving one’s ability to perform effectively now and in the future”. This method uses flexible interrogative collective with appearing to chief employees to contemplate about conditions differently and to be open to innovative ways of substitute all with the resolved of fetch out their best.

Profession Connections Recognize Fortes

Acknowledging presentation strengths in official assessments has one of the highest effects on employee concert. Directors can progress operative performance by up to 36% this technique, because they are officially strengthening performance-enhancing behaviour.

It is also serious to comprise the correct type of progress productive feedback in recognized presentation assessments. So, while highlighting employee strong point, accompaniment this with productive feedback that workforces can retort to and act on finished targeted, detailed management.

Download this CLC Resource*: 10 Keys to Transporting Performance Reviews Share this related Lynda.com progression for employees: Noticing Your Strengths

Recompense Performance

Non-cash rewards, (e.g., a civic acknowledgement or a low-cost perquisite) can inspire employees as much as money bonuses in some cases. For non-cash rewards to successfully intensification operative determination, follow these three steps:

• Thank the Employee — Prompt your gratitude; it is key to identify and increase in value your employees.
• Define What the Employee Did — Certify the employee comprehends why they are being documented so that they are more likely to replicate the behaviour in the future.
• Enlighten How the Employee’s Deed Added Value — Designate how the employee’s deed helped you, the crew, or the association.

Provide Expansion Opportunities

Viewing employees that you are completely dedicated to serving them by development of their occupations necessitates a dedicated effort. This is best completed by serving employees create progress strategies that are attainable and shape their skills for upcoming positions. Reachable plans emphasis on on-the-job expansion activities. Below are six diverse types of on-the-job development opportunities you can discuss in expansion discussions:

• Access to Finest Practice — E.g., enquiring a co-worker, employed with a familiar expert
• Scope Enlargement — E.g., swelling amount of responsibilities, filling in for a manager provisionally
• Modification and Misfortune — E.g., working in a situation with speedily changing circumstances, management a calamity at work
• Challenging Relationships — E.g., working with people with inconsistent and challenging views, employed with individuals from other commercial components, purposes, or positions
• Encouragement and Coaching — E.g., influence senior managers to take a problematic action, training co-workers how to do a constituent of their jobs
• Making Tough Decisions — E.g., deciding with probable risk, making a conclusion external area of proficiency

Download this CLC Resource*: Drive Engagement by Assessing Progress Against Development Goals Share this related course for employees: Is Your Career on Track?

Acceptance Change and Innovation

Be Comprehensive and Forthcoming about Variation

It is much relaxed to keep persons affecting through changeover and to accomplish modification if influential can designate evidently the voyage people are on. Employees need to be conscious of the better resolution and depiction and comprised on the greater plan, so strong announcement of the “four Ps” is critical to employee engagement4:

• Purpose — Why are we doing this? What is the delinquent this will address? What are we trying to achieve? If people have a strong sense of determination, they can tolerate more misunderstanding than they could else.
• Picture — What is the consequence going to be like? How is it profitable to work and what is it going to feel like? Giving individuals a intense picture of what you are trying to create is the vision needed to keep them going. Without it, the destination is unclear.
• Plan — Individuals need to know the route to getting to the terminus or they will not have sureness that the organization can get there. A step by step plan helps people keep confident (they know the means to the end).
• Part — You must give people a expressive role to play. Their obligation to making the change work be contingent on how much they feel they are part of the change.

Be Open to Ideas and Encourage Innovation

Employees feel like they have the most impact on the association when you create a work atmosphere that cheers invention and directness to new ideas. In this work situation, new ideas are not only recommended, but the best ones are vigorously accomplished and executed. For employees to advise valuable and possible ideas, you can share your sympathetic of commercial challenges before they begin suggesting ideas. Encourage them to do the following four activities to better solve business challenges:

• Clearly eloquent the problem
• Identify the drawback’s root origins
• Define success
• Understand conservative explanations and their boundaries

1. Gamification:

Gamification has been around for many years. Around early 1900s companies offered free gifts with multiple purchases. But gamification gained the name near the start of 2000, around 2010. It’s been a growing part of modern business. In 2013 gamification was described as the “hottest business buzzword” (McCormick, 2013). “It’s not just a buzzword; the gamification market is forecast to be worth $5.5 billion annually by 2018, according to Markets and Markets”. Gamification is used in diverse contexts such as retail, health and wellbeing, education. SAP used games for educating its employees on sustainability, Unilever uses it for training, Hays for hiring recruiters and Khan for online education. Organisations can see the outcomes like performance, employee engagement and retention, according to (Aberdeen, 2013). According to the analysts, gamification will be used in 25 percent of redesigned business processes by 2015 (Burke B. , 2012) will grow to more than a $2.8 billion business by 2016, and will have 70 percent of Global 2000 businesses managing at least one “gamified” application or system by 2014 (Inc, 2011). The main goal of gamification is to increase the user’s engagement by using game like features like scoreboards, personalized fast feedback (Flatla, 2011)making the employees feel more ownership and purpose when engaging with tasks (Pavlus, 2010). Gamification is using game elements in the activities that are supposed to raise motivation, but for that to happen, we need to pay attention to the integration of tasks and exercises within the game design (Luis von Ahn, 2008). It also is a way to socially interact with other participants and they naturally respond in social ways and follow social rules like take turn (Fogg, 2002). Routine activities tend to bore employees hence activities combined with games can motivate people effectively (Chrons, 2011). Gamification is now used in education too. According to Gartner Group, gamification will be a key trend that very CIO, IT planner and enterprise architect must be aware of as it relates to business (Group, 2011). It has already been added to Gartner Hype Cycle for 2011 (Group, 2011).

2. Employee Engagement and Gamification:

Employee engagement helps an organisation gain competitive advantage over others. People is one thing that a competitor cannot replicate and is considered as a treasured asset if they are manage and engaged correctly. As per (Baumruk, 2004)employee engagement is the most powerful aspect to measure a company’s vigour. In 1990 (Kahn W. A.) introduced the concept of employee engagement, giving his definition quoted in the introduction, namely, “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 are 3 psychological conditions for an employee to be engaged: meaningfulness (work elements), safety (social elements, including management style, process, and organisational norms) and availability (individual distractions).

Employee engagement brings forth numerous advantages for the firm. Employee engagement is a tool which could be deployed in the organization so that the talent is appropriately deployed and harnessed effectively. It helps in building employee commitment and helps employees perform better in their roles. It leads to focused efforts and better outcomes. It translates into greater innovation, commitment to organisation, positive energy and higher productivity. It also leads to lower attrition levels and absenteeism. Engaged employees love their jobs, believe their employer, company goals and the manner in which they conduct their business (Smartmanager.com, 2012). They exhibit high levels of passion and creativity and they believe they create value and management.

Different people have different needs and desires and the satisfaction level of the motivational factors keeps changing. Therefore it is a challenge for all the HR professionals today to understand their employees as groups and accordingly incorporate the motivational factors as a set or group of rewards for different groups of employees (Singh, 2012).

Modern generation of workers are more focused on the diverse use of their knowledge, skills, creativity and are looking for freedom and independence at work which makes gamification as relevant as ever. (Kamasheva, 2015)

(Schmidt, 2007) defines employee engagement as employees’ “involvement with, commitment to and satisfaction with work.”Accenture’s quiz based “Path to Success” Facebook app tested the aptitude of the users while keeping them engaged in an interesting gameplay. Participants had to roll the dice to land on a tile and they were faced with a trivia question and rewarded for each correct answer while they climbed up the corporate ladder. This helped the company engage their employees and subsequently build a pipeline of talent with the help of the data collected through this game. (Manchanda, 2014)

In a report by Gallup, it was found that over 70 percent of employees are disengaged. This explains the importance inventing innovative engagement strategies (Bradt, 2013).

Moreover, studies have shown that the millennials represent the least engaged workforce (almost two-thirds) who need to be taken care of in order to thrive in a highly competitive economy (Pyle, 2015).

To engage the disengaged employees’ heads, hearts and hands, organisations must adopt these ten C’s of employee engagement: Connect, Career, Clarity, Convey, Congratulate, Contribute, Control, Collaborate, Credibility and Confidence (Seijts, 2006).

SAP, to motivate and engage its massive salesforce, implemented a gamified application “Roadwarrior” which enables the sales reps to compete against each other in a multiple choice type game to become leaders of their own expertise. (Pyle, 2015)

Statistics show that 43% highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week as compared to 18% of employees with low engagement (Lyons, 2017). Thus, constant feedback and recognition is also one of the best ways to engage the disengaged employees. This can be successfully achieved through gamification. Telstra Australia has introduced an embedded social recognition system to radically improve its employee engagement levels. Here, social media and smart boards are used to recognise colleagues through a gaming smart board method which saw an increase in the engagement levels over time.

In 2010, a Colorado restaurant implemented a gamification-based employee program with the goal of motivating waiters and waitresses to increase sales of specific menu items. Participating staff were awarded chances to play online “random-point-yielding games when they sold a fresh-squeezed orange juice or a a4-pack of cinnamon rolls”. Points were redeemable by staff for a branded debit card. One case study estimated that the[restaurant] realized an ROI of 66.2 percent due to an increase in sales of the targeted menu items” (SUCCESS: Improving Sales in a Restaurant Environment, 2017)

Maintaining self-efficacy, identity and a sense of worth and belongingness is of vital importance. In this context, self-managed companies use games like DueProps which gives points and recognition for meeting goals. It is available atDueprops.com for a reasonable price of $29 per month for20 users and is suitable for use in various small and medium-sized organizations or selectively even within larger companies (Specialist, 2014).

Gamification may provide ways to engage employees is ways not previously seen. “Games create an emotionally compelling context for the player and build on nostalgia, curiosity, visual appeal and employees’ interest. They connect with the player emotionally and are an invitation into a world that is to be learned” (CIPD, 2012 a).

Utilizing these concepts within the internal organizational environment may enhance engagement by appealing to the employees’ sense of fun (which can take various forms – e.g. see (Lazzaro, 2004)

A simple example of a game-like tool aimed at getting people to further engage in a concept is the use of the profile completeness tool on LinkedIn. Within an organisational business environment it might be about the application of game elements (e.g. points for cross-departmental project teams) to encourage team-working and collaboration assuming those are key business imperatives. Gamification may aid retention of employees through the encouragement of engagement in activity that the employee considers to be meaningful (at least at that particular time). According to (Burke B., 2014b) the key to sustainable gamification is to architect behaviour change “primarily with intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic rewards – that we are able to sustain momentum by ensuring that, as people engage in a game, the challenge matches the skill level and we are able to provide people with meaningful incentives”.

From a psychological standpoint, engagement inan experience comprises the energy, involvement,and efficacy felt by the individual in the experience (Maslach, 1997)

Employee engagement entails ‘harnessing’ employees to their jobs through their involvement, satisfaction, and enthusiasm for work (Kahn W., 1990).

Engagement can have impactful implications for managers: it can be positively associated with organizational commitment and organizational citizenship, but also negatively associated with intentions to quit (Saks, 2006).

Moreover, increased employee engagement has been linked to increased customer satisfaction (Harter, 2002), which is why it is not surprising that it is in the interest of managers to improve internal behavioral attributes. However, achieving high employee engagement is not easy.

(Freshdesk.) claims that by gamifying the everyday work of helpdesk employees, who are often demotivated and over-stressed, its program results in reduced response times to customer inquiries and the ability to expand beyond its traditional channels of support by motivating employees to keep on task and perform well at their jobs (Finley, 2012). The Freshdesk solution involves transforming customer inquiries (e.g., telephone questions, comments posted on Twitter and Facebook) into virtual tickets that are then randomly assigned to players (i.e., customer service employees). In this way, Freshdesk inspires a real-time, competitive environment via which players compete to improve their performance. Freshdesk shows that employing gamification mechanics, dynamics, and emotions can increase fun, enthusiasm, and excitement at work in customer support centers.

As call centers are notorious for being stressful work environments (Neidermeyer & Tuten, 2004); (Proper, 1998); (Tuten, 2004), and often rely on a‘ sacrificial HR strategy’ (Wallace, 2000) whereby employees are deliberately and frequently replaced in order to maintain enthusiastic customer support, the successful application of gamification in this context is particularly striking.

Indeed, gamification in this context can lead to increases in job satisfaction and improved employee engagement and performance, and ultimately in superior organizational success. Even when teams compete, individual players are involved in competition or cooperation at the team level while also vying for the lead within their team (Bengtsson, 2000). This competition dynamic is highly desirable for managers and organizations, as it improves the individual, team, and ultimately organizational success.

In addition, collecting points simply for collection’s sake would be unlikely to motivate strivers or slayers. The experience failed to elicit desirable dynamics, such as competition or competition, or emotions such as pride or challenge. Without the appropriate dynamics and emotional responses–—which emerge due to gamification mechanics–—players will ‘bounce’ and seek the same response elsewhere (Tsotsis, 2011).

Ultimately, managers must remember that the root of engagement is establishing a connection between the experience and the people involved in the experience (Zichermann, 2011).

I. [bookmark: _Toc536047508]Limitations

(Werbach, 2012) opined that, gamification builds on psychology from management, marketing and other disciplines, with some added concepts from game design. However, he stated that, just like any other management tool, it can be oversold or abused. It needs to be done thoughtfully to have a good chance of success. Gamification must, therefore, not be implemented in a “shallow way, with all the focus on external rewards” and discounting the underlying activity as stated by (Werbach, 2012). He advises managers to be aware of the limitations of gamification and to keep it within a structured design process. “Well-designed gamification can make employees feel more empowered in their tasks, because it gives them a wide range of feedback and a stronger sense of accomplishment.” According to (Mollick, 2014), gamification is not just about fun. It’s about how the company engage enough employees to ensure that the employees want to stay at work. The authors discovered that giving people a choice of theme gave them a feeling of empowerment that helps them embrace the game. The idea is to make gamification cooperative and not imposed.

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Though most studies concentrate on acknowledging the relevance and significance of employee engagement from an organizational perspective, in this essay, the author deviates from the norm by asserting that the acknowledgment should be three-fold; employee, managerial and organization points of view.

To justify the claim, the author establishes that by actively engaging employees, employees feel challenged, motivated, powerful and in full control of achieving their career aspirations or goals. On the other hand, managers experience ease when working with focused workforce to achieve the critical dream of managing enterprises to sustainability levels.

Moreover, according to Siddhanta and Roy (2010, 171), employee engagement has the significance of ensuring that organizations attain the need to satisfy the ever-changing client expectations in this competitive business environment.

This is the case because many have found it tough to compete effectively in this fully liberalized market where the law of competition has of late replaced the law of the jungle.

It is through the above frameworks that the author purposes to review literature on the debatable issues of employee engagement with the intention of deriving best practical managerial decisions.

In defining employee engagement, the author borrows the findings of the reputable HR firm BlessingWhite (2011, 5) to define employee engagement as the aligning of workers’ goals, aspirations and values to match those of the organization.

This empirical report goes ahead to relate full engagement to two variables: maximum job satisfaction that corresponded with maximum job contribution.

On a different note, having reviewed the various meanings of the term in most practitioner literatures and concludes that past scholars had advanced overlapping definitions, Saks (2006, 602) borrows from his comprehensive literature review to provide own summary of the definition as a distinct and unique concept made up of behavioural, cognitive and emotional variables all of which gave meaning to the individual role performance.

To add, Vaijayanthi et al (2011, 60), while also referring to the term as work or worker engagement, asserts that the term meant employees who were fully enthusiastic about and involved in their work and thus acting in ways that helped to attain their organizations’ interests.

The three scholars went ahead to discuss in their empirical study that since its emergence in 1920s, this concept has been an important and critical factor in determining the success of any organization. This is so because it tests how passionately employees are committed to live by the organization’s values (Vaijayanthi et al 2011, 60; Siddhanta and Roy 2010, 172).

In the literature review, the author notes that while carrying out an empirical research study to determine the factors that influenced employee engagement (what Saks subtitled as antecedents of employee engagement), Saks (2006, 604-605) establishes that job characteristics, rewards and recognitions, perceived supervisor support, procedural justice and distributive justice are the main factors affecting or predicting worker engagement.

To expound on the meanings of some of these factors, the renowned scholar defines job characteristics as being constituted by the identity of the task, variance in skill, the feedback mode, relevance of the task and the level of autonomy.

To add, while procedural justice refers to the perceived fairness in the means used to reward or distribute organizational resources, distributive justice defines perceived fairness in relation to the outcomes derived from management decisions (Saks 2006, 606).

More so, Ram and Prabhakar (2011, 48-49) concur with Saks’ (2006) findings and go ahead to provide little changes by combining perceived organizational and supervisor support. Another notable change is effected on the rewards scheme. Here, Ram and Prabhakar (2011, 48) come up with two types of rewards: intrisic and extrinsic.

The two scholars expound by stating that intrinsic rewards are those that are psychological in nature such as motivation while extrinsic rewards are those that are tangible in nature such as bonuses, benefits or the pay raise advanced by the employer to the employees.

To conclude on the factors, the author reviews the findings from Markos and Sridevi (2010, 89) and finds that these two scholars advance slightly contrasting findings.

To them, employee status, job satisfaction and operational autonomy are the key factors that employees yearn for in any job set-up (Markos and Sridevi 2010, 48). Also making it to the list of major factors impacting on worker engagement according to Mani (2011, 23) are employee welfare, growth and interpersonal development and empowerment.

Also, while reviewing what defines the different levels of employee engagement, Lockwood (2007, 3) articulates that there are three levels of employee engagement; each with its own description. To start with, engaged workers feel profound connection with their organization and thus work with passion to achieve success. Not engaged workers lack energy and passion into their tasks.

To end, actively disengaged workers are not just unhappy at their workplaces but are busy practising their unhappiness by undermining the efforts of their engaged co-workers (Lockwood 2007, 3).

On the other hand, Mani (2011, 18) carries out a study to determine the level of worker engagement among the employees at the executive level and notes in the concluding statement that the level of employee engagement amongst the executives is generally satisfying.

Tellingly, Siddhanta and Roy (2010, 173) identifies the three basic aspects of employee engagement as the employees plus their own experience or psychological makeup, the employers plus their ability to avail the conditions that promoted worker engagement and the interactions amongst employees at all levels.

Also, while commenting on the employers’ aspect, Herold et al (2008, 348) notes that the manner in which the employers treat or involve workers in effecting organizational changes is a powerful determinant to worker engagement as well as their response to the changes.

Giving their views on the first and the second aspects, Kumar, and Swetha (2011, 137) evidence that engagement and workers’ intentions to stay in the organization are influenced by experienced behaviours and the existing organizational relationships.

Conversely, while reviewing the steps that can be taken by organizations or employers to improve employee engagement, Kumar and Swetha (2011, 238) postulates that organizations should give attention to the perceptions of the employees with regard to the support they derive from the organization.

The two scholars go ahead to give the example of two sets of organizations: one that offers flexible working arrangements and the other that demonstrated support and care; all of which influence the employees to reciprocate with high levels of engagement (Kumar and Swetha 2011, 238).

On the other hand, BlessingWhite research (2011, p.31) argues that organizations should endeavour to build cultures that fuel engagement. Inferring from this report, this means aligning all to achieve maximum satisfaction and contribution (BlessingWhite 2011, 31).

In concluding its findings, the same report acknowledges that organizations should make efforts not to relegate engagement to an exercise that can be surveyed on a periodic basis (say annual). Instead, they should empower and equip junior employees, managers and their executives to drive results and engagement on a recurring or daily basis.

Nevertheless, on an interesting and fascinating note, Markos and Sridevi (2010, pp.93-94) identify ten strategies that need to be implemented by organizations to achieve worker engagement and hence improve performance. These are as explained below:

Management should set the stage by carrying out best recruitment as well as orientation programs. Once these are achieved, the management should supplement these efforts by creating and implementing employee retention strategies.

The second strategy involves demonstrating good leadership from the top through establishing and upholding of clear vision, mission and values. The third strategy involves enhancing a two-way communication. Succeeding this is the offering of satisfying opportunities to enhance employee growth and development.

The fifth strategy involves availing resources such as finance, stationary amongst others. The sixth strategy involves training employees to increase on their skills and knowledge. The seventh strategy is the development of a strong feedback system to hold both the employees and managers accountable to their levels of performance.

The eighth strategy is involved with offering incentives to motivate employees. The second last strategy is concerned with building a unique corporate culture defined on the organizational values and goals. The last and the tenth strategy stresses on focusing on engaging the highly performing employees (Markos and Sridevi 2010, 94).

A number of managerial implications are derived based on the findings presented in the above literature review. To start with, the result of the review point out that effective communication is the backbone behind the success of any engaged workforce.

This is the case because by communicating accurate and complete information, the management is likely to establish and foster trust amongst the team set-ups thus ensuring that improvements in productivity are achieved. This is supported by Markos and Sridevi (2010, 34) when they insist on the need to have a strong feedback system.

Moreover, it has been derived that there is need for managers to set the pace towards achieving employee engagement by upholding organizational code of conduct.

The code of conduct is a collection of written principles, rules, employees’ expectations, values and relationships. It is through acting as best examples that managers will be better placed to inspire their employees for competitive advantage.

To add, the review acknowledges that the top management should make efforts to make decisions that benefit not only those in managerial positions but all organizational stakeholders. This has been demonstrated by the great positive influence that the employee reward scheme has had on worker engagement (Saks 2006, pp.605; Ram and Prabhakar 2011, 48-49).

Likewise, it is imperative that organizations carry out small and steady incremental improvements as opposed to quick-fix or one time programs. This is derived from BlessingWhite (2011, 31) report that calls on the need to empower and equip junior employees, managers and their executives to drive results and engagement on a recurring or daily basis.

It is also implied that managers should embrace a culture of listening and addressing the needs of the surrounding ‘small voices’ to improve on employee engagement and hence the organizational performance.

In explaining what organizations needed to implement to enhance their performance, BlessingWhite (2011, 31) highlights that organizations need to endeavour to build cultures that fuel engagement.

To end on this subsection, it is also implied that in trying to improve on worker engagement, management should make efforts to look at the term in an overlapping context. This means that they should make efforts to understand the many sub-concepts or mini-aspects that are associated with the implementation of this major concept.

Past scholars have demonstrated that most companies are quick in assessing their end year performances and comparing them to the levels of worker engagement as opposed to understanding the key variables in worker engagement that might have influenced their results (Markos and Sridevi 2010, 89).

In conclusion, the author revisits that in its beginning, this study purposed to review literature on worker engagement and derive suitable managerial implications. The author asserts that this purpose has been well achieved. To start with, the author has presented a summarized introductory paragraph that clearly reveals the importance of the topic to the workers, the management and the organizations.

Following this, the author has also discovered that no universal definition has been crafted to define the concept of employee engagement. Succeeding this was a review of several concepts amongst them the factors, the steps and the aspects constituting employee engagement. Having reviewed literature, the author reflected on the findings from the literature review to derive suitable managerial implications.

In presenting a self reflection on the performance, the author considers himself/herself to have performed to a level of excellence. This is so because the findings and aspects discussed in this study are relevant and justified both from an organizational and learning perspective.

On the organizational perspective, the author notes that they can be used by managers to improve on their organizational performance. Lastly, on the learning perspective, the author notes that they can be adopted or referenced in future research.

Bibliography

BlessingWhite. 2011. Employee Engagement Report 2011: Beyond the Numbers: A Practical Approach for Individuals, Managers, and Executives. New Jersey: Princeton.

Herold, David M., Fedor Donald B., Caldwell Steven, and Liu Yi. 2008. “The Effects of Transformational and Change Leadership on Employees’ Commitment to a Change: A Multilevel Study”. Journal of Applied Psychology 93(2): 346-357. Web.

Kumar, Pradeep, and Swetha G. 2011. “A Prognostic Examination of Employee Engagement from its Historical Roots.” International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance 2(3): 232-241. Web.

Lockwood, Nacy R. 2007. Leveraging Employee Engagement for Competitive Advantage: HR’s Strategic Role. Alexandria: HR Society for Human Resource Management.

Mani, Vijaya. 2011. “Analysis of Employee Engagement and its Predictors.” International Journal of Human Resources 1(2): 15-26. Web.

Markos, Solomon, and Sridevi M. Sandhya. 2010. “Employee Engagement: The Key to Improving Performance”. International Journal of Business Management 5(12): 89-96. Web.

Ram, Padmakumar, and Prabhakar Gantasala V. 2011. “The Role of Employee in Work-Related Outcomes.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in Business 1(3): 47-61. Web.

Saks, Alan M. 2006. “Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement.” Journal of Managerial Psychology 21 (7): 600 – 619. Web.

Siddhanta, Abhijit, and Roy Debalina. 2010. “Employee Engagement-Engaging the 21st Century Workforce.” Asian Journal of Management Research: 170-189. Web.

Vaijanthi, P., Shreenivasan, KA, and Prabhakaran Suma. (2011). “Employee Engagement Predictors: A Study at GE Power & Water.” International Journal of Global Business 4(2): 60-72. Web.

Introduction

Flexible working is a policy practiced by many businesses with its employees in terms of working time, location and pattern of work (Budd 2004). Flexible working arrangement (FWA), according to the employment act 2002, indicates that all employees have a statuary right to request for a flexible working arrangement with the employer (Befort and Budd 2009).

This should follow specific procedures, which must be adhered to. It is a crime for an employer to refuse or dismiss any attempt of the employee requesting for flexible working arrangements (Hrcouncil, 2010).

However, the policy should only cater for all employees who meet certain criteria set inorder to apply for a flexible working arrangement. The policy also mandates the employer to dismiss any FWA, which may turn out not to be cost effective to the company (Dontigney 2011).

Discussion: Key considerations in the development of a flexible working policy

Proper guidelines

The first consideration when introducing FWA in a company is to set up proper guidelines, which employees must follow for the success of the program implementation (Ackers and Wilkinson 2005). There is also need to first address on all business needs and to make sure that all the new steps are compatible with the existing company objectives.

Clear guidelines on the application process, reversibility and any change on the employee status should be properly set to avoid future confusion and misunderstanding (Salamon 2000).

Moreover, the company should clearly formalize basic guidelines primarily to head off any complains coming from employees concerning favourism or any form of unfair treatment. This will ensure success of FWA to both the company and the employees.

Training

Another key factor to consider when implementing the FWA is to make sure that all employees are trained and educated about the policies, which they should be comfortable with (Referenceforbusiness.com 2011). This should be occasionally practiced by any company, which actively practice FWA program.

The major objective of this training is to make sure that all employees operate and participate in such an initiative manner that will not hurt the company and their careers. Although many people regard those who enroll to FWA to be committing career suicide, it’s the mandate of the company to make arrangements for such training programs (Referenceforbusiness.com 2011).

Control

Ultimately, most companies will only tolerate this FWA if it benefits the companies financial and production goals. In this aspect, there is need to ensure that the program is maintained at whatever costs.

Considerably, it is indeed the duty of companies’ managers to ensure that despite the offer, all business considerations remained paramount to all other options. Notable to mention is that, employees and work teams can be helpful when it comes to shaping and Setting up flexible proper guidelines at all costs to ensure the success of FWA program is attained (Referenceforbusiness.com 2011).

Evaluations

The other major consideration, which must be implemented for the success of FWA, is to ensure that evaluation is exercised on a regular basis (Businesslink.gov.uk 2010). It is the responsibilities of business managers and owners to conduct continuous evaluation processes.

Such evaluations with time will provide basic information accounting for the progress of the program, just to secure the business and also promote FWA. In an example, some companies may launch very good FWA without frequent evaluations. In such incidents, they end up losing the both the business progress and the effectiveness of the program due to neglect (Referenceforbusiness.com 2011).

Advantages and disadvantages of such policies

Advantages

It has been proved that the implementation of FWA has reduced absenteeism in many companies and workplaces (Businesslink.gov.uk 2010). FWA is also considered to be legitimate business rationale, which not only has it managed to strengthen employee’s commitment, but also gives them full mandate to clear out any situation that can lead to absenteeism.

Moreover, FWA also creates a venue for the business to increase employee’s loyalty. This in fact, FWA also develops a positive impact on the productivity of employees who are capable of attending to family needs and at the same time concentrates on employment duties.

Disadvantages

Though FWA has many apparent advantages, various critics have emerged to point out all the possible negative impacts it has on businesses. First, it is good to note that FWA will never be appropriate for all employees. The in and out movements of employees at different hours again is not cost effective to the company.

Moreover, the customers may suffer when being attended to by two or three people at two or three hour’s interval (Referenceforbusiness.com 2011). Incase of a factory operation, it is the manufacturing sector that suffers most.

This is because; it is obvious that operators always depend on each other support for the efficiency in output manufacturing. Finally, critics also point out that manager suffers most whenever FWA is implemented. This is because they have a difficult time when it comes to equality especially when considering who goes and at what time (Referenceforbusiness.com 2011).

Unionized and a non-unionized workplace

The most fundamental difference between unionized and non-unionized workplaces as afar as the employees relations is concerned is that; when it comes to payment, unionized workers have higher wages than the un-unionized workers. For example, currently in Canada the wages of unionized workers is $20.29 an hour while those who aren’t in any union earn $17.22 per hour.

This basically means that, there is the union wage advantage which is about 40% more than un-unionized workers. Moreover, it good to mention that gender balancing in terms of wages is strictly considered in unionized work places. This is evident in Canada, where women in unionized workplaces earn 89% of the wages earned by men as compared to low 79% earned by women in un-unionized work places.

However, employees working in non-unionized work places also enjoy several benefits those in unionized work places don’t. For example, when it comes to promotion the boss can decide to promote any worker based on the worker’s ability and potential (Dontigney 2011). Contrary, for unionized workplaces, the time the employee stays in employment is the key consideration before anyone is promoted.

Finally, it is good to point out that unionized workplaces suffer most whenever their unions impose fees and dues to all its workers (Acas.org.uk 2011). This is never experienced for non unionized employees, who avoid such costs potentially boosting their total take home wages (Dontigney 2011).

On the basis of job security for un-unionized work place, the future security of the job lies at the mercy of the boss. At anytime, one can get fired. Often, if an employee has any grievance or complain the only option is to talk about it with the manger first and then it is upon the same manager to either accept, ignore it or even punish the worker for raising such an issue.

This is perceived differently in unionized work places. For instance, workers don’t have to face the boss to express their issues it’s the responsibility of the union to hire representatives who will always ensure that they support individual workers when treated unfairly.

Most unions do offer varieties of short courses and training to boost their member’s general knowhow. Again most unions involve in many activities such as community services, all in the name of making working condition better for all employees. In many occasions, most unions have been in the fore front to pressurize employers and the government to adjust and increase salaries for their workers.

The same union also takes responsibilities of advising the government and other employers not to overwork people and also set the minimal amount a person can earn as salary.

This is different in un-unionized institutions, where the boss dictates over the working hours and salaries. This is so because they don’t have recognized voice to fight for them. Therefore, exploitation is exhibited and anyone who tries to speak is immediately fired.

Conclusion

In today’s business world, flexible working and telecommuting for the employees continue to grow, in large measure because it is evident that most businesses that introduce them continue to prosper and simultaneously improving the life of their employees. In my opinion, it really pays for one to join any union. This is basically for the benefit of workers who will be stronger especially when they face management, they will never be alone.

References

Acas. 2011, Non–Union Representation Text. Web.

Ackers, P and Wilkinson, A 2005, “British Industrial Relations Paradigm: A Critical Outline History and Prognosis” Journal of Industrial Relations.

Befort, S F and Budd JW 2009, Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives: Bringing Workplace Law and Public Policy into Focus, Stanford University Press, California.

Businesslink. 2010, Flexible working – the law and best practice. Web.

Budd, J W 2004, Employment with a Human Face: Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice, Cornell University Press, New York.

Dontigney, E 2011, The Advantages of a Non-Unionized Workplace. Web.

Hrcouncil.ca 2010, HR Policies & Employment Legislation. Web.

Referenceforbusiness. 2011, Flexible work arrangements. Web.

Salamon, M 2000, Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

The concept of Engagement

Engagement maybe understood as the extent to which one is positively attached to one’s undertaking. It has a positive effect on one’s productivity or the rate at which one is willing to take on new tasks. It is often denoted by the level of intellectual and emotional involvement of that person in the undertaking (Schmidt et al., 2002).

For instance, a student who is highly engaged in his education will not feel bored by class attendance and other routine activities that he or she must perform as part of his or her course. People who are engaged tend to be absorbed in their ventures and are also very alert (Snyder & Lopez, 2002). They are also less likely to abandon their activities than those who are not engaged.

Engagement in Business

In business, engagement is the process by which stakeholders, such as employees and customers, are committed to, satisfied with, and involved with an organisation. This may be witnessed through a high level of customer engagement or employee engagement. Engagement in business ensures that companies can retain customers or employees, and this leads to desirable business results.

Some of them include better customer service, better productivity, better departmental performance, great financial performance, and even better organisational-level performance (Weiss & Brief, 2002).

Engagement in business is not a holistic construct; it may be understood as a collection of a series of qualities that are cognitive, behavioural or emotional. Most indications of employee engagement are behavioural in nature. Therefore, measures of the same concept should be behavioural.

The Research Objectives

The overall research objective is to determine the drivers of employee engagement in an organisation. This objective is split into smaller objectives that are as follows:

1. To investigate whether quality of work is a driver for employee engagement
2. To investigate whether tangible rewards affect employee engagement
3. To examine the relationship between growth opportunities in the future and employee engagement
4. To investigate whether an enabling environment is a driver for employee engagement
5. To investigate whether inspiration values are a driver for employee engagement
6. To investigate whether work life balance is a driver for employee engagement

The Research Focus

This research will specifically focus on identifying the drivers of employee engagement. In other words, it will not focus on other types of business engagements such as customer engagement. This is necessary because employee engagement has a profound effect on other stakeholders such as customer themselves (Macey et al., 2009).

Additionally, the research will not get into the effects of employee engagement, even though these play an important role in determining the outcomes of the organisation. Furthermore, the research will not attempt to find a definition of employee engagement as this has already been done. This research will not attempt to analyse the extent of employee engagement in the country, region or business environment.

Doing so would require massive resources, and would also expose the research to many errors in sampling and methodology. It is better to work with a select number of employees from the same institution in order to minimise biases that arise out of organisational environments.

As stated earlier, employee engagement has many facets; all these elements will be analysed in the research under various headlines.

The research will focus on the extrinsic as well as the intrinsic factors that cause employees to be engaged in their firms. Extrinsic factors relate to rewards, enumeration and other material benefits. Intrinsic factors are all those factors that dwell on internal issues such as work growth, being part of an organisational process.

Literature Review

Definition of Engagement

Employee Engagement is a positive behavioural, emotional and cognitive state that workers direct towards organisational outcomes. Prior to the 1990s, most employees looked for a stable work environment (Becker et al., 2004). They were satisfied with reasonable pay and job security. However, after this period, most companies began reengineering themselves.

Furthermore, employee mindsets began to change. Lifelong commitment to one employer was no longer the norm. Instead, workers started looking for personal fulfilment in their workplaces. Now, most employees feel that it is their right to work in a rewarding business environment. If they cannot find this in one institution, many of them are willing to look for it somewhere else (MatzCosta & Pitt Catsouphes, 2008).).

One of the reasons why employees leave their workplaces is the absence of engagement in their present environments. Companies, therefore, have an important incentive to keep engagement up as this causes them to maintain some of their most talented individuals.

On top of that, companies stand to benefit from greater value, which stems from greater productivity. This leads to customer satisfaction and eventually customer loyalty. The ultimate result of customer loyalty is greater opportunities for growth and profitability.

Engagement should be understood as something that goes beyond motivation but is also an advancement of the motivation concept (Borman, 2004). It causes staff members to commit to the values within an organisation and to help others in their daily endeavours. Employees now look for opportunities to air out their views to their administrators. Additionally, a number of them want to know about the goings on in their institution.

This is the reason why engagement is vital to the company. Additionally, employees need to believe that their supervisors are just as committed to the firm as they are (Hui et al., 2000). This means that there ought to be a two-way connection between the employer and his staff. No one factor is responsible for the ultimate feeling of engagement within one’s institution, but it is the combination of these factors that matters.

Measuring Engagement

In order to measure engagement, firms must utilise a series of platforms in order to get to all the relevant issues. Normally, one can use employee opinions from surveys in order to measure engagement. Additionally, a company can combine the surveys with personal interviews with managers as well as employees. They may also use focus groups in their institutions in order to assess this phenomenon.

Alternatively formal meetings between stakeholders can allow firms to measure engagement. Performance measures may also do the trick; however, they must relate to the progress that the entity is making towards engagement.

Engagement Challenges: impact of engagement on performance

Engagement presents a series of problems to the institutions that use them. First, financial challenges tend to knock – off employee engagement from the priority list. Tough economic times often shift company attention towards retrenchments, restructurings, mergers and acquisitions or cost cutting. It is quite difficult to stay committed to engagement when one is simply trying to stay profitable.

However, company owners need to realise that the very survival of their institution is at stake if they neglect employee engagement. It is during times of crises that companies need to have their staff in their corner. Employers must resist the temptation to ignore this phenomenon during hard economic and financial times.

Some corporate structures or values may hamper employee engagement tremendously. Some companies, especially government-affiliated ones, tend to place too much emphasis on bureaucracy.

This implies that so many of them think of their superiors as bosses or masters. They also feel that they are nothing more than servants. Such cultures often cause employee values to conflict with those ones that are required in a well engaged atmosphere (Harter et al., 2004).

Additionally, interdepartmental or inter-team conflicts can minimise employee engagement greatly. When teams are too independent within an organisation, then chances are that they will all be heading in different directions.

Their least concern will be the overall benefit of the organisation and they will eventually hamper the level of connectedness between the stakeholders in the enterprise. For instance, if the operations department receives supplies from the logistics department on time, then they are likely to think of it as a work obligation rather than a service (Bakker et al., 2006b).

Governance structures can also be an impediment to existence of employee engagement. If a company lacks mechanisms for establishing accountability and proper governance, then this can make it quite difficult to foster a spirit of engagement in the firm (Ruddy et al., 2006). Members will always feel like they are on their own and that there is no point in doing things in an ethical manner.

Employee engagement is also challenging because one must maintain company morale at all times. Employees feel especially vulnerable when change takes place in their institution. This may come in the form of an outsourcing service or a merger. At such times, employees may have doubts about their place in the institution and this could compromise on their commitment towards the organisation (Towwers-Perrin, 2003).

How to maintain and improve engagement

To maintain and improve engagement, one must illustrate to one’s employees that one cares about them. This means furnishing them with all the resources they require to get a job done (Eisenberger & Rhoades, 2002). A number of workers develop a sense of dissatisfaction, frustration and disengagement when they lack the necessary support needed to carry out tasks (Conway & Coyle Shapiro, 2005).

Additionally, company owners must ensure that they show employees the big picture when carrying out their individual tasks. This will build a sense of commitment to the institution even through tough times. Managers and business owners must cultivate an atmosphere of fairness within their enterprises. All workers need to feel that they have an equal voice and that they are valued in their companies (Maslach et al., 2001).

Companies need to synchronise employee strengths with their work roles. Doing challenging work can lead to a great sense of engagement because it ascertains that all the employees are maximising on their talents. It is also makes them feel like they are making an important contribution to the enterprise. In lien with this approach, a company should also provide employees training opportunities.

This will allow them to take advantage of advancements in their enterprises. They will also feel that they have a say in the way decisions are made in their institutions. Doing this also increases the likelihood of accepting decisions in the future if they were involved in them. If they can do projects that contribute to their growth, then this will definitely boost their level of engagement (Bakker et al., 2006a)

Business owners need to cultivate a sense of trust in their enterprises by treating their employees personally. They can communicate policies and procedural changes individually so as to achieve this effect.

Employers, supervisors or managers need to appear as engaged to the company as they expect employees to be (Rama Devi, 2009). Additionally, business owners need to start engagement initiatives among superiors as they have the capacity to spread their enthusiasm to other individuals within the company. Superiors should never be left out in such programs (Greenberg & Colquitt, 2005).

Summary of key findings

Previous research on employee engagement reveals that there is a positive correlation between productivity and engagement. Therefore, it is in the best interest of an organisation to ensure that engagement is a top priority (Durkin, 2007). Additionally, one must realise that employees are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated. One must measure these two types of facets during the process of assessment (Shaffer, 2004).

Research shows that financial difficulties, poor governance structures, bureaucratic relationships and low morale all act as challenges to proper employee engagement (Schmidt et al., 2001). Business owners must, therefore, lead by example, offer ample resources for work, give their employees a voice, and offer them advancement opportunities if they wish to improve employee engagement (Murlis & Schubert, 2001).

Methodology

This research will employ a quantitative approach because the research question is something that can be measured (Schindler et al., 2006). The association between employee engagement and its drivers is something can be quantified. Aside from that, several quantitative studies exist, and this justifies the use of such a method. Additionally, this is more of a confirmatory analysis rather than an exploratory one.

Quantitative methodologies are always appropriate when confirming hypothesis rather than creating them (Caulkin, 2001). Time constraints also necessitate the use of quantitative research as it does not require too much attention to detail like qualitative research.

The research approach

The independent variables in this research include quality of work, tangible rewards, growth opportunities, an enabling environment, inspiration values, work-life balance. The dependent variable in all the cases is employee engagement.

If a positive correlation is found between the dependent and independent variable, then one can assert that the independent variable is a driver and if the opposite is true then it will be ruled out as a driver for employee engagement. It should be noted that tangible rewards include things such as benefits, pay and recognition awards.

Growth opportunities include career advancement as well as learning and development (Csikentmihalyi, 1990). An enabling environment is one in which the proper tools, processes and information are available. Inspiration values denote leadership, recognition and organisational values. Work life balance refers to the income security, social environment and the ability of a company to recognise an employee’s life cycle needs.

Quality of work refers to the workload, sense of achievement and work relationships in the enterprise. These traits were suggested by the Murlis & Schubert (2001). It will be imperative to identify them first before asking employees to give their views. This will create more structure in the research.

The research strategy and the time horizon

The first step in the research was to identify the variables involved. These have been mentioned in earlier portions of the paper. Thereafter, the type of data needed was determined, and this included the six independent and one dependent objective. The best data collection was chosen and this was the use of questionnaires.

Later on, samples were selected from an existing institution through stratified sampling. Thereafter data was collected and analysed. The time horizon for the research was six months because ample time was needed to collect the samples and to follow the protocol needed to respond to the queries (Leedy, 1997).

The participants

The participants were members of an anonymous organisation that has one hundred and twelve workers. Since the company had various departments, it was essential to select members from each department in order to minimise biases that may arise out of one’s work area.

This is the reason why the research used stratified sampling. All the subjects were selected in a way that would ensure equal representation and equal numbers from the department. 5 members from each of the six departments resulted in a total number of 30 participants.

The research instruments

Questionnaires were the main research instruments in this survey. The research questions were framed in such a manner that would allow the candidates to select one of the five points in a Likert scale. They has to select one of these choices: ‘Agree’, ‘Disagree’, ‘Strongly disagree’, ‘Strongly agree’ and ’Do not agree or Disagree’ (Anderson et al., 1998).

Ethical Considerations

Participants should not feel obligated to participate in the research. They should receive informed consent and this should only take place when they are sure about their role in the research. Since the research involves collecting sensitive information, then the respondents’ anonymity needs to be maintained; it would be unethical to jeopardise their jobs for the research (Kraut, 2006).

Individual responses will not be singled out in this research. As a researcher, one needs to avoid bias by manipulating results. Additionally, one should select the right methodology in order to avoid biases in the sample. It would also be wrong to use the information found in the research in order to manipulate findings in the future.

Conducting the primary research

The research was carried out among thirty participants in an anonymous organisation. To protect the jobs of the subjects, this report will not mention their institution or their names. After ensuring that the percentage of workers representing the various departments was alright, one week was selected for carrying out the interviews. Each day involved an analysis of six candidates.

Prior to the actual data collection, the key concepts were first described. Participants were told about employee engagement and also about the six variables. Thereafter, they were expected to select the drivers that mattered to them.

After obtaining the information, a tabulation was done and then a histogram created to indicate whether the employees thought that the six variables were drivers of employee engagement (Hussey & Collis, 2003).

Analysis of the data

Data analysis was done through the use of histograms. Shown below is a summary of the key findings.

The limitations of the research

The research only relied on survey questionnaires as a source of information. No qualitative analysis of employee’s opinion was done in order to determine their perceptions of drivers of employee engagement (Viswesvaran & Cooper Hakim, 2005).

Furthermore, because the research was based on preset answers in the questionnaire, employees were limited to the choices that the researcher had made during questionnaire design. There could have been other factors that were overlooked in the research process, yet employees were not allowed to give their suggestions. The independent variables in the research were multifaceted.

In other words, one variable represented a myriad of other factors that employees might consider as potential drivers. Although all participants knew what the variables represented, a number of them may have been prompted to select one answer over another because of a minor characteristic.

For instance, an employee may state that work balance does not affect his or her employee engagement simply because of the fact that he does not value work relationships. Additionally, some employees may not necessarily understand the concept of employee engagement.

All the responses are dependent on their interpretation of the term. However, to minimise this problem, the researcher made a point of explaining to all participants what employee engagement was. Thereafter, they had to pick on the factors that they thought led to that situation.

Summary of key findings

In the research it was found that the key drivers of change are quality of work, tangible rewards, growth opportunities, enabling environment, inspiration values and work life balance. The histogram was skewed towards agree and strongly agree. It is likely that some employees were uncertain about quality of work because they did not understand the parameter fully.

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Introduction

Employee engagement plays a crucial role in business. The extent to which workers feel engaged in their job has a profound impact on their performance. It is, therefore, critical for organizations to strive to maximize their worker’s engagement. However, to do this, it is essential to understand what the term “employee engagement” means, what its dimensions are, and how it is different from other related concepts. These issues are discussed below.

Definition

Currently, there exists no universally accepted definition of the term “employee engagement” (Cole et al. 1553). However, employee engagement can be understood as a state in which a worker feels energetic, dedicated to their work, and confident of their efficaciousness; another definition explains employee engagement as a “persistent and positive affective-cognitive state of mind,” in which a worker feels vigorous, dedicated to their job, and interested in it (Cole et al. 1552-1553). Employee engagement is comprised of three principal dimensions: emotional, cognitive, and physical.

The Three Principal Dimensions of Employee Engagement

Emotional Aspects

The emotional side of employee engagement means that an employee who is engaged in their job will show a high degree of emotional involvement in their tasks (Byrne 147). In other words, while working, an employee will feel strong positive emotions about the task they are currently doing: they will be happy and interested, feel pleased both while doing the task and when they have achieved the results, and so on. It is also likely that an engaged employee will experience positive emotions related to their organization, its culture, its leaders and personnel, etc. (Cole et al. 1562).

Cognitive Aspects

The cognitive dimension of employee engagement means that a worker utilizes most all his or her mental resources while doing their tasks (Byrne 117). In other words, while doing a task, an employee will concentrate on it, and will attempt to make their best efforts to do it properly.

Physical Aspects

As for physical aspects of the employee engagement, these refer to the willingness of a worker to make physical efforts while doing their work (Byrne 117). This includes some extra efforts which may need to be made by a worker if a task is to be carried out successfully. Therefore, an engaged employee will not mind making some extra physical effort in order to do the job appropriately.

Employee Engagement and Related Concepts

It is paramount to differentiate between employee engagement and related concepts, such as organizational commitment, job involvement, “flow,” and job satisfaction. For this purpose, the differences between employee engagement and these concepts are discussed below.

Organizational Commitment

The notion of organizational commitment refers to the measure to which employees feel emotionally attached to the company that they work for (Cole et al. 1562). Therefore, while employee engagement describes a worker’s feelings towards their work, organizational commitment refers to the degree of workers’ dedication to their firm.

Job Involvement

The concept of job involvement reflects the degree to which workers dedicate their attention to the tasks they perform (Cole et al. 1553). In other words, involved employees will be absorbed in their work, and their mind will rarely waver; they will willingly use their inner resources to do the job.

“Flow”

The term “flow” has been used to describe the sense of being so concentrated on one’s task that one stops being aware of other events around them, also losing track of time (Griffith). Thus, while employee engagement describes the long-term state of being energetic, vigorous, and dedicated to work, “flow” refers to the specific state of directing all of one’s attention to a current task.

Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is “the overall global feeling that results from the appraisal of one’s job experiences” (Cole et al. 1562). Therefore, while employee engagement reflects workers’ persistent, long-lasting feelings about their work, job satisfaction describes the results of employees’ assessment of the results of their work.

Conclusion

Therefore, employee engagement describes a persistent state in which a worker feels energetic, dedicated, and confident towards their job. It has three main dimensions (emotional, cognitive, and physical), and should be differentiated from other related concepts. It is crucial for organizations to maximize employee engagement in order to enhance workers’ performance.

Transferring the Obtained Knowledge into Working Practices

The knowledge gained while writing this paper can be used in working practices by attempting to enhance employee performance via addressing all the three aspects of employee engagement separately, but simultaneously. Differentiating between employee engagement and other related concepts might help to better understand the outcomes of the former.

Works Cited

Byrne, Zita S. Understanding Employee Engagement: Theory, Research, and Practice. Routledge, 2015.

Cole, Michael S., et al. “Job Burnout and Employee Engagement: A Meta-Analytic Examination of Construct Proliferation.” Journal of Management, vol. 38, no. 5, 2012, pp. 1550-1581.

Griffith, Terri. “Help Your Employees Find Flow.” Harvard Business Review. Web.

The importance of employee engagement (EE) is becoming a highly discussed issue as it has a positive impact on work environment and employees. When applied correctly, EE can enhance the productivity level and general atmosphere in the organization. Therefore, the necessity of investigating the advantages of EE is completely justified.

Increasing Importance of Employee Engagement

EE is explained as a level of dedication of the worker to his/ her company and its values (Anitha 308). When a person is engaged, he/she realizes the accountability to business aims and stimulates other employees to do their best to reach the company’s objectives. In the current business world, where competitive spirit is the driving force, EE is getting more and more significant. Kahn remarks that people are stimulated to get professionally engaged according to the following psychological factors: safety, meaningfulness, and availability (qtd. in Anthony-McMann et al. 3).

Employees are divided into three groups: engaged, not engaged, and actively disengaged (Anitha 310). The first group consists of people who are trying to be proficient in their positions. The second group is represented by workers performing the tasks which are dictated to them rather than company’s aims. The third group is the riskiest one as it consists of people who undermine the firm’s values by not doing their job properly and discouraging others (Anitha 310). Thus, it is vital to thoroughly consider the ways of EE and implement these strategies in the workplace.

Business Benefits Presented by Employee Engagement

Apart from improving the company’s productivity, EE offers several other significant benefits. For example, highly-engaged companies have a better success rate and a lower turnover level (Breevaart et al. 140-141). Also, engagement significantly improves people’s health and quality of their work. Other advantages include profitability and employee satisfaction. When a company has a well-developed EE program, both the owners and employees benefit from it.

To gain business benefits with the help of EE, special features are needed in companies. Supervisory feedback is noted to have a positive impact on the implementation of EE (Menguc et al. 2163). Transformational leadership is another constructive feature which helps to produce the best outcomes of the EE process (Breevart et al. 139). Advantages for the organization and its managers are presented by higher profits and better image of the company. What concerns customers, they benefit from better services and higher product quality.

Application of Employee Engagement

One of the ways of applying EE is through organizational citizenship which presupposes people’s voluntary dedication to their work. Another good approach is encouraging discretional behavior which results in people’s willingness to perform beyond the expected norm. Job design is a crucial motivation method for the managers who want their employees to show better performance (Truss et al. 2657). Job design involves organization of favorable work environment and conditions so as to keep the employees satisfied with their work.

As it is a mediating variable, EE is closely connected with organizational-level consequences (Saks and Gruman 169). Thus, it is necessary to create a highly motivational environment in the company. Role autonomy may be a helpful tool here. When people are allowed to take part in designing their schedule, they feel more satisfied, become more motivated and show better performance.

Conclusion

EE is a vital part of modern business sphere. Successful implementation of EE brings about many advantages for the organizations and workers. It can increase profits and enroll more customers. Additionally, it has a positive influence on the employees who become more dedicated and make their companies more prosperous. Knowledge about EE will be useful in my working practice as it explains how to raise the efficiency of the employees, productivity of the company, and cooperation with the customers.

Works Cited

Anitha, Jagannathan. “Determinants of Employee Engagement and Their Impact on Employee Performance.” International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 63, no. 3, 2014, pp. 308-323.

Anthony-McMann, Paula E., et al. “Exploring Different Operationalizations of Employee Engagement and Their Relationships with Workplace Stress and Burnout.” Human Resource Development Quarterly, vol. 4, 2016, pp. 1-33.

Breevaart, Kimberley, et al. “Daily Transactional and Transformational Leadership and Daily Employee Engagement.” Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, vol. 87, no. 1, 2014, pp. 138-157.

Menguc, Bulent, et al. “To Be Engaged or not to Be Engaged: The Antecedents and Consequences of Service Employee Engagement.” Journal of Business Research, vol. 66, no. 11, 2013, pp. 2163-2170.

Saks, Alan M., and Jamie A. Gruman. “What Do We Really Know About Employee Engagement?” Human Resource Development Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 2, 2014, pp. 155-182.

Truss, Catherine, et al. “Employee Engagement, Organizational Performance and Individual Well-Being: Exploring the Evidence, Developing the Theory.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 24, no. 14, 2013, pp. 2657-2669.

Definition of Employee Engagement

Despite its growing popularity, the concept of employee engagement does not have a single definition. Kahn describes it as a multifaceted phenomenon in which members of the organization attach themselves to their working roles (Dik 109). Frank et al. define it as an amount of effort exhibited by the employees as a result of the commitment to the organizational culture (14). As can be seen from these definitions, there is a common theme of psychological attachment to the working process necessary at some stage in the organization. This concept is summarized in the broad definition by Truss et al. who define employee engagement simply as a passion for work (206).

Principal Dimensions

Similarly to the variety of definitions, the principal components of employee engagement are different both in number and in content depending on the authors. Truss et al. describe it as comprised of the physical, emotional, and cognitive aspects (119). The emotional dimension constitutes the feelings of the employees regarding their co-workers, management, responsibilities, and environment. It was cited as the dimension responsible for the perception of safety, security, satisfaction with values, and the ultimate sense of contribution to the greater cause (Truss et al. 119). The cognitive aspect forms a set of conscious beliefs, such as the understanding of working conditions.

Unlike the emotional counterpart, the cognitive dimension is conceived on the basis of tangible evidence rather subtle psychological effects. For instance, the transparent relation between the performance and the received salary contributes mainly to cognitive engagement, while positive workplace culture benefits the emotional aspect. It should be noted, however, that the exact effect is more complex and interconnected. As a result of the combined effect of the organizational factors, employees demonstrate greater eagerness in achieving the set goals, which defines the physical aspect of engagement. Therefore, the interlocked effects of emotional and cognitive dimensions manifest in the physical energy devoted by the engaged employees in the organization.

Related Concepts

Employee engagement is often used in conjunction, and sometimes interchangeably, with similar terms, such as organizational commitment, job involvement, and job satisfaction. While some of these concepts are closely related to the definition and characteristics of employee engagement, they also have a number of important differences. For instance, it is evident that job satisfaction by definition aligns well with the effects of the emotional and cognitive dimensions of the definition above. At the same time, it does not include (although certainly leads to) its physical aspect (Truxillo et al. 346). Therefore, we can say that job satisfaction is a necessary component of employee engagement. Similarly, job involvement, which is commonly understood as the readiness of the employee to engage in the working process, requires (but does not include) the prerequisite of emotional and cognitive engagement, and does not necessarily cover the broader participation in the workplace culture (Menguc et al. 2164).

One of the manifestations of job involvement, termed flow, is often cited as a desired psychological state which greatly enhances both the performance and the satisfaction of employees (Truss et al. 42). Therefore, it is one of many specific outcomes resulting from successful employee engagement. Finally, organizational commitment describes a broad range of attitudes, feelings, and knowledge which define the perception of organization the employees are bound to (Jones 123). This definition is the closest to the understanding of employee engagement and can have semantic differences depending on the source of definition. For example, the former can omit the factor of the added value and usefulness of the performed task, making the latter a more encompassing concept.

Commentary

The knowledge and skill gained during this assignment can be used to systematize the knowledge during further inquiries. The domain of employee engagement is still in development and does not have a common core, which can add to ambiguity and present challenges for the researcher. The analysis above will help me implement the theoretical concepts into practice more effectively and efficiently.

Works Cited

Dik, Bryan, et al. Purpose and Meaning in the Workplace. American Psychological Association, 2013.

Frank, Fredric, et al. “The Race for Talent: Retaining and Engaging Workers in the 21st Century.” People and Strategy 27.3 (2004): 12-26.

Jones, Natalie. “Handbook of Employee Engagement: Perspectives, Issues, Research and Practice.” Human Resource Development International 14.5 (2011): 643-645.

Menguc, Bulent, et al. “To Be Engaged or Not to Be Engaged: The Antecedents and Consequences of Service Employee Engagement.” Journal of Business Research 66.11 (2013): 2163-2170.

Truss, Catherine, et al. Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice. Routledge, 2013.

Truxillo, Donald, et al. “A Lifespan Perspective on Job Design: Fitting the Job and the Worker to Promote Job Satisfaction, Engagement, and Performance.” Organizational Psychology Review 2.4 (2012): 340-360.

Employee Engagement as a Tool for High-Level Business Purposes and a Thing in Itself

Engagement: Definitions and Comparison (Involvement, Commitment, and Participation)

Determining the essence of employee engagement (EE) as a phenomenon is a rather tricky task. Because of the elusive nature of the subject matter, as well as the array of factors that affect it, it is comparatively hard to detect the components of EE. Therefore, providing a definition for the concept is also a rather intricate process.

CIPD (2015) asserts that the Utrecht University Group has captured the essence of EE and provided an impeccable definition for the concept. According to the findings of the study conducted by the Utrecht experts, EE can be summarised as “a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind” (Bailey et al., 2015, p. 52).

However, CIPD members also stress that the current definition could use refinement when applied to the workplace environment. For instance, the focus on maintaining a consistent performance quality could have been included in the description provided above. CIPD suggests that the following should be viewed as the model explanation of what EE is: “being positively present during the performance of work by willingly contributing intellectual effort, experiencing positive emotions and meaningful connections to others” (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2016a, para. 5).

One should distinguish between the concepts of EE, involvement, commitment, and participation. According to CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2016a), while EE implies positivity and connection, involvement concerns primarily being informed about the company’s progress. Commitment is traditionally rendered as loyalty, whereas participation does not incorporate enthusiasm as opposed to EE. Therefore, involvement, commitment, and participation can be viewed as the components of EE (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2016a).

Behaviors and Signs of Engagement in My Organisation: Analysis

Organizational Citizenship. According to the existing definition, the phenomenon of the corporate citizenship can be rendered as the employee’s loyalty to the company and acceptance of its values and ethical stance (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development n. d.).Employee loyalty is valued highly in the company in which I work.

As a result, the staff members develop a commitment to the company. Their satisfaction and engagement can be traced by considering their performance indicators, which are very high, and the decisions that they make when addressing company-related issues. Furthermore, the ethical values that the firm’s operations are based on being promoted to the employees with the help of the transformative leadership approach and active use of an appealing model of organizational behavior.

Discretionary Behaviour. Discretionary behaviour, which implies making the decisions that are based on one’s complete understanding of their roles and responsibilities in the context of an organisation (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development n. d.), is encouraged at my company actively. The managers explain to each employee what role they lay in the organisation. Thus, the people working for the firm feel valued and important.

Engagement. Incentives and public appraisals used by managers have a very positive effect on the employees’ performance. Although there is a minor competitiveness issue, the overall workplace environment is invigorating and encouraging to excel in our performance.

Non-Engagement. The individual approach adopted by the company managers to spur the staff’s performance allows bringing down the non-engagement rates.

Disengagement. The signs of disengagement are spotted immediately and addressed correspondingly by managers. The employees with low engagement rates are suggested support in managing their personal (e.g., family-related) concerns.

Psychological Contract: Definition and Examples

The idea of the psychological contract as the mutual awareness of the parties involved in signing the contract about their obligations toward each other, as well as their responsibilities in the context of the agreement (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2016b) is not new. However, it was not until the 1990s that the concept started being used actively by organisations. Nowadays, the psychological contract is considered one of the most essential building blocks for successful organisational performance (Marescaux et al. 2015).

In my organisation, the phenomenon of the psychological contract is used sometimes to enhance the employee loyalty rates. However, the members of the entrepreneurship do not seem to be very trustful to the employees, since rigid supervision is a part and parcel of the work-related processes.

Exploring Empirical and Philosophical Connections in the Workplace

Changes Assessment: Of What a Manager Should Be Aware

Employee Expectations. As an employee continues working in the environment of a particular company, their goals and aspirations are likely to change. The company’s strategy, in its turn, must be in chord with the changes that the employees experience. By coordinating the process of the company’s evolution with the employees’ professional and personal growth, the firm creates a psychological contract with its staff members, therefore, paving the way to their further successful collaboration (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2005).

Instrumentalism and Its Dysfunctional Consequences. Problem-solving and not the focus on the description of objective reality can be viewed as the philosophy of instrumentalism. Therefore, the use of instrumentalism in the managerial strategies is likely to have an oppositional effect on employee engagement, making the staff members see themselves as tools.

Task Simplification. On the one hand, creating the environment, in which the staff members are not exposed to the workplace burnout, is imperative to maintain the staff engagement rates high. On the other hand, it is crucial to make sure that the staff members could complete challenging tasks that compel them to learn more and grow professionally. Therefore, the simplification of tasks is not to be viewed as the ultimate goal of the company. In other words, it is crucial that the employees could have an opportunity to make a discretionary effort when completing job-related assignments (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2008).

Scientific Management. The use of essential theories related to the behavioural science domain is imperative to construct the strategy that will later on be used to motivate the staff. Scientific management will help understand by what the staff members are driven.

Engagement Practices and Their Significance: HR Differentiation

Importance of Engagement Practices. As a recent report published by CIPD shows, the significance of engagement practices is very high as it helps not only their performance rates but also the quality of the product and the services provided (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2015b). Specifically, the application of the HR differentiation tool sets the premises for a detailed analysis of the unique needs that the staff members have.

Indeed, applying a uniform approach toward addressing the staff’s demands is barely sensible as each of the personnel members has their unique aspirations. Granted that there are similarities between the goals of the target audiences (e.g., the necessity of a financial gain, the urge to be recognised for professionalism and workplace performance, etc.), the ways, in which the organisation can deliver the necessary items are very numerous, and the efficacy of the chosen strategies hinges on the cultural context in which they are applied. Therefore, a detailed research on the specifics of the target audience should be interpreted as the priority of the organisation.

Examples and Pieces of Evidence. For example, the process of HR differentiation may occur on the basis of the ethnic and cultural background of the staff. In case the company employees ethnic and cultural minorities, it is important that their rights should be recognised and that they should not encounter the phenomena that are interpreted as shocking or inappropriate in their culture. The gender-based differentiation could also be viewed as an opportunity to meet the needs of employees.

For instance, the changes made to the benefit package so that it could include payment for maternity leave allow gaining the appreciation and gratitude of the female company members. As a result, the engagement and loyalty rates among them are likely to grow significantly. Age-based HR differentiation is another tool for addressing the unique needs of the staff. Finally, analyzing the way in which the members of the company would like to acquire the related knowledge and shaping the training sessions for competency improvement to help them attain the best result may become a legitimate HR differentiation approach.

Gravity of the Critical Contribution of an Employee: Striving for Excellence

Principles of High Performance Working: Analysis

According to CIPD, there are several crucial principles of high performance working. Typically referred to as bundles, the identified principles are arranged so that they could be used to facilitate high employee involvement, successful human resource management, and the practices related to providing reward and enhancing commitment (Sung & Ashton 2005).

As the CIPD research states, it is crucial to maintain high involvement rates among the staff members so that they could strive to enhance the company’s growth. Measuring the degree to which the members of the organisation are involved in its growth and concerned about its further success might be somewhat tricky as it is comparatively hard to quantify the staff’s emotional attachment rates.

However, CIPD suggests that the levels of involvement should be measured with the help of surveys. Thus, the necessary qualitative information and statistical data can be collected for the further analysis. More importantly, the trends that the employees show as far as the involvement issue is concerned can be identified so that the possible issues could be located at the earliest stages of their development. As long as the problems in the company’s HR strategy design do not grow out of proportion and remain controllable, efficient tools for addressing them can be designed.

Exploring the Meaning of World Class Service/Corporate Performance

According to the CIPD perspective, to gain the title of the world class performing entrepreneurship, a company must reward high performers and seek out the staff members that are most willing to contribute to the firm’s further evolution: “It has a simple formula, that is, with success, you need to reward hard work, innovation and commitment handsomely” (Sung & Ashton 2005).

Differently put, in order to succeed in the global economy environment, an organisation must invest in its human resources. Offering extensive opportunities for training and acquisition of new skills, as well as essential knowledge and information related to the area of the staff’s competence, is crucial to the organisation’s wellbeing.

Thus, although the concepts of class service and corporate performance typically imply that the organisation should strive to attain high customer satisfaction rates, they also mean paying especially close attention to the company’s personnel. Unless the tools for improving the employees’ expertise in their target area are provided, an organisation is likely to suffer a gradual downfall while its members will gradually become increasingly more disorganised and disinterested. Extensive options for personal and professional growth, on the contrary, are likely to galvanise the personnel, compelling them to improve their performance consistently.

Stimulating Engagement by Aligning Cultural, Strategic, and Operational Practices

Apart from the focus on strategic and operational concerns, a firm must also be geared toward the recognition of the employees’ cultural specifics. As a result, the environment for successful communication between the organisation and its members is created. Unless the missions and values of the company are in chord with the goals and values of each member of the personnel, successful cooperation will not be a possibility. Furthermore, the discord between the values of the employees and the ones that the company promotes is likely to become the stumbling block of the staff–manager communication process.

The fact that the inconsistencies between the values upheld by the organisation and the ones that the staff members view as the foundation for decision-making will affect the quality of the services and, therefore, the levels of customer satisfaction, also must be mentioned as the reason for the alignment between the identified variables. Indeed, unless the employees are convinced that the principles of the company’s operations and communication must serve as the foil for making company-related decisions, there will be a threat of the teams working in the firm to solve emerging problems based on their own concept of customer relations.

As a result, the organisation may be exposed to the threat of customer–employee conflict or, worse yet, corporate fraud. Thus, there is a pressing need to make sure that the essential values of the organisation are promoted to the staff members as the principal guidelines for them to make their work-related choices. Finally, the fact that corporate values contribute to creating organisational consciousness needs to be addressed: “Organisational consciousness is a state of existence or paradigm and mechanisms like culture, values, corporate social responsibility, business ethics and various stakeholders as antecedents in the framework” (Adjmal & Lodhi 2015, p. 203).

Relationships Between Levels of Employee Engagement and Organisational Performance: Analysis

Research, Experiential and Anecdotal Evidence and Examples. A closer look at the way in which addressing EE on different levels has on the performance of the staff members and their motivation rates will show that there is a direct correlation between the variables mentioned above. Te degree, to which the staff members engage in the company’s processes, in general, and the tasks that they are assigned, in particular, determines the success of the outcomes.

The CIPD research states that several levels of engagement exist. Traditionally, a self-explanatory classification including the low, the medium, and the high performance levels is suggested. The taxonomy helps carry out a quick assessment of the staff’s motivation rates, as well as the EE levels in the organisation (Gatenby et al. 2008). Furthermore, the degree of EE makes it clear whether the staff members are provided with enough challenges and opportunities for expressing themselves.

The results produced by CIPD, while quite basic and expected, beg the question whether there is a possibility of raising the EE levels too high and, therefore, harming the company’s performance. For instance, by building the team of overly engaged staff members that will excel in their performance to improve the quality standards to the maximum, a company may face an increased rate of workplace burnout (Trepanier et al. 2014). The subject matter is especially significant in healthcare organisations; for example, a recent study indicates that the emphasis on increasing performance results affects nurses negatively, triggering workplace burnouts and even the instances of depression (Laschinger & Fida 2014).

The lack of EE, in its turn, is also likely to hamper the productivity of an organisation. My personal experience as a team manager in the marketing department shows that the staff’s reluctance to search for innovative tools that help resolve related problems is likely to lead to the production of an inefficient strategy. In the described situation, the lack of progress will be the best-case scenario whereas the firm’s ultimate bankruptcy will be the worst-case outcome.

Cause-Effect Relationships: Examples of Problems and the Line Between the Reality and the Rhetoric. The process of drawing a line between reality and rhetoric may turn out to be rather tricky due to the possible lack of understanding of the environment in which the staff members work. Although the concepts of value, engagement, and other crucial components of organisational performance improvement might seem well-coordinated on paper, when applied to a real-life scenario, they may turn out to lack substance. Therefore, there is a pressing need to identify the links between the rhetoric used by the company’s leaders and the reality in which the employees operate.

To make sure that the rhetoric used by the managers aligns with the reality that the employees have to face on a regular basis, the use of tools for collecting information about the actual workplace environment should be viewed as a necessity. For example, surveys could be incorporated into the firm’s system of information management to gather the necessary data and shape the rhetoric correspondingly.

By distributing surveys and questionnaires with open-ended questions among the personnel, the firm is likely to gain important knowledge of, and a much better insight on, the challenges that the company members face, the needs that they currently have, and the opportunities that they pursue. As a result, a comprehensive strategy for addressing their needs and improving their performance can be designed. By doing so, the company will acknowledge that it values its staff members.

For example, a drop in the employees’ productivity has recently been witnessed in the organisation that I work for. To handle the problems, the HR managers used a rather simple tool for information acquisition. They created a box for complaints and suggestions that every staff member could contribute to without the fear of being singled out.

After a quick analysis of the data submitted, the HR personnel came to the conclusion that the staff is unmotivated due to the lack of flexibility in their schedule and the tight control of the managers. As soon as a more flexible schedule was introduced and the control became less rigid, the performance rates rose by an impressive 17% margin.

Increasing Employee Engagement Rates: Action Plan

Employee Engagement as a Strategic Imperative: Company Assessment

Despite the changes mentioned above, the lack of employee engagement still can be deemed as one of the crucial reasons for concern in my organisation. It would be wrong to claim that the people are completely unengaged. However, whenever they perform certain tasks, it becomes evident that they do not strive for the benefit of the company but, instead, follow the guidelines blindly.

Complete compliance with the corporate rules is definitely not a reason to accuse people of being uninterested in the firm’s wellbeing; however, their attitude, which shows that they are unwilling to think and analyze, clearly is. Therefore, the organisation needs a change in the motivation approach used to convince the employees to perform.

Indeed, even though the organisation experienced a minor improvement in the personnel performance (i.e., the 17% mentioned above), the profit rates have returned to their previous mark recently. While the introduction of the approach allowing of a rapid collection of feedback was a breeze of fresh air, it did not last long as it did not affect the core problem that made the employees feel reluctant to make any effort. Thus, it can be assumed that, though addressed at some point, strategic imperative as defined by CIPD has never been pursued in the firm (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2015a).

Consequently, the firm needs an action plan that will help define the root cause of the problem and eliminate it successfully. As soon as the factors affecting the employees’ reluctance are out of the company’s system, a strategy for improving the staff’s performance delivery can be built and incorporated into the framework of the entrepreneurship.

Examples: Increasing Engagement Rates Among the Members of Various Departments

A closer look at the company’s design and the way in which the employees operating in different departments work will reveal that there are some crucial problems with the company’s EE strategy design. The absence of a proper information management strategy along with the unwillingness of the staff members to share the data that they can use to perform their task appropriately has a direct and a very negative effect on the overall performance rate of the entrepreneurship.

For instance, the current L&D approach is geared toward meeting the individual needs of the employees, which is a good characteristic of the project. However, the grading system introduced into the L&D design sends a wrong message to the staff, compelling the, to compete with each other. This competition has its toll on the quality of their performance, since essential pieces of information are withheld by staff members to use them for their professional benefit.

One must admit, though, that the current approach to L&D encourages the staff members to learn new information within impressively small amounts of time. Nevertheless, knowing that they might lack essential pieces of data, the personnel members are often unwilling to start working on their projects, knowing that the latter are likely to fail when tested in the real-life environment.

The employer branding approach, however, is quite legitimate. Focusing on the customers and their needs, the organisation knows exactly what the target audience wants and how to deliver the required product to them. What makes the current employer branding strategy somewhat wobbly is the lack of understanding of how the staff members are motivated. Therefore, the selection of the KPIs used to improve the delivery of the required services is rather questionable. Overall, the entrepreneurship leaders should consider determining the employees’ needs so that a more coherent KPI framework could be created (Barrow 2007).

Future of the Psychological Contract: On the Edge of Change

In light of the fact that the organisation leaders need to learn more about the needs and aspirations of its staff members, the enhancement of the psychological contract significance in the corporate environment must be viewed a necessity. Although each employee has a unique set of needs and characteristics, designing the approach that will help meet the requirements of all personnel is a possibility.

Specifically, the entrepreneurship should change the current corporate values and vision so that both could reflect its attitude toward the needs of employees. It is essential that the company’s vision and mission should reflect its understanding of the significance of the staff’s personal and professional development, as well as a friendly and favourable workplace environment. As soon as the necessary changes are introduced into the firm’s design, a significant change in the performance quality is expected.

Another crucial change that needs to be carried out for the company to build the path to establishing a psychological contract with the staff members and convincing them to excel in their performance is focusing on information management. The identified step includes both providing the tools that will enhance the process speed contributing to connectivity and the redesign of the current communication patterns adopted and used by the employees. For example, the fact that the personnel tends to prevent eh process of data sharing can be considered detrimental to the organisation’s success.

By refusing to share essential pieces of information, the employees cause corporate strategies to fail on a number of levels, including the marketing processes, customer communication, logistics, etc. Therefore, the introduction of the basic concepts of knowledge sharing and the reduction in the competition rates in the organisation must be viewed as the next essential step in improving the firm’s performance indicators.

Furthermore, the promotion of an entirely new communication approach based on the principles of data sharing, clarity, transparency, and trust will build the environment in which the staff members will be inclined to communicate with the managers efficiently. as a result, feedback will be collected from the target audience faster and processed successfully. Herein lies the premise for a psychological contract to be implemented in the company’s’ design.

Gaining Support from Staff and Overcoming Resistance to Change

Needless to say, it is expected that the staff member will display resistance to change. The phenomenon is quite understandable and completely expected; it is hard to alter the traditional behaviour patterns, not to mention accepting an entirely new set of values and using it as the foundation for the decision-making process. However, there are several tools that can be incorporated into the process of managing the employees’ resistance toward changes made to the corporate design.

First and most obvious, a different leadership strategy needs to be modelled. As stressed above, it is imperative to guide the staff members toward change and provide them with an appropriate role model that they can follow and of which they can make examples. The transformative leadership framework can be viewed as the best tool for convincing the staff to accept the corporate values.

As far as the model of change is concerned, Thomas Pyzdek’s DMAIC should be viewed as a possible tool for managing change. Created to make the transgression from one framework of operations to another, the model is an impeccable addition to the essential corporate processes (Pyzdek & Keller 2014). By definition, the strategy implies that the following steps should be taken: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. The Define state requires that the primary targets and the key problems that will have to be addressed should be defined.

The Measure stage, in its turn, helps determine the degree to which the issue has progressed, while the Analyze tools will locate the gravity of the issue and the chances of success. The Improvement phase means applying the designed strategy to the corporate setting, and the Control process implies that the change should be sustained by using the appropriate supervision strategies, such a regular reports from the staff, audits, etc.

the company under analysis, a combination of reports and surveys, the latter helping monitor the engagement rates among the staff members, is preferable. The reason behind the use of a combined approach is that two essential variables (i.e., the EE rates and the company’s’ performance in the target market) need to be controlled (Evans 2016).

Ensuring Levels of Employee Engagement in Organisations: Programs for Remedial Changes

Measuring Employee Engagement Levels: Alternative Tools

Gallup Q12 Instrument. It should be borne in mind that there are a plethora of tools for assessing the EE rates. The Gallup Q12 Engagement Survey is one of them; according to the official description, the tool incorporates 12 questions that are used to determine the staff’s engagement rates and, therefore, locate the emergent issues so that they could be addressed properly:

Gallup researchers spent decades writing and testing hundreds of questions, because their wording and order mean everything when it comes to accurately measuring engagement. Their research yielded Gallup’s Q12 survey: the 12 questions that measure the most important elements of employee engagement. (Gallup Q12 employee engagement survey 2016, para. 3)

Indeed, the design of the tool seems quite appropriate for the test that is supposed to assess the EE rates. For example the fact that the authors of the device use the Likert scale top help the staff members locate the appropriate answers can be considered a step forward in assessing the EE levels. Since the Likert scale helps look at the EE issue from a quantitative perspective, it may be used as the means of comparing the effects of the strategies used to enhance EE in the context of an organisation. As a result, forecasts regarding the future EE changes can be made based on the tendencies that the current data shows.

It could be argued, though, that, being rooted in the staff’s emotions to a significant degree, EE can hardly be predicted accurately. However, as long as the company does not experience sudden shocks, the tendencies in the EE changes can be located with a significant amount of precision. Therefore, the accuracy of the forecasts made with the help of a qualitative analysis of the Gallup Q12 test results is bearable.

Scientific Integrity, Priorities, and Political Sensitivities. As stressed above, to maintain the EE rates high, one should consider creating the environment, in which the staff members will feel most comfortable. Consequently, it is important that the work-related processes should not imply facing any cultural or political controversies. Herein lies the need for promoting a combination of scientific integrity and political sensitivities in the organisation. The former can be facilitated by promoting corporate engagement mentioned above.

Meeting the political sensitivity issue will be possible once the principles of tolerance are accepted in the company’s design. For this purpose, the levels of diversity must be increased. In my organisation, the process of increasing diversity is going on, with new members adding to the cosmopolitan environment that the managers have created (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2002).

Enhancing Employee Engagement Levels: Examples and Their Analysis

At present, my organisation plans to increase the engagement rates by focusing closer on the financial incentives. Although the general course that the company is taking can be deemed as quite sensible, there are a few suggestions that can improve the current strategy and contribute to an even faster integration of the employees into the organisation, as well as a more efficient acceptable of its values and philosophy.

Specifically, the use of public appraisals combined with an improvement in the current benefit package must be interpreted as the most adequate steps to take. Although the present package includes the traditional elements that the U.S. employee are entitled to based on the American legislation, offering more chances to the members of the organisation might build the premises for a faster and a stronger psychological contract with the staff members.

As far as the public appraisal are concerned, emotional connection with the personnel is crucial to maintain consistent engagement rates (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2016c). By acknowledging the staff members’ efforts publicly, the firm will make a very powerful statement about valuing its personnel as human resources. Therefore, it must be viewed as an essential addition to the current corporate HR framework.

Evidence of Plans for My Organisation: Opportunities to Chase

Despite the problems that exist in my company’s design and that are evident to an unaided eye, there are signs of improvement and concern for the EE levels. For instance, the firm has been exploring the opportunities for managing the data in a more efficient manner. The corporation managers have been thinking of adopting the concept of information sharing in the firm’s design so that the company members could access the necessary data easily.

However, the recent plans are quite hard to implement because of the impediments that stand in their way, the lack of technological awareness among the personnel being the primary reason for concern. The employees need extensive training to acquire the skills related to cloud databases usage, as well as the management of online security. The latter concerns not only preventing cyberattacks but also remembering the basics of online security such as signing out of the corporate sites so that the login and password details could not be stolen, the ability to detect a spam letter, etc. Thus, information leakage can be prevented successfully.

Additionally, the concept of information sharing as a data management strategy should be promoted on every level of the firm’s operations. It is essential to create a free data flow in the context of the company so that the personnel could stop being so competitive and feel secure about their efforts being recognised. Moreover, as soon as the employees learn to use the data to link the information from different departments and create a unique model that will help satisfy the needs of the target audience, a rapid increase in the company’s performance rates is expected.

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Introduction

The goal of middle management is to implement the organization’s strategy in creating a comfortable working environment and monitoring the working process. Effective leadership may lead to a high rate of employees’ dedication to work and, consequently, result in enhanced employee engagement. This paper features a discussion on the solutions that may improve these issues and addresses the global aspects associated with the topic. It concludes that global management practices may vary significantly but require the same solutions to enhance individuals’ performance.

Improving Employee Engagement

It is evident that a high level of employee engagement contributes to the organization’s performance, improves the quality of its products and services, and enhances customers’ experience. Swinscoe reports that companies with a highly engaged workforce show more than a 20% increase in productivity and profitability, almost 50% decrease in safety incidents, up to 65% lower turnover rate, and about 40% fewer quality issues. It means that enhancing employee engagement is vital for organizations that aim to achieve excellent performance.

To address the problem of low employee engagement, it is necessary to discuss the root causes of it. They may include a lack of motivation, poor relationships with colleagues and employers, inability to affect existing policies, and low level of education. It is evident that middle managers can modify and eliminate the majority of these issues. Notably, possible solutions do not require significant effort and financial investments.

Many solutions can be suggested to enhance employee engagement based on discussed problems. First, it is vital to improving individuals’ motivation by developing a reward system for meeting the organization’s goals and significant milestones. It may also be crucial to collect employees’ opinions on what benefits they would like to have, such as flexible work hours, paid leaves, and retirement plans. Second, to enhance the relationships among employees, middle managers should encourage cooperation and promote communication.

It means that leaders should assign tasks to groups of people rather than single individuals, organize activities that will ensure bonding, and invite workers to participate in discussions about existing problems or policies. It is also vital for middle managers to establish a comfortable environment for the employees where they can share their views with the employers freely.

The inability to affect existing policies may be one of the main issues leading to low employee management. Individuals should feel that their opinions and suggestions matter and that they can promote change. If middle managers do not consider workers’ concerns, employees may have no motivation to improve their performance and the quality of services. To eliminate this problem, leaders should encourage individuals to report on possible challenges associated with their tasks, as well as the limitations of existing policies. This measure will not only result in enhanced employees’ dedication to work, but also potentially improve the organization’s performance and establish good relationships between employers and their staff.

Although a lack of education may not depend on middle managers’ work directly, they can work on the elimination of this issue as well. They may establish regular training programs to ensure that individuals can manage changes in their tasks and policies, as well as encourage employees to discuss challenging issues with their colleagues or managers. Moreover, the organization can provide financial support for the workers that want to receive additional training in the field. This measure will show individuals that the company is willing to invest in the motivated workforce, as well as increase the quality of their performance.

Global Practices in Employee Engagement

To discuss the topic of employee engagement and middle management, it is vital to understand the global trends in the field. Current trends in workers’ engagement show the decrease in the rates, revealing that only about 25% of employees show high dedication to work, which means that the global engagement score is less than 65% (“Trends in Global Employee”). The report by Bloom et al. shows that the US presents the highest average management score, followed by Germany, Japan, and Sweden (15).

At the same time, in African countries, the level of employee engagement and the quality of middle management is the lowest. The study measured leaders’ behaviors that led to an increase in workers’ productivity. The authors conducted a survey among middle managers asking them whether they analyze employees’ behavior and use the collected data to suggest changes in policies. Moreover, the questions concerned reward systems and goal-setting strategies the leaders introduced.

It is necessary to note that global practices for middle management in employee engagement differ. Zhao and Pan report that to ensure effective management, companies consider cultural peculiarities that may include collectivism or individualism, the avoidance of uncertainty, the distance of power, the role of masculinity or femininity, as well as the orientation on long- or short-term goals (216).

For example, in the countries where there is a high level of individualism, like the United States and Canada, employees are likely to be motivated by personal benefits, such as promotion and autonomy. On the contrary, in collectivist countries, such as China and Japan, individuals aim to achieve collective goals and can be stimulated by receiving support from their colleagues. A high level of masculinity, which can be observed in Germany, means that workers are prone to accept traditional social roles in the division of tasks, while in the cultures where femininity is more prevalent, such as Sweden, individuals are motivated by flexible roles (Zhao and Pan 216).

These differences suggest that global practices in the field of employee engagement vary significantly. For example, in China, middle managers implement work-oriented policies that are inflexible and require individuals to work five days a week in addition to night or weekday overtime (Zhao and Pan 217). It means that in this country, the role of middle managers is to motivate people to participate in the collective effort of developing high-quality products or services.

For Chinese employers, this task may be less challenging than for those of Thailand, due to individuals’ dedication to work dictated by their culture. Moreover, middle managers should consider employees’ living conditions, as this factor is associated with the quality of their performance. Thus, in countries where individuals have higher economic advantages, workers may expect that the organizations should not only cover their basic financial needs but provide other benefits. It means that the role of middle management in these cultures is to ensure that employees show high dedication by developing reward systems and establishing a good working environment. These measures aim to increase the level of employee engagement.

Practices in the Financial Sector

Middle management in the financial sector is a significant factor as this field is associated with changes and rapid development. For leaders, it is vital to ensure that the organization is capable of responding to changing circumstances, new trends, and clients’ needs. It means that middle managers should be ready to promote innovative decisions and develop their leadership skills in the area of employee engagement.

Global practices in the financial sector related to middle management depend on the factors described above, as well as the state of countries’ economies. As working in the financial industry requires employees to perform their tasks with the highest level of efficiency to avoid possible mistakes, employers should provide them with opportunities to enhance their performance. Middle managers should ensure that workers focus on customers’ interests, consider their concerns, and strive to eliminate them.

It is also vital for leaders to provide individuals with the opportunities to use the innovative approach as it may increase their engagement in work. However, in countries with a decreased level of economic development, employees may show a lower level of education and training, which may affect their performance and readiness to implement innovative methods (Van Uden et al. 17).

The differences in global practices in the financial sector may be demonstrated in the examples of Finland and Japan. The Federation of Finnish Financial Services reports that for Finnish society, this industry plays a significant role; it has been stable for the last decade (4). The majority of employees are women, more than 40% of them have worked in the financial sector for more than 20 years (Federation of Finnish Financial Services 4).

These data show that the level of workers’ dedication may be high, which shows that middle management in the country is effective. As for Japan, Yamamoto reports most of the employees are also female; being involved in the country’s financial sector is associated with long work hours (10). The study also shows that many individuals report having mental health problems caused by poor working conditions and inappropriate management practices. It shows that in Japan, middle management in the financial industry may be ineffective and does not consider employees’ needs.

These examples reveal that although there are differences in global management practices that result in increased and decreased levels of employee engagement, the strategies for improvement may be similar for all cultures. In Japan, individuals may feel that they cannot affect changes in the existing policy of long work hours, which results in higher turnover rates and health problems. To resolve this issue, middle managers should encourage employees to share their concerns and suggest the schedules that would improve their performance and reduce their stress levels.

At the same time, it is vital to consider cultural aspects, as leaders should note that individuals may feel uncomfortable discussing their problems, as well as fell concerned about losing their jobs. This fact shows that enhancing employee engagement and dedication may be a challenging task for managers that require the understanding of their needs, possible challenges, and the factors that lead to decreased performance.

Conclusion

The report shows that middle management plays a significant role in employee engagement. The global practices associated with the issue vary and lead to the differences between individuals’ dedication to work and the quality of their performance. The evidence shows that cultural aspects affect the solutions middle managers can implement to ensure improved results. The factors that influence employee engagement may be, however, the same for different countries.

Works Cited

Bloom, Nicholas, et al. The New Empirical Economics of Management. 2014. Web.

Federation of Finnish Financial Services. Work in the Financial Services Sector. 2015. Web.

Swinscoe, Adrian. “How Middle Managers Can Boost Employee Engagement and Customer Experience.” Forbes. 2018. Web.

Trends in Global Employee Engagement: Global Anxiety Erodes Employee Engagement Gains. 2017. Web.

Van Uden, Annelies, et al. Human Capital and Innovation in Developing Countries: A Firm Level Study. 2014. Web.

Yamamoto, Isamu. An Assessment of the Japanese Financial Services Sector. 2015. Web.

Zhao, Binglu, and Ying Pan. “Cross-Cultural Employee Motivation in International Companies.” Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, vol. 5, 2017, pp. 215-222.