Research Paper on "Employee Engagement"

Research Paper 7 pages (2199 words) Sources: 20

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Employee Engagement

This research report intends to analyze the fundamental concept of employee engagement as an instrument for facilitating high-level business purposes. In the literature review part, it will provide description of the practical and philosophical connections between employee engagement, managerial leadership, strategic aspirations and HR strategies focused on infrastructure maintenance and also the development of human resource management (HRM) competitive differentiators. Finally, it will explore the critical contribution of employee engagement as a route to strategic, reputational and competitive excellence within a high-performance working environment and make conclusions.

Table of Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Analysis and Discussion

References

Employee Engagement

Introduction

An employee who keeps himself fully engaged and passionate about his work is known as an Engaged Employee in the world of business. (Fernandez, 2007) Several studies have discussed advantages of employee engagement for an organization. Hence, the present study intends to investigate empirical and philosophical impact of managerial leadership, strategic aspirations and HR strategies on employee engagement. Moreover, it will discuss the importance of employee engagement as a way to bring strategic, reputational and competitive excellence within a high-performance working environment and draw conclusions.

Literature Review

Concept of Employee Engagement

Harter, Schmidt and Hayes (2002) described that Engaged Employees of an organization are actually motivated and charmed by their work; they are dedicated and fascinated by their work. These types of employees are concerned about the reputation, production and performance of their company and are eager to endow their limitless efforts for the organizational success. In the same publication, Frankish (2011) recommends organizations to execute retention plan such that they can retain their top talent. This fact is also confirmed by other researchers like Vita (2007) who reported that a dearth of capable employees is a rapidly spread trend in today's organizations.

Employee Engagement as an instrument for facilitating high-level business purposes

It is understandable that engaged employees turn out to be more productive for organizations than their disengaged coworkers. For instance in an American company, it was found that their disengaged executives in a particular department produced 28% less revenue than their coworkers who were highly engaged. It was also found that actively engaged employees do not just increase organizational productivity results -- but also, they possess the ability to uphold good results. According to Roth (2010) it is important to understand the difference of compliance and commitment, and an engaged workforce is always needed by the organizations to improve organizational performance.

Connections between employee engagement, managerial leadership, strategic aspirations and HR strategies

Lucey, Bateman and Hines (2005) revealed that employee engagement is affected by conducts and gestures of managerial leadership within the organization. According to Konrad (2006) an effective managerial leadership, is required to carry out five things to develop a highly engaged atmosphere at workplace. They must:

1. Plan out efforts by utilizing professional strategy.

2. Give desirable power to employees.

3. Encourage and support teamwork and cooperation.

4. Provide guidance to people how to grow and develop.

5. Offer support and acknowledgment where needed.

Currently the most widely discussed issues within the world of human resource are how to increase human productivity and employee engagement in organizations. (Fisher, Schoenfeldt and Shaw, 2006) Saks (2006) explained that an organization needs to possess several qualities to be successful; these include monetary and physical resources, marketing competence, and human resources. The feature most expected to provide prospective competitive advantage is human resources and the way human resources have been handled. Organizations can copy or imitate other organizations to improve productivity, equipments, advertising and marketing. Even the ideas of effective management can be stolen from other successful organizations, but it is most difficult for organizations to implement effective strategies to attract, hold, and stimulate employees.

Lockwood (2005) in an article for Society for Human Resource Management, described employee engagement as the position where employees are emotionally and mentally dedicated to their workplace and their dedication can be evaluated by three primary behaviors:

* Speaking optimistically regarding organization with coworkers and do the same with potential employees and customers.

* Having an extreme aspiration to become and then remain a member of their company, in spite of having opportunities to work somewhere else.

* Putting an additional effort and exhibiting conducts that lead to business success.

Employee engagement was examined by Crabtree (2004) and has been revealed to possess a statistical connection with efficiency, productivity, employee preservation, security, and customer satisfaction. (Fleming, Coffman and Harter, 2005) These connections are absent in majority of the most traditional organizations.

Critical Contributions of Employee Engagement to the workplace

Engaged employees work with enthusiasm and feel an intense affiliation with their company. Their strategic aspirations motivate them in becoming innovative and take the organization to the next step (Gallup, 2004). According to a survey, disengaged employees cost $300 billion a year to American organizations. One major example of increased productivity due to employee engagement is DHL that also received Carrot Culture Award due its increased productivity. (Business Wire, 2007) The company gave away rewards and recognition to increase employee engagement, attraction and retention that eventually improve overall productivity, and brought success to the organization.

Nowadays companies are putting efforts to gain more advantage with less input, progress faster along with improving quality and standards of customer service without spending any additional costs. Recent investigation has proved that employee engagement bring positive results for the organization's financial performance. In a study of fifty companies from all over the world, it was revealed that employee engagement caused an increased operating earnings, net profit and earnings per share (EPS) for the organizations. (Fisher, Schoenfeldt and Shaw, 2006)

Analysis and Discussion

The present study revealed that business advantages of having engaged employees are extensive. They can make a substantial role in gaining customer satisfaction, improving product or service quality and brining cost efficiency. It is widely accepted both by educationalists and practitioners that engaged employees are those who possess emotional attachment and cognitive alertness for their work and workplace. (Zinger 2010) Since more than half of the engaged employees prefer to stay with the same organization for long time, it also contribute to employee retention within organization that saves a lot of money that is spent in hiring new workforce. Contrary to this is the not-engaged workforce who is basically "left behind." They spend the same time at workplace as their engaged coworkers but with no energy or zeal. These employees usually remain discontented at work, and actually cause harm to the company.

Employee engagement affect the way of employees think about their work. Engaged employees trust that their hard work can bring a prominent positive impact on their workplace. Self-belief in their talent, expertise, and professionalism act as an influential interpreter of their performance and productivity.

If an organization is suffering due to disengagement of its employees, then it indicates that the time has arrived where leaders of the organization need to change their own leadership behavior. (Flinchbaugh 2010) Nothing in this world can demand for more engagement and better performance from the employees; however all one can do is, increase the extent to which the employees are engaged in their work. Organizations tend to realize that the difference is not possible merely by developing brand name or bringing latest technology to the organization. But, they also need to motivate their workforce to go the extra mile and show enthusiasm about the prospect of their workplace.

It has been observed that it is vital for leaders of organizations to build an environment that gives opportunity to employees to utilize their full potential. (Gruman, Jamie, Saks and Alan 2011) Business owners have nothing to do with relationship between leaders and rest of employees in an organization. Rather, leaders are supposed to create an environment where employees are always willing to listen and respoond to the organization leaders.

For a given organization, the main reason, or requirement for improvement of human performance, could be because of a lack of information, motivation, physical resources, the composition or procedure, a lack of details, or professional environment within the organization. After determining the main cause, the second task is working on selecting a solution, executing the solution, and then analyzes the results. Hence, both human performance improvement and employee engagement have come up as a hot issue for consulting firms and in the popular business press. (Macey and Schneider, 2008) It is linked with the effectiveness of an organization and can perk up human productivity. Nevertheless, employee engagement is a multifaceted topic with numerous related concerns from satisfaction of employees to leadership trust and employee progress. Research by Bakker and Schaufeli (2008) revealed that employee satisfaction and employee engagement are two factors that are extremely important for organizations in order create positive outcomes for the business. Large number of examples has proved the practical implication of engaged employees in success of an organization. (Tartell 2012)

A popular question related to employee engagement is that: "Does employee engagement plays a vital role in achieving high level business purposes?' Today, organizations… READ MORE

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