Human Resource Development: Sustaining Organization through Meaningful

Work and Employee Engagement

Summary
 Human resource development is a process of unleashing human expertise
through organization development and personnel training and development for
the purpose of improving performance.
 Meaningful work contains themes of human development, this variable
represents an opportunity for human resource development practitioners to
increase levels of employee engagement as a strategic leverage point within
organizations.
 Employee engagement has spawned a great deal of interest and activity since its
inception in the organizational behavior literature.

INTRODUCTION
Meaningful work is by no means a nascent concept. Work allows the expression
of imagination, ingenuity, and creativity. Employees consider jobs that are more
interesting, emit feelings of accomplishment, promote helpfulness and contribute to
people’s lives to be critical in achieving meaningful work. More recently, fulfillment,
autonomy, satisfaction, engagement, working relations and learning have been
identified as important in a meaningful job. The interest in meaningful work is teamed
with positive individual and organizational consequences with regard to work.
Why should meaningful work be related to engagement? Attaining meaning is
very important to individuals. Employees should be more engaged in work that they
view as personally meaningful. Meaning has been linked to well-being. This link is
critical, given that engagement presumably has affective component. However, the
nature of work seems to be changing in ways that are less meaningful. Perhaps as a
result, levels of work ethic and work centrality have declined over time. These changes
have implications for related levels of engagement. Since people spend many hours at
work, it becomes the environment in which they engage in goal-orientated activities, and
aim to find meaning. In addition, evidence has been brought forward to suggest that
money is losing its power as a central motivator, partially due to the general population
realizing that above a minimum level necessary for survival, money adds little to their
subjective well-being. People have come to define themselves and be socially defined
by their work.
Meaningful work can yield benefits for organizations and lead to positive work
outcomes such as satisfied, engaged and committed employees, individual and
organizational fulfillment, productivity, retention and loyalty. Managers have to rethink
ways of improving productivity and performance at work, due to the diverse, and in
some instances escalating, needs of employee to uphold their interest in and enjoyment
of working. Further, psychological meaningfulness predicts work engagement, whilst
psychological meaningfulness and work engagement predict organizational
commitment. Although meaning, engagement and commitment at work are crucial for
the individual, organizational and societal development, the problem persists as the
study of meaningful work lacks integration into the work context. The meaning attached
to work, experiences of meaningful work, work engagement, and organizational
commitment can predict important work outcomes.

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Human Resource Development is the frameworks for helping employees develop
their skills, knowledge, and abilities, which in turn improves an organization's
effectiveness. It helps organizations develop their workforce through employee training
and career development which improves organizational effectiveness and performance.
A strong Human Resource Development program can improve company
productivity and profitability while increasing employee satisfaction. Human Resource
Development is actually one of the most significant opportunities that employees look
for when they are considering taking a new position. It helps employees feel that their
company is invested in them, which creates a more loyal workforce and also makes
them more accepting of change when they’re exposed to new skills, information and
practices on a regular basis.
It may include many different opportunities, activities, and employee benefits, such
as performance management and development, employee coaching, mentoring,
succession planning, tuition assistance, and organizational development.
MEANINGFUL WORK
Meaning is a concept that is unavoidably linked to one’s existence either in a
positive or negative way and encompasses the workplace as an inevitable part of one’s
existence. It allows individuals to transcend, either through promoting positive social
relationships or connecting to a higher power. Additionally, individuals are bound to find
meaning in their lives when they view their lives as purposeful, significant and
understandable.
Meaning in life is more likely to constitute positive aspects; meaningfulness is
often described as what individuals lack in their life, what they yearn for and what they
seek to find. It is also a determinant of psychological well-being and therefore it is
important for individuals to find meaning in life.
The meaning a worker finds could be “like a little flame or a glimmer within that
excites them and motivates them to get up every morning, come in and contribute.
Sometimes it’s also the people around them,” Nelson said.
 How important is meaningful work to professionals? A survey released in 2018
by leadership development platform BetterUp Labs found that 90% of the more than
2,000 professionals surveyed said they would give up almost a quarter of their future
earnings in exchange for work that is always meaningful to them. Furthermore, the
survey found that employees who find their work meaningful are less likely to seek
employment elsewhere. They also work more hours and take fewer days off. However,
according to a 2019 SHRM article titled, “The Search for Meaning,” most employees
believe their work is only half as meaningful as it could be.
Employee Engagement
For any human resources staff, employee engagement and its role in the
workplace is of major importance.  Employee engagement is what is used to measure
the sort of loyalty that any given employee has to their job or position, as well as
towards co-workers and company culture. It is important, as one’s loyalty can affect the
productivity and wellness of the company. Positive engagement means that these
employees are connected to their job, loyal, and willing to put in the extra work
necessary to accomplish company goals
The term employee engagement is seemingly as attractive for organizations as it
is for the professional societies and consulting groups who promote it. The outcomes of
employee engagement are advocated to be exactly what most organizations are
seeking: employees who are more productive, profitable, safer, healthier, less likely to
turnover, less likely to be absent, and more willing to engage in discretionary efforts.
Furthermore, claims have been made that engaged employees average higher
customer satisfaction ratings and generate increased.
As professional societies, consulting groups, and organizations embrace the
employee engagement concept, drawn to its potential to solve intractable problems, two
major challenges have surfaced. The first challenge revolves around what employee
engagement is and how it should be defined. Questions are being asked about whether
the concept of engagement is just a repackaging of employee satisfaction and
commitment, or whether companies should seek active displays of engagement as part
of their pursuit of organizational outcomes. Others offer reinterpretations of the concept
as work passion, organizational commitment, or job involvement, often in an effort to
differentiate their offerings. Organizations are seeking solutions to important
organizational challenge but before solutions are developed, the concept needs a
consistent definition and clear interpretation that provides coordination and clarity
across several academic and practitioner disciplines.
There is a direct correlation between the level of engagement an employee
demonstrates and the amount of discretionary effort they are offer. An engaged
employee is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about their work, and thus will
act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests. This translates to a greater
experience for our customers, which generates a loyal following. Loyal customers
translate to revenue and profits.
Psychological meaningfulness, work engagement and organisational
commitment
Engagement is important for managers to cultivate given that disengagement, or
alienation, is central to the problem of workers’ lack of commitment .Work engagement
leads to positive work outcomes such as organizational commitment. Commitment in
the workplace has evolved to encompass a broad range of types, such as engagement,
attachment, commitment and involvement.
Wiener defines organizational commitment as the totality of internalized
normative pressure to act in a way that meets organizational interests. Organizational
commitment involves the willingness of employees to apply higher efforts on behalf of
the organization, a desire to stay with the organization and acceptance of the goals and
values of the organization. It constitutes the bond between the employee and the
organization.
Implications
First, meaningful work characteristics should be audited on employee surveys.
Items should measure levels of self-actualizing work, realization of purpose, goals, and
values, social impact, feelings of personal accomplishment, and perceived ability to
meet one’s highest career goals within one’s organization. Similar questions yielded the
strongest correlations with nearly every employee outcome measured in this study.
HRD professionals should also examine relationships among meaningful work
characteristics and employee outcomes in their survey data to confirm these links within
their own organization. Correlation analyses, regression analyses, and separate
analyses by department could help to prioritize actions. Second, HRD professionals
could ensure that opportunities for meaningful work are clearly communicated and
understood within organizations. Employees may perceive low levels of meaningful
work on employee surveys. Yet, such perceptions may be inaccurate (see Spector,
1992). Strategies may be crafted to rectify this problem. For example, job descriptions
could be revisited with employees. Their attention could be drawn to tasks and activities
that, for example, support the realization of their full potential as individuals. Thus there
may be “unused” opportunities for meaningful work within each employee’s purview.
Employees may also not be aware of the objective social impacts of their work.
Managers could assist direct reports in analyzing their jobs to understand the cause
(i.e., proximal) and effect (i.e., distal) relationships that exist between their jobs and the
overall vision and strategy. Programs could also be created to develop deeper social
connections among employees and clients. This could lead to a number of outcomes,
including a more thorough understanding of individual employee impacts. For example,
client satisfaction surveys could include questions on client impact. The results could be
shared with employees. Client testimonial stories and videos could be shared with
employees at annual meetings and town halls. Both employees and clients could
participate in focus groups on client service improvements. Finally, employees and
clients could be “twinned” on the basis of personality, values, and/or interests, and have
regular contact to discuss product and service improvements. In all of the examples,
above, employees would experience greater exposure to the human recipients of their
work. HRD professionals may also support employees in changing their mindsets about
their jobs. Personality traits and cognitive styles may predispose employees to
perceiving higher or lower levels of meaningful work. For example, perceptions of job
autonomy have long been linked to employee attitudes and behavior (Terry &
Jimmieson, 1999; Theorell, 2003). These perceptions may stem, in part, from
personality traits such as locus of control (Wang, Bowling, & Eschleman, 2010).
Mindfulness, Downloaded from adh.sagepub.com by guest on January 16, 2012 Fairlie
519 in general, entails a greater attention and awareness around one’s characteristic
cognitive and affective styles (Brown & Ryan, 2003). HRD professionals could assist
employees in breaking down their jobs, considering alternative ways of perceiving them,
and ultimately shifting their perspectives on them (e.g., from “work” to “play”; Langer &
Moldoveanu, 2000). Team assessments of personality traits and cognitive styles could
inform these activities, if amenable to employees. Third, HRD professionals could
develop training programs to assist managers in understanding models of human
meaning that underlie meaningful work (e.g., Wong, 1998). Managers could use models
of meaning as a “lens” to understand how their decisions and behavior will impact
employee engagement and performance. Specifically, typical managerial work activities
(Borman & Brush, 1993) could be reviewed and executed differently to promote higher
levels of meaningful work among direct reports. For example, developing and mentoring
people is a common dimension of managerial work (Yukl, Wall, & Lepsinger, 1990).
Managers could use theories of self-actualization to inform their employee development
activities and ensure that development is equally employee- and organization-centered.
Fourth, HRD professionals could revise career development programs to better assist
employees in achieving their long-term career goals within their current organization.
This appears to be a feature of meaningful work. These long-term career goals may be
closely aligned with employees’ sense of self or identity and, as such, exist independent
of any one employer. While long-term career-tracking is evident in many organizations,
some programs are likely more organization-centered than employeecentered. HRD
professionals with a deep understanding of human meaning could ensure that career
tracking programs are also aligned with the life purposes, goals, and values of individual
employees. These ideas are central to both protean (Hall, 1996) and boundaryless
(Arthur, 1994) career concepts. These concepts entail a more subjective perspective on
career progression and are focused on self-fulfillment in line with one’s own personal
goals rather than externally defined goals. Fifth, HRD professionals could assist
managers and direct reports in their collaborative efforts to redesign jobs. For example,
job crafting (Berg, Wrzesniewski, & Dutton, 2010) and brainstorming techniques could
be employed to append job descriptions with tasks and responsibilities that provide
meaningful work as well as serve organizational strategy. Employees, for example,
could be asked for ideas on how they could have a larger impact on people. In terms of
self-actualization, employees could be asked to imagine what they would do for the rest
of their lives if they didn’t have to work for money. Themes could be distilled from these
exercises, and jobs could be redesigned to address these themes in ways that are
faithful to the needs of both employees and organizations. Finally, HRD professionals
could promote meaningfulness in employees’ nonwork lives. Studies show that less
than 8% of individuals’ life longings are work-related (Kotter-Grühn et al., 2009).
Surveys, focus groups, and interviews could be used to identify the nature of these
other longings and inform ways to support them. While this is not an employer’s
responsibility, research shows that contributing directly to Downloaded from
adh.sagepub.com by guest on January 16, 2012 520 Advances in Developing Human
Resources 13(4) employees’ nonwork lives can lead to higher organizational
commitment (Cohen, 1997). While some supports may be monetary (e.g., increased
benefits), organizations may benefit more by sponsoring activities that directly address,
for example, employee needs for social impact. For example, employees could engage
in several paid days of community work per year. Nonwork time during compressed
work weeks and sabbaticals could be used for continuing education. A suite of
opportunities could be predeveloped in alignment with various aspects of meaning for
the sake of cost and efficiency

Conclusion
Meaningful work characteristics were shown to be strong correlates and unique
predictors of engagement and other important employee outcomes. These
characteristics were also more strongly related to these outcomes, relative to other work
characteristics. Yet, meaningful work is underrepresented in many models and
measures of work characteristics. This observation, together with the current findings,
suggest that meaningful work characteristics are an overlooked source of employee
motivation and engagement within organizations. HRD professionals may play a critical
role in promoting meaningful work within organizations.

https://unicornhro.com/blog/employee-engagement-and-what-it-means-for-hr/
https://www.hrexchangenetwork.com/employee-engagement/articles/employee-
engagement-everything-you-need-to-know
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-human-resource-development-hrd-1918142
https://www.indeed.com/recruitment/c/info/human-resource-development

There are a number of best practices for how you can approach training with your
employees.
Have a facilitator meet with employees weekly: A great way to provide internal training
is to have a presenter meet with your employees in a group setting each week for two-
hour training sessions. The presenter should be familiar with your organization’s culture
and language.
Manageable amounts of information: It’s important to give employees information in
amounts that are manageable so they can immediately practice and implement it in their
own work. It also ensures they can discuss what they learned about the lesson they
applied in their next training session.
Consistent feedback: Request feedback from employees on an ongoing basis in order
to continually improve upon your program.
Keep learning styles in mind: Keep in mind that employees have different learning
styles, including visual, auditory and kinesthetic. While some employees may find
spoken information beneficial, other employees—kinesthetic learners—may need to
practice the new skills on the job before they can retain it. Consider approaching
training in a layered style that accommodates all learning types, such as discussion,
lectures and case study practice.
Use positive reinforcement: Consider using verbal reaffirmation, a digital badge of a
certificate to reward employees who show progress and encourage them to be continual
learners