DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SEMESTER 3

DHRM301
MANPOWER PLANNING &
SOURCING

Unit 11: Talent Engagement 1

DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

Unit 11
Talent Engagement
Table of Contents

SL Fig No / Table SAQ /

Topic Page No
No / Graph Activity
1 Introduction - -
3
1.1 Objectives - -
2 Definition – Talent Engagement & Fully - - 3–4
Engaged Talent
3 Importance of Talent Engagement - - 4
4 Driving Factors of Talent Engagement - 1 5
5 Engagement Levels - 2

5.1 Engaged Talent - -

6
5.2 Not Engaged Talent - -

5.3 Actively Disengaged Employee - -

6 Talent Engagement Model 1 3 7–9
7 Process for Improving Talent Engagement. 2 - 9
8 Talent Engagement vs. Performance and - - 10
Retention
9 Talent Engagement - - 10 – 11
10 Entrepreneurship - - 11
11 Intrapreneurship - 4

11.1 Intrapreneurship and Employee - - 12 – 13

Engagement
11.2 Employee Needs - -
12 Summary - - 14
13 Glossary - - 14
14 Terminal Questions - - 15
15 Answers - - 15 – 16
16 Case Study - - 17 – 19

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

1. INTRODUCTION
In the previous units you have learnt about talent development and management and how
it’s crucial in achieving organizational goals and objectives. In this unit, you will learn about
the concept of talent engagement.
Over the years one of the toughest challenges confronting the CEOs, HR and business leaders
of many organizations, has been-how to ensure that every day, when their employees check-
in, they do so not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. In short, how energized,
engaged and committed those employees are as a result;
Engagement at work was conceptualized by Kahn, (1990) as the ‘harnessing of
organizational members’ selves to their work roles. In talent engagement, people employ
and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances.
Talent is a key asset of an organization. The talent of the workforce determines the level of
productivity and effectiveness of an organization. Any organization, small or large , if it
expects to grow and prosper, it should give talent retention issue the top priority. Any failure
in doing so might bring a steady decline or slowdown of the organization. Even during
recession, organizations need to focus on talent retention strategies. HR is responsible for
talent reviews and talent engagement.
1.1 Objectives:
After studying this unit, you will be able to:
❖ Define talent engagement.
❖ Summarize the different levels of talent engagement.
❖ Discuss talent engagement model.
❖ Explain the process of improving talent management

2. DEFINITION – TALENT ENGAGEMENT & FULLY ENGAGED TALENT

Talent engagement is the concept which explains the degree to which a talent (employee) is
emotionally bonded to his organization and passionate about his work. Talent engagement
is the level of commitment and involvement a person has towards his organization and its
values.

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

An engaged talent (employee) is well aware of the organization's business context, and how
to work with colleagues to improve performance in his/her job and thereby benefit the
organization. Talent engagement forms a critical ingredient for an individual as well as the
organization’s success. Talent engagement is strongly influenced by the depth of the
leadership and its qualities as well as the organization’s culture.
Talent engagement creates an atmosphere for employees to go beyond job responsibilities
to delight customers and promote business. It is a powerful retention strategy. The definition
of a fully engaged talent might be any of the following:
• One who is intellectually & emotionally bonded with an organization
• One who gives hundred percent effort
• One who feels passionately about achieving organizations goals
• One who lives the values of the organization

3. IMPORTANCE OF TALENT ENGAGEMENT

Managers should essentially cultivate engagement in the organization because failure to do

that causes a lack of commitment and motivation amongst employees. Talent engagement is
linked to talent turnover, customer satisfaction, loyalty and profitability.
The importance of talent engagement It helps
• To create and sustain world class processes
• To contribute greatly to society at large
• To l lower stress and allow healthier lives
• To Achieve greater work-life balance
• It Allows more peace on earth
• To increase ability to attract new talent
• To i increase ability to innovate

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

4. DRIVING FACTORS OF TALENT ENGAGEMENT

The driving factors of talent engagement are:

• Employer’s ability to create the conditions that promote talent engagement
• Employees own unique psychological makeup and experiences
• Nature of interaction between talented employees at all levels in the organization
The above listed aspects are the responsibility of an organization and they have to create an
environment and culture which is conducive to this partnership.
Some of the other driving factors are:
• Higher productivity
• Higher employee commitment
• Higher profits
• Higher client satisfaction

SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS - 1

1. In talent engagement, people employ and express themselves physically,

cognitively, and _________ during role performances.
2. Talent engagement is the concept which explains the degree to which a talent
(employee) is emotionally bonded to his/her organization and ________about his
work.
3. Managers should cultivate engagement in the organization because failure to do
that causes a lack of__________ and motivation amongst employees.
4. Employer’s ability to create conditions that promote talent________is a
driving factor.

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

5. ENGAGEMENT LEVELS

Studies revealed that there are 3 levels of engagement:

5.1 Engaged Talent
Engaged talent performs consistently at high levels. Engaged talent is always ready to find
out people’s expectations from them or their role so that they can meet and exceed them.
They are more curious about their company and their position in it. They work
wholeheartedly using their talent and strengths at the workplace every day for the
betterment of their organization. They work towards driving innovation in the organization
and for moving it forward.
5.2 Not Engaged Talent
This is a kind of talent that tends to concentrate more on the tasks allotted to them rather
than the goals and outcomes expected. They have to be repeatedly told about their
responsibilities, so that they can complete their work. Consequently, the focus shifts from
accomplishing tasks rather than achieving an outcome. Employees who are not engaged tend
to feel that their contributions are being overlooked, and their potential is not being tapped.
The reason behind them feeling like this is that they do not have productive relationships
with their managers or colleagues, and they do not produce any positive results for the
organization. .
5.3 Actively Disengaged Employee
These employees are consistently against almost everything. Apart from being unhappy at
work they are far busier demonstrating their unhappiness. Actively disengaged employees
undermine what their engaged colleagues accomplish. Actively disengaged workers cause
great damage to the organization in general. It is better to retrench such employees.

SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS - 2

5. There are ________ levels of engagement.

6. ___________ is a kind of talent that tends to concentrate more on the tasks allotted to
them rather than the goals and outcomes expected.

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

6. TALENT ENGAGEMENT MODEL

People have interpreted employee engagement in different ways but in all such
interpretations it has shown a departure from the mere concept of job satisfaction. The
concept is that most of the organizations should try to create more and more job satisfaction
among their employees.
The key to retaining talent and getting high levels of team and organization performance is
engaging talent. Only an engaged talent feels inspired, energized and motivated to give
his/her best. Not all organizations can lead, organize and manage talents properly, which
leads to disengaged, frustrated and de-motivated employees whose potential remains
underutilized. In times of changes and uncertainty, organizations adopt a rigid approach
towards employees. Therefore, a proper talent engagement model should be followed by
organizations to engage talented employees and achieve both organizational and individual
goals.
The first and foremost important thing that organizations must do is hire the right
employees (not just a job fit but a person with a similar value system).
Develop leaders who know how to engage employees. Leaders with necessary skills such as
supporting, building, listening and communication skills need to be developed.
Every employee expects importance and feel involved, set up strong systems and processes.
Employees expect two-way communication with the management and consistent
demonstration of company values in each and every action and decision taken. They should
strive towards upholding the company values at all times. Put their best effort into building
a great work environment.
Organization should recognize engaged employees. This will increase the percentage of the
engaged talent within an organization and every time the cycle repeats, the percentage of
the engaged workforce increases thereby making it easier for the organization to grow and
hire the right workforce.

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

Fig. 11.1: Talent Engagement Model

Employees require an environment that encourages engagement. An engaging work

environment has a positive impact on employee behavior and attitude. When organizations
learn to create engaged employees and teams, the bottom line of the organization improves
exponentially. The organization generates more satisfied and loyal customers, develops
better-quality products or offers better quality services and has greater growth potential.
Although engagement has a number of drivers, the ultimate ownership of engagement lies
in the hands of the individual employee. The engagement drivers create more engagement
amongst talent (employees) and try to develop an emotional connection between the talent
and the organization.

The second most essential component of the model is to generate a possessive feeling among
the talents which is termed as - psychological ownership. This brings a positive attitude of
organizational commitment among the employees and a positive behavior is created.

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS - 3

7. Only engaged talent feels inspired,________________ and motivated to give his/her

best.
8. The second most essential component of the model is to generate a possessive
feeling among the talents which is termed as -____________.

7. PROCESS FOR IMPROVING TALENT ENGAGEMENT

Organizations have to formulate different strategies if they desire to enhance the percentage
of their engaged talents in their organization. One of the strategies deployed is to define
characteristics of engaged talent. These characteristics drive strategy formulation to
promote talent engagement. The strategy implementation leads to higher levels of
engagement and a higher percentage of the engaged workforce.

Fig. 11.2: Process for Improving Talent Engagement

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

8. TALENT ENGAGEMENT VS PERFORMANCE AND RETENTION

Talent engagement is a very powerful tool and is closely linked to the business results of a
company.
Companies that scored highly on engagement had higher operating and net profit margins
as compared to those with low engagement scores. Research has proven the relationship
between talent engagement and performance and retention. As employee productivity is
clearly connected with employee engagement, creating a work environment that encourages
employee engagement is essential for effective management of human capital.

9. PERFORMANCE OF TALENT ENGAGEMENT

If talent engagement is not inculcated in an organization as soon as possible, then it will be

difficult to handle the disengaged talent because they will multiply and their negativity can
result in:
I) Higher Talent Turnover: When a talent leaves an organization, he/she takes the
reservoir of knowledge and experience to another workplace.
II) Decreased Motivation: The remaining talent may be overburdened with new duties
in addition to the already unresolved issues which prevent them from getting
engaged.
III) Diminished Performance: At least for a short period, the competency of the
workforce is reduced.
Since the talent of a company is the fuel for higher levels of business performance and
successful execution of business strategies, much stress should be given to manage and
engage them properly and to help them grow within the company. Research shows that
moving the needle on engagement is moving the needle on performance. Improving
employee or talent engagement is not a short process. It is easy to implement a survey, but
not working on the input received from the survey is more harmful. To develop engaged
employees, organizations need strong systems and strategies which promote and support
engagement.
Building an engaged workforce is a fairly long-term process, it is an ongoing initiative.
Nothing worthwhile is created overnight.

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

Every important aspect of the business needs to be aligned to building an engaged workforce
or engaged talent. Else, talent engagement will quickly get pushed aside by the daily
pressures of work, and be forgotten. A fully engaged workforce is a loyal workforce and in
addition, an engaged workforce will provide the extra effort the organization needs to
remain competitive. An organization should therefore recognize engaged employees and
employee performance more than other things. Engaged employees are the most powerful
contributors to an organization's competitive position. Employee engagement is a
continuous process of learning, improving, performing and measuring. The responsibility of
hiring, developing and maintaining talent engagement is responsibility of the HR department
and the leadership. It requires a perfect blend of time, effort, commitment and investment to
deploy strategies to promote talent engagement.

\ 10. ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Many employees have this dream of turning into entrepreneurs. They feel and think that
organizations will not allow them to implement their business ideas even if the idea is
associated with the business of the organization, . They know for sure their idea will make
the organization even more profitable, but they also know that no one will listen to them.
These employees at some point in time quit and start their own venture and some of them
turn into successful entrepreneurs.
An entrepreneur is a person who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk attached
to it, possess a sense of enterprise in his/her mind, and new ideas for venturing out by
assuming significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcomes . Jean-Baptiste
Say, a French economist is believed to have first coined the word "entrepreneur" in about
1800 AD. Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur.

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

11. INTRAPRENEURSHIP
When entrepreneurship describes activities within a firm or a large organization it is
referred to as intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurship may include corporate venture, when
large entities spin-off organizations.
In 1992, The American Heritage Dictionary acknowledged the popular use of a new word,
intrapreneur, to mean "A person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility
for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and
innovation".
Intrapreneurship is a tool used by corporations extensively to, harness the
true potential of their high performers, which integrates risk-taking and innovation
approaches apart from reward and motivational techniques which were usually thought as
only possible by entrepreneurs and improve performance.

11.1 Intrapreneurship And Employee Engagement

The highest form of employee engagement is possibly intrapreneurship. Organizations can
benefit from engaged employees, by listening to them, understanding their needs, thoughts
and plans, allowing employees to practice intrapreneurship and create wealth for
themselves and the organization.
Engagement is also directly proportional to the amount of listening that an organization does
and the action it takes thereafter to respect the employees’ thoughts and plans. Engagement
is possible when an organization nurtures the employee and the employee in turn nurtures
the organization.
A lot of companies are known for their efforts towards nurturing their in- house talent to
promote innovation. “Skunk Works” group at Lockheed Martin is a prominent example. This
group was formed in 1943 to build P-80 fighter jets, which it did successfully.
At “3M” employees can spend 15% of their time working on projects, they like for the
betterment of the company. On the initial success of the project, 3M even funds it for further
development, thus promoting employee engagement.

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

11.2 Employee Needs

Employees need the following:
1. Someone to listen to their ideas of growing the company
2. Someone who will provide the framework for creating something valuable
3. Someone who uses their capabilities in creating something valuable
4. Someone who allows them to do what they do best
5. Someone to provide them with feedback in a non-threatening manner
6. Someone who is interested in their growth and development
7. Someone who respects and values them
8. Someone who does not doubt their integrity
9. Someone who knows how to differentiate between engaged employees and disengaged
employees
10. Someone who ensures they are not treated in the same manner as disengaged
employees
11. Attend to employees' needs and enhance talent engagement.
If you as an employer don’t listen to your engaged employees, they will find better
employers who will, or they will find venture capitalists who will listen to them and fund
them, or they will find friends and relatives to fund their own business and create a business
empire of their own.
Appreciate and value the talent which is engaged. You will not only gain higher productivity,
but may stand to exponentially grow your business because of committed and talented
employees.

SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS - 4

9. Talent engagement is a very powerful tool and is closely linked to business

______________of a company.
10. Organizations have to formulate different___________________ if they desire to enhance
the percentage of their engaged talents in their organization.
11. 11.When entrepreneurship describes activities within a firm or a large
organization it is referred to as_________________.

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

12. SUMMARY
Engagement at work was conceptualized by Kahn, (1990) as the ‘harnessing of
organizational members’ selves to their work roles. In engagement, people employ and
express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances.
The talent of the workforce determines the level of productivity and effectiveness of an
organization. Any small or large organization, if it expects to grow and prosper, should give
serious thought to talent retention issue and take it up as top priority. Any failure in doing
so might bring a steady decline or slowdown of the organization. Even during the recession,
organizations need to focus on talent retention strategies. HR is responsible for talent
reviews and talent engagement.
Talent engagement is linked to talent turnover, customer satisfaction, loyalty and
profitability. Studies revealed that there are 3 levels of engagement. They are engaged talent,
not engaged talent, actively disengaged talent.
Talent engagement model can be deployed to increase engaged talent percentage of an
organization. Engaged talent (employees) enhance organizational performance and reduce
employee retention challenges.
The process of improving talent engagement is an ongoing process and takes time to bring
results but is an extremely valuable process. The pitfalls of not implementing a talent
engagement model and process, is that it leads to decreased motivation, high talent turnover
and diminished performance.
Intrapreneurship is the practice of entrepreneurship by employees within an organization.

13. GLOSSARY

Term Description
Talent Natural abilities or qualities possessed by an individual
Disengaged It is like being detached. Not connected to or not
concerned for or about the organization or the situation.
Entrepreneur A person who starts a business venture for profit.
Culture The way of life in an organization, or family, or religion or
region or place.

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

14. TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1. Define talent engagement & fully engaged Talent.
2. What is the importance of Talent Engagement?
3. What are the levels of Talent Engagement?
4. What are the driving factors of talent engagement?
5. Suggest a process for improving talent engagement.
6. What is entrepreneurship?
7. What is intrapreneurship?

15. ANSWERS

Self-Assessment Questions
1. Emotionally
2. Passionate
3. Commitment
4. Engagement
5. Three
6. Not Engaged
7. Energized
8. Psychological ownership
9. Results
10. Strategies
11. Intrapreneurship

Terminal Questions
1. Talent engagement is the concept which explains the degree to which a talent
(employee) is emotionally bonded to his/her organization and passionate about his
work. An engaged talent (employee) is well aware of the organization's business context,
and how to work with colleagues to improve performance in his/her job and hence
benefit the organization. (Refer section 2)

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

2. The importance of talent engagement is that it helps to create and sustain world class
processes, contribute greatly to society at large, create more peaceful lives, lower stress
and allows more healthier lives, achieve greater work-life balance, allows more peace on
earth, increase ability to attract new talent, increase ability to innovate. (Refer section
3)
3. 3 levels of engagement are engaged talent, not engaged talent and actively disengaged
employee. (Refer section 5)
4. The driving factors of talent engagement are employer’s ability to create the conditions
that promote talent engagement, employees own unique psychological makeup and
experiences, nature of interaction between talented employees at all levels. (Refer 11.4)
5. Few processes are: identify characteristics of engaged talent, large no. of engaged
employees, increased engagement levels, formulate strategies, implement strategies.
(Refer section 7).
6. An entrepreneur is someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for
it. (Refer section 10)
7. Intrapreneurship is the practice of entrepreneurship by employees within an
organization. (Refer section 11)

Activity 1
Collect information and pictures on various categories of computer hardware and
prepare a comparative analysis chart. A research has been conducted by the Corporate
Leadership Council of 50,000 employees from 59 organizations, 10 industries and 27
countries. The research findings are very interesting. Please study the PDF file accessible
on the website mentioned below.
http://www.lloydmorgan.com/PDF/Driving%20Performance%20and%20R
etention%20Through%20Employee%20Engagement.pdf
After reading, answer the following questions. How important is employee engagement
from a financial growth perspective for an organization? Explain your answer. What is the
relationship of employee engagement and retention?

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

16. CASE STUDY

Teamwork
An industry body has been in existence for almost 20 plus years. The office bearers of the
industry body have put in place processes and have achievements to their credit. However,
it has made progress slower than other industry bodies. The reasons for the slower progress
could be organizational challenges, lack of time, coordination, agreement and the level of
engagement. The industry body has created a limited impact over the years. Now they want
to create a substantial impact over the next few years. The industry body had office bearers
who would change at a certain periodicity of a few years. This also led to taking up mostly
initiatives that would be doable within that period. Activities tended to be spread out and
reached fruition over prolonged periods in the past.

The leader of this industry body organized a team building and goal setting exercise along
with the office bearers. During the team building exercise, the office bearers bonded and it
came through that they were otherwise also well bonded. They are successful entrepreneurs
and good leaders and team players as the situation demands. During the course of the event
the goal setting exercise was undertaken, the goals were listed, refined and categorized into
a few specific initiatives. By suggesting the possible goals for the next few years, the team
was automatically getting engaged to some extent.

After the goals were finalized, the challenge was to find owners for leading the initiatives.
Everyone seemed to have an area of interest and wanted to be part of some initiative either
as a lead or a team member. The initiatives were grouped such that there were dependencies
on other teams. This left scope for conflict. It appeared that even if the owners for the
initiatives were identified, they may find difficulty in executing their initiatives since there
were dependencies on other teams. This was not the perfect formula for developing fully
engaged teams.

Later, to eliminate dependency on other groups, initiatives were grouped differently such
that there were no direct dependencies on other teams. Once the categorization of initiatives
was done differently, natural teams started forming which wanted to work together on
specific initiatives. By largely allowing the team members who were interested in
implementing specific initiatives to be part of that team, motivated the team members. Team

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

members had strengths in the areas of the initiatives and the teams were created. Amongst
the team members, this led to a sense of getting the opportunity to do what they are good at.
This also gave them a sense of being able to contribute in an extraordinary manner. Balanced
teams were identified and assigned the responsibilities. This led to the creation of teams that
were engaged. Today while the organization is headed by the leader, the initiatives identified
have their own leaders and the teams operate with a high level of engagement.

Results of this exercise will be seen over a period of time, but already a stark difference has
been noted by the leader of the industry body, in the functioning, the goal orientation and
the ownership being taken by the office bearers.

Case Study Questions

1. Do team members really need to feel that they have got the opportunity to do what they
really want to do, to become engaged team members?
2. Will just a stark difference in the functioning of the team lead to greater results?
Hint:
1. Yes.
2. Past surveys have proven this to be true. However, time in this case will tell if the team
members are really engaged by way of the results in the future.

References:
Books
• An independent Melcrum Research Report Executive Summary. Employee engagement:
How to build a high-performance workforce. USA: Melcrum Publishing
• Macey W. H, Schneider B., Barbera K. M. and Young S. A. (2009). Employee Engagement:
Tools for Analysis, Practice, and Competitive Advantage. New York: Wiley-Blackwell
• Gallup Study (2005), "At Work, Feeling Good Matters", Gallup Management Journal.USA:
Gallup
E- References:
• http://www.smallbusinessnotes.com/choosing/intrapreneurship/inthistory. html
(Retrieved on 20 May 2010)

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DHRM301: Manpower planning & Sourcing Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

• http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6771/is_4_4/ai_n31589990/pg_8/ (Retrieved
on 20 May 2010)
• http://www.paggu.com/entrepreneurship/what-is-intrapreneurship- difference-
features-and-examples-of-intrapreneurs/
(Retrieved on 20 May 2010)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrapreneurship (Retrieved on 20 May 2010)
• http://www.workforce.com/section/09/feature/27/01/25/index.html (Retrieved on
20 May 2010)
• http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/emerging-trends- of-talent-
management-and-challenges-of-hrm-957837.html
(Retrieved on 20 May 2010)
• http://hrview.blog.co.in/2008/11/27/significance-of-employee- uengagement-a-
collection/ (Retrieved on 20 May 2010)
• http://www.lloydmorgan.com/PDF/Driving%20Performance%20and%20
Retention%20Through%20Employee%20Engagement.pdf
(Retrieved on 20 May 201

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