Human Resource Management (MGT302)

Dr Silvia Pirrioni

Thursday, May 18

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Learning outcomes, 18th May 2023

• Describe employee engagement

• Understand the determinants of employee engagement
• Discuss the link between engagement and productivity
• Explain how organizations can measure engagement
• Describe the dark side of engagement

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 What is your
perception of
these
employees’
attitudes?
What factors
seem to
contribute to
such attitudes
& behaviors?

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 • Actively disengaged: busy acting out their
unhappiness and undermining what the
organization is trying to accomplish (17%)
• Disengaged: ‘sleepwalking’ through their day,
In which putting time and not passion into their work
category (54%)
would those
RR employees
• Engaged: working with passion, feeling a real
fall? connection with the organization (29%)

SHRM survey – reported in Mitchell and Gamlem

(2012)
➢Why are these figures problematic?
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Employee engagement: definitions
• ‘engagement is not, as is often implied, something that managers or organisations ‘do’ to
their people; rather, it is a mental, emotional and physical state and something that
employees give’ (Cheese, 2014)
• Kahn’s: focuses on how people interact with their work roles and ‘express themselves
physically, cognitively, and emotionally’. Relates to both internal and external state of
being, closely link to behaviors such as discretionary effort or ‘going the extra mile’ (CIPD,
2018)
• ‘work engagement’ as having three elements (Utrecht University):
vigour (energy, resilience and effort)
dedication (enthusiasm, inspiration and pride)
absorption (concentration) (CIPD, 2018)

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Employee engagement
Hot topic: employee engagement as a means to improve performance and increase
competitiveness – what makes the difference!

Engagement benefit individuals and organisations

❖ a mutual gain view of employment relationship

- Employees’ Wellbeing
- Organization’s Performance

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Employee engagement
Good quality jobs Happy & fulfilled Organizational
Good management employees performance

• Fairness • Physical and • Increased

• Empowerment mental productivity
• Voice wellbeing • Quality
• Performance • Motivation • Innovation
Management • Job Satisfaction
• Employee
Development
• Communication

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Employee engagement
Engaged employees:

• Put in more hours

• work with greater intensity (higher productivity) and direction (focus on
organisational priorities)
• Higher satisfaction, commitment and organisational citizenship behaviours
• Are optimistic
• Highly focused
• Enthusiastic
• Willing to go the extra mile
• Are positive about work and the organisation
• Are passionate

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Employee engagement
Engaged employees (continued):
• Believe in and identify with the organisation
• Work actively to make things better
• Treat other with respect and help colleagues to perform more
effectively
• Can be relied upon, and go beyond the requirements of the job
• See the bigger picture, even sometimes at personal cost
• Keep up to date with developments in their field
• Look for opportunities to improve organisational performance

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Employee engagement: perspectives
Engagement and work effort
• Is it possible and realistic to be
100% engaged all the time?
• If employees are too engaged,
they may experience stress and
burnout in the long run
• The ‘dark side’ of engagement
Engagement and wellbeing
• Flow and energy are positive
feelings
• Engagement leads to well-being
in the long run
• The lack of engagement is
problematic as it undermines
wellbeing
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Employee engagement
What factors influence engagement?
• the job itself (interesting and challenging work, responsibility, autonomy,
scope to use and develop skills, availability of resources and opportunities
for advancement)
• the work environment (enabling, supportive, inspirational work
environment, sustainable in terms of wellbeing)
• Leadership (strong narrative and vision; shared purpose; clear line of sight;
trust in management)
• Opportunities for personal growth (learning and development)
• Opportunities to contribute (having a voice: feeding ideas and
contributions upwards; influencing decision making)

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Employee engagement: how does it work?
Understanding the drivers of engagement

• Social exchange theory (Blau, 1964):

employees will feel obliged to reciprocate with positive attitudes and
behaviours when they have a positive experience in the workplace
➢social relationships are viewed as exchange processes in which
people make contributions for which they expect certain outcomes -
norm of reciprocity

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Employee engagement

Example 1: if employees believe that a newly implemented work–life

balance policy is going to be beneficial to them, they are more likely to
increase their level of engagement.

Example 2: performance appraisal allows employees to feel involved in

the organisation because of the attention they receive in the process.
According to the norms of reciprocity, this leads to positive feelings in
employees, such as engagement.

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Employee engagement: outcomes
• Commitment
• Employee retention
• Intention to quit
• Organisation Citizenship Behaviours (i.e. making suggestions, helping team member)
• Innovative work behaviour
• Employee well-being
• Task and job performance
• Readiness to change
• Job satisfaction
• Burnout (the dark side of engagement)

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Employee engagement

Attitudes and
HPWPs behaviours Performance
i.e. engagement

• Research evidence reports correlation, not causation!

• Yet, lack of engagement is problematic, thus requires management attention.

• PODCAST: The engagement myth, CIPD

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Employee engagement
• Regularly measure engagement (surveys, focus-groups)

10 items that are commonly used in corporate employee engagement surveys:

• Pride in employer;
• Satisfaction with employer;
• Job satisfaction;
• Opportunity to perform well at challenging work;
• Recognition and positive feedback for one’s contributions;
• Personal support from one’s supervisor;
• Effort above and beyond the minimum;
• Understanding the link between one’s job and the organisation’s mission;
• Prospects for future growth with one’s employer;
• Intention to stay with one’s employer.

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Employee engagement strategy
• Should take a holistic approach
• Require both senior leaders and line managers support

DISCUSS:

What organizational practices do you value in terms of increasing your

levels of engagement?

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References
• CIPD, 2018. Employees engagement and motivation
• Cheese, P. 2014. Employee engagement: how is it changing and what
drives it? In: The Future of Engagement: Though piece collection,
CIPD, London.
• Farndale, E and Vidovic, M. 2017. Employee Engagement. In
Wilkinson, A., Redman, T., Dundon, T. (ed). Contemporary Human
Resource Management, 5th ed. Harlow, UK: Pearson, pp. 315-332
• Mitchell, B. & Gamlem, C. (2012) The Big Book of HR. Pompton Plains,
NJ: Career Press.

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