Employee Engagement

ENGAGEMENT DEFINED

Engagement takes place when people are committed to their work and
the organization and are motivated to achieve high levels of
performance. It has two interrelated aspects:

job engagement, which takes place when employees exercise

discretionary effort because they find their job interesting, challenging
and rewarding;

organizational engagement, when employees identify with the values

and purpose of their organization and believe that it is a great place in
which to work.
 Other definitions

• Kahn, 1990 who regarded it as a psychological state experienced by

employees in relation to their work, together with associated
behaviours.
• Maslach et al (2001) who referred to engagement as: ‘A positive,
fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigour,
dedication, and absorption’.
• Macey et al (2009) who produced the following working definition:

Engagement is an individual’s purpose and focused

energy, evident to others in the display of personal
initiative, adaptability, effort and persistence directed
towards organizational goals.
 MODEL OF ENGAGEMENT

motivation

organizational commitment
citizenship

engagement
 Commitment and citizenship

• Commitment is the relative strength of the individual's

identification with, and involvement in an organization.

• Organizational citizenship behaviour as defined by

Organ (1988) is employee behaviour that goes above
and beyond the call of duty, that is discretionary and not
explicitly recognized by the employing organization’s
formal reward system, and that contributes to
organizational effectiveness.
 Motivation

• Motivation is the force that energizes, directs and

sustains behaviour. It can be intrinsic or extrinsic. The
motivation element in engagement is intrinsic. As Macey
et al (2009) observed: ‘When the work itself is
meaningful it is also said to have intrinsic motivation.
• This means that it is not the pay or recognition that yields
positive feelings of engagement but the work itself’. They
also commented that engaged employees ‘feel that their
jobs are an important part of what they are’ .
 MODEL OF ENGAGEMENT

motivation

organizational commitment
citizenship

engagement
 Facets of engagement

Alfes et al (2010) see engagement as having three core

facets:
•Intellectual engagement
•Affective engagement
•Social engagement
 Facets of Engagement

• Intellectual engagement - thinking hard about the job and

how to do it better.
• Affective engagement - feeling positively about doing a
good job.
• Social engagement - actively taking opportunities to
discuss work-related improvements with others at work
(Alfes et al, 2010)

Ultimately, engagement will have behavioural outcomes

leading to what can be described as an ‘engaged
employee’.
The factors that influence engagement

• An employee’s understanding of his or her role,

where it fits in the wider organization, and how it
aligns with business objectives.

• How the person feels about the organization,

whether the work gives them a sense of personal
accomplishment and how they relate to their
manager.
 A theory of engagement

• As a belief
• As explained by social exchange theory - a two-way
relationship between the employer and the employee
 Engagement as Belief

• Balain and Sparrow (2010) considered that engagement

should be seen as a ‘belief’ and not an attitude, ie it is
largely a cognitive construct (intellectual engagement)
rather than an affective or behavioural one.
• They suggested that engagement will have affective and
behavioural outcomes but it is necessary to separate the
cause from the effect.
Engagement and social exchange theory

• Saks (2006) suggested that a strong theoretical rationale

for engagement is provided by social exchange theory.
As he described it: ‘Social exchange theory argues that
obligations are generated through a series of interactions
between parties who are in a state of reciprocal
interdependence’.

• Robinson et al (2004) saw engagement as a two-way

relationship between the employer and the employee.
 Drivers of engagement

Alfes et al (2010):
•meaningful work (the most important)
•senior management vision and communication
•positive perceptions of one’s line manager
•employee voice - having a say in matters that concern
them
MacLeod and Clarke (2009) emphasized:
•leadership that ensures a strong, transparent and explicit
organizational culture that gives employees a line of sight
between their job and the vision and aims of the
organization
 MacLeod and Clarke (2009):
• Leadership which ensures a strong, transparent and
explicit organizational culture which gives employees a
line of sight between their job and the vision and aims of
the organization.

• Engaging managers who offer clarity, appreciation of

employees’ effort and contribution, who treat their people
as individuals and who ensure that work is organized
efficiently and effectively so that employees feel they are
valued, and equipped and supported to do their job.
 MacLeod and Clarke (2009) ctd:

• Employees who feel that they are able to voice their

ideas and be listened to, both about how they do their
job and in decision making in their own department, with
joint sharing of problems and challenges and a
commitment to arrive at joint solutions.

• A belief among employees that the organization lives its

values, and that espoused behavioural norms are
adhered to, resulting in trust and a sense of integrity.
 Outcomes of engagement

An engaged employee:
• is willing to ‘go the extra mile’
• believes in and identifies with the organization
• wants to work to make things better
• understands the business context and the ‘bigger
picture’
• respects and helps colleagues
(Robinson et al, 2004)
 Benefits of Engagement

David Guest (2009): Employee engagement will be

manifested in:
•positive attitudes (for example job satisfaction,
organizational commitment and identification with the
organization)
•behaviour (low labour turnover and absence and high
citizenship behaviour) on the part of employees;
•evidence of perceptions of trust, fairness and a positive
exchange within a psychological contract where two-way
promises and commitments are fulfilled.
 Benefits of Engagement

Alfes et al (2010)
•Engaged employees perform better, are
more innovative than others, are more likely
to want to stay with their employees, enjoy
greater levels of personal well-being and
perceive their workload to be more
sustainable than others.
 Enhancing job engagement

Job engagement can be enhanced through:

• good job design
• learning and development programmes
• performance management
• improving the quality of leadership provided by line
managers
 Job design

• Job design has a key role to play in enhancing

engagement. As Herzberg (1968) remarked:
‘If you want someone to do a good job give them
a good job to do.’

• The features of jobs that need to be taken into account in

job design as listed by Hackman and Oldham's (1974)
are variety, autonomy, required interaction, optional
interaction, knowledge and skill required and
responsibility.
 Other enhancing features
The work environment
•Developing a culture that encourages positive attitudes to work, promoting
interest and excitement in the jobs people do, reducing stress and
recognizing the importance of social interaction.

Learning and development programmes

•These can ensure that people have the opportunity and are given the
encouragement to learn and grow in their roles.

Line managers
•Engagement at work is best enhanced when employees feel they are
supported, recognized and developed by their managers. They need
guidance on what they are expected to do and help in developing the skills
they need to maximize engagement.
 How reward policies influence performance through
engagement

Culture/people management
• supportive supervisor
• regular open feedback
• team-working
• involvement
Staff attitudes and commitment
• career development
• satisfaction with rewards
• work/life balance Performance
• treated fairly
• feeling involved and developed

Rewards • identification with organization

• performance pay
• variable pay
• team rewards
• recognition
• for customer service/quality
• single status Source: Reilly and Brown (2008)
 Enhancing organizational engagement (David
Guest, 2009)

• Effective leadership of a strong, positive culture that

ensures the enactment of organizational values;
• Strong management that supports employees’ work and
wellbeing;
• Careful design of systems and jobs to enable employees
to contribute through full use of their knowledge and skills;
• Effective employee voice;
• Provision of appropriate resources, tools and information
to perform effectively’.
• ‘The big idea’
 The big idea

A basis for enhancing organizational engagement was

established by the longitudinal research in 12 companies
conducted by Professor John Purcell and his colleagues
(Purcell et al, 2003) They found that the most successful
companies had ‘the big idea’:
•They had a clear vision and a set of integrated values.
•They were concerned with sustaining performance and
flexibility.
•Clear evidence existed between positive attitudes towards
HR policies and practices, levels of satisfaction, motivation
and commitment, and operational performance.’
 Combinations of the impact of engagement and
organizational commitment
Excited about the job and Excited about the job and puts
puts best efforts into doing it best efforts into doing it. Fully
but not particularly interested identified with the organization
in the organization except as and proud to go on working
the provider of the there
opportunity to carry out the
work
engagement

Not inclined to put a lot of Fully identified with the

effort into the work and has organization and proud to go
no interest in the on working there but not
organization or desire to stay prepared to go the extra mile
there in the job

organizational commitment
Antecedents, types and consequences of engagement
Balain and Sparrow (2009)

Antecedents of engagement Types of employee Consequences

engagement

 Enriched and challenging jobs  Job engagement  Job satisfaction

(job characteristics)  Organizational engagement  Organizational commitment
 Quality of the employee–  Level of intention to quit
organization relationship  Organizational citizenship
(perceived organizational behaviour
support)
 Quality of the employee–
supervisor relationship
(perceived supervisor support)
 Rewards and recognition
 Fairness in the processes that
allocate resources or resolve
disputes (procedural justice)
 What is considered just or right
in the allocation of goods in a
society (distributive justice)