Engagement and Employee Involvement

Attitude & Responsibility

The employees are ‘engaged’ if they have a positive attitude towards work, Purcell et al (2003) suggest that employee engagement is only meaningful if there is a more genuine sharing of responsibility between management and employees over issues. The CIPD survey conducted by Truss et al (2006) suggests that strengthening employee voice can make a difference to organizational performance. Employee involvement is seen as a central principle of ‘soft’ HRM, where the focus is upon capturing the ideas of employees and securing their commitment (Beardwell and Claydon 2007)

 Opportunity to express the view

One of the main drivers of employee engagement is for employees to have the opportunity to feed their view upwards (Truss et al 2006) Their survey concluded that currently many organizations are not very successful in doing this and as a result many employees felt they lacked opportunities to express their views and be involved in decisions. On the other hand, researchers at Towers Perrin (2003) found employers are doing well in giving employees the freedom to make decisions relating to their jobs. However, in any work role or situation, employees have a degree of choice and discretion over how they perform their tasks and responsibilities (Robinson 2006) .

Emotional Connect

Employee engagement is related to emotional experiences and wellbeing (May et al 2004). Emotions are a natural feature of our psychological make-up and affect not only individuals’ personal lives but also their behavior at work. Wilson (2004:99-100) argues that “feelings connect us with our realities and provide internal feedback on how we are doing, what we want and what we might do next … Being in organizations involves us in worry, envy, hurt, sadness, boredom, excitement and other emotions. The Towers Perrin (2003) study of engagement identified both emotions and rationality as core components. They found that emotional factors are linked to an individual’s personal satisfaction and the sense of inspiration and affirmation they get from their work and from being a part of their organization. Just under two-thirds of the respondents to the Towers Perrin survey agreed their company is a good place to work, and even fewer (half of the respondents) agreed their company inspires them to do their best work

According to Towers Perrin (2003), building engagement is a process that never ends and it rests on the foundation of a meaningful and emotionally enriching work experience. Furthermore, it is not about making people happy, or even paying them more money. As important as pay and benefits are in attracting and retaining people, it was found they play a less important role in engaging people in their work. The elements found to be fundamental for engagement were strong leadership, accountability, autonomy, a sense of control over one’s environment and opportunities for development; there are no substitutes for these fundamentals.

According to Robinson (2006), employee engagement can be achieved through the creation of an organizational environment where positive emotions such as involvement and pride are encouraged, resulting in improved organizational performance, lower employee turnover and better health. West (2005) argues that when individuals feel positive emotions, they are able to think in a more flexible, open-minded way and are also likely to feel greater self-control, cope more effectively and be less defensive in the workplace.

Personal Relationship

Personal relationships have also been found to impact work engagement. Recent research has found that family stress and work-related stress may be interlinked (Moore, 2004). Gender differences have also been found, such that men experience enrichment from work to family, while women experience depletion from work to family. While women experience enrichment from family to work, men experience no links from family to work (Rothbard 1999). Furthermore, Gallup’s US research concluded that women tend to find more fulfilment in their jobs and are more engaged than men are (Johnson 2004)

Gallup did observe a difference between employees who are single and those who are married. It was found that married employees tend to have a higher level of engagement than those who are single. This suggests that these employees have come to point where they are more settled in both their personal and professional lives.

 

List of References

Johnson, G. (2004) ‘Otherwise engaged’, Training, Vol 41, No 10, p4

Moore, K. (2004) ‘the healthy balance among work, family, and personal relationships: Fact or fiction?’ Proceedings of the APS Psychology of Relationships Interest Group 4th Annual Conference, pp79-84.

Purcell, J., Kinnie, N., Hutchinson, S., Rayton, B. and Swart, J. (2003) Understanding the People and Performance Link: Unlocking the Black Box. London, CIPD.

Robinson, I. (2006) Human Resource Management in Organisations. London, CIPD

Rothbard, N. (1999) ‘Enriching or depleting? The dynamics of engagement in work and family’. Dissertation Abstracts International US: University Microfilms International, 59 (10- A).

Sandeep Kular, Mark Gatenby, Chris Rees, Emma Soane, Katie Truss. Employee Engagement: A Literature Review ISBN No. 1-872058-39-6/978-1-872058-39-9/9781872058399 Kingston Business School

Truss, C., Soane, E., Edwards, C., Wisdom, K., Croll, A. and Burnett, J. (2006) Working Life: Employee Attitudes and Engagement 2006. London, CIPD.

Wilson, F. (2004) Organizational Behaviour and Work, A Critical Introduction. 2nd ed. Oxford, Oxford University Press.