The Level Of Employee Engagement

“Quantitative research involves numbers and measuring quantitative or amounts”. (Whitehouse, M, 2010:425). Methods that involve quantitative data may

As Gallup measured in their research that there is still an overwhelming number of disengaged individuals in the workplace, which has cost the organizations in the United States at an enormous amount of about 300 billion dollars annually (Gallup Consulting, 2006). Certain programs are initiated in different workplace to embed employee engagement. Personally, apart from the traditional motivational factors of financial and non-financial incentives to increase employee morale and active participation within the goals of the organization; it would even be more remarkable to come up with innovative practices that would be unique to the organization and meet the demands of the business.

Quantitative research involves collecting data, which can be expressed numerically. The design is well structured with pre-determined outcomes. It frequently involves testing a hypothesis, which then can be analysed from the data deductively using statistical methods. Using numerical data is easier to analysis mathematical, so larger sample sizes can be utilised compared to qualitative research, therefore giving a better representative of the population; along with simplifying the process of making a generalisation. Another advantage is that studies can easily compare to similar findings (Kruger, 2003). The disadvantages are the results are limited and might not provide a proper understanding of the topic. Also, statistics and leading questions can be used to give a false representation of the data when summarising.

Maintaining and improving employee engagement are increasingly complex for company’s operations these days due to the instable environment and varied economic conditions (Aon Hewitt, 2012). However, if a company has a good performance in employee engagement, it would surely enjoy competitive advantage and better business outcomes than other companies.

Employees who are engaged have a sense of commitment in their jobs and aim to abide to the organization’s goals. Robert J. Vance (2004) defines commitment as, “the willingness by employees to persist in a course of action and reluctance to change plans, often owing to a sense of obligation to stay on the course”. Commitments require investments either of time and/or emotional or mental energy hence the need by people to expect reciprocation. In exchange for workers commitment, organizations often provide forms of value like secure jobs and fair compensation.

Employee engagement is always thought to be most desirable element towards employers. Nowadays not only in the corporate world but also in the small business industries employee engagement has equal important. Because it is the people who cannot be duplicated (Anitha, 2013). Committed employees are asset for any organizations. To gain competitive advantage in this modern era committed people are a great tool (Anitha, 2013). They put their best effort for the well being of their workplace and often motivate other employees. The purpose of this essay is to explore the stimulators and components which employers can use to successfully engage their employees. At first this paper will briefly review employee engagement, challenges faced by employers while engaging employees. It will also focus on MARS model. After that it will focus on finding which drives commonly motivate employees. Finally, this paper will try to recommend some strategies that employers can use for effective employee engagement.

Employee engagement has become a top priority for most companies and is a heavily used buzz word in the corporate world. With all the focus centered on this topic research shows that most employees are still not engaged. Recent surveys conducted by Gallup showed that active disengagement of employees is at a record low (Adkins, 2015). In our current economy companies need all the help they can get being profitable and maintaining a good company image. Good employee engagement can play a big part in that process. Employee engagement can positively or negatively affect a company on numerous levels:

In this era of advanced technology and increased competition it is very important for a company to be stable in the competitive market. Employees are the prime source of the company to gain profit, the hard work of employees depends on their attitude towards the organisation that is how they feel working in the company, their trust and pride towards the firm (Mishra, Boynton & Mishra 2014). The companies now days are not only strengthening the external environment for example, customer focus , stakeholders partnerships, but also the internal environment of the firm as well which involve employee engagement through motivation (Mishra, Boynton & Mishra 2014). In other words it can be

Employee engagement is a relatively new concept. According to Stairs (2005, p.8) research into engagement has completely being ignored and a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) report (Alfes et al., 2010, p.4) supported this view by stating that while academia became silent on the concept of employee engagement, the concept was actually placed on the discussion board by Human Resources (HR) professionals, practitioners, and consultants. Kular et al (2008) further state that there remains a paucity of critical academic literature on employee engagement. However, with the advent of concerns given to engagement in modern times, the concept has seen new faces of definitions and explanations given to it. The very first definition was given by Kahn (1990, p.694) as “the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances”. The aspect of engagement that is cognitive concerns employees’ beliefs about the organization itself, the leaders and the conditions under which employees work. The emotional side of employee engagement is about how employees feel of each of the three factors and whether they have positive or negative attitudes toward the organization and its leaders. The physical aspect of employee engagement concerns the physical energies exerted by individuals to accomplish their roles. Form this background, Kahn (1990)

The concept of employee engagement is widely used ingredients in human resources. The concept is difficult to determine the exact cause, it often job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational behavior, and is believed to have evolved from the concept of citizenship. Many human resources managers and defined employee engagement human recourse have emerged in the literature which presents specific challenges for both professionals: “A Human recourse executive for

Employee engagement at the workforce is mostly at an all-time low to which harbouring friendships is seen to help improve engagement and productivity of individuals. Even during the tedious or most stressful tasks, workplace friendships can bring satisfaction.

Employee engagement as a concept has become increasingly important in the last decades. Research has shown that employee engagement has an impact on organisations ' productivity, as well as employees’ behaviour and performance at work (Saks, 2006; Harter et al., 2002). In other words, enhanced engagement creates a win-win situation for both the employees and the employers, leading, on one hand, to job satisfaction, better health and motivation for workers, and on the other, to retention of the best talents and global competitive advantage and success for organisations (CIPD, 2015; Shuck et al., 2011).

Predictors of employee engagement are satisfaction with leadership, employee development, communication and innovation (Persson, 2010). Job demands and job resources foster contradictory psychological processes, one connecting to burnout and the other to employee engagement (Persson, 2010). Burnout is a process that occurs when job demands causes weakening of health and depleted energy as the negative outcome (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Persson, 2010). Employee engagement develops from a motivational process dependent on job resources (Persson, 2010). The Intrinsic and extrinsic reasons that motive employees are feeling of belonging, competency, autonomy, financial compensation and benefits. These reasons are shown to enhance employee engagement, whereas the absence will weaken engagement and result in frustration and failure to achieve company objectives (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Persson, 2010).

Leaders also try to achieve the same quality for their own status, which allows them to pursue greater strength, achieve personal goals and future endeavours. According to a recent study conducted by Psychometrics Canada a pioneer in research assessment, has mentioned in one of its report that employee engagement in the organisation plays a major role in the success of any organisation. Accordingly it says that the best way to increase the relation is by working out a strategy that builds positive environment and culture relations between the workers and ensuring a good leader to fit for the purpose. Leaders in the organisation can try to achieve a better employee engagement by listening to followers opinions, communicating his vision with a clarity, providing and developing strategies and solution for the success, and finally recognising the ability of the followers and praising their contributions. Thisaspect of leadership is displayed by general feedback, generating ideas and possess enthusiastic in requesting for help (Bradley P. Owens, 2013). One example of this leadership quality is described by DAVID J. BOBB(David J B, 2013) in his book saying following servant leadership is very difficult as it is not a natural talent to anyone. He takes the example of George Washington, though considered to be a man of high temper and showing excess pride in his capabilities and qualities during his period as a freedom fighter. As he has foreseen the global position he is getting

Unlike quantitative research that use numbers as data and statistics, qualitative methods rely on words and meaning. It seeks to understand the problem rather than quantifying it placing more emphasis on subjectivity rather than objectivity.