Question:

Your Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has just returned from a conference where h/she attended a presentation on engagement. The speakers, from a variety of organisations in the public and private sector, presented case studies detailing the organisational benefits that they had received from the engagement strategies that they had introduced. Although each speaker seemed credible, it appeared that what was meant by the term engagement differed from speaker to speaker.  Furthermore, each organisation seemed to measure engagement in a different way and report different outcomes. 

Although still very interested in how engagement can benefit your organisation, your CEO has asked you to undertake some research in order to understand what engagement is and whether it really does have the reported benefits of improving performance. H/she would like to know more about what the organisation can do to change levels of engagement.  

Your Task:

Within your own organisation (or one with which you are familiar), draw on relevant research evidence and organisational practice to produce a short report of approximately 1600 words addressed to your organisation’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, that:

1. Critically analyses the concept of employee engagement;
2. Critically analyses the relationship between levels of engagement and organisational performance in your own organisation;
3. Makes recommendations to achieve changes to levels of engagement in your organisation.

Answer/Solution:

1.0 Introduction

Currently, all organizations desire to have fully engaged employees working in their entities. According to Kompaso and Sridevi (2010), it is a common desire for employers to have employees who work extensively and effectively and to some extent move an extra mile.  In this case, different entities are sourcing to gain a win-win situation strategically oriented on meeting their needs and that of their employees. Employee engagement represents a combination of commitment to an entity with its values and willingness to assist all stakeholders (organizational citizenship). This report focuses on developing a critical awareness of current factors critical for leading and managing people. The company of focus is Petroleum Development Oman. It operates through recruitment, training, and development of Omani employees and respecting their rights in lien with the Omani Labor laws. It consists of a dedicated and an extensive team of employees working towards the establishment of health work environment which is free from discrimination and harassment.

2.0 Literature Review

Adopting the definition of Brunetto et al. (2012), employee engagement is an emotional and intellectual commitment to an entity or a number of discretionary efforts exhibited by employees in their occupations.  Gallup Organization (2004) report revealed the existence of a critical link between an employee engagement, customer loyalty, growth of business and profitability (Rose et al., 2004). Schaufeli and Salanova (2007) described three levels of employee engagement. The first group is engaged-employee working with passion and adopting a profound connection to their entity. As such, they drive innovation and move an organization forward. The second group is the non-engaged-employees attending and participating at work with time serving without any passion or energy in doing their responsibilities. The last group is the disengaged which represents unhappy employees at work acting out of their dissatisfaction at work. This has a negative implication on undermining the operations of their extensively engaged colleagues. Hence, it is essential for an entity to assess the engagement levels of their employees to ensure they adopt the most appropriate intervention for boosting morale and productivity of employees. This is evident in McDonald’s, ADAC, Samsung and Walmart companies. These operate through enhancing transparency, delivering visibility, being authentic and active engagement with each other.  For instance, (Schaufeli & Salanova, 2007; Sundaray, 2011; Ram & Prabhakar, 2011) demonstrated the existence of a link between productivity and profitability with Gruman and Saks (2011) noting that engaged employees are passionate about their work leading to excitement, enthusiasm, and productivity.

2.1 Theoretical Framework

It is ideal to relate the concept of employee engagement to theories of self-determination theory, social exchange theory and job demand model.

2.1.1 Self-Determination Theory

The authors of this theory Deci and Ryan (2011) identified intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In this case, intrinsic motivation identifies personal activities for enjoyment and interest with extrinsic motivation being practiced for instrumental reasons, acquire rewards, avoid punishment, boosting ego and avoiding feelings of guilt.  Hence, according to Niemiec and Ryan (2009), this model can be adopted in explaining the concepts of engagement, psychological states and behavioral reactions that can lead to the inexistence of engagement.  According to Deci and Ryan (2011), this model can reliably be adopted in measuring engagement………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Please contact our team to receive guidance on this assessment in entirety

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