Employee Engagement - Essay Example

?Running head: Employee Engagement Employee Engagement Executive Summary This paper aims to look at ways in which employee engagement is beneficial to the employer, the employee and the organization in general. The findings in this paper show that if proper managerial techniques are applied, combined with trust and creating an environment that encourages the employee to engage positively in their daily work activities, then the outcome will be positive. Some of the benefits that the organization tends to gain are the financial outcome and the performance outcome of the organization since employees will be working towards the goals of the company. Introduction Employee or worker engagement is a managerial strategy aimed at empowering workers to act at interest that are related to the organizational’ missions visions and goals. The engagement of the employee can be analyzed according to the emotional attachment of the employee whether negatively or positively in relation to the manner in which they view their job, their fellow workmates or the company as a whole. Their engagement in work has a great impact on the willingness of the individual to perform their duties. If employees are engaged in their work, they will do anything in their power to satisfy the clients of the organization thus working in correspondence to the mission and vision of the organization. The engagement of an employee is usually based on the organizational culture, employee empowerment, the trust factor indulged, the managerial behaviors and the style used in management of the employees. In order for an employee to engage positively in the workplace, all these factors must be engaged positively. This will enable the employee to work in a positive direction towards the company’s mission statement and vision. In addition to that, creating a suitable emotional, physical and social environment will also assist the employee to engage positively in the work that they are doing (Gong et al, 2009). Benefits of Employee engagement The logic behind employee engagement is the ability of the employee to have interest in performing his or her daily activities in the organization. One of the benefits that an employee gains from employee engagement is the fact that they will have the psychological possession of his or her work. The psychological possession in this case refers to the employee taking the job as his or her own and believing that they have been endorsed the responsibility of making critical decisions that comply with the organizations interest. If an employee feels that they are psychologically possessed with the job, then this is empowerment of the employees. If employees are not empowered, then they consider that the tasks that they are supposed to do are what the manager has ordered them to do. Anything else apart from the specified assignments is none of their business. It is up to the manager to perform those tasks. Employees who are not empowered come to job to follow their bosses’ orders. They do not know the goals of the company. They just wake up, come to job, do whatever the boss requires them to do and then when their work is finished they go home. They have no goals to neither worry about nor accomplish simply because the boss never told them of any. Any change that is to occur is the boss responsibility. They have nothing to lose. These kinds of employees are underpowered and the outcome of the company is low. On the other hand, empowered employees come to job knowing the goals of the company and have ways and means of accomplishing them. In fact, empowered employees work together as a team. They have a team spirit. They work together to achieve the set goals of a company and any challenging goals that are facing them. They acquire information through educational meetings, the press and any other available sources and bring fresh and new ideas to the company that will help in achieving the goals of the company. They are in a position to make decisions and make plans for the betterment of the company. As time goes by, such kind of employees, who are empowered will bring a very high and reliable staff that will bring profits to the company. In order to achieve employee engagement, then the managerial team should engage positively with the workers. Leadership style required The manner in which the managerial team indulges itself together with the decision-making have a great impact on the organizations outcome in conjunction with the financial outcome. There are two types of managerial techniques that can be used in order to establish employee engagement and establish motivated workers. The first one is the transactional leadership style. The other one is the transformational leadership styles. Both are very beneficial when applied to the organization. Transactional leadership style can be defined as the exchange of targets and rewards which occur between the management team and the employee. This implies that when the employees met their given target, then the management team will reward them. Consequently, if the employees fail to meet the specified target, then no reward will be forthcoming (Shaw, 2005). Unlike transactional leadership style, transformational leadership style is very different from the latter. Transformational leaders aim at meeting the needs of their employees. Employers who engage themselves in the transformational leadership technique put their attention on the enhancement of the employees system of value. In addition to that, they tend to focus on the enhancing the level of motivation for their employees and their moralities. The moralities of the employees are enhanced by developing their skills. This kind of leadership style focuses on using leadership as a go between the employees and the management. The management work hard to understand the interest of their employees together with their values and their level of motivation. Together with achieving the organizations defined goals, this kind of leadership styles assist the employees to achieve their own personal goals. In relation to any kind of new changes in the environment, the management team encourages the employees to express themselves in any kind of issue that may arise and in addition urge them to engage positively by trying to adapt to the new practices. Psychological possession In order to enable an employee to be psychologically possessive of their work, there are factors identified that would lead to it. Meaningfulness, safety, and availability were some of the psychological factors that motivate the employee to engage themselves positively in the duties assigned to them by an organization. If an employee found that the environment that they are working in offered them meaningfulness, then the employee would develop certain characteristics of accountability, belongings self-identity and self-efficacy (Kahn, 1990). If an employee is to engage positively in the work that they have been given, they have to feel that the workload that they have been assigned they can manage. A sustainable workload, which they feel motivated to perform, will lead to employee engagement. In addition to that, if the workers feel that they have the freedom to choose what in their opinion they feel is right, together with feeling that they are in control, definitely employee engagement is more likely to occur. Moreover, if the efforts they have put in bring positive results and they are recognized and rewarded, these types of employees are likely to engage themselves in their work. Together with that, if the employee has a supportive environment in that the community associated with the work they do support and encourage them, then it is likely there will be positive performance outcome. Lastly, the worker should be in a position to feel that their working environment is fair and justice is taken on every wrong or right doing indulged. If the management task force creates such kind of an environment for his or her employees, then the performance outcome of the employees will be great. This kind of leadership style involved is the transformational leadership style, which caters for the needs of the employee. If the leadership skills applied enable the employees to engage themselves in the company, then it is likely that the performance of the employee will increase. Employees who engage themselves in their work tend to have a higher commitment to their work and they become more committed. If the employee is committed and comfortable in their daily work activities, then their level of hard work will increase. They tend to have the psychological feelings that they are in possession of the work they do. If the employee engages themselves in their work, then they are likely to develop certain traits to perform their job well and raise their competencies. If the employee is well equipped to perform better, then the worker will be put in a position that will enable them to make sound decisions regarding the organization (Colarelli, 1984), In addition to that, if an individual is well equipped, then the rate of self-efficiency will be high. As seen from above self efficiency is created by an employee who has psychological possessions. This makes the employee to become more involved in their daily work activities. As a result, they become responsible for the tasks that they do making them accountable for their duties and performances. Employees who are responsible focus their attention to the work and duties assigned to them. Employees who are responsible therefore create a conducive environment and are accountable for any work done by themselves and the tasks that they are given. Recommendations and Managerial Implications In relation to this analysis, it is evident that organizations need to psychologically develop their employees. In addition to that, the management needs to rise to the occasions in organizations that the employees do not have the sense of belonging. If the suggested steps are put into consideration, then they will be in a position to curb the opinion of job insecurity. In addition to that, the employees will be in a position to develop the sense of belonging and improving their self-identity. This enables the employees to be more satisfied with their jobs. If the management together with the workers develops the above characteristics, then this will eventually lead to positive outcome. According to various researches that have been undertaken, then it is evident that workers whose employers have developed their belongingness, their self-identity and self-efficacy combined together with the correct attitude of the work are in a position to be more effective and participate positively in the environment of the work leading to positive outcome. In addition to that, if the employee is to engage positively in their work, then the performance outcome of the job is likely to go higher. This will eventually contribute to the mission, vision and goals of the institution being met (Baron & Kenny, 1986). Conclusion The engagement of the worker in the organization is likely to have a positive outcome on the organization financially. The engagement of the employee can be analyzed according to the emotional attachment of the employee whether negatively or positively in relation to the manner in which they view their job, their fellow workmates or the company as a whole. Their engagement in work has a great impact on the willingness of the individual to perform their duties. If employees are engaged in their work, they will do anything in their power to satisfy the clients of the organization thus working in correspondence to the mission and vision of the organization. If an employee feels that they are psychologically possessed with the job, then this is empowerment of the employees. If employees are not empowered, then they consider that the tasks that they are supposed to do are what the manager has ordered them to do. Anything else apart from the specified assignments is none of their business. It is up to the manager to perform those tasks. Employees who are not empowered come to job to follow their bosses’ orders. They do not know the goals of the company. Bibliography Baron, R.M. & Kenny, D.A., “The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 51, (1986): 1173-82. Colarelli, S.M. “Methods of communication and mediating processes in realistic job previews”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 69 (1984): 633-42. Gong Y, Huang JC, Farh JL. “Employee Learning Orientation, Transformational Leadership, and Employee Creativity: The Mediating role of Creative Self Efficacy.” Acad. Manag. J., 52, No 4 (2009): 765-778 Kahn, W.A. “Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 33 (1990): 692-724. Shaw, K. “An engagement strategy process for communicators”, Strategic Communication Management, Vol. 9 No. 3 (2005): 26-9. Read More