Faculty of Business Environment and Society - Essay Example

 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Literature Review 3 Discussion 4 Scenario A 4 Intellectual engagement 5 Affective engagement 5 Social engagement 6 Scenario B 6 Need satisfying approach 6 Scenario C 8 Job demands-resources framework 8 Conclusion 9 Recommendation 9 Reference List 11 Introduction The management of human resources is a method of supervising the people in companies in thorough and structured manner. It is a function designed to exploit the performance of staffs in the company. The human resource department undertake several activities such as staffing, training and growth, rewarding, and performance appraisal to manage the people in an effective way (Armstrong 2006). Employee engagement is defined as a workplace approach which is designed to ascertain that workers are committed towards their organisation’s values and goals, motivated to add to the success of company, and at the similar time are able to develop their own personality (Cook 2008). The objective of the paper is to analyse the notion of employee/staff engagement, both intrinsically as well as a tool for aiding excellent business purposes. Another objective is to create an action plan for the purpose of promoting engagement of employees within their own company and elsewhere. Literature Review Workforce engagement is referred to the concept which has become more and more mainstreamed into the management thought. It is observed as an inner state of being i.e. both emotional and mental, and physical; which brings together previous notions of organisational commitment, work effort, and job satisfaction. The definition of workforce/employee engagement gives three scopes to the workforce engagement: intellectual engagement, social engagement, and affective engagement (Cipd 2014). Several research studies have revealed the positive connection between high degree of workforce engagement and the expected organisational outcomes for example low turnover, customer satisfaction, profitability, and productivity (U.S Merit System Protection Board 2009). Evidence advocates that workforce engagement has a significant and positive effect on companies such as companies with high workforce engagement demonstrated a 19% boost in the operating profit and 28% increase in the earnings per share (Cipd 2012). Managers of human resource department can promote the employees’ engagement within their own company or elsewhere by involving in different practices. Competent and passionate leadership is vital to workforce engagement. Showing an authentic interest in the employees as well as investing time to understand the aspirations and needs of workforce will help them to realise that their contribution in the firm is valued. Engaged workforce should be provided with the opportunity to effectively use their talents and should also be encouraged to expand those skills and talents to show their progress in the company. Managers should involve the workforce in discussions in order to help them to realise that their suggestions are valued and taken by the top management (Federman 2009). Other ways to promote their engagement is to reward them intrinsically with the incentives and bonuses and should praise them for their efficient effort. This will motivate them to work efficiently and they will feel to remain in the company for the long-term. The companies should adopt people-focused customs/culture in their operations as employees are the biggest asset of the company. A work culture in which workers feel valued is crucial towards employee engagement (Albrecht 2010). The need-satisfying model proposed by Kahn (1990) assumes that workers become engaged in the company when three emotional needs or conditions are met by the company. The job/occupation demands-resource framework suggests that workforce commitment results from intrinsically motivating nature or character of resources (Bakker and Demerouti 2008). Discussion Scenario A Research and development is considered as the main division of every business. It is crucial for every organization to meet the expectations and needs of its research and growth/development employees to engage them in the business activities for the long-run. The employees of research and growth/development formulate innovation-driven strategy by making great innovations based on preventative requirements as supposed by researchers. After that, the researchers deem to pursue the innovations to satisfy the wants and requirements of customers (Chang 2012). The research and growth/development employees in the companies are required to remain competitive and the company is required to invest in research and development growth of workforce. The need and expectation of the staffs of research and development is that they should not be evaluated on quantitative basis but should be evaluated on the qualitative or performance basis. The pay should not be provided on the basis of the time they are engaged in their occupation because it takes lot of time to innovate something. Therefore, the research and growth/development employees expect to get evaluated on their performance basis i.e. on the quality of their work. They are expecting incentives and bonuses in terms of reward because they are really working hard to innovate new strategies and approaches for the company to attain growth and success. The department of research and development is employing fifteen educated scientist so, there is a need of implementing a workforce engagement programme to retain those personnel as they are the important asset of the organisation. In order to retain those educated scientist, the department of research and development should adopt different aspects of engagement to understand how to engage those personnel. Those aspects should be intellectual engagement, social engagement, and affective engagement. Intellectual engagement Intellectual engagement is referred to the extent to which an individual is intellectually occupied in work as well as think about the ways of improving their performance (Acas 2012). This strategy of employee engagement will help the brewing company to make utmost use of the innovation strategies of the research and development staffs. In order to intellectually employ the scientist in the division of research and development, the managers should make them feel trusted by offering them reward for their performance. Trust in the place of work is very important and it also leads to the job satisfaction (Goff and Ackerman 1992). Satisfied employees become more motivated towards providing more effort in their work and it leads to their personal development of talent as well as improved company performance. The research and development division work in compliance with the marketing department and the product innovation strategies of the research and development staffs will help the marketing division to follow them and attract more customers. So, the intellectual engagement of the employees of research and development division will also help to improve the company’s performance (Hardaker and Fill 2005). Affective engagement Affective engagement is referred to the extent to which the workers experiences positive outcome of their work. It helps the employees to positively connect to their occupation and also with the organisation (Truss et al 2013). The managers of human resource department should give the research and development scientist the opportunities to show their skills and should also encourage them to expand those skills in order to show their progress in their job. It will help to give positive outcome and help them to positively connect to their occupation (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). Social engagement Social engagement is referred to the extent to which the individual is socially associated with their working environment as well as shares common principles and ethics with colleagues. Company’s culture is an important aspect which holds the organisation together. In order to engage the educated scientist in the research and development division, the managers should promote their involvement of suggestions and ideas. By this, they will feel valued and contribute more towards their occupation (Coetzer and Rothmann 2007). Scenario B Need satisfying approach The employee engagement model which the management team can apply for engaging fifty middle aged female personnel is the ‘need or requirement satisfying approach’ proposed by Kahn (1990). This model states that workforce can be committed to their work or engaged on an emotional, cognitive, and physical level. All these levels are considerably affected by different psychological domains such as safety, availability, and meaningfulness. These domains make influence on how the staffs perceive as well as perform their responsibilities at work. Meaningfulness is defined as the optimistic or positive ‘nous of the return on self investment in their role of own performance’. It is generally described as a sentiment or feeling which is experienced by an individual in return of emotional, cognitive, and psychological energy invested by them into their task. The staffs experience meaningfulness exactly when they believe that they are valuable, useful, and also when the work performed by them is valued, taken as important, and required by the departments. Work meaningfulness defines that staffs want to contribute their attempt or effort towards specific tasks. This indicates the existence of engagement (May, Gilson and Harter 2004). As the female employees are little emotional as compared to male counterparts so, in order to engage fifty middle age female personnel the management should make them think that their task is valued and their suggestions should form an important part in formulating the strategies. By adopting this staff engagement approach, the managers can motivate them to put more efforts and it will result in the better outcome of the company. Safety means the capability to reveal one’s self i.e. without negative consequences or fear to self career, status, or image. The clear, consistent, and predictable situations at the place of work make staffs to consider themselves safer in their acts and this increases the possibility of staff engagement (May, Gilson and Harter 2004). In most of the companies, the contributions of women employees are neglected and they are not taken as serious instead of putting more efforts in their task. So, there exists an inferiority regarding the status. Therefore, the managers of this company should create a clear and consistent situation at the place of work so that the female employees feel that they are provided with the safety measures regarding their self image and this will increase their commitment towards their work. The managers should praise them as well as can also provide incentives for their excellent performance. Availability is referred to the ‘sense of holding or possessing the psychological, emotional, and physical resources’ required to perform duty or task. It means that how they are making themselves available for their task by noting the distractions experienced by them (May, Gilson and Harter 2004). In order to engage the fifty women employees, the managers should make some arrangements so that they are not getting distracted by unnecessary things such as conflict arising at the place of work, feeling of getting complex, etc. Therefore, managers should make the employees believe that they are contributing towards the progress of company and also make them feel proud of their work. By this way they can engage and retain more employees. It has been observed that all the three domains were positively associated with the progress of staff engagement at the place of work (May, Gilson and Harter 2004). It has been also observed that the ‘meaningfulness’ domain was completely influenced by role fit and job enrichment; supportive manager relations and rewarding employees enhanced safety of workforce; availability of resources was a positive or optimistic predictor of the emotional accessibility, while devotion to colleague norms as well as self awareness had unenthusiastic or negative impact. Researchers suggest that the model proposed by Kahn (1990) constructs a basis for the upcoming conceptualization of commitment or engagement of workforce (Shuck and Wollard 2010). Scenario C Job demands-resources framework The manufacturing department of the company comprises of 500 medium to low level skilled employees. In order to engage these employees, the company should adopt job/occupation demands-resources framework which explains that work engagement is an outcome of inherently motivating character of resources. It also explains that commitment towards work results from two different kinds of resources i.e. job resources and personal resources (Schaufeli and Bakker 2004). Job resources are referred to those features of the work which are functional in attaining work objectives, stimulate personal development and growth, and minimise job demands (for example communal support from the colleagues, job control, and performance feedback). Personal resources are referred to the aspects of self which are related to resiliency and it refers to one’s capability to control as well as impact one’s situation or environment successfully (for example emotional stability, optimism, and self-efficacy) (Bakker and Leiter 2010). According to this framework, resources energize workers; make them concentrate on their hard works; and encourage their determination towards work. The resources also foster engagement and commitment in terms of absorption (focus), dedication (persistence), and vigour (energy). This model also suggests that engagement of employees gives positive results for example job performance. As a whole, the job/occupation demands-resources framework considers that job engagement or commitment mediates the connection between personal resources and the job on one side and positive results on other side (Bakker and Demerouti 2008). The company can engage their middle and low level workers by providing them the positive feedback for their performance. They should praise them for their good performance and also for putting more efforts into their work. The managers should not demand anything beyond their willpower and should consider their hard work. This will help to stimulate personal development and growth because the workers will feel that they are getting valued for their performance. The employees should also support each other’s opinion as well as consider ideas for further improvement. As the number of middle and low level workers of manufacturing department are more so, they need to have better control on self so that there may not arise any conflict while working in groups. The management should apply this framework in order to energize their workforce by providing them incentives based on their performance. This will motivate the workers to concentrate more on their hard works as well as encourage their determination towards work. Adopting this framework will also assist the managers to promote engagement in terms of dedication and focus of employees towards their job. Dedicated employees focus more on their respective task and always try their best for the betterment of the company. Employee engagement will help the company to retain more efficient employees. It will further help in improving the performance of the company and whatever cost was incurred on the research and development, and manufacturing department’s employees in order to retain them, they will get back in terms of benefits such as improved revenue, earnings per share, net profit, return on investment, etc. Conclusion The paper focused on the different models of employees’ engagement. To promote the engagement of staffs within the company, various measures have been suggested to the company. Workforce engagement will assist the company to improve the productivity of the staff as well as organisation. It will help to retain the most efficient employees which will further assist in lowering the turnover rate of the company. To engage the employees, the managers can provide positive feedback on their performance which will motivate them to put more efforts in their job. The compensation should not be provided on the basis of the time they are engaged in their occupation but should be provided on the basis of performance. Satisfied employees are more responsible towards their job and contribute more towards the company success. Recommendation To employ as well as to engage fifteen educated scientists in the research and development department, the managers are recommended to adopt different aspects of engagement such as intellectual engagement, social engagement, and affective engagement. Intellectual engagement of employees will help the company to make utmost use of the innovation strategies of the research and development staffs. Affective engagement will help the employees to positively connect to their occupation and also with the organisation. Social engagement will assist the employees to share common terms about the work related change and improvements with their colleagues. To engage fifty middle aged female employees in the customer service contact centre, the managers are recommended to adopt ‘need or requirement satisfying approach’. They should make the female employees feel that their task is valued and their suggestions are taken for consideration in implementing the changes in the company. By adopting this approach the managers can motivate them to put more efforts and it will give better results for the company. To engage 500 medium to low level skilled staffs in the manufacturing department, ‘job/occupation demands-resources framework’ is recommended to adopt by the managers of the company. The managers should not demand anything beyond their capability and should consider their effort. This will help to stimulate personal development and growth. Adopting this framework will assist the managers to promote engagement and retain them for the long term. Taking into consideration the return on investment, it is analysed that in order to engage fifteen educated scientist in the department of research and development, huge amount of cost would have been incurred on providing training to them as well as to implement the strategies by them. When the strategies are adopted by the research and development staffs then it is carried out by the manufacturing department staffs. The department of research and development and the manufacturing department work in synchronisation with each other. So, there also various costs have been incurred to manufacture the product. Moreover, the company also have to retain fifty middle aged female employees in the customer service centre. To engage as well as to retain all these employees the managers have to provide various bonuses based on their performance. So, various costs would have been incurred on labours, machines, and equipments. However, it is considered that the company will get good return on whatever investments they have made. This is because the company is having more qualified personnel in each department who will contribute their best to increase the productivity of themselves and therefore the company. Various engagement strategies will encourage the employees to attain growth and it will bring good return for the company. Reference List Acas. (2012) Building employee engagement [online] available from: < http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/s/1/Building_employee_engagement-accessible-version-Jun-2012.pdf> [3 March 2015] Albrecht, S.L. (2010) Handbook of employee engagement: perspectives, issues, research and practice. United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited Armstrong, M. (2006) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. New York: Kogan Page Publisher Armstrong, M., and Taylor, S. (2014) Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. 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U.S Merit System Protection Board (2009) Managing for engagement – communication, connection, and courage [online] available from: < http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=437591&version=438697&application=ACROBAT> [3 March 2015]. Schaufeli, W.B., and Bakker, A.B. (2004) ‘Job demands, job resources and their relationship with burnout and engagement: A multi-sample study’. Journal of Organisational Behaviour 25, 293-305. Shuck, B., and Wollard, K. (2010) ‘Employee engagement and HRD: A seminal review of the foundations’. Human Resource Development 9(1), 89-100. Truss, C., Alfes, K., Delbridge, R., Shantz, A., and Soane, E. (2013) Employee engagement in theory and practice. New York: Routledge Read More