Various Means of Ensuring Employee Engagement for the Benefit of the Organization - Coursework Example

Running Head: EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT Employee Engagement Name Institution Date Introduction The manner in which business is being done in the world is changing due top the impacts of globalization. This has therefore led to increased competition and many organizations are looking for means of improving their performance. Most organizations have however realized that to withstand this competition, they must meet the needs of the employees and make them fully engaged to the organization. This article looks at various means of ensuring employee engagement for the benefit of the organization. Article summary This article is about employee engagement as a way of increasing the performance of an organization. The article defines employee engagement as the willingness and the ability of the employees to actively participate towards the welfare of the organization. However, research has shown that to add on the employee engagement the organization has to provide various incentives such as proper working relationship, communication, rewards, training and a general working environment with favorable conditions for increased performance of the employees. The incentives are classified into five elements which include ensuring the efforts of the employees with the organization strategy, empowering the employees, promoting collaboration among the working team, assisting the employees to grow and develop in their various aspects and finally supporting and recognizing the efforts of the employees where appropriate (Markos & Sridevi, 2010). Research has found that communication is the most important driving force for employee engagement. This is because communication where the employees are informed of the vision and mission of the organization, involved in decision making, and getting feedback to most for their concerns. Communication makes the employees to feel involved and recognized as part of the organization. Most of the factors that increase on the employee engagement are non financial. An organization may be giving small salaries and wages to the employees but because of a favorable working environment, employees may increase their engagement in the organization (McCormick, 2009). The article also considers the relationship between employee engagement and the organization performance. Every organization must invest its resources on employee engagement. This is because the outcomes of the organization rely on the efforts made by the employees. Therefore, investing in employee engagement is like working on improving the outcomes of the organization. An organization that has highly engaged employees usually gets more than average on its revenue growth. Engaged employees are characterized by talking about the organization, staying in the organization and always striving on behalf of the organization. Talking about the organization includes telling it to customers, potential employees and also discussing important organizational matters with the co-workers. Staying in the organization means that the employees desire to work in the organization despite being offered opportunities in other organizations. Striving for the sake of the organization means that employees may be willing to work extra time and go an extra mile for the sake of success of the organization (Markos & Sridevi, 2010). On the other hand, employees who are not engaged will never concentrate on their work and other matters of the organization. Such employees cannot commit their extra time for the sake of the employees; they do not show any commitment to the organization and hardly engage themselves in things that are important to the organization. Generally, these are de-motivated employees who have also been denied a chance to feel part of the organization. For an organization to have a completely engaged team of employees, there are various strategies to be adopted by the management. One of these strategies is that the manager should instill the attitude of employee engagement during the first day of employment. This will ensure the employee starts working with a positive attitude and will continue with the same. The other strategy is that engagement should also be seen from the management team to the junior staff. It should be the engagement of every member of the organization without any exception. Other important strategies include effective communication, giving employees opportunities to grow and develop themselves within the organization, giving them adequate training and ensuring that the corporate culture is also conducive. All these will make the employees proud when associating themselves with the organization and will improve on their engagement (Cook, 2008). Strengths and weaknesses of the author’s argument One the main strength of the author’s argument regarding employee engagement is that he recognizes that the biggest role in ensuring employee engagement is played by the management. The author recognizes that the management has to offer what is required for the employees to remain engaged in the organizational matters. The other strength in the author’s argument is that he has stated practical and realizable strategies to improving employee engagement. The strategies he has stated can be achieved by every organization for example facilitating proper communication, feedback system, facilitating employee training, and effective reward system. The other strength is that the author has relied on what research says concerning employee engagement. Most of his arguments are based on literature and not just mere facts. Some of the weaknesses in this article include the fact that the author has not talked about the employee’s gains as a driving force to engagement. Employees may reach a point and reduce on their engagement if they do not realize any benefits from the organization. During the first years of employment, employees may be fully engaged but after a while, this may decrease if it does not benefit them. This is because the main aim of seeking employment the need for financial gains. Therefore, to have the employees remain engaged for long, they have to gain financially from the organization. Employees cannot devote their time and their efforts for the sake of the benefit of the organization and they are not getting personal benefits (Townsend, & Gebhardt, 2007). Another weakness in the article is that the author does not recognize the impact of globalization in the way employees are being managed. Globalization has increased competition for resources including the workforce. Every organization must therefore consider the global trends in the area of employee management so as to ensure that it keeps the global standards. There is no point of following the employee management strategies that are stated in the literature. The management team must consider the internal environment of the organization and the external where the impacts of globalization will be considered (Federman, 2009). My own viewpoint I tend to agree with the authors thesis statement that employee engagement is very important for improved organizational performance. It is true that engaged employees are emotionally attached to their organization and highly involved in their job with grater enthusiasm for the success if their employer, going extra mile beyond the contractual framework. However, to achieve employee engagement, the organization has to offer the necessary incentives that will ensure that the employees have a chance to exhibit their full potential. My view is also that employees cannot be fully engaged in an organization where they are also not benefitting. For example, they cannot work extra time for an organization where they are not personally benefitting. The employees will also work to see the organization increase on its outcomes as long as they will also benefit from those outcomes (Macey, Schneider & Barbera, 2009). Motivation may be different from engagement but it is necessary for engagement to prevail. Employees will not just remain royal and committed to the organization when they are not motivated to do so. Therefore, the management must use both financial and non financial resources to motivate the employees and ensure that they remain engaged to the organization for a long time (Cornelius, & Martin, 2008). Literature on employee engagement According to Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee (2008), engagement entails motivating the employees so that they can go an extra mile in the organization’s work. This means that the employees have to be encouraged to develop a passion for their duties in the organization. Employees feel motivated when doing a job that challenges them and gives them an opportunity to grow. Therefore, employees’ desire to grow must be met by the organization. This growth may be physical, mental growth and also economic growth. Therefore, for the employees to give to the organization, the organization must also give to the employees. The concept of Employee engagement was also facilitated by the changes in the global businesses. Global competition forced the organization to improve on their flexibility in their response to the needs of the employees. According to Paula, (2008), the recent increased interest on employee engagement has been contributed to by the 9/11 tragedy that took place in 2001 and the dotcom bubble burst in 2000 that was experienced in the United States. These were financial crisis that made various managers change their direction towards employee management so that they can recover from the crisis and also maintain competitiveness. It is therefore evident that for employees to remain engaged in their work, they must remain motivated and benefit from their work. Conclusion Employee engagement is a very important element for the success of every organization. Engagement is the willingness of the employees to get committed to the organization and its values, and also work towards its success. However, an organization must employ the necessary strategies in ensuring that the employees get engaged to the organization. The most important of these strategies is to have an efficient communication system that will indicate employee involvement in the matters of the organization. Other requirements for employee engagement include proper motivation and benefits to both the employees and the organization. References Nohria, N., Groysberg, B. & Lee, L. (2008). Employee Motivation: A powerful new model. Harvard: Harvard Business School. Cornelius, J. & Martin, J. (2008). Why are we losing all our good people? Harvard: Harvard Business School. Paula, K. (2008). What’s the big deal about employee engagement? New York: American Society for Training and Development. Federman, B. (2009). Employee Engagement: A Roadmap for Creating Profits, Optimizing Performance, and Increasing Loyalty. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Cook, S. (2008). The Essential Guide to Employee Engagement: Better Business Performance through Staff Satisfaction. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Townsend, P. & Gebhardt, J. (2007). The executive guide to understanding and implementing employee engagement programs: expand production capacity, increase revenue, and save jobs. Toronto: ASQ Quality Press. Macey, W., Schneider, B. & Barbera, K. (2009). Employee engagement: tools for analysis, practice, and competitive advantage. New York: John Wiley and Sons. McCormick, M. (2009). Employee Engagement Process. California: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Markos, S. & Sridevi, M. (2010). Employee engagement: the key to improving performance. Ontario: Canadian Center of Science and Education. Read More