2.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter mainly deals with the research problem and provides a review of the work by different authors on this construct. It also provides various discrepancies and contradictions within the research on employee engagement. This will include a discussion on different definitions for employee engagement by different authors, development as a construct, importance of employee engagement, its measurement, drivers that promote it and finally its relation with other well established constructs.

The concept of employee engagement is a relatively latest one. Most of the organisations feel that employees work for the pay that is being given to them. But this type of thinking is outdated and faulty. There are several other non financial factors that affects the employee engagement like advancement, autonomy, civilized treatment, employer commitment, environment, exposure to senior people, praise, support, the feeling of being challenged and trusted, the feeling of working for a reliable organisation, the feeling of working on important assignments and the feeling of respect in work-life balance (Woodruffe, 2006). Most of the major organisations provide tools for assessing the drivers that enhance the employee engagement (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008).

When you search for “Employee Engagement” in Wikipedia, the website highlights the information about employee engagement by stating that “Employee Engagement, also called as work engagement or worker engagement, is a business management concept and an engaged employee is the one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests” (Wikipedia, Employee Engagement, 2010).

Endres and Mancheno-Smoak (2008) mentioned employee engagement as a fad and it has also been described as an old wine in new bottles (Little & Little, 2006). There exists some people who see engagement as a fluffy and costly distraction and that it is not practical and a waste of time (Engen, 2008).

2.2. DEFINING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT:

According to Sanchez (2007), employee engagement is defined as “an outcome of how employees perceive their work, leadership of their organizations, the recognition and rewards they receive, and the communication ethos of the organization”. On the other hand, Cook (2008) defined Employee engagement as the term that is “personified by the passion and energy employee have to give of their best to the organisation to serve the customer. It is all about the willingness and ability of the employees to give sustained discretionary effort to help their organisation succeed”. Shaw (2005) defined employee engagement as intellectual and emotional commitment to an organisation.

In addition to this, Stairs et al (2006) also defined employee engagement as “the extent to which the employees thrive at work, are committed to their employer, and are motivated to do their best, for the benefit of themselves and their organisation”.Truss et al (2009) defined employee engagement as “Engagement is about creating opportunities for employees to connect with their colleagues, managers and wider organisation. It is also about creating an environment where employees are motivated to want to connect with their work and really care about doing a good job. It is a concept which places flexibility, change and continuous improvement at the heart of what it means to be an employee and an employer in a twenty first century workplace”. Employee engagement is a positive feeling about the job as well as being ready to put more effort to make sure that the given job is accomplished to the best of the employee’s ability (Galpin et al, 2008).

Dvir et al (2004) defined engagement behaviourally as a “high level of activity, initiative and responsibility”. Wellins and Concelman (2005) also gave a definition to behavioural engagement as a “passion, extra effort, commitment, the illusive force that motivates employees to higher levels of performance”. They divided the thought of engagement into several elements like Interpersonal value (Rewards and Recognition), determined work (Empowerment and Strategy) and Individual support (Teamwork and cooperation).

Kim and Maurborgne (2005) perceive engagement as engaging the employee in the strategic process which is differed from the behaviour and attitude. Employee engagement is said to be a fair process with justification and clearness of expectations. They stated in their model regarding engagement as a reasonable process which is tracked by commitment and trust so called attitude. Thereby the employee willingly cooperates (conduct) and surpasses the expectations (strategy implementation). They finally defined engagement as “involving individuals in the strategic decisions that affect them by asking for their input and allowing them to refute the merits of one another’s idea and assumptions”. They considered that engagement leads to respect that management gives for employees and their ideas.

One can say from the above definitions of employee engagement is that it is a desirable circumstance which has an organizational intention and represents passion, commitment, enthusiasm, involvement, focused energy and effort, so it contains both attitudinal and behavioural aspects.

2.2. IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT:

Engagement is very important by considering the fact that disengagement of any employee leads to employees’ lack of commitment to work and lack of motivation. There is evidence of some studies which shows the importance of employee engagement. It has been highlighted by the Corporate Leadership Council (2004) that highly engaged employees perform 20% more than those employees with average engagement levels. In addition to this, ISR (2003) also shown that companies having higher levels of engagement noticed an increase of 3.74 percent in operating margin and 2.06 percent of increase in profits for one year period, whereas, companies with lower levels of engagement noticed a fall of 2 percent and 1.38 percent in the respective groups. On the other hand, Towers Perrin (2005) found that there is a 5 percent increase in operating margin with 7 percent increase in employee engagement.

A highly engaged employee always provide an output beyond expectations and during a research on employee engagement, Harter et al (2002) found that one in five employees agree that they have an opportunity to do what they do best every day. Those companies who score high on this always have comparatively higher performance. From the above research, one can say that employee engagement is vital to the success of any organisation and as organisations globalize and depend more on latest technologies, there is always a need for engaged employees to present them an organizational identity (Vazirani, 2007).

2.3. EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AS A CONSTRUCT:

The definition of employee engagement made us to think that it is something which needs to be managed, fostered and enhanced by the organisation which is well explained by Social Exchange Theory (SET). This theory argues that a series of interactions between parties can generate obligations that are in mutual interdependence state (Saks, 2006). It is believed that relationships develop into loyal, trusting and mutual commitments and hence, the way for individual to pay back their organisation is through employee engagement (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). That means, employees will get ready to engage themselves in their work in response to their organisational resources. As we can observe, it is clear that organisation and its environment always play a key role in figuring employees’ attitudes and their work engagement.

Employee engagement not only requires call but also actions as the employees are very valuable asset to any organisation. Employees should be aware of the new rules which are to be implemented by the senior management to make them believe in what they do. There should be a link between employee engagement and leadership which acts as the best source for success (Townsend & Gebhardt, 2008). On the other hand, Crabtree (2005) defined three types of employees: engaged employees who work with zeal and helps the organisation grow in all aspects; not-engaged employees who invest their time into the work but not passion or energy; actively disengaged employees who work without enthusiasm towards work. In employee engagement, people express and employ themselves cognitively, emotionally and physically during their performances. Engaged employees always feel enthusiastic towards their work and provide improvement in helping the organisation move forward (Roche, 2005).

The next related build to the engagement is the concept of flow mentioned by Csikszentmihalyi (1990) as the “holistic sensation” when people feel when they take action with full involvement. In order to measure the employee engagement in an organisation, surveys are the best method to find out employees’ perceptions and attitudes towards the organisation. But, Kennedy and Daim (2009) felt that companies are not addressing these issues properly and suggested that they should take advantage of these surveys and refine the goals accordingly thereby incorporating them into a hierarchical decision model (HDM).

Welbourne (2007) provided the ways to improve employee engagement by suggesting a role based model which particularly noticed the behavioural types that are expected from the employees to foster the organisational performance. The key roles are being defined as Core job holder