The practice of engagement: Research into current employee engagement practice
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390780001011 |
| Pages | 16-19 |
| Published date | 01 September 2007 |
| Date | 01 September 2007 |
| Author | Richard McBain |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
16
16 Volume 6 Issue 6 September/October 2007
MPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT has
become important in conceptualizing
and measuring the impact of human
capital in organizations and in the
integration of many different aspects of
HR – employee satisfaction, commitment, motivation,
involvement and the psychological contract, as well as
features such as job design and total rewards. It provides
away of recognizing the influence of emotions
alongside rationality in working life. Italso chimes well
with a growing recognition of the linkage between
people and performance and the need to understand
and to manage talent – a recognition that has been
forced upon organizations by continuing change in the
business and organizational landscape and which is
backed up byincreasing research evidence. It seems that
employee engagement makes a difference at the
individual, team and organizational levels.
Members of the HR Centre of Excellence at Henley
Management College identified the development of
employee engagement as a key issue for them and
commissioned research that focused, as a first step, on
identifying current practice in engaging people. The
research was in two parts: firstly, an extensive search of
the literature on employee engagement, and secondly,
face-to-face interviews with senior HR practitioners from
10 organizations in the centre: Aviva, Bestsellers, BT,
Canon, Cadbury Schweppes, Centrica, Microsoft, RBS,
Sainsbury’s, Smiths and Vodafone. The interviews were
structured to identify definitions of engagement in use,
drivers and outcomes of engagement, current practices
for developing engagement, support for line managers
and the measurement of engagement. This article
considers the key findings of this initial research and the
model of engagement that was developed as a result.
E
by Dr Richard McBain, Henley Management College
The practice of
engagement
Research into current employee
engagement practice
Dr Richard McBain of
Henley Management
College’sHR Centre of
Excellence discusses the
findings of research
into current employee
engagement practice at
10 organizations and
puts forward a resulting
model of engagement
and commitment. He
argues that while
employee engagement is
adesirable goal, it should
not become an end in
itself – organizations
need to keep it within a
strategic context.
FEATURES AT A GLANCE
,
,
,
,
THE PRACTICE
OF ENGAGEMENT
O2 MAKES WORK A
REWARDING EXPERIENCE
UC RUSAL UNITES
CULTURES THROUGH LOCAL
CSR PROGRAMS
PUTTING BALANCE
INTO BUSINESS
THE ARTOF
BUSINESS PARTNERING
,
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