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The Individual Side of Employee Engagement A Research Study
By Dilbag Singh
1. Introduction The primary objective of every organization is to create value through the delivery of products
and services. The employees of the organization are central to this process of value creation.
They are the ones who utilize the capabilities embodied in their person in addition to the
provided resources so as to create the maximum value. Leveraging these resources, especially
the personal ones possessed by the employees result in optimal performance that greatly
affects the way teams and organization perform. Therefore, it becomes of primary interest for
managers and leaders alike to understand and facilitate the process by which the employees
are able to fully engage themselves towards the performance of their work.
One of the most recent and popular constructs for understanding this process is that of
“employee engagement”. It has emerged as a very popular term - not only in the HR
community, but also among other senior executives and board members. CXOs are embracing
evidence-based analysis showing how people-based strategies that improve employee
engagement clearly impact bottom-line results (Boudreau & Jesuthasan, 2011) (Gruman &
Saks, 2010) (Schaufeli & Salanova, 2007) (Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002). Emerging
research indicates that people are truly an organization’s most valuable asset, and that
employee engagement is a key lever towards maximizing shareholder value.
However, despite its popularity, there remains a dearth of peer reviewed academic literature
on the subject. The literature also does not provide a clear definition of employee engagement
(Shuck & Wollard, 2010) (Markos & Sridevi, 2010). Nevertheless, various case studies and
results from research organizations as well as world of practice have established that there is a
strong linkage between employee engagement, performance and business impact.
Research shows that there are multiple factors that impact the level of employee engagement.
These factors are related to the employee, their managers, the leaders in the organization and
the organizational environment. The present study recognizes that the employee as a person is
at the center of the employee engagement construct. (S)he is the one who has to be engaged in
the job/work that is assigned. Therefore, this study makes an attempt to understand these
human person-related factors that are crucial in engaging the employee, and how this
understanding can be deployed to increase the chances of engaging the employee.
2. The Definition and Meaning of Employee Engagement William A. Kahn was the one who first coined the term employee engagement in his Academy of
Management Journal article, “Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and
Disengagement at Work” (Kahn, 1990). Kahn defined personal engagement as “the
simultaneous employment and expression of a person’s “preferred self” in task behaviors that
promote connections to work and to others, personal presence, and active full role
performances” (p. 700). According to Kahn the domains of meaningfulness, safety, and
availability were important to understand the phenomenon of engaged at work. Kahn defined
Meaningfulness was defined as the positive “sense of return on investments of self in role
performance” (p. 705). Safety was defined as the ability to show one’s self “with- out fear or
negative consequences to self image, status, or career” (p. 705). Availability was defined as the
“sense of possessing the physical, emotional, and psychological resources necessary” (p. 705)
for the completion of work.
Kahn’s conceptualization of personal engagement was one of the early literatures on
engagement till Maslach, Schaufeli, and Leiter (2001) pointed out that employee engagement
was the positive antithesis to burnout. They defined employee engagement as “a persistent
positive affective state characterized by high levels of activation and pleasure” (Maslach,
Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001).
According to the earliest practitioner’s reference, employee engagement was defined as an
“individual’s involvement and satisfaction with as well as enthusiasm for work” (Harter,
Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002). This definition significantly altered the way engagement was seen
by adding the expectation of an individual’s satisfaction level. However, as per the most widely
used definition, work engagement is defined as “a positive, fulfilling, work related state of
mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption (Schaufeli W. , Salanova,
González-Roma, & Bakker, 2002). Here Vigor is “a high level of energy and mental resilience
while working, willingness to one’s efforts in one’s work and persistence even in the face of
difficulties. Dedication is “Being strongly involved in one’s work and experiencing a sense of
significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride and challenge”. Absorption is “being fully
concentrated and happily engrossed in one’s work”.
The first academic research that made an attempt to specifically conceptualize and test
antecedents and consequences of employee engagement occurred in 2006 (Saks, 2006). Prior
to his work, practitioner literature was the only body of work connecting the drivers employee
engagement to its consequences. Saks defined employee engagement as “a distinct and unique
construct consisting of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components . . . associated with
individual role performance” (p. 602). He was able to make a connection between the early
theories of employee engagement, practitioner literature, and the academic community.
In 2006, SHRM commissioned a publication on employee engagement and commitment. But,
it could not provide a clear and concise definition of employee engagement. However, what it did
manage to do was to provide recognition to the construct of employee engagement as a
construct of value among the professional societies. Since the first SHRM publication, future
SHRM studies have developed further conceptualizations around the employee engagement
construct (Lockwood, 2007).
In the year 2008, the ASTD also commissioned a study in the area of employee engagement in
association with Dale Carnegie Training (Czarnowsky, 2008). The main aim of the study was
to understand the role of learning in the employee engagement construct, the first look into the
concept from an HRD perspective. ASTD defined engagement as “employees who are mentally
and emotionally invested in their work and in contributing to their employer’s success”
(Czarnowsky, 2008). The results of the study showed connections to the foundational work of
Kahn (1990) and Maslach et al. (2001) by creating meaningful work environments, providing
opportunities for learning and focusing on the experience of the employee.
Macey & Schneider (2008) proposed that employee engagement develops from (a) trait
engagement, (b) state engagement, and (c) behavioral engagement (Macey & Schneider,
2008). They defined Trait engagement as the “inclination or orientation to experience the world
from a particular vantage point”. Psychological state engagement was described as an antecedent
to behavioral engagement (encompassing the constructs of satisfaction, involvement,
commitment, and empowerment). Finally, behavioral engagement was construed in terms of
“discretionary effort”.
More recently, Shuck and Wollard (2011) have defined employee engagement as “an
individual employee’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral state directed toward desired
organizational outcomes” (Shuck & Wollard, 2011)
The above review of the existing literature provides the following insights about the
phenomenon of employee engagement:
1. There are a lot of factors that play a huge role in employee engagement such as job
demands, Job resources, co-workers, managers, leaders and organizational
environment.
2. It is a psychological process or an experiential state and the employee is central to it.
3. The engagement level of an employee can vary from time to time. At one end of the
scale is completely disengaged employee and the other end of scale is completely
engaged. The degree to which an employee is engaged at any point of tome can vary
between these two extremities.
3. The Need for Employee Engagement Research indicates that Employee Engagement is the key to organization's success and
competitiveness. Many scholars have claimed that engagement is pivotal for contemporary
organizations, given the kind of challenges they face in a dynamic global environment
(Schaufeli and Salanova, 2007). Macey et al. (2009) argue that organizations can gain
significant competitive advantage through employee engagement. They researched a sample of
65 firms in different industries, and found that the organizations scoring within the top 25% on
an engagement index had a greater return on assets (ROA), profitability, and more than
double the shareholder value compared to the bottom 25%. Employee engagement has also
been seen as a key driver of individual attitudes, behavior, and performance as well as
organizational performance, productivity, retention, financial performance, and even
shareholder return (Bates, 2004; Baumruk, 2004; Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002; Richman,
2006). High levels of employee engagement lead to employees who are more productive,
profitable, safer, healthier, less likely to turnover, less likely to be absent, and more willing to
engage in discretionary efforts (Buchanan, 2004; Fleming & Asplund, 2007; The Gallup
Organization, 2001; Wagner & Harter, 2006).
Employee engagement is the result of a unique bond that produces remarkable financial
results for companies. According to Gallup research, the business units in the top quartile of
engagement have 12% higher customer advocacy, 18% higher productivity, and 12% higher
profitability than bottom-quartile business units (Robison, 2009). On the one hand, if the
increased employee engagement results in higher return the decline in engagement leads to
significant loss of productivity. The bottom quartile of business units have 51% more inventory
shrinkage, 31% to 51% more employee turnover, and 62% more accidents than business units
in the top quartile (Robison, 2009).
According to a UK government study, branches of a leading multinational bank that displayed
an increase in levels of employee engagement had a 16% higher profit margin than those,
which had a decrease in employee engagement levels (Clarke & MacLeod, 2009). Another
study of 64 organizations by Kenexa reveals that the organizations with highly engaged
workforce achieve twice the annual net income to those with less engaged workforce (Kenexa,
2008). A similar study by Towers Perrin found that a 5% increase in employee engagement
leads to .7% increase in operating margin (Perrins, 2004). In a UK based fortune 500
manufacturing company, the turnover and absenteeism were respectively 14.5% and 8%
respectively whereas for highly engaged teams the turnover and absenteeism were 4.1% and
4.8% respectively (Wellins, Bernthal, & Phelps, 2005).
4. The Measurement of Employee Engagement
In order to operationalize or enhance employee engagement, a measurement tool becomes
absolutely necessary. The earliest attempt to measure employee engagement was made by
Maslach and Leiter by assuming it to be an antipode of burnout (Maslach & Leiter, 1997).
Burnout and engagement constitute the opposite poles of a continuum of work related well
being - with burnout representing the negative pole and engagement the positive pole. The
definition of burnout by Maslach and Leiter (1997) included the terms of exhaustion, cynicism
and reduced professional efficacy. It followed that engagement is characterized by energy,
involvement and efficacy. The three aspects of engagement were the opposites of those of
burnout. Therefore, the low score on the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) – implied work
engagement. Therefore the low scores on the exhaustion and cynicism scales, and a high score
on the professional efficacy scale of the MBI is indicative of engagement (Maslach et al 1996).
In 2001, Schaufeli & Bakker, argued that the concepts of burnout and engagement were not
perfectly negatively correlated. That is, if an employee is not burned out, it does not mean that
(s)he is engaged - or vice versa. Additionally, the relationship between both the constructs
cannot be empirically studied when measured by the same instrument (Schaufeli & Bakker,
2004).
Therefore, a seventeen item self-report questionnaire – called the Utrecht Work Engagement
Scale (UWES) – was developed. Each item was measured on a 7-point Likert scale. It was
based on the following definition of employee engagement: Engagement is a positive, fulfilling,
work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption
(Schaufeli W. , Salanova, González-Romá, & Bakker, 2002). Based on the above definition,
the questionnaire included the three constituting aspects of work engagement: vigor, dedication,
and absorption.
Vigor was assessed by the six items that refer to high levels of energy and resilience, the willingness
to invest effort, not being easily fatigued, and persistence in the face of difficulties.
1. At my work, I feel bursting with energy*
2. At my job, I feel strong and vigorous*
3. When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work*
4. I can continue working for very long periods at a time
5. At my job, I am very resilient, mentally
6. At my work I always persevere, even when things do not go well
Dedication was assessed by five items that refer to deriving a sense of significance from one’s work,
feeling enthusiastic and proud about one’s job, and feeling inspired and challenged by it.
1. I find the work that I do full of meaning and purpose
2. I am enthusiastic about my job*
3. My job inspires me*
4. I am proud on the work that I do*
5. To me, my job is challenging
Absorption was measured by six items that refer to being totally and happily immersed in one’s work
and having difficulties detaching oneself from it so that time passes quickly and one forgets
everything else that is around.
1. Time flies when I'm working
2. When I am working, I forget everything else around me
3. I feel happy when I am working intensely*
4. I am immersed in my work*
5. I get carried away when I’m working*
6. It is difficult to detach myself from my job
A shorter version of UWES (UWES 9) was also created that constituted three items each for
each vigor, dedication and Absorption. These items are marked with asterisk (*) above.
The results of later studies showed that the UWES-17 had quite extended encouraging
psychometric properties, for example, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from 0.80 to
0.90, the factor loadings exceeded 0.70 and it yielded three factors valid model fit (Shimazu,
Schaufeli, Kosugi, Suzuki, & Nashiwa, 2008). Due to possessing considerable reliability and
validity features, the UWES-17 has been most extensively used in different types of
organizations around the world. It has also been translated to many languages (Seppälä,
Mauno, Feldt, Hakanen, & Kinnunen, 2009).
Another measurement tool used for employee engagement is designed and developed by the
Gallup Corporation. It is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 12 items. Each item is to be
rated on a scale of 1 to 5. The questionnaire is known as Q12. The first version of Q12 was
developed in 1990 and was named as (“The Gallup Workplace Audit” or GWA). The final
wording and order of Q12 was completed in 1998. Since then it has been administered to more
than 22 million employees in 189 different countries and 69 languages. Additionally, a series of
studies have been conducted examining the cross-cultural properties of the instrument (Harter
& Agrawal, 2011). The reliability, convergent validity, and criterion-related validity of Q12
have been extensively studied.
The 12 items of the Gallup Q12 are based on:
1. Expectations: Clarity of Expectations and outcomes from the Job
2. Materials and equipment: Availability of right materials and equipment for accomplishing the job.
3. Opportunity to do what I do best
4. Recognition for good work
5. Presence of somebody who cares about the employee.
6. Regular encouragement and development at work.
7. Opinions count: Recognition of opinions and inputs given by the employee.
8. Mission/Purpose: Clarity of mission and purpose of their work.
9. Commitment of colleagues towards quality work
10. Presence of best friend at work.
11. Discussion of the performance and feedback in a timely manner.
12. Opportunities to learn and grow.
As a total instrument, the Q12 has a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.91. The meta-analytic convergent
validity of the equally weighted mean (or sum) of items Q01-Q12 (Grand Mean) to the
equally weighted mean (or sum) of additional items in longer surveys (measuring all known
facets of job satisfaction and engagement) is 0.91. This provides evidence that the Q12, as a
composite measure, captures the general factor in longer employee surveys. Individual items
correlate to their broader dimension true-score values, on average, at approximately 0.70
(Harter J. , Schmidt, Agrawal, & Plowman, 2013).
5. Facilitating Employee Engagement The various definitions of employee engagement discussed in this research paper describe it as
a psychological state wherein the employee is fully involved and engrossed in discharging the
job responsibilities. Much of the extant research is around the indicators or the behaviours
displayed while the employee is engaged. A little research has taken place on the key employee
centric drivers of engagement or the engagement process. In the present section, these
relatively less explored areas of employee engagement are discussed.
Kahn defined personal engagement, as “the simultaneous employment and expression of a
person’s preferred self in task behaviors.” Kahn explains the premise of preferred self as the
dimensions of people that given appropriate conditions, they prefer to use and express at their
job (Kahn W. , 1990). The application of these personal dimensions to job results in expression
of self, resulting in engagement. However, Kahn did not explain these personal dimensions in
detail. However, such an expression or involvement of self in work is explained by constructs
such as Flow (Csikszentmihalyi M. , 1982) and Intrinsic Motivation (Deci, 1975).
5.1 Intrinsic Motivation Intrinsic motivation is defined as a desire to perform an activity without any obvious external
rewards. Intrinsically motivated people simply enjoy the experience of the activity, or see it as
an opportunity to explore, learn, and actualize our potentials (Coon & Mitterer, 2010). The
underlying desire to engage in the behaviour or activity is driven by an interest or enjoyment
in the task itself. Such interest towards an activity is similar to the personal dimensions
mentioned in Kahn’s paper. As in the case of engaged employees, research also indicates that
people who engage in job related activities for intrinsic reasons are more satisfied with their
work and perform better (Bono & Judge, 2003).
Therefore, in order for an activity or task to be intrinsically motivating, it has to be in line with
the passions and interests of a person. Such an alignment of the task and interests results in a
higher level of engagement.
5.2 Flow In his paper, Kahn also included individual differences as the future direction of research in
work engagement. The individual differences are the reasons behind the individual’s
disposition towards engaging or not engaging in all or some of the activities related to the job
responsibilities (Kahn W. , 1990). These individual differences govern the degree to which a
person is engaged from being completely disengaged at one end and fully engaged at the other.
For example, an academic may be highly engaged in the research aspect of his/her job.
However, the level of engagement may be relatively lower when it comes to the teaching and
the service aspects of the job.
This differing degree of engagement in various activities related to the job role can be
explained by the construct of Flow (Csikszentmihalyi M. , 2002).
Mihaly describes the experience of flow as the optimal momentary experiences where the
challenges of the activities match with the skills possessed by the person. Additionally, the
likelihood of achieving a flow state increases when the challenges/difficulty level of activities
move beyond an average or above average level that requires higher-level skills
(Csikszentmihalyi M. , 2002). In the Flow state, people are found to exhibit the following
characteristics (Nakamura & Csikssentmihalyi, 2009):
1. Intense and focused concentration on what one is doing in the present moment.
2. Merging of Action and Awareness
3. Distortion of temporal experience (A sense that the time has passed faster than normal)
4. Experience of activity as intrinsically rewarding such that the end goal is just an excuse
for the process.
The flow state is also directly linked to optimal functioning and development. Schaufeli et al
(2002) defines employee engagement as “a positive, fulfilling, work related state of mind that is
characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption.” The construct of “absorption” is explained
as being fully concentrated and engrossed in the work, similar to the characteristics number 1,
2 and 3 listed above. Experiencing absorption also provides intrinsic rewards that further
encourage persistence in an activity (Snyder, Lopez, & Pedrotti, 2011). Thereby, a direct
linkage between employee engagement and the construct of flow is showcased.
5.3 Talent as a Source of Flow In their longitudinal researches conducted by Csikszentmihalyi et al (1993) on talented
teenagers, the researchers found that the commitment to a talent area at the age of 17 was
predicted by student’s identification of this talent area as the source of flow 4 years previously.
In another research, it was found that the students who experience flow in first part of a math
course performed better in the second half (Heine, 1996).
These longitudinal researches suggest that commitment, achievement and persistence
exhibited by teenagers were associated with their identification of a talent area as a source
flow, through their previous experiences of flow. Therefore, in order to enhance the level of
engagement in a person, an exploration is required for those areas of talent that facilitate flow
experiences. The person should then be entrusted with such task/job roles that require above
average deployment of the skills and talents. The pioneering work of Donald Clifton in the
area of individual strengths defines the talent areas as “naturally recurring patterns of thought,
feeling, or behaviour that can be productively applied.” “ These talents can be traced in life
experiences characterized by spontaneous reactions, yearnings, rapid learning, satisfaction and
timelessness” (Buckingham & Clifton, 2001). Donald Clifton viewed these areas of talents are
the raw materials for strengths. The strength construct combines the area of talent with right
knowledge and skills and is defined as the ability to provide consistent and near perfect
performance in a specific task.
Another reference to the concept of talent is found in Herbert Shepard’s seminal article, “A
Path with a Heart”. Shepard has employed the term “genius” for the individual differences
mentioned by Kahn in his article. According to Shepard (1984), “genius” refers to those
personal talents that an individual would love to develop and use. These talents are the
“resources” that may be presently or potentially deployed in order to perform with, or deliver,
excellence. Such performance or activity is so fulfilling that if one also got paid to do them, it
would feel like a gift rather than compensation (Shepard, 1984).
5.4 The Process of Identifying Talents The above discussion about the areas of interests, talents, strengths and genius addresses the
perspective provided by Kahn while proposing the future direction of research in the area of
employee engagement. As the inherent interests, talents and strengths possessed by the person
differ both in degree and variety; the above discussion explains the reason behind different
individuals demonstrating differing level of engagement towards the same job or its sub-
components. Further, the degree to which the inherent interests, talents and strength are
employed in various job responsibilities dictates the reason behind the varying degrees of
engagement exhibited by the same individual while performing the job roles at different times.
Therefore, in order to enhance the level of engagement, the areas of inherent interests and
talents of an individual should be explored. Donald Clifton used semi-structured interviews to
identify these talents. The questions in these interviews were based the past success stories of
the interviewees (Snyder, Lopez, & Pedrotti, 2011). Similarly, Herbert Shepard (1984)
mentioned three sources of information that are helpful in discovery of “genius”:
1. The first source is “play”. Making a list of things that one enjoys doing and finding
common themes can provide insights about one’s talents.
2. The second source is “life history”. It entails recording in some detail the times in one’s
past life when the person was doing something very well and enjoying it very much.
What themes or patterns of strength, skill and activity pervade most of those times?
What were the sources of satisfaction therein?
3. The third source is feedback from others. Seeking answers to the following questions
can help in discovering genius”
Ø What do those who know you have to say about your strengths and talents?
Ø As the people who know you see it, what seems to excite, give you pleasure, engage you?.
This methodology of asking questions that help uncover the past success stories, is similar to
Appreciative Inquiry technique propounded by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastava.
“Appreciative Inquiry deliberately seeks to discover people’s exceptionality – their unique gifts, strengths,
and qualities. It actively searches and recognizes people for their specialties – their essential contributions
and achievements. Its goal is to discover in all human beings the exceptional and the essential”.
(Cooperrider, 2001)
Appreciative Inquiry consists of a four-stage process: Discover, Dream, Design and Deploy.
During discover stage the focus is on identifying the core strengths of the individuals. The core
strengths are derived from the word appreciate which is “the act of recognizing the best in
people or the world around us” or “affirming past and present strengths, successes, and
potentials” (Cooperrider & Whitney, 2005). These factors are put together, called the positive
core, and are used as a base point for change. The Discovery part of AI is derived from the
word inquiry which is “the act of exploration and discovery” or to ask questions; to be open to
seeing new potentials and possibilities” (Cooperrider & Whitney, 2005). Participants normally
take part in structured interviews or storytelling in order to isolate the factors that contribute
to optimal personal performance levels. These interviews are a systematic way of uncovering
what brings out the best in people.
The information generated by these questions can be analyzed to identify recurring themes or
patterns. These themes or pattern can then be further explored to discover or reaffirm the
inherent interests and talents of an individual. These areas of talents can then be aligned to the
activities involved in one’s job role to increase the level of work engagement.
6. Conclusion Employee engagement has generated a widespread interested among both academics and
practitioners over the last two and half decades. It is also widely accepted that employee
engagement is directly related to superior performance at individual, team and organizational
level. Multiple attempts have been made in first defining the construct and secondly to
measure the level of employee engagement. The researchers agree on the behaviours exhibited
and the psychological state of the engaged employee or person. The study also highlights two
of the most repeatedly instrument used by academics and practitioners to measure the level of
employee engagement. The discussion of the Intrinsic Motivation and Flow constructs
revealed that deployment of interest/talents/strengths of an individual is central to engaging
the employees. These areas of interest/talents/strengths can be identified by making the
individuals reflect on their past peak experiences using the Appreciative Inquiry technique.
Once properly identified, these interest/talent/strength areas can be aligned to the various
activities performed by individuals in their job roles leading to increased levels of employee
engagement.
Fully understanding the conceptual nature of the research and its finding, the author invites
further research by academics and practitioners to gather empirical evidence around the
positive correlation between deployment of interests/talents/strengths in job roles and
enhancement in employee engagement levels. Additional research should be conducted to
empirically test the efficacy of Appreciative Inquiry technique as a method to identify the
interests/talents/strengths of individuals.
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About The Author
Mr. Dilbag Singh brings ten years of rich, multi-faceted experience
in the areas of Operations and Human Resource Management in a
global milieu. During his assignments at IBM Daksh (2003 - 05),
Equinox Global Services (2005 - 06) and NIIT (2006 - 09), Dilbag
worked with stakeholders from US, Europe and Asia Pacific and won
numerous awards for his performance. As a Learning and Development expert at NIIT in
particular, Dilbag delighted all the stakeholders by designing and implementing
transformational learning solutions for a global electronics major.
Dilbag revels in employing strength-based, experiential processes for facilitating group
and organization development. His areas of passion include Team Effectiveness,
Supervisory Acumen, and Managerial Efficacy.
Dilbag holds a Bachelors degree in Commerce (2004) from Maharshi Dayanand
University, Rohtak, and has completed an MBA with a specialization in Human Resource
Management from Aston University, Birmingham and XLRI, Jamshedpur (2011).