Employee Engagement: Maximizing Organizational Performance

Research Study

It is a well known and established fact that employee engagement augments the performance of organizations. Top executives recognize that employee engagement can increase the productivity and performance of organizations, while minimizing the costs of recruitment (Markos & Sridevi, 2010). The world market has become very competitive in terms of business and employees. As a result, organizations tend to offer better perks to lure competent candidates. Under these circumstances, it becomes crucial for organizations to ensure that there is a culture of employee engagement among the workforce so that the turnover is negligible. It is understood that employees change jobs if they are not satisfied with their current job profile, salary, facilities, working environment, and responsibilities among others (Haid & Sims, 2009). Different employees have varying perspectives about their jobs, especially in regard to the strategies applied to manage the organization. The management can be authoritative basing respect and fear as the major factors determining motivation. Such perspectives decide the level of commitment of employees towards their organizations. Employee engagement is a result of commitment, which in turn is influenced by various engagement levers/drivers (Soni, 2013). The aim of this research is to evaluate several engagement levers/drivers that help organizations in retaining their workforce and increasing employee commitment.

Purpose of the Research

The purpose of this research will be to test the theory of Gallup (Gallup, 2014) that relates organizational commitment to its performance, controlled by engagement levers/drivers, for the employees at Google. It will present the levers/drivers that can be applied to motivate the employees while working in the organizations.

Significance of the Study

This dissertation, by contributing toward the assessment of various engagement levers/drivers, may help organizations in retaining their employees and augmenting employee engagement. Essentially, the drivers of performance can be applied to improve the cases of achievements and reduce the instances where workers quit. These drivers can be applied in organizations not only to retain experienced employees, but also to attract the skilled individuals from other organizations (Armstrong, 2012). Potentially, competition between organizations relies significantly on the knowledge that each of the competing rivals has towards each other. Furthermore, the research will avail the drivers in order to establish the motivation needed by the employees.

Research Question

The research questions that guides this study are:

1. Does employees’ commitment and engagement influence the organizational performance?
2. Can the implementation of engagement drivers/levers improve the commitment of employees in the working place?
3. Is Gallup’s theory precise about the link between organizational commitment and it performance, controlled by the effects of engagement levers/drivers?

Hypotheses

Null (H₀) and alternate (H_A) hypotheses:

• H₀1: The commitment and engagement of employees do not influence organizational performance.
• H_A1: The commitment and engagement of employees influence organizational performance.
• H₀2: The implementation of engagement drivers/levers does not improve the commitment of employees in the working place.
• H_A2: The implementation of engagement drivers/levers improves the commitment of employees in the working place.
• H₀3: Gallup’s theory is precise about the link between organizational commitment and it performance, controlled by the effects of engagement levers/drivers.
• H_A3: Gallup’s theory is not precise about the link between organizational commitment and it performance, controlled by the effects of engagement levers/drivers.

Method overview

The researcher will prepare a questionnaire with three section seeking information in regard to the research questions (each section will comprise of 12 questions as per Gallup’s theory) and approach the target audience. The target audience for this research will be the employees, top executives, and management of Google. A consent letter will be prepared as a evidence that the research has been allowed by the Google management. In this regard, the participants will fill the questionnaires depending on the willingness as it is not mandatory. The consent letter will include the ethical considerations also that will guarantee complete confidentiality and presentation of truth. The researcher proposes to issues 500 questionnaires to the participants (respondents) of Google and some members of the management team.
The questionnaires will be issued to the working places of the participants and through online services where possible. Each questionnaire will be collected after 3 hour from the time of issuing in order to provide some time for the filling. Since the participants will not include their names on them, their confidentiality will be ensured to prevent instances of distrust. They will be collected and stored properly to prevent any form of damage that can lead to repetition of the data collection.

The statistical model used to test the overall hypothesis is Statistical Process Control (SPC) where the probability sample is obtained by choosing randomly from a given population (Oakland, 2003).

Dissertation Title

The Importance of Engagement Levers/Drivers in Employee Engagement to Improve Organizational Performance: A Quantitative Study.

References

Armstrong, M. (2012). Armstrong’s Handbook of Reward Management Practice Improving Performance Through Reward. (4th ed.). London: Kogan Page.

Gallup. (2014). Employee engagement. Web.

Haid, M., & Sims, J. (2009). Employee engagement: maximizing organizational performance. Web.

Markos, S., & Sridevi, M. S. (2010). Employee engagement: the key to improving performance. International Journal of Business Management, 5(12), 89-96.

Oakland, J. S. (2003). Statistical process control – 5^th edition. Oxford, United Kingdom: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Soni, B. S. (2013). Employee engagement – a key to organizational success in 21^st century. Voice of Research, 1(4), 51-55.