Employee Engagement Essay -- Human Resource Management

Introduction The employee engagement has become a hot topic of discussion in the corporate world. There is no single accepted definition of engagement or recognised approach for measuring or raising it. HRM Practitioners have involved in quite a lot of study to understand employee engagement and its impact on the performance of the organisation. According to them, employee engagement is a level of commitment and involvement of employees towards their organisation and its value. An engaged employee works with his/her colleagues to improve their productivity within their job, for the ultimate benefit of the organisation. This paper critically reviews MacLeod Report (2009), ‘Engaging for Success’ and analysis it’s suitability as an engagement model for the organisations to adapt. Also, this paper suggests an alternative engagement model, which can be applied and adopted by the organisation for achieving their strategic objectives. Employee Engagement The employee engagement is a relatively new term in the corporate world. Due to the global nature of work and diversity of workforce, it has become a key part of competitive advantage for many organisations. The engagement at work was conceptualized by Kahn (1990:694) as the â€Å"harnessing of organisational members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively and emotionally during role performances†. The other related construct to engagement in organisational behaviour is the notion of flow. Csikszentmihalyi (1975, 1990) defines flow as the ‘holistic sensation’ that people feel when they act with total involvement. Thus employee engagement is the level of commitment and involvement, which an employee has towards ... ...selid, M.A. 1995. ‘The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity and corporate financial performance’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol 38, pp635-670. Kahn, W.A. (1990), ‘Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol 33, pp692-724 MacLeod, D. and Clarke, N. (2009), Engaging for success: enhancing performance through employee engagement, London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Osterman P (1994), ‘How Common is Workplace Transformation and How can we Explain who Adopts it? Results from a National Survey’, Industrial and Labor Relations Review,47. Pil, F.K. and McDuffie, J.P. (1996), ‘The adoption of high involvement work practices’, Industrial Relations,Vol 35:pp423-455 Vodafone Site: http://www.vodafone.com/start/responsibility/employees.html