Role of Employee Engagement in Organizational Performance: A Study

This report delves into the critical relationship between employee engagement and organizational performance. It begins by defining employee engagement and differentiating it from employee satisfaction, highlighting its significance in the contemporary business environment. The study explores various factors that influence employee engagement, including personal resources, job importance, career development opportunities, open communication, work-life balance, work relationships, and company values. A comprehensive literature review examines the concept of employee engagement, its drivers, and its impact on organizational outcomes. The methodology section outlines the research philosophy, design, data collection methods, sampling techniques, and data analysis techniques employed in the study. The report also includes a discussion of research ethical considerations, limitations, and a proposed timeline. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of employee engagement for organizational success and provides insights into how organizations can foster a more engaged workforce. The report also references studies from Professor Kazimoto (2016) and Gupta and Sharma (2016), which further support the importance of employee engagement in driving organizational success.

Running head: ROLE OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN IMPROVING
ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
ROLE OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL
PERFORMANCE
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Abstract
Employee’s engagement refers to the relationship between the organization and the
employees. The term employee’s engagement therefore refers to an employee who feels engaged
and enthusiastic about his work. The main aim of the paper was to identify all those factors that
leads to employees engagement and therefore improved performance of the employees within the
organization. The paper discussed and proposes about the ways in which an organization can
improve its employees engagement such as by providing the employees with a work-life balance
and moreover the paper has also made use of advanced research methods for the purpose of this
study.

2ROLE OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Background of the study..................................................................................................................2
Statement of problem.......................................................................................................................3
Research aims and objectives..........................................................................................................3
Research questions...........................................................................................................................3
Literature Review............................................................................................................................4
The concept of employee engagement............................................................................................4
Personal resources of the employees...............................................................................................4
Job importance.................................................................................................................................4
Career development opportunities...................................................................................................5
Open communication within the organization.................................................................................5
Work-life balance............................................................................................................................5
The work relationships existing between the superiors, subordinates and the peers.......................6
Values and ethos of the company....................................................................................................6
The relation between employee engagement and organisational performance.............................10
Methodology..................................................................................................................................15
Research philosophy......................................................................................................................15
Research design.............................................................................................................................16
Data collection method..................................................................................................................17

3ROLE OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL
Sampling method and sampling technique....................................................................................17
Data analysis technique.................................................................................................................18
Research ethical considerations.....................................................................................................18
Limitation of the study...................................................................................................................19
Proposed timeline of the study......................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................21

4ROLE OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL
Introduction
Employee’s engagement refers to the extent to which the employees feel committed to
their organization and feel passionate about their work. However this term is not similar to
employee satisfaction as the concept of employee satisfaction only studies the happiness of the
employees in relation to their work. Therefore employee’s engagement is the study of the
relationship between the employees and their organization. However, presently businesses are
facing issues related to lack of employee engagement and as a result the organizational
performance is being adversely affected.
Background of the study
There have previously been many researches in order to understand the relationship
between employees engagement and employees performance in the organization. One such study
had been done by professor Kazimoto (2016), to study the relationship between employee’s
engagement and organizational performance in the retail enterprises. He aimed at understanding
all those factors that contributed to the employee’s engagement through non-financial factors in
the retail sector and the way it has an impact on the organizational performance. Further from the
research, it has been found out that the employees are lacking satisfaction at their jobs because
they are not getting a proper work life balance. Work life balance refers to the balance that an
employee’s wants to have while working in an organization or it is the equilibrium that an
employee seeks between their personal and professional life. Another study had been done Gupta
and Sharma (2016), in order to understand the way corporate social responsibility contributes to
employees engagement and ultimately to organizational performance. According to this study

5ROLE OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL
one of the major factors affecting the employee’s engagement is that of corporate social
responsibility.
Statement of problem
In the present business world, it has become difficult to keep the employees engaged in
the organization for a long period of time and that is affecting the organizational performance.
The top management fails to recognise all those factors besides the monetary factors that can
have an impact on the employees engagement that ultimately contributes to organizational
performance. For instance, the top management fails to recognise the importance of work life
balance and its impact on the employee’s job satisfaction and engagement. Therefore it is
necessary to understand all those factors affecting employee’s engagement in the organization
and its relationship with organizational performance. In fact employee’s engagement is one of
the most important factors affecting the employees performance in the organization.
Research aims and objectives
The main aim of the paper is to discuss about the importance of employees engagement
and its role in determining the organizational performance.
The research objectives includes-
1.) To understand and analyse the importance of employees engagement
2.) To examine the role of employees engagement in determining the organizational performance
3.) To suggest the probable factors contributing to the employee’s engagement within the
organization.

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Research questions
1.) Why is it necessary to keep the employees engaged within the organization?
2.) How does employee’s engagement contribute to organizational performance?
3.) What are the factors contributing to employee’s engagement within the organization?
Literature Review
The concept of employee engagement
Employee’s engagement refers to the study of the relationship between the employees
and the organization. Therefore in order to understand the concept of employees engagement it is
necessary to understand who is an engaged employee. An engaged employee is one who is
always enthusiastic about their work and therefore helps in improving the organizational
reputation and also organizations interest (Jung and Yoon 2016). Therefore it can be said that an
engaged employee has a positive work attitude and on the other hand, a disengaged employee is
one who barely works and also affects the organizational performance and reputation inversely.
Employee engagement is a much broader term than employees satisfaction because it includes
both job satisfaction and employees morale. There are numerous factors affecting the employees
engagement within the organization and some of these are-
Personal resources of the employees
Personal resources of the employees refer to the ability of the individuals to be engaged
within the organization with the help of their personal strengths.

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Job importance
Job importance refers to the employee’s perception about their jobs and therefore
includes the importance the employees attach to their jobs (Nejati, Salamzadeh and Loke 2019).
The perception of the employees regarding the importance of their jobs has some major impacts
on the customer’s services and employees loyalty.
Career development opportunities
Career development opportunities refer to the process of managing work, leisure,
learning and transitions in order to help the employees move towards a preferred future.
Therefore employees can be engaged within an organization with the help of career development
opportunities. These activities enable an individual to look for opportunities within the
organization and not outside of the organization.
Open communication within the organization
When employees, superiors, peers have a system of open communication within the
organization that supports both formal and informal communication they feel motivated by both
formal and informal leaders and as a result they are engaged within the organization (Temminck,
Mearns and Fruhen 2015).
Work-life balance
Work life balance refers to the equilibrium that the employees expect between their
personal and professional life. In other words work-life balance refers to balance that an
employee seeks through proper allocation of time for their work and their life. Most organisation
these days fail to provide this balance to the employees and as a result the employees of the
organization feel disengaged and therefore their performance gets impacts negatively and then

8ROLE OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL
the entire organization suffers. Work-life balance plays a very important role in determining the
employee’s engagement within the organization. Moreover it is important because it can help in
reducing the employees stress, burnouts and can help in improving the overall health of the
employees. If an employee is given proper work-life balance they feel motivated to work with
the organization and therefore they contribute their best to the organization and therefore can
help in improving the overall organizational performance.
The work relationships existing between the superiors, subordinates and the peers
The work relationship exiting between the superiors, subordinates and the peers of the
organization has a major impact on the employees engagement within the organization (Tian and
Robertson 2019). This is so because if there is lack of proper relationship between all the
subordinates, superiors and peers of the organization then the same will be reflected in the
engagement of the employees within the organization.
Values and ethos of the company
The employee’s perception about the values and the ethos of the company has a major
impact on their engagement in the organization. Therefore in this respect it is necessary to have
inspirational leadership in the organization.
Therefore in order to understand the concept of employee’s engagement in the
organization, the Hay group had identified multiple drivers in order to enable and engage
employees and for the purpose of driving their productivity and performance in the organization.
According to the model, the effectiveness, productivity and engagement of the employees in the
organization is dependent upon 9 main factors. These nine factors includes- direction and clarity,
confidence of the employees on the leaders, customer focus and focus on quality, recognition and

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respect, benefits and compensation, performance management, empowerment of the employees
and the authority of the employees, structure of the organization, cooperation, work and
processes. Moreover the Hay groups found out that there are certain factors that affect the
organizational performance and overall success of the organization of which employees
engagement is an important driver. In most of the organization the link between the employee’s
engagement and organizational performance is missing. It has also been found out by the group
that there are numerous benefits of increased organizational productivity and performance such
as better work conditions, increased customers value, increased value to the shareholders through
reduction of the prices and improved sustainability of the organization. Moreover the group also
found out from their research that the employees become frustrated when they are engaged but
are not empowered or enabled in the organization. Therefore it is necessary to engage the
employees within the organization by also empowering and enabling them.

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Figure 1: Employee engagement model
Source: (White 2016)
Therefore according to the framework as given by the Hay group, it is necessary to
empower the employees within the organization such that they can feel engaged and such that
they can contribute their best to the organizational performance. Besides these, organizations can
adopt a family strategy in order to keep its employees engaged within the organization. These
strategies are formulated keeping in mind the importance of families in the lives of the
individuals. In fact the family is one major force that can help in fostering engagement among
the employees within the organization (Mone and London 2018). Therefore it is necessary for
businesses to adopt a parental policy for the purpose of creation of effective and sustainable
workforce within the organization. According to researches, it has been found that those
organizations which made use of parental policies were able to engage 70% of the employees

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within the organization. These policies on part of the organization are dependent upon the theory
of social exchange. The social exchange theory studies the relationship between two parties
based on the cost-benefit analysis for the purpose of analysing the benefits and the risks attached
to the exchange.
Figure 2: Social exchange theory
Sources: (Blau 2017)
According to the social exchange theory, it is the study of the
economic relationship between two parties such that both the parties have something to exchange
with the other that has some value for them. According to the theory, problems arise when the
relationship costs are more than the benefits or the rewards attached with the same. Therefore the
theory of social exchange is based on the reciprocity norm. That is only when one party expects
that the other may have some value to provide them they are ready to exchange the same
(Taneja, Sewell and Odom 2015). There are numerous assumptions on which this social
exchange theory is based such as humans avoid punishment and seek rewards, the standards on