Crafting Engaged Employees Through Positive Work Environment: Perspectives of Employee Engagement

Crafting Engaged Employees Through Positive Work Environment: Perspectives of Employee Engagement

Tanusree Chakraborty, Madhurima Ganguly
Copyright: © 2019 |Pages: 19
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-7799-7.ch011
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Abstract

The chapter focuses on the positive aspects of the work environment and attempts to throw light on how in organizations different perspectives of positive work, positive social connections, positive culture leads with a more satisfying work environment and engaged employees. Beginning with an understanding of the definitions of employee engagement, the chapter takes the reader through the pillars of positive work environment, through the significance of fulfilling relationships at work, leading to greater employee engagement, importance of hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism (HERO), and communication in enhancing employee engagement and to a greater organizational oeuvre. The chapter has tried to cogitate that a culture of employee engagement can be built, and it should be fabricated through the tenacious efforts of managers and leaders in the organization. Thus, the chapter highlights that employee engagement should in itself become the culture of any organization, and the role of positive work environment towards building this culture is indispensable.
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Employee Engagement: Leveraging The Individual

In today’s business world, the most commonly spoken terminology about retaining employees is employee engagement; every organization has adopted a system-wide goal of employee engagement. The benefits of employee engagement yield worthy tangible and intangible benefits to the overall business entity. It is a matter of fact that employee engagement is possible to be evaluated in terms of the overall organization; but it is also true that employee engagement is an individual-level construct (Shuck &Wollard, 2010). Employee engagement might also be identified as a term that has been more in discussions than actual practice. It is not that employee engagement is not practiced; it is a fact that the thrust on intensive and extensive employee engagement practices across all types of organizations should be enhanced. Employee engagement has its definite implications on the organization, organizational performance as an impact, but it is to be perceived positively and perceived judiciously by the employees who work in the organization. Positive psychology talks of employee engagement as it results in perceived organizational support among employees; their wellbeing is enhanced and commitment gets heightened. Whether it requires understanding what the drivers of employee engagement are or it needs to improve engagement levels worldwide, it cannot be denied that there are numerous challenges HR leaders do face whileattempting to boost the right people behaviours. Right level of employee engagement allows employees to absorb their roles sooner, yield a higher quality of work and maintain a positive workplace marked by a happier work experience. Moving from individual to team experience, employee engagement makes a team to aspire to more, and the individual also witnesses that their hard work is appreciated.

Table 1.
Employee engagement definition
DefinitionReferences
A positive attitude held by the employee towards the organisation and its values. An engaged employee is aware of business context, and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organization. Robinson et al. (2004)
“The extent to which employees commit to something or someone in their organisation, how hard they work and how long they stay as a result of that commitment’.Corporate Leadership Council, 2004
Employee engagement concerns the degree to which individuals make full use of theircognitive, emotional, and physical resources to perform role-related work Kahn, 1990;
May et al., 2004
Defined as emotional and intellectual commitment to the organization or the amount of discretionary effort exhibited by employees in their jobs Baumruk, 2004; Richman, 2006; Shaw, 2005; Frank et al., 2004
Define engagement as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigour, dedication, and absorption. Schaufeli et al. (2002)
Employee engagement is defined as the cognitive, emotional, and behavioural energy an employee directs toward positive organizational outcomesShuck &Wollard(2010)
Engaged employees are “Psychologically committed to their work, go above and beyond their basic job expectations, and want to play a key role in fulfilling the mission of their organisations’, whilst disengaged employees were said to be ‘uninvolved and unenthusiastic about their jobs and love to tell others how bad things are”.Blizzard(2004)
Referred to the concept of engagement in their work related to organisational effectiveness. Katz and Kahn (1966)
“An employee’s drive to use all their ingenuity and resources for the benefit of the company”.Best Companies, 2009
Employee engagement is a positive force that motives and connects employee with their organization, either emotionally, cognitively or physically. Wellins and Concelman, (2005)
Explained it as a state of being positive, manifesting through enthusiastic contributions of intellectual energy, attitudes of optimism and evidence of meaningful relations with others. Alfes et al. (2010)
‘Engaged employees are more likely to advocate the organisation as a place to work and actively promote its products and services’Scottish Executive Social Research, (2007)

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