A.C. 1.1
Employee engagement is termed as the emotional attachment that workers feel towards their workplaces, positions, and roles within the company and their impact on their performance and wellbeing. Employee engagement is a crucial aspect in any business organization as it ensures that every member’s needs are adequately addressed, thus promoting their performance. Engaged workers are encouraged to perform their duties diligently to ensure that the set organizational goals are achieved on time. An effective employee’s engagement builds a culture of loyalty, trust, and enhanced work ethics.
Principal dimensions of Employee Engagement
Physical engagement-this involves the extent to which the workers utilize their efforts, both mental and physical, as they carry out their usual duties. As they walk around performing their tasks, they experience high personal engagement levels, thus impacting their confidence to perform different organizational activities without fear.
Cognitive engagement-employees at this level are engaged to understand the vision and the goal of the organization. They are aware of what they are expected to do to ensure that the organization’s goals and objectives are met on time. The workers are mentally attached to their work, thus encouraging them to be more knowledgeable and creative when it comes o decision making.
Emotional engagement-this dimension is based on the emotional relationship that employers have towards their employees. A positive relationship between the two encourages the workers to trust and buy into the organization’s mission and values. Positive interpersonal relations, management styles, and group dynamics make the workers feel safe and trusted to perform their duties.
Components of Employee Engagement
Good communication-to make the workers feel like part of the company; employers are required to provide them with time to formulate their ideas and come up with their own decisions. This only happens when the employees interact freely with their leaders and peers, thus enabling them to share ideas on different matters. Good communication gives the workers a sense of being a community that values them, thus giving meaning to their work. Communication also strengthens work relationships and builds trust among the employees, thus positively impacting the organization’s performance.
Employee appreciation-all workers desire to feel appreciated and valued in their places of work. This can be achieved by recognizing efforts and accomplishments that support the company’s values and goals. They can also be recognized by acknowledging their behaviors and the amount of hard work they put in. When the employees are recognized for their efforts, they are motivated to perform their duties better, thus ensuring that they meet their set goals.
A.C. 1.2
There is a need to align employee engagement with the organization’s corporate components because of workers’ more significant corporate organizational components. Corporate components such as mission and vision statement, organizational scope and resources, corporate strategies, and objectives should be aligned with the workers’ needs to achieve the organizational goals. The alignment of both employee’s goals and organizational goals will enable the organization to reap maximum benefits. To ensure effective alignment of both components, the organization has to modify its policies to favor the employees. This can be achieved by rewarding employees with different incentives such as promotions and salary increments, thus boosting employee engagement and performance in the corporate organizational components.
There is also a great need to align employee engagement with the organizational goals and values to ensure that the workers own the company’s activities. This can be achieved through employers cultivating a culture of positive working environment that suits the workers’ needs. A conducive working environment encourages the workers to express their opinions regarding various organizational matters, which are crucial to the organization’s success. An unengaged worker feels like they are sidelined in making crucial decisions that determine the organization’s success. Therefore, they are demotivated to carry out their duties effectively, thus leading to the organization’s failure. Organizations should, therefore, consider the alignment of both the employee and the organizational components to create a conducive working environment that will ensure the organization’s corporate goals and values are met on time.
A.C. 2.1
Some of the drivers of an engaged workforce are; job satisfaction, job security, growth opportunities, and a conducive working environment. These drivers play a significant role in deeming an organization’s strategies, thus maximizing the performance level of the workers.
Job security-this is one of the most significant drivers of employee engagement. It impacts the welfare of the employee’s wellbeing, thus defining their service both to the customers and the organization. When the employees are aware of their job security, they are motivated to work hard to maintain their positions. Job security provides workers with a sense of confidence while performing their duties. The workers are free to liaise with the organizational managers and customers, thus sharing ideas and getting to know what every stakeholder expects from them. This enables the workers to work hard to ensure that the expectations from both parties are catered to. Employees who do not have job security are not motivated to perform their duties since they always work under the fear of being fired. This creates a negative attitude towards the organization, thus impacting negatively on their performance.
Job satisfaction-when the grievances and the needs of the employees are appropriately addressed; they are satisfied to carry out the organizational duties with reduced complaints and conflicts. The workers are motivated to perform their roles effectively because their efforts are recognized and appreciated the right way. Their satisfaction level is portrayed with how they attend to the customers and how they carry out general organizational roles. Failure to satisfy the needs of the workers translates to poor performance leading to organizational failure.
Growth opportunities-when the workers are provided with opportunities that impact their growth, they are encouraged to perform their duties effectively. These opportunities may be provided in terms of job rewards and incentives, salary increments and promotions, and acknowledging their accomplishments. These opportunities play a crucial role in encouraging workers to improve their performance to attain maximum rewards and incentives. This enables the organization to achieve its objectives on time, leading to increased productivity.
A.C. 2.2
Job design
How an organization structures its activities determines the effectiveness of employee engagement and the performance of the organization. Therefore, organizations should strive to structure job designs that incorporate the grievances and the needs of the workers. This will encourage them to participate in the organization’s core functions and give their views regarding what should be done for the business to realize more returns.
Discretionary behavior
Impacts positively to the overall organizational effectiveness by contributing to the organizational and operational outcomes. When employees are motivated, they behave in a particular way that enhances performance. Workers feel inclined to undertake discretionary behavior when engaged, thus making them committed to the organizational goals.
Role autonomy
Role autonomy plays a crucial role in employee engagement as it helps the workers govern their duties and make decisions freely. This helps them have a comprehensive view of what they can do to enhance their performance and contribute to the organization’s growth. Autonomy enhances employee satisfaction, thus enabling them to develop a feeling of greater responsibility for their work. It lasso instills confidence in them and encourages them to be creative.
Organizational citizenship
This involves encouraging the workers to take active roles in the performance of the organization. This makes them feel like the key stakeholders in the organization’s running, making them own every activity they do. Due to the confidence conferred to them by the management, they feel valued and vital to their success. They, therefore, strive to ensure that the firm attains its goals on time.
How I will transfer the knowledge and skills gained in this Assignment
This Assignment has equipped me with excellent H.R. skills and experience that I will use in my future work. In my future work, I will emphasize effective methods of employee engagement to ensure quality performance. Through the skills gained, I will strive to create a conducive environment that will accommodate the grievances and the needs of all workers. I will also strive to ensure that both employee and organizational goals are aligned to achieve a high-performance working system.