The concept of employee engagement is something I’ve been thinking about recently. From a business standpoint, engagement is the extent in which employees are committed and satisfied with the organization in which they work.
Lipic’s Engagement helps other businesses achieve this, and also happens to be where I work. However, Lipic’s wasn’t always an engagement company. In fact, when I started, a mere five months ago, Lipic’s Engagement was Lipic’s Recognition, focusing on service awards, recognition programs, and promotional products. We still offer these services, but we have expanded our reach into all areas of engagement. We have included measurement and evaluative techniques, additional communication methods, and consulting services into our mix to help target the areas of engagement we haven’t ventured into before. All of these additions are aimed at improving communication between employees and management and creating custom programs that meet the needs of the employees. Doesn’t sound too difficult, right?
Wrong. The majority of companies struggle with employee engagement. Since I started considering this, I have been baffled by this fact. How is it that after all these years business haven’t found the magic recipe to keep employees satisfied?
For obvious reasons, I have decided to start digging into that very question. My digging has started with the notes I saved from my Organizational Behavior class in college. For those who may not be familiar with the term, organizational behavior is the study of an company’s culture, focusing on how individuals and groups impact organizations. While I was in the class, I thought of it as the “psychology of business.”
Below I have compiled some interesting tidbits that relate to employee engagement. As with other articles, italicized sentences are my comments.
McGregor’s Theory X and Y
Basically, Douglas McGregor created two schools of thought for management. Theory X states that most people are lazy and want to avoid any responsibility. Therefore, management needs to closely supervise and direct employees. Theory Y states the exact opposite. Work is a natural activity and employees will flourish if given space to manage themselves.
I think is pretty obvious which management style employees would like better. If you need a hint, here is an article that takes McGregor’s theory an extra step further.
Pygmalion and Golem Effect
People will either live up to your high expectations (Pygmalion) or live down to your low expectations (Golem).
Total Quality Management
An organizational culture dedicated to training, continuous improvement, and customer/employee satisfaction, fostering mutual respect and trust.
AKA – The ideal organizational culture.
Herzberg’s Hygiene/Motivator Theory
Has to do with employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
Hygiene factors relate to job context. If these are perceived as poor will cause employee dissatisfaction and demotivation. If perceived as great, employee will be not dissatisfied, but won’t be motivated either.
Motivational factors relate to job content. If these are not in place, will not be dissatisfied but won’t be motivated either. If motivational factors are in place then will increase satisfaction and motivation.
For more in-depth information on this theory, visit this page.
Job Design
Huge factor on employee engagement and satisfaction. To decrease repetition and boredom:
Job Enlargement — adds tasks to scope of job description
Job Rotation — cross training
Job Enrichment — training or incentive
Tidbits 