Exploring Employee Engagement for Understanding Employee Perspective
Hans, Kavita (2015)
Lataukset:
Hans, Kavita
Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu
2015
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201505209046
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201505209046
Tiivistelmä
This Master’s Thesis studies employee engagement phenomenon in context of the case organization. The case organization in this study is an education provider and one of the most esteemed international universities of applied sciences in Finland. The case organization has experienced a decline in employee engagement in the past few years. This fact has been recognized by Human Resource department, and this drop was also registered in the recent employee related survey results. The objective of the study is thus to explore employee engagement in the case organization and suggest improvements based on the analysis of the current situation.
To reach this objective, the employee engagement concept is studied with the help of academic and commercial models. In theoretical framework, factors affecting employee engagement are identified and categorized into the personal, interpersonal, and organizational factors. The research approach of this study is a case study approach with the data coming from two sources, the organizational surveys and interviews. To study employee engagement in the case organization, the researcher had, first, to match the commonly used employee engagements variables with the data collected from the employee satisfaction and well-being surveys conducted in the organization. This need arose from the fact that the case organization have not yet conducted any special employee organization surveys. This match of variables and organizational results made it possible to diagnose the current state of employee engagement in the case organization. After that, the results were enriched with the data coming from interviews with the teaching staff.
After identifying the key challenges from the data analysis, they were addressed by using best practice obtained from literature review. Measures to improve employee engagement are categorized and approached from six perspectives: personal satisfaction, work, career opportunities, collaboration with co-workers, leadership and company practices. Recommendations are proposed how to improve all six areas in the case organization. The study demonstrates that employee engagement includes a continuous process of measuring, analyzing results, learning from drawbacks, taking actions for improvement, and again measuring for next year. The study proposes a set of recommendations for the case organization for avoiding further decline. As the paramount step to improve employee engagement, the study suggests that the case organization should improve its human-to-human interaction by providing individualized support and encouragement to each and every employee.
To reach this objective, the employee engagement concept is studied with the help of academic and commercial models. In theoretical framework, factors affecting employee engagement are identified and categorized into the personal, interpersonal, and organizational factors. The research approach of this study is a case study approach with the data coming from two sources, the organizational surveys and interviews. To study employee engagement in the case organization, the researcher had, first, to match the commonly used employee engagements variables with the data collected from the employee satisfaction and well-being surveys conducted in the organization. This need arose from the fact that the case organization have not yet conducted any special employee organization surveys. This match of variables and organizational results made it possible to diagnose the current state of employee engagement in the case organization. After that, the results were enriched with the data coming from interviews with the teaching staff.
After identifying the key challenges from the data analysis, they were addressed by using best practice obtained from literature review. Measures to improve employee engagement are categorized and approached from six perspectives: personal satisfaction, work, career opportunities, collaboration with co-workers, leadership and company practices. Recommendations are proposed how to improve all six areas in the case organization. The study demonstrates that employee engagement includes a continuous process of measuring, analyzing results, learning from drawbacks, taking actions for improvement, and again measuring for next year. The study proposes a set of recommendations for the case organization for avoiding further decline. As the paramount step to improve employee engagement, the study suggests that the case organization should improve its human-to-human interaction by providing individualized support and encouragement to each and every employee.