The Engagement Factor Part II: Engagement in Independent Agencies

J. LEE WHITTINGTON, PhDUniversity of Dallas; Satish & Yasmin Gupta

College of Business

The Engagement Factor

An Evidence-based Approach for Building a High Performance

Organization

J. Lee Whittington, Ph.D.The University of Dallas

The Engagement Factor

“70% of U.S. workers are not engaged at work”

We Need an Evidence-Based Approach

HR Value ChainRecruitment, Selection,

Orientation and Socialization

Organizational Strategy(e.g. service excellence, innovation, low-cost provider)

Full-Range Leadership

ENGAGEMENT

Performance Planning and Evaluation, Pay and Rewards,

Training and Development, Career Development

Employee Separation

Performance• In-Role

• Extra-Role (OCB)

Enriched Jobs

Goal Setting

Mac

ro-L

evel

Mic

ro-L

evel

Trust

HR Value ChainRecruitment, Selection,

Orientation and Socialization

Organizational Strategy(e.g. service excellence, innovation, low-cost provider)

Full-Range Leadership

ENGAGEMENT

Performance Planning and Evaluation, Pay and Rewards,

Training and Development, Career Development

Employee Separation

Performance• In-Role

• Extra-Role (OCB)

Enriched Jobs

Goal Setting

Mac

ro-L

evel

Mic

ro-L

evel

Trust

The Engagement Factor

What is Engagement?

“The simultaneous employment and expression of a person’s ‘preferred self’ in task behaviors that promote connections to work and to others, personal presence, and active full role performances.”

What is Engagement?

Physical engagement: the energy exerted and the physical involvement within the job. Emotional engagement: the level of pleasantness and enthusiasm experienced at work. Cognitive engagement: the intensity of focus and concentration applied while performing work related tasks.

Antecedents to Engagement:The HR Value Chain

On-Boarding On-Going Off-Boarding

• Recruitment

• Selection• Hire for “Fit”

• Orientation

• Socialization

• Employee Separation

• Pay & Rewards Training & Development

• Career Development & Management

• Constructive, Corrective & Timely Correction of Deviance

The Importance of Hiring for “FIT”

Individual JobSkills Requirements

Needs Rewards

Values Culture

Antecedents to Engagement:The Performance-Management System

Use a participative method for goal-setting.

Clarify expectations

Create S-M-A-R-T Goals

Provide frequent informal expectation feedback

Use the performance plan as the basis for the performance evaluation

Antecedents to Engagement:MEANINGFULNESS

• The quest for meaning is a universal human need and there is a growing recognition that people have a strong desire to experience work as meaningful.

• Meaningfulness means that both the work itself and the context within which the work is performed is perceived as purposeful and significant.

• When people are pursuing a profound purpose or engaging in work that is personally important they experience significant positive effects.

WAMI: The Work and Meaning Inventory

• Positive Meaning: individuals want their work to matter and to be meaningful

• Meaning-making Through Work: translates the concept of an individual’s work into a broader context.

• Greater Good Motivations: work has more meaning if it impacts other individuals

Antecedents to Engagement:MEANINGFULNESS at Work

People want to be involved in something greater than themselves. Meaningfulness at work can be enhanced by providing a sense of meaning by being part of an organization instead of what an individual does. This is done by transformational leaders who connect the individual’s contribution to this larger purpose.

Antecedents to Engagement: Full Range of Leadership

Effective

ActivePassive

Ineffective

Laissez-faire

Contingent Reward1

Inspirational Motivation2

Mgt by Exception – Passive1

Mgt by Exception - Active1

Idealized Influence2

Intellectual Stimulation2

Individualized Consideration2

1- These leader behaviors are typically described as Transactional Leadership

2-These leader behaviors are typically described as Transformational Leadership

Full-Range LeadershipIntellectual Stimulation

Intellectual stimulation shows the degree to which you encourage others to be creative in looking at old problems in new ways, create

an environment that is tolerant of seemingly extreme positions, and nurture people to question their own values and beliefs and those of the organization.

Full-Range LeadershipIndividualized Consideration

Individualized consideration indicates the degree to which you show interest in others’ well-being, assign projects individually, and pay attention to those who seem less involved in the group.

Full Range of LeadershipIdealized Influence

Idealized influence indicates whether you hold subordinates’ trust, maintain their faith and respect, show dedication to them, appeal to their hopes and dreams, and act as their role model.

Full Range of LeadershipInspirational Motivation

Inspirational motivation measures the degree to which you provide a vision, use appropriate symbols and images to help others focus on their work, and try to make others feel their work is significant.

Full-Range LeadershipContingent Reward

Contingent reward shows the degree to which you tell others what to do in order to be rewarded, emphasize what you expect from them, and recognize their accomplishments.

Antecedents to Engagement:MEANINGFULNESS in Work

Meaningfulness in the work involves organizational practices that enrich the job themselves. These practices enhance the individual employee's fit with their job. Among the practices that may increase meaningfulness in the work are job redesign efforts, increased employee involvement, efforts to clarify the connection between meeting performance expectations and rewards.

Critical Psychological

States

CoreJob

Dimensions

Individual and Organizational

Outcomes

Growth Need Strength +

General Satisfaction

High Internal Motivation

High Levels of Performance

Satisfaction

Low Turnover & Absenteeism

Sense of Meaningfulness

Sense of Responsibility

Knowledge of Results

Task Variety

Task Identity

Task Significance

Autonomy

Feedback

JOB CHARACTERISTICS MODEL

Antecedents to Engagement:Bringing MEANINGFULNESS to Work

Employees have an “inner life” that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context of community.Work may be the preeminent venue through which people give expression to their "innermost essence.“People who view their work as a calling see their work as having intrinsic value. These individuals do not work merely for financial rewards or for advancement, but for the fulfillment that doing the work brings.

2015 IIAT Survey of Engagement Factors

IIATAverage

ResponseScale Format

Comparison SampleAverage

ORGANIZATIONAL-LEVEL DRIVERS: • Human Resource Value Chain 3.44 5-point 3.28• Performance Management System 3.59 5-point 3.46

MICRO-LEVEL DRIVERS:• Job Characteristics-Actual 4.09 5-point 3.69• Job Characteristics-Desired 4.24 5-point 4.01• Quality of Leader-Follower

Relationship5.46 7-point 5.03

• Trust in the Leader 5.79 7-point 5.03• Transformational Leadership 5.22 7-point 4.70• Contingent Reward 5.08 7-point 4.78EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES:• Engagement 4.21 5-point 3.94• Job Satisfaction 5.10 7-point 4.60• Affective Commitment 5.33 7-point 4.19

• Organizational Citizenship Behavior 4.215-point 4.00