Employee Engagement And Organizational Performance

Answer :

Introduction

Employees are the valuable assets of an organization who carries sound institutional knowledge about the organization. A company can progress, achieve its vision and be a successful one by the involvement of its employees and this can be achieved by implementing employee engagement in the organization. When a workplace is engaged, it motivates the employees, uplifts their energy, encourages their commitment and ultimately increases the productivity of the organization drastically, helping the organization to improve its performance. Employee engagement fosters integrity in the organization by embedding values, communication and supportive behavior. 

This report aims at highlighting the importance and benefits of involvement or engagement of the employees in Omantel. The report mainly covers the positive sides of employee engagement, the benefits that are achieved by implementing it in an organization, so, that the chosen organization can enjoy the bright side of employee engagement by undertaking this initiative. In addition, Non-engagement and disengagement have been discussed here. Here Omantel, a telecommunication-based industry has been taken into account, which has gained another milestone in employee engagement (timesofoman.com, 2017). Still, further improvement of the company by undertaking and implementing this employee engagement initiative will be analyzed in this report. 

Task1: Exploring the differences between employee engagement, non-engagement and disengagement

Employee engagement is a major part of an organization as it helps an organization to remain afloat and retain its position and reputation in the global market. Employees are the building blocks of a business and they are the ones, who have deep knowledge about their organization. Employee engagement encourages and inspires the employees of an organization to work hard and achieve the stated target or vision in given time thereby contributing to the promotion of both the company and themselves (Saks et al. 2014). Nowadays, engagement has become a hot topic among management circles because of its effectiveness and efficiency in increasing productivity and uplifting the economy of an organization as a whole. It increases the commitment of the employees towards the company and the potential level of the employees. With the implementation of engagement, the sense of responsibility of the employees toward their work has increased. Along with employee engagement, employee non-engagement and disengagement are also there and all of these have been explored and referred to in this study.

Employee engagement refers to discretionary commitment and is one of the hot topics nowadays, which is most consistent. It is good for the business and affects both the customers and the efficiency of operation through productivity and rates of retention. It also contributes to the economy and accelerates the success rate of a company (Albrecht et al. 2015). Employee engagement may be defined as the employee's emotional commitment towards the goals of an organization. Shuck and Reio (2014) noted that an employee who is emotionally committed would go beyond the limit, working harder and would stay with the organization throughout its journey. Employees are the backbone of the company who helps in setting the brand value of the organization and acts as the catalyst for delighting the customers. Employees are the brand ambassadors of an organization who represents a company’s values and ethics. Therefore, the companies should give equal importance to the employees and be sensitive towards the employees as they are about their brand name. Employee engagement refers to the mechanism of keeping the employees engaged and guiding them to move forward towards achieving their target. The advantages of employee engagement are as follows: Employee satisfaction:

The job satisfaction of the employees increases when the employees are engaged with an organization. When the employees are satisfied with their job, they work towards the success of the organization and are committed and loyal towards their organization. They always support the mission, vision and strategy of the organization (Menguc et al. 2013).

Productivity:

Engaged employees are most efficient, top performers and are always ready to go that extra mile for their work. When an employee is engaged, their rate of absenteeism decreases and they become much more motivated thus increasing the yield.

Retention:

Engaged employees lower the risk of loss of a company and are key for the success of the organization. Retention of engaged employees serves the interest of the organization as they are loyal and contributes to the success of the company (Bal et al. 2013).

Innovation:

Engaged employees give their best performance with their passion and interest, which gives way to innovation in the company. Engaged employees are always busy in creating new products and services. Communication between the employees and the senior authorities leads to a growth of the organization (Strom et al. 2014).

Profitability:

As engaged employees are more efficient, they increase the productivity and positively affects the company by increasing its profit rates. Revenue generated by engaged employees is 26% higher per employee. When the employees are more engaged, they are more efficient and productive and help in increasing the profit margin of the organization.

Non-engagement refers to not engaging the employees in the workplace. Here, the employees are not committed to their responsibilities towards the organization. They are not as efficient as the engaged employees are and as a result, they do not contribute much towards the productivity and profitability of the organization (Castonguay et al. 2014). Their rate of absenteeism is much more as compared to the engaged employees. The non-engaged employees even do not have job satisfaction and are very fickle minded. They do not have any stability and do not involve themselves in creating any new product or development of the organization.

Disengaged employees are those who are neither engaged employee nor the non-engaged employee. They do not put their energy and passion in their work. They are never happy about their work and are always busy in finding their happiness. They are jealous of the achievements of the engaged workers. They are neither committed nor efficient in their work and are never satisfied with their work and organization (Brandstätter and Schüler, 2013). Employee turnover is a major problem of employee disengagement.Disengaged employees decelerates the motion of an organization as there is minimum input available from them. Because of them, communication between the employees and higher authorities also suffers.

Task2: Analyzing the way these areas are manifested in the chosen organization and their contribution to organizational performance

Omantel has created milestones in terms of ensuring engagement of the employees towards carrying out tasks contributing towards organizational goal and objectives. Responsible factors behind employee engagement are implemented within the organizational policy such as recognition, reward, and performance appraisal. Notably, communication networks, both formal and informal provide with the chance to the employees to consult their problems with the higher authority. The leadership approach, organizational structure and culture are having the close link with employee engagement that has created favorable condition for the employees. It could be seen that leadership approach possessed by the leader drive the employees towards positive direction seeking high performance. Omantel pays special attention towards engaging their employees, as a result, the turnover rate of the employees in Omantel is much lower and their productivity is much higher. Here, the successful collaboration of the employees with the authorities takes place (Kumar and Pansari, 2015). 

Therefore, the employees are free to discuss their problems with the higher authorities and they are able to give a fruitful solution thus sorting out their problems. Healthy communication among the fellow employees and also with the seniors, lets the employees emerge with new and innovative ideas with the help of which they are able to create new products. This increases the productivity of Omantel and enhances its reputation and brand name. Thus, the market value of Omantel is also uplifted. Omantel keeps the employees engaged which decreases their absenteeism and helps in increasing their efficiency level. Increased efficiency increases the rate of work done per unit time. Thus, more amount of work is completed within the given time, which results in increasing the productivity of the organization. Omantel is always keen about job satisfaction of their employees, which is an important aspect (Danho and Bhatti, 2016). 

The company takes care of the basic needs of its employees as if it looks after the health of the employees, motivates them by praising their performance and rewarding them. It also provides the employees with time-to-time promotion and holidays for recreation. By taking all these steps, the company meets the job satisfaction of the employees. When the employees are satisfied with their job, they feel secured which ensures they are mentally healthy and happy. A happy employee is always loyal and committed towards his/her work, organization, and goes beyond their limit to achieve the mission and vision of the organizationthereby, making Omantel a successful organization (Ferguson, 2016). Therefore, Omantel has improved a lot by implementing the initiatives of employee engagement and has made a mark in the global market. Adopting employee engagement, it has already created a milestone; still, it has miles to go. Omantel is looking for further improvement and development by further continuing the implementation of employee engagement. 

Omantel company extends for the safety factors of the organization.The safety will be based on the staff and the organization. The company safety factors are kept in mind.  Sometimes the employee thinks that looking on the safety factor, they may slow down the job given to them. The company safety rules are kept in mind because of the employee health safety. The company Omantel also looks into the employee welfare. Moreover, the employees are satisfied with the company job role. The employee are completely engaged with the proper job role given to them. The company Omantel plays a good role for all the role by keeping all the safety precaution in mind. Sometimes for the employee, it lies with a choice of choosing for working in the safety ways and to keep their respective jobs. The examples will be based upon the strategy that focuses on the motivation of the company and the building up of new relationship.

Task3: Conclusion and Recommendations

As demonstrated in the study, apt Employee engagement presents a positive attitude among the employees of an organization, confers them with motivation and strives them to achieve improved business outcomes. The concept can be defined as a way of harnessing the members' selves of an organization with respect to their job roles and providing them with enough opportunities to express them physically and emotionally. The Employee engagement, an accredited corporate approach, is a two-way commitment and communication tool between the organization and its members and works on trust and integrity of both entities. It refers to the way of providing proper working environment and conditions to the employees leading them to give their best and contribute towards the organizational success with an enhanced sense of achieving personal goals. An engaged workplace provide the organization with a competitive advantage and is critical for improving the performance of the organization. Disengaged employees, on the other hand, lacks the passion and creativity needed to perform their job. This results in undermined performance of the employees gradually abridging the organizational success. Thus proper and effective employee engagement in the organization is a necessary factor in the overall growth and development of the organization.

In context to the organization taken into account, Omantel, a telecommunication company based in Oman, it can be concluded that implementation of effective employee engagement has proven beneficial for the organization. It has not only strengthened the Employer - Employee relation in the organization but has also enabled the employees to understand their respective roles in the organization fulfilling the organization’s purpose and objectives. However, as cited in the above sections, few barriers and challenges pose hindrances towards effective implementation of this approach, which the management needs to address. The management needs to adopt more innovative and modern ways to provide for a better working condition to the employees and must ensure that the steps taken are properly implemented among all spheres of the organization. Below are given some recommendations that will help the organization in the better implementation of Employee Engagement and will draw deeper commitments from the employees resulting in increased efficiency and productivity:

Organization survey: The top-level management may conduct surveys in the organization and inquire the employees about their opinions and their expectations from the organization. This will help the organization to properly recognize the needs and demands of the employees and accordingly engage them in increasing the performance metrics. 

Properly define engagement goals: The organization must accurately define the engagement goals taking into consideration the employee's views and opinions. The pre-defined goals should be expressive of the employee's day-to-day involvement. Defining employee engagements goals through the application of descriptive and emotive ways will ensure a powerful framework to create a strong and engaged workforce.

Adoption of new and modern techniques: Embracing modern and more conventional ways to implement employee engagement will help the organization to better understand the requirements of the employees and will build commitment among them.