Question:
Discuss the best ways that organisations can increase employee engagement.
You should give examples of best practices from related industries and professional bodies like the Chartered Insitute Personnel and Development.
Discuss how conflict can occur when you implement the strategies you identified in question 1.
You should discuss ways conflict can be prevented or reduced in your responses.
To support your arguments, you must provide relevant examples.
Answer:
Introduction Human Resource Management (HRM), a key function, focuses on the recruitment and training of employees.
They are responsible for managing human capital and ensuring that the company’s policies and procedures are followed.
Human resource management is a key component of employee engagement.
It increases productivity and efficiency. (Becoming irresistible: Employee engagement, 2016).
They are more satisfied and committed to their work.
The performance of an organization is directly affected by employee engagement.
Many companies have made it a priority.
They understand the importance of a highly engaged workforce, which leads to innovation and lowers costs (Arrowsmith & Parker, 2013).
This report is focused on HRM and employee engagement strategies.
The report also includes methods to avoid or reduce workplace conflicts.
Strategies to Increase Employee Engagement Employee engagement is about building long-lasting relationships between an organisation and its employees.
Many companies have adopted people-oriented policies in order to empower employees (Impact on Employee Engagement on Performance, 2013, 2013).
This reduces absenteism and gives loyal employees who stay with the company for a long time.
Companies can use three strategies to increase employee involvement and participation.
They are more likely to do their best work.
This is where the importance of friendship plays a key role.
Google is one of many companies that have created a culture at work (Boxall Guthrie, Paauwe, 2016).
They allow their employees to do their jobs as they wish.
Transparency has been maintained, which encourages creativity and teamwork.
This has helped to reduce employee turnover.
Google is a great place to work. This is because they are focused on people and not numbers.
Harrods Company also conducts surveys to develop strategic plans (Anitha 2014).
This helps to manage the employee relationships within the company.
John Lewis Company employs an affiliation strategy within their company.
This creates a sense belonging for their employees (6 companies that have Employee Engagement 2015).
They are given responsibilities, and they participate in the decision-making process.
Autonomy: Many companies have found the traditional carrot-and-stick strategy ineffective.
Therefore, autonomy has been adopted.
Managers at the top delegate their tasks and responsibilities.
They let workers show potential and learn the job.
This strategy allowed management to create training and improvement programs (Ferreira & Real de Oliveira 2014).
Hyatt hotel group focuses on employee training.
They give their employees the opportunity to solve problems and empower them.
They are focused on their customers and providing excellent services.
Their workers are motivated and satisfied, which has made this strategy a success.
Implementation of Strategies: Creating a common goal (ScienceCo). Regular communication is key to creating a shared framework.
This will enable employees to grasp the company’s vision and goals.
Sparrow, 2013. Senior managers create meaningful jobs to achieve the company’s goals.
ScienceCo, a supplier of scientific data, has helped to create a positive environment at work.
They have loyal employees who stay with them for a long time.
They retain the majority of their employees, which has helped reduce their costs.
ScienceCo values their employees and makes work fun.
The company has seen a significant improvement in efficiency.
ScienceCo adopted the Person-Job Fit approach to their company (Alfes Shantz, Truss, Soane, and Truss, 2013).
They have had very low employee turnover rates, which has proved to be very beneficial.
The management style is also well liked by staff.
They have also shown great organizational advocacy.
Over 90% of ScienceCo workers would recommend ScienceCo to friends and family.
Regular training and development programs are also offered.
This has helped to improve the skills and capabilities of employees.
These factors are crucial for employee engagement, and ScienceCo has taken them all into account (Truss & Soane 2013, 2013).
Plastic Co is a UK-based plastic bottle manufacturer.
Their organisation has adopted a participative approach (Boxall Guthrie, Paauwe, 2016).
Open leadership is a way to encourage teamwork communication and development.
The group is called the Employee Engagement Steering Group.
This group is responsible for increasing employee engagement (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).
They ensure that workers’ preferences and needs are considered by management.
Regular engagement surveys are done to improve the company’s policies and procedures.
Plastic Co. has taken many steps to improve its workers’ relationships.
To increase employee satisfaction (Impact on Employee Engagement on Performance, 2013, Plastic Co.) they have used individual motivators.
They have also implemented a performance review process.
They have been able to communicate with their employees and gain an understanding of their issues.
The company has benefited from this as they are able to better understand their employees’ career goals and aspirations.
They also changed their HR strategies and policies to emphasize employee engagement.
The new HR policy includes key aspects like reward, recognition, participation, and development of the workforce (Jiang & Volpone 2015).
Environment Co, a UK waste management company with more than 12,500 employees, offers flexibility and freedom.
They have put a lot of effort to be a flexible company that cares about their employees.
They make sure their employees are well-informed about the company’s strategic goals and objectives (Guest 2014).
They encourage staff to be proactive and take part in decision-making.
No matter their position, they are free to voice their opinions.
It has helped create a positive work environment.
Environment Co aims to foster a democratic and communicative culture.
It helps to reduce conflicts and disputes within the organisation (Safi & Kolahi (2016)
Environment Co is focused on three aspects of employee engagement. These include employee voice, clarity of goals and corporate social responsibility.
This has allowed them to increase their employee satisfaction.
High-performing employees perform their jobs efficiently, which is a benefit to the company.
Environment Co reviewed their HR practices.
They used a Top-down approach in the past, which caused many problems for the company (Becoming irresistible: Employee engagement, 2016).
They switched to a flexible management style and an open culture.
The company encourages innovation and expertise, which offers many learning opportunities for employees.
How to Avoid Conflict Conflict is a natural part of the business.
This can be caused by insufficient communication, differentiation, miscommunication, misunderstandings, and unreasonable expectations (Ferreira & Real de Oliveira 2014).
The organisation must make many changes to improve employee engagement.
This may not be possible for all staff members.
This helps companies avoid unnecessary problems by focusing on conflict management and leadership.
Science Co: The biggest problem in employee engagement is: Science Co: Employees’ perception of their line managers is negative.
They don’t like the company’s communication process (6 companies that received Employee Engagement 2015).
They feel their opinion is not valued by their line managers.
Science Co must ensure that there is effective communication between all levels of the company.
As they interfer with senior managers and employees, line managers are crucial.
Inadequate communication within an organisation can prevent employee engagement and participation. (Alfes Shantz, Truss, and Soane, 2013,
Science Co should address this issue as soon as possible.
Plastic Co: Plastic Co uses a participative management style within the company.
They have not been able understand the expectations of workers at lower levels.
Employee engagement and performance are directly related (Rane Sunnapwar, Rane and Rane 2016,).
Plastic Co’s lower-level employees perform well, but they are very few in their participation in decision-making.
This has led to a hostile environment among them.
They feel that the company only invests in physical assets, and not in people (Becoming irresistible: Employee Engagement 2016, 2016).
They are unhappy at work and have negative opinions about their managers.
This is a concern for the company as it could affect their performance (Arrowsmith & Parker, 2013).
Environment Co: Environment Co gives freedom to its workers.
Their biggest challenge is the training and development of their employees.
The HR strategies and policies are not satisfactory to their staff (Rane Sunnapwar, Rane, and Rane 2016).
They also voiced their dissatisfaction with the organisation’s career opportunities and performance-based appraisal system.
The company must review its system and make improvements.
This has led to conflicts between HR managers and employees.
Strategies to Avoid Conflict: Competing is necessary for all companies’ growth and development (Alfes Shantz, Truss, and Soane, 2013,).
It is important to review employee engagement strategies and processes.
Plastic Co. has switched to participative management (Safi & Kolahi (2016)).
This has allowed them to reduce conflict and improved morale of their workers.
Avoiding and Compromise: Any conflict that does not require management intervention should be avoided.
These conflicts should be avoided (Creating engaged workforce, 2010).
These matters are decided by management and then actions are taken in accordance with it.
Collaboration: Science Co employees had issues with their line managers.
Their satisfaction levels have been affected by their lack of support and communication (Rane Sunnapwar, Rane, 2016).
The company should improve communication so there is less confusion at work (Boxall Guthrie, Paauwe, 2016).
Environment Co employees are unhappy with their HR policies.
They should receive more benefits, and be able to fulfill their needs.
This will allow the company to implement an employee engagement strategy (Impact Of Employee Engagement on Performance, 2013, 2013).
Accommodation means providing all benefits for workers.
Conclusion Human Resource Management (HRM), plays an important role in the development and growth of any organisation.
This goes beyond the recruitment process and performance appraisal.
Employers should care for their employees and ensure that they are happy with their jobs.
Surveys and employee engagement programs can be used to discover the preferences and needs of workers.
Employees should have more opportunities to participate in company decision-making.
All companies should value their employees and their contributions.
This will strengthen the relationships between workers and the company.
They will be more motivated and will do their jobs better.
Employee engagement is beneficial for the company as it reduces turnover and absenteism.
Management should also ensure there is no conflict in the implementation and execution of the company’s strategies.
They will reap the benefits in the long-term.
Google, John Lewis, Environment Co and Plastic Co are just a few of the many organizations that have adopted this approach.
They encourage participation and engagement among employees.
They encourage their employees to voice their opinions and give them the opportunity to share theirs.
These companies’ performance has shown the positive impact of human resource management.
References Books and journals 6 companies that achieve employee engagement.
Available through:
[Accessed 24 March 2017] Alfes K., Shantz A.D. Truss C., and Soane E.C.
A moderated mediation model to examine the relationship between employee behavior, engagement, and perceived human resource management practices.
International journal of human resources management.
The impact of employee engagement on employee performance: Determinants of employee involvement.
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor S., 2014.
Armstrong’s handbook on human resource management.
Arrowsmith, J., and Parker, J. (2013).
For the HRM role and values, the meaning of “employee involvement” is explained.
International Journal of Human Resource Management.
Employee Engagement: Becoming irresistible
Available through:
[Accessed 24 March 2017] Boxall (P.), Guthrie (J.P.) and Paauwe (J.), 2016.
Introduction: advancing our understanding of the mediator variables linking HRM and employee well-being to organisational performance.
Human Resource Management Journal.
Creating an engaged workforce
Available through:
[Accessed 24 March 2017] Ferreira P. and Real de Oliveira E., 2014.
What impact does corporate social responsibility have on employee engagement?
Journal of Workplace Learning.
A skeptical analysis of employee engagement.
Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance.
The Impact of Employee Engagement on Performance
Available through:
http://www.hbr.org/achievers/report_sep13.pdf=”https://www.hbr.org/achievers=”” comm=”?” hbr_achievers_report_sep13.pdf=”PDFs=”” =””> [Accessed 24 March 2017] Jiang K. and Volpone S.D. (2015).
Anti-sexual harassment techniques for retaining employees: Exploring the role of psychological distress in employee engagement.
Human Resource Management.
Rane, S. (2016)
Strategies to overcome HR obstacles in lean implementation success.
International Journal of Procurement Management.
Kolahi A.A., 2016
Community Health.
Employee engagement and strategic HRM.
Theory and practice of employee engagement.
Employee engagement and strategic HRM.
Theory and practice of employee engagement.
Truss, C., and Soane E. (2013). Employee engagement in theory and practice.