Exploring the Impact of Employee Engagement on Organizational Performance

Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Inferential statistics such as correlation and regression analysis was used to test the relationship between the variables of the study. Stratified random sampling was used for the sampling strategy. All employees were divided into groups according to manager, supervisor and general employee. 40 Employees of a total of 61 employees were randomly selected to fill out questionnaires. The support of Regent Business School played an important role in my success. I also wish to acknowledge and thank my study group “Mighty MBA Members” who are always available to brainstorm with. Thank you for your invaluable support. TABLES OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii DECLARATION iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Introduction 1 1. Definition of Employee Engagement 7 2. 3 Theories of Employee Engagement 9 2.

1 The Theory of Employee Engagement 11 2. 2 Employee Engagement from a Self-Determination Theory Perspective 11 2. 3 Building Blocks for Employee Engagement 12 2. 13 Barriers to Effective Employee Engagement 36 2. 14 Impact Of organizational Justice On organizational Behavior 38 2. 15 Conceptual Framework 39 2. 16 Conclusion 41 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 42 3. Introduction 42 3. 12 Validity and Reliability 50 3. 13 Limitations of the Research 51 3. 14 Elimination of Bias 51 3. 15 Ethical Considerations 51 3. 16 Conclusion 52 CHAPTER 4 - RESULTS, DISCUSSION, AND INTERPRETATION 53 4. 4 Recommendations for Increased Employee Engagement 88 4. 1 Teamwork 88 4. 2 Good Leadership 90 4. 3 Good Working Environment 91 4. 5 Conclusion 93 CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 95 5. 57 Figure 14: Grand average percentages indicating whether employees think about leaving the organization to work somewhere else. 58 Figure 15: percentages showing whether it would take a lot to make an employee leave the organization. 59 Figure 16: showing how respondents responded to the question if the organization inspires them to do their best work everyday 60 Figure 17: Quality work as a top priority for the organization 62 Figure 18: Organizations encouraging new ideas and innovation.

63 Figure 19: Having a sense of job security and the current level of employee engagement. 64 Figure 20: Quick to apply resources to new ideas that drive future success relates to current level of employee engagement 65 Figure 21: A feeling of strong connection to the organizations brand and culture. gallup. com). Employee engagement is the willingness of employees to work hard, have faith in the organisation’s operations, and make sure it succeeds by meeting its goals. Lazonick (2014) stated that most companies in the world today cannot find a match between their returns, productivity and employee engagement. Management in these organisations always tries to align the strategy of the organisations with the talent strategy. However, this is not effective, as anything related to people should be measured continuously.

 The current level of employee engagement is therefore unknown. In most models, the ideal scenario for organisations is to get as many engaged employees as possible. Unfortunately, in this organisation, it was stuck focusing on engagement that they neglect to take a step back to understand what causes engagement to begin with, let alone understand the impact that engaged employees are having on the organisation. 2 Problem Statement Motivation is the fundamental way to the success of an organisation. 4 Objectives of the Study The following are the study objectives: • To identify drivers of employee engagement. • To establish the present level of employee engagement. • To determine the impact of employee engagement on organizational performance. • To make recommendations. 5 Research Questions The following research questions aim to assist the objectives: • What are the drivers of employee engagement? • Are employees currently engaged? • Does employee engagement have an impact on the organisation? • Does the organisation have any employee engagement strategies for staff? 1.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology In Chapter Three the methodology used in the study is described. The discussions include: the introduction, research philosophy, research strategies, the target population, sampling methods, the research instrument used, questionnaire construction, pilot study, administration of questionnaires, collection of questionnaires, data analysis, validity and reliability, limitations of the research, elimination of bias and ethical considerations. Chapter 4: Finding / Analysis This chapter will describe the participants in the study and the results of analyses used to examine the research questions. This chapter is organised into three main sections: findings, analysis of results, and discussion of findings. Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations The final chapter, Chapter Five, presents a discussion of the key findings of the study, present conclusions drawn from the results and recommendations of the findings for further exploration for the selected automotive tyre organisation.

Engagement revolves around right temperament and attitude for "can do" that helps for the success of the organisation. Therefore, employees have to provide employee engagement. Engaged employees get a feeling of responsibility for the well- being of the customers while also caring on organisation's future. Burke, Page and Cooper (2015) classifies engagement as employees being focused in what they do, feeling good about themself in their role and the organisation, and acting in a way that shows commitment to the organisational values and objectives. This chapter gives an overview of research that will be done on exploring the impacts of employee engagement on organisation performance. Employee engagement can be defined as a relationship property between employees and organisation (Mone and London, 2014). Employees engaged are fully immersed and passionate about their jobs taking a positive approach to further interest of the organisations.

The first definition of employee engagement came from William Kahn in 1990 that defined it as one that harnesses member of organisation personalities to employees' roles. The individual engages and explicit physical, cognitive and emotions throughout their performance roles. The highest level of commitment among employees improves employee performances making them perform 20% better. The scope to which person uses physical, cognitive and an emotional level of himself are defined throughout work-role performances. Khan employed the phrase ‘personal employment' to argue that the authentic expressions of person occur in times of experienced engagement and it has a psychological benefit to the individual. Hewitt (2013) developed Model of Employee satisfaction to shift focus from employee Engagement to employee engagement. Hewitt defined employee engagement as the psychological and behavioral outcomes leading to improvement in performance of the employee.

Source: Aon Hewitt (2013) According to Aon Hewitt (2013), the organisational drivers, business outcomes as well as individual outcome represent the organisational engagement. 2 Employee Engagement from a Self-Determination Theory Perspective Self-Determination Theory cuts across different facets of research ranging from laboratories to field research and has been used over 40 years. The theory developed since its formation to encompass personality of individuals and primary motivations both intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic personalities may include benefits; pay and recognition while intrinsic may include pride and self-worth. Human resource managers have to take advantage of Self-Determination Theory since it is a resource ignore over the years. Self-Determination Theory has the potential in increasing employee motivation as well as improving overall engagement of employees. According to Zinger (2012), the key to engagement to realize results and the pyramid were made for the managers and leaders to adopt for affecting performance in the organisation.

The importance of this model is that it is a simple and unique approach. 4 Strike Theory of Engagement Manan (2015) developed and employee management an idea obtained from a tricycle (strike). The strike is an automobile that runs on three wheels, and its balance depends on the three wheels. If one wheel bursts, then the balance is lost. All these strategies are depended on performance level provided by employees. The theory suggests that for the employee to offer great contributions, they must be valued and honor their contributions. Contribution can be done in various ways such as; Compensation for better performance, Performance recognition, regular performance discussion, career guidance, regular engagement surveys, provision of business vision and changes in policy and above all make employees have a sense of belonging at work.

They say a man is to error. Profounder look suggests that monotony multiplies human beings tendency to error. Employees’ benefit from increased job stability, boost confidence at work and realization of high performance levels. Employer, on the other hand, reduces the rate of attrition, increases revenue, and acquire better poll of talents. 4 Drivers of Employee Engagement Several factors drive the employee engagement levels. Contemporary researchers have come up with different kinds of models, which give many options to managers on how to utilize these elements more logically. Common to the analysis that has been collected, is where there is a desire to define motivators of employee engagement. Through the help of the models of job performance, Bhojak and Shakdwipee (2014), state that employee engagement results from individual traits and structural perspective.

The combination of attributes such as character, attitude, skills, and experience with the perspective regarding the style of management, operating environment and the practices of human resource affecting both heavily influence employee engagement and accordingly organisational performance. Strategically, the practices of employers on employee engagement will start with establishing a firm framework for building up a clear organisation development pathway as well as guaranteeing a befitting labor arrangement. The addition of new talents and retention of employee strategies should be implemented accordingly. The employees should always be kept oriented with the mission of the organisation, vision, values and policies and procedures and lastly their duties and responsibilities. There is still too much debate on management practices to improve scores of employee engagement.

However, many contemporary researchers seem to advance a common stance on finding engagement drivers or factors and then work towards meeting them. Engagement overlaps exhaustively with the researched commitments concepts and the organisational behaviour of citizenship. Concepts show that engagement is a two-way approach that requires organisations to engage their employees and in turn engaged employees have the choice on the engagement levels they offer to the firm (Robinson, Perryman and Hayday 2013). Employee engagement drivers have been the great starting point believed to be the best approach to addressing employee performance effects on organisation performance. Relationship with colleagues at work represents another driver to employee engagement. Good staff relationships are essential to driving performance. Friends once in a good relationship will create a strong teamwork that will work towards achieving set performance goals and objectives.

Bedarkar and Pandita, (2014) argues that drivers of employee engagement are gaining interest in the field of human management as they impact employees in work place. The most important aspect of human resource managers is to help companies survive and counter taut competition through management of employees’ physical and mental welfare. Employees are viewed as paramount assets to the business and therefore it is important for leaders to understand drivers to employee engagement to maintain loyal and productive workers while ensuring balance in profits. Servant leadership encompasses experience of the servant leader, servant leadership application, and limited attrition of employees. These themes revealed a positive influence of employee engagement by contributing to loyalty of employees at work. Evidence shows participants who have servant leadership skills are always committed to building healthy relationships at work and actively participate towards achieving goals of the organisation.

Therefore from the research it is evident that investing in servant leadership to engage employees in performance management. A call, therefore, managers are challenged to monitor employees' engagement levels and take actions to improve the engagement for realization of employer' goals. The proposed model is drawn from Bedarkar and Pandita, (2014) focused on three specific engagement drivers and assumed that the drivers lead to employee performance that automatically results to improve organisation performance. These drivers included leadership, communication, and work-life balance. 5 Current Level of Employee Engagement Today, the world faces a crisis of employee engagement. This causes severe and possible long-term consequences for the global economy. Worldwide, only 13% of employees working for an organisation are engaged. ” Levels of employee engagement can be stagnant due to several different factors.

Engagement is a construct that is measurable. Ruck (2015) stated that surveys in employee engagement represent mechanisms for feedback from employees which are put into use periodically as a way of showing how the organisation is performing. Kahn and Heaphy (2014) this has made the concept of employee engagement to attract attention various definitions that depend on the perspective and focusing on primary area of study. Since the 1960s when engagement organisations started, it took its own way of life. Survey of each employee regardless of its purpose is referred to as employee engagement. Thirdly is understanding the organisation's goal, which is where the organisation is today and where it will be in the future. Each organisation has a different starting point. Therefore, the internal capabilities and how fast the organisation can change will also be different.

The study revealed that effective leadership as a high-order, the multi-dimensional theory that comprises of self-awareness, balanced information processing, interactive transparency and assumed ethical morals. Studies have shown that engagement befalls naturally through aspiring leaders. The primary responsibility of leaders is collaborating with fellow junior staff for business success. According to Anitha (2014), authentic and supportive leadership as hypothesized impacts engagement of employees that increases involvement, gratification, and eagerness for work. Other identified aspects included relationship of team and co-work, training and professional growth, compensation organisational policies, and welfare at the workplace. Human resource personnel must accept the fact that the current generation is fast in adopting technology than past generation and therefore ought to integrate technology in their operation (Korzynski, 2015). Technology simplifies work and makes employee level of engagement to rise.

Supervisors and co-workers are not required to create prospects and rules towards each other after work because they provide none too satisfied employees. Focusing on individual flexibility may be the best approach to engage worker who feels willing to perform their duties away from normal working hours. This will be made easy through the use of technology. Therefore social media platforms and others such as Emails and Websites play this role where the company can post its policies, strategic plans, vision, mission and set objectives. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram help the company to communicate directly and quickly act in case of any incidence that may negatively affect organisations reputation. 8 Trends in Global Employee Engagement Current status of employee engagement has shown a significant rise.

The critical business metrics around the world has improved despite labor market tightness in nations such as the United States and Europe continent. For example, Aon (2016) Hewitt's Index on Global employee engagement rose in subsequent years from 62% to 65% despite the challenging business environments. Employees are sending and receiving messages all around the year thus this has changed workplace cultures of the employees' lives. People engagement cannot rely only on technology only. Managers are moving away from annual year focus reviews but turned to tools for real-time feedback. One of the software invented for companies’ employee engagement for reviews of performance management is 360-degree feedback, pulse surveys and Objective and Key Results (OKR) tracking. Technology has brought about people analytics where people are solicited feedbacks that are metrics-based.

(2016) also discovered that human beings unlike other resource related to the organisation have different needs. The management of any organisation has a responsibility of recognizing such requirements and pleasing them as well as increasing the systems of human resource management. Significant investigations have set up different organisational performance results that emphatically relate to employee engagement. Noteworthy patterns in related researchers have likewise shown organisational performance surpassing regular business where representatives are more occupied with correlation with their rivals. According to Ruganzi (2017) reasons ascribed to this is the generally predictable exhibition by employees who are engaged in the three practices that create an organisational performance. Quantitative analyses of study data by descriptive measurements and correlational analysis was used in the research process.

Incredible trends in the organisation operating units and demographic aspects were revealed through the findings. These suggested a relationship that is mutual between engagement and financial and non-financial performance though with a stronger bias on the former. It proposed a common connection amongst engagement and financial and non-financial performance however with a more grounded inclination on the previous. Mostly this is because of the way that there is a causal connection between this thought with other results of client observations and employee retention. Patro, (2013) notes that engaging employees makes them aware business setting, work well with fellow workers to improve business performances of the organisation for his/her good as well as the employer. Scholars have found that involving employees fully has a positive and direct impact on organisational productivity.

Engagement is a management practice that allows every employee to be fully dedicated to working. The practice is directly linked to customer satisfaction that directly affects company's revenue. Through engagement, people appreciate and care about what they do and how they do execute their daily tasks. Part-time studies for employees has raised with educational institutions providing evening studies for those willing to further studies. d) Leadership: major focus for all the organisation should be to make every worker fell like a leader in their positions regardless of the job grade. Making employees feel basic values of the organisation to be explicit and clear is essential. Setting up ethical standards may lead to employee engagement. e) Empowerment: Every employee looks forward to being involved in all matter relating to work.

The non-financial elements may include onsite day care, programs for employee assistances, sponsored cafes, discounts on travels, setting company picnics among others. Proper compensations schemes motivate employees at work. j) Health and Safety Systems: employees who do not feel secure at work have low level of engagement. Therefore, organisation ought to develop health and safety systems that favor their employees. k) Job Satisfaction: employees who are satisfied will be willing to engage in organisations activities. ii) Improve in quality-giving proper opportunities to employees improves the quality of production. Customer satisfaction results from improvement in the quality of production. Organisation commitment towards quality service and products to customers automatically results in quality improvement. Engaged employees have a positive view towards customer's service and there assures retention and attraction of customers.

iii) Financial Success-to Human resource personnel is able to predict employee's outcomes, success of the organisation and financial prediction for a particular period. vii) Retention of Employee-policies for retaining employees receives a spotlight lion's share in performance management. Retentions of employee, however, depend on the company's need to engage them hence studies on the engagement of employees is begun to take focus stage. Happy employees normally chose to stay at the organisation for a longer time and therefore contributing positively towards the success of the organisation. viii) Organisation Culture- Culture in the organisation, is the driving force in employee engagement. Culture in the organisation ensures employees work together and pass the voice of customers to the organisation. Leaders set culture and tone within the organisation by influencing individuals and groups to achieve the target.

According to Batista et al. (2013), lenders impact a lot in the effectiveness of the organisation through involving the workers within the organisation. It is through leadership that various theories of leadership that define personalities, attributes, and styles. Transactional Leadership uses conventional reward and castigation for purposes of agreement form their supporters. The first barrier to effective engagement is lack of clarity that affects satisfaction, morale at work and even contentment. The organisation has the call to give clear policies and plans for better engagement to ensure workers are engaged to yield more to motivate and satisfy the workers and the work they do. Clarity makes workers have a positive say about the organisation and therefore attract more clients. Cynicism is a second barrier that affects engagement as for William (2016).

He argues that cynicism is prevalent among the workers where they develop doubts, selfishness and therefore develop self-interests motives. This may lead to a serious challenge for the management and whole organisation when the decisions yield negative results. Unjustified decisions are prone to change anytime and therefore keep employees in circles without a common goal in the direction to go. Workers, therefore, feel disengaged, as their views and opinions are not put into considerations. 14 Impact Of organizational Justice On organizational Behavior Five types of Organisational citizenship behavior are extensively applied as measuring tools to show how they assist leaders in an organisation to improve efficiency (Shahzad and Jamal, 2013). Altruism allows employees to help new staff and freely give others time thus naturally concentrating on other individual but adding up to the efficiency of the group through the increase of individual's performance.

Distributive justice deals with taking decisions or fairness content. Procedural justice associates itself with ways applied to make decisions or the fairness process. Greenberg and Colquitt (2013) note that in organisational management, distributive justice predicts satisfaction with results and procedural justice influence evaluation of the company and its powers. The above forms of organisation justice together with the organisational citizen behaviors form a model to show thy affect employee engagement practices within the organisation. From the model, organisation justice and engagement of employee has significant effect on organisational citizenship behavior that automatically affects the organisation performance 2. This only happens when engagement yields positive results from the employees. The resultant outcome of these factors is improved business performance. One can then argue that successfully and effectively engaging employees tend to make them have a say ate the organisation and therefore opt to stay and commit themselves and strive towards the success of the organisation.

This gives high performance levels of the employees. Leaders have the challenge to strategize and come up with a measure to integrate employee engagement and the business operations. The Research Philosophy Research philosophy refers to the set of beliefs concerning the nature of the reality being investigated (Bryman, 2012). It is the essential definition of the nature of knowledge. The expectations created by a research philosophy provide the justification for how the research will be conducted (Flick, 2011). While research frameworks are distinctive, the methods share some specific points and more importantly a general orientation within the tradition (May, 2011) Hence, understanding the research philosophy being used can help explain the assumptions essential in the research process and how this fits the methodology being used.

Two main related research methods can inform the research process: positivism and phenomenological (Howell, 2012). (Hammersley, 2013) Quantitative research is the numerical representation and manipulation of observations for the purpose of describing and explaining the phenomena that those observations reflect. According to Cohen (1980), quantitative research is defined as social research that employs empirical methods and empirical statements. He states that an empirical statement is defined as a descriptive statement about what “is” the case in the “real world” rather than what “ought” to be the case. Typically, empirical statements are expressed in numerical terms. Another factor in quantitative research is that empirical evaluations are applied. Sampling Sampling is the process of choosing an adequate number of components from the population so that by studying the sample, and understanding the properties or the qualities to the population components.

Sampling is the process of choosing various people for an investigation such that the individual represents larger group from which they are chosen. The significant foundation that is utilized when settling on the size of the sample is the degree to which size of the sample represents the population (Cooper, 2001). An overview of the different sampling methods is set out in Figure 8 below. Name Description Advantage Disadvantage Random Sampling Every member of a population has an equal chance of being selected e. E. g. going up to people in cafes and asking them to be interviewed Quick, convenient and economical. A most common type of sampling in practice Very unpresntative samples and often biased by the researcher who will likely choose people who are “helpful” Table 2: Sampling method McLeod, S.

A. The questionnaire is therefore constructed to avoid this drawback and restricted to twenty questions where the respondent has to tick a box on a Likert Scale containing five options ranging from (1) Strongly Agree through to (5) which denote Strongly Disagree. The questions were constructed in a manner to align with the research questions and objectives and will establish the present level of employee engagement. Appendix 2 contains the Employee Engagement Questionnaire. The questionnaire is divided into different sections which include Key Drivers, The Organisation, Strategy and Culture, Communication, My Work, and Management. 8 Pilot Study According to Lucienne (2009) a pilot study’s aim is to try out the research project as to recognize potential problems that may affect the quality and validity of the research results.

Figure 9: Methods of Data Collection Source: Adapted from Kumar (2014) As this study was designed under a positivist approach, the importance is on the quality and depth of the data collected about the phenomena being researched. Within this approach, qualitative data collection methods deliver just such information and this methodology usually results in findings with a high degree of validity. This is a key factor, as it reflects the extent to which the research correctly reflect the phenomena being studied (Colins and Hussy, 2009). The questionnaires were submitted after 72 hours, and the researcher personally collected the questionnaires. 11 Data Analysis Wegner (2016), defines data as readily available information from a variety of sources and varying quality and quantity. The advantage of using a pilot test is because it allows one to identify the weaknesses in the research design and instruments (Cooper, 2001).

The researcher did a pretest before distributing the questionnaires to the respondents who expressed their personal opinions and feelings related to the study. The researcher distributed the questionnaires personally to the respondents in their places of work so that a high response could be received from them. 13 Limitations of the Research In many forms of social research the central activity is focused on designing a questionnaire survey and then processing the responses to produce the results of the study. There are inherent limitations on the questionnaire method which includes that the validity of the results depends on a high response rate and what people “mean” by their responses of which the researcher can only guess or make assumptions. CHAPTER 4 - RESULTS, DISCUSSION, AND INTERPRETATION 4.

1 Introduction This chapter presents the analysis findings from the primary data collected from a sample of 35 respondents working in the selected Automotive Tyre Companies in Bloemfontein. As indicated in the appendices section, the findings were presented using frequency tables, pie charts, and graphs. Such a presentation was selected to help come up with an easier way of interpreting the findings under every question. The demographic frequency tables 2-4 shows gender, the length of time taken by an employee to work in a department, and seniority of the job. This number was more than double the number of respondents who worked as supervisors (22. Figure 12: Job seniority 4. 2 The Key Drivers of Employee Engagement The table shown below presents the findings concerning the key drivers identified by respondents as being the source of employee engagement.

Most specifically, the study used four categorical items to understand the perception of respondents. For instance, the respondents were required to select one response from a five-point Likert scale with 1 showing strongly agree while 5 showing strongly disagree. Only a few respondents disagreed (8. In overall, the findings from the table above showed a majority of respondents agreeing that when given the opportunity, they were more than willing to tell others that the company was a good place to work at (. Figure 13: Grand average percentages indicating whether employees tell great things about working here. I rarely think about leaving this organization to work somewhere else Furthermore, table 6 as shown in the appendices section revealed that a majority of the respondents were neutral as to whether they could agree or disagree concerning the thought to leave the company (31.

However, this number was relatively lower than those who strongly agreed (25. From these findings, it is evident that it taking a lot to make an employee leave the organization was a key driver of employee engagement. Figure 15: percentages showing whether it would take a lot to make an employee leave the organization. This company inspires me to do my best work everyday Table 8 in the appendices is a frequency table whose findings showed that a majority of respondents agreed that they received encouragement from the company management (65. This number was more than those that were neutral (25. While at the same time, only a small number of respondents were in disagreement that management encouraged them into engaging with others (8. 4%) while those that agreed were 25.

In overall, showing that they agreed that their company encourages them to have new ideas and innovation (). Similarly, the number of respondents that selected on this item were equal to those who indicated that they felt to have strong connection to the brand and culture. However, the latter statement had several points spread away from the mean. Furthermore, the present level of engagement also involves employees applying resources to new ideas likely to drive the company to become successful in future. Another 2. 90% of the respondents were neutral about the validity of production of quality work. From the findings it is evident that when an organization put production of quality work as a top priority, it was a valid factor that contributed to the current level of employee engagement at (M = 1.

SD = 0. 81) Figure 17: Quality work as a top priority for the organization This organization encourages new ideas and innovation From table 10 in the appendix section, 57. 70% were neutral while a small percentage of 2. 90% disagreeing that an employee’s sense of job security was a valid factor that contributed towards the current level of employee engagement. From this analysis it is worthy to conclude that a sense of job security is a worthy factor that contributed to the present level of employee engagement Figure 19: Having a sense of job security and the current level of employee engagement. We are quick to apply resources to new ideas that will drive future success Table 12 on the appendices section show how respondents involved in this study feel about being quick to apply resources to new ideas that will drive future success.

Slightly over half of the respondents at 54. Only a small percentage of the correspondent’s disagreed with this factor at 5. From this analysis, it is therefore evident that a feeling of strong attachment to the organizations brand and culture is an agreeable factor contributing towards the current level of employee engagement in an organization at Figure 21: A feeling of strong connection to the organizations brand and culture. 4 The Impact of Employee Engagement on Organizational Performance The multiple regression analysis generated nine tables. For example, three-model fit summary, three-ANOVA, and three-coefficient tables all presented in appendices section. The first model summary shows that the current level of engagement determined 85% of communication. 90%) of the respondents agreed that they have a good understanding of the organizations goals and objectives.

An insignificant percentage (8. 60%) were undecided on their understanding of the organizations goals and objectives while a similar number (8. 60%) disagreed. From this analysis, it is evident that the current level of engagement is contributing to performance positively. The remaining section of the respondents lied on the disagreeing side. From this analyusis where the majority of the respondents lie on the agreeing side, it evident that the performance is positively related to the current level of employee engagement Figure 22: grand percentages of communication in the organization keeping employees up to date with what they need to know 4. My Work I know what is expected of me at work Bearing in mind the current level of engagement affected performance, the respondents were asked is they knew what was expected of them at work.

From table 17 in the appendices section of this study, it is seen that a substantial percentage of 74. 30% strongly agreed that they know what is expected of them at work with 17. 70% lied on the agreeing side while only 5. 70% disagreed. From the table it is therefore true to say that performance is positively related to the current level of employee engagement Figure 24: grand percentages of how respondents feel about tools and technology allowing them to do their job well I am given enough freedom to make decisions I need to make In the current level of engagement, respondents from the automotive tyre manufacturing companies were asked whether they are given enough freedom to make decisions they need to make. From table 19 in the appendices, it is evident that of the interview respondents, 42.

9% strongly agreed that they are given enough freedom to make the decisions that they needed to make while 34. Only 20% of the respondents was undecided on the question of support from their manager. There was no respondent that disagreed to getting required support from managers. From this table it is evident that performance is positively related to the current level of engagement Figure 26: grand percentages of how respondents responded to managers giving them support that they needed to succeed My manager keeps me informed about how well I am meeting my goals From table 21 in the appendices, 42. 90% of respondents strongly agreed that their manager keeps them informed about how well they are meeting their goals. 40% agreed to the same making a total of 74.

30% were undecided on the matter of managers recognizing their efforts appropriately while a total of 14. 30% disagreed to managers recognizing their efforts appropriately. With the majority of 71. 40% being on the agreeing side, from this table it is evident that performance id positively related to the current level of employee engagement in the automotive tyre manufacturing companies in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Figure 28: showing how employees felt about managers recognizing their efforts and results appropriately My manager inspires me to higher level of performance In the appendices section, table 23 is an analysis of the question whether managers inspire employees to higher levels of performance. A significant percentage of 77. 20% of the respondents lied on the agreeing side whereby 42. 90% strongly agreed while the remaining 34. 30% agreed that their manager handled their work related issues satisfactorily.

30% of the respondents were undecided while 5. However, that they did that after acknowledging several key drivers cold assist them perform better. According to the findings, it was apparent that the employees from the automotive company identified four key drivers that made them develop strong engagement to their workplace. For example, they strongly agreed that when given the opportunity, they could tell others great things about working in the company. This option brings out the understanding that that a majority of employees find the role played by other co-workers as critical in motivating them. Furthermore, it also gives them a reason to stay long in the company. Furthermore, it can also create an environment where other employees feel disengaged. Second, the respondents also cited that it would take them a lot for them to leave their company where they worked.

Their perceptions relates to the findings presented in the figure 1 above where a majority of the respondents indicated that more than 20% of the respondents had worked in the company for a period of 6 to 10 years. This number was slightly higher than those that have worked in the company for a period of more than 11 years. The above findings reveals that the fact that a majority of respondents who participated in this study found would undergo a lot to get them out of the company this was a clear indication that they saw this as another driver to a strong engagement. Employees cited that having a positive personal relationship with their supervisors was key. Furthermore, supervisors can also create actions and attitudes in order to facilitate engagement among employees.

Additionally, the study pointed out that believing in the ability that senior leadership had as their input, contributed towards making an organization move in the right direction. Employees also noted that communicating the state of the company was key to enhancing engagement. Similarly, the findings from a study conducted by Gilbert (23) were found to support this study. However, unlike the first question presented in the questionnaire shown in the appendices, the study focused on organization, strategy, and culture as present factors that contribute towards creating engagement at the selected company of study. In overall, the study asked six different items. Respondents were asked to select from the five-point Likert scales. The findings presented in section 4. 3 above shows clearly that respondents cited production of work quality as their major priority (M = 1.

Furthermore, the company must ensure that employees have steady income that can support themselves and their family members. The selected automotive understand that when employees feel that their jobs are secure, they are likely to develop strong engagement with the company. While this is far from being called a “HR fad”, a majority of organizations now focus on engagement having a positive impact on performance. Just as explained by Everitt and Heartcock (par. 2), is that any fully engagement employee is one who only pronounces positive things that relates to an organization to others. Most specifically, the impact can develop into health problems such as symptoms of stress and lower emotional resilience. All these will end up having negative influence on engagement and overall performance.

The present level of engagement among the selected automotive tyre companies in Bloemfontein depend on encouraging employees to become innovative by creating new ideas. Coming up with an effective strategic implementation right for the company, play a critical role. However, majority of managers might consider it as a mutually exclusive. The study by Bedarkar and Pandita (2014) devoted a large part of the opening chapter to illustrate the manner in which employee engagement has positive relationship with a high level of innovation. Furthermore, the report also indicates a case study that illustrates the approach that a leading defense and support services organization encouraged innovation. Management did this after the company had gone through a cultural shift to emphasize on the values-driven employee engagement.

The report concluded that the wellbeing of employee’s increases performance, and while at the same time, forms a source of innovation. Another study conducted by Colins and Hussey (2009) found that 60% of already engaged employees cited that their work made them to bring out most of their creative ideas. Employees from the selected companies acknowledged that when they become highly engaged, they were more than likely to perform well than when they are not committed. It is from the communication that makes them boost the overall performance. This study supports the findings presented in other studies (Wray, 2004; Baudler, 2014). Managers serving in the selected companies understand the role of communication in achieving positive results. During the engagement period for example, a majority of employees disseminate information that relate to their daily implementation of jobs.

They accomplished this through understanding what was expected of them, understanding ways to use tools and technology, and finding more freedom to make decisions. Managers from the selected companies use organizational goals, structures, and strategies that make employees gain information on what they expect them to do. Some of the strategies could be through offering learning and education at the time of recruitment. Such educational approaches help to bring employees together hence, gaining more information on what their companies expect from them. Furthermore, the current engagement facilitates employees to learn on ways to use tools and technology to perform their jobs. Hence, when a company does proper performance management, employees would start being productive, creative, and profitable. 4 Recommendations for Increased Employee Engagement 4.

1 Teamwork Teamwork is essential in maintaining the cohesiveness of the team. This is because the workplace is made up of people with different cultures, beliefs, and perspectives. If these differences are not reconciled through teamwork, employee engagement will be low since they may not be willing to work together in achieving the goals and objectives of the organization. These goals should be achieved through collaborative, observable commitments. The leaders who implement the goal setting strategy provided will be able to ensure employees engagement through the weekly observation feedback given on each commitment the employee has created. The collaborative method gives the employee a degree of autonomy. The autonomy will help increased self-efficacy, therefore increasing employee engagement. Goal setting should be implemented by managing by objectives.

This collaborative approach to goal setting will ensure that employees are properly motivated by verbal persuasion and enactive mastery. According to Wellins et al. (,2015), implementation of this coaching style will help move up the employees that are truly engaged, engage the employees that lack engagement, and move out the employees that are only interested in putting in hours to collect a check through documentation of feedback given each week. 2 Good Leadership The management should ensure that the leadership style used does not instill fear among the employees. Employees need to feel that they are free to express their viewpoints and be innovative in their work. For leaders to be able to increase trust, they must first be able to act with integrity.

They should always follow through with what they say they are going to do, and never ask of their employees to do something that they are not willing to do themselves. The organization can increase trust by being honest and supportive to the employees (Papalexandris and Galanaki, 2009). They should be truthful and not tell the employees what they think they want to hear, instead support the employees even when mistakes are made. For leaders to be successful, they must treat people with respect and deal with everyone in a fair manner. Senior management needs to communicate the vision, mission, and goals of the organization. Ensuring that employees are clear about the principles for the success is important implementing employee engagement. These activities enlighten employees on important things happening within the organization that is related to their immediate team.

This also helps to create trust and openness in the workplace (Ullmen, 2014). Examples of communication approaches include communication forums such as team meetings, online communications such as discussion boards and blogs. Lastly, it is important to incorporate leadership development activities that will help stimulate performance, creativity, and empowerment. Activities should examine the principles of leadership, the importance of mentorship and coaching and feedback by supervisors and peers. A good working environment should also ensure that employees are properly rewarded for their achievements. This encourages employee engagement since the employee knows that his or her hard work will not go unrewarded. Moreover, motivation encourages employees to increase productivity which may make them more innovative so that they can get rewarded. Most importantly, majority of the companies were found to set goals that require customers to increase their productivity and achieve high quality products.

Companies also provide security to employees to ensure that employees create good perceptions and tell good stories about the company. Engaged respondents were found to increase performance through communication, their work, and management. The final chapter set forth the conclusions and recommendations for this study. CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5. Even though the survey instruments were emailed to respondents, the study focused only on a small sample of 35 respondents. Small sample sizes experience weaknesses of viability, uncoverage bias, and voluntary response bias. Therefore, this number is relatively smaller when compared to employees that work in all automotive companies manufacturing tyres in South Africa. The objective of the current study involved understanding the impact that employee engagement has on performance of employees.

However, the findings could not be applicable to all employees working in automotive industry. Winter (2001) explains that any research that applies a longitudinal data, could benefit from the opportunity to analyze data through regression approach to indicate the relationship between engagement variables and quantitative performance variables such as productivity, retention period, and profitability metrics such as volume of sale recorded among the companies. Of course, we can point out at this stage that the study used ordinal variables across all the items/questions except for questions 1 and 3. Some of the ordinal variables included questions on the length of time for working in the department, the study still failed to use this type of data as a longitudinal data to explain the causality on engagement and performance among employees.

This brings out the aspect of future researchers that would prefer to use the findings as a source of reference point, to do this with some caution. In essence, any future researcher that would like to focus on a similar topic or related topic, need to do this while incorporating longitudinal data. The current study does this from the understanding that every organization is different from one another in terms of the nature of employees, environment, culture, and strategies. It is from this background that managers seeking to increase their levels of performance would end up having stronger understanding concerning creating and strengthening of employee engagement. Even though the current paper failed to provide a causality of engagement and performance, one of the important contribution is its effort to focus on theoretical implications and recommendations to increase employee engagement.

Additionally, the current paper use theoretical implications to offer some recommendations on the best way that companies operating beyond automotive sector could utilize derivers of creating employee engagement. The findings presented in this paper also offer some support to previous studies that when management design different drivers such as good workplace, leadership, and teamwork, they are likely to increase their level of engagement and hence, performance. Employees serve an important role in any organization. In case management fails to give them the correct time and space to create an appropriate fusion of work and enjoyment at the place of work, it is likely that such employees would end up being dis-engaged. One should not consider the aspect of employee engagement just as another type of human resource strategy.

Both employees and their managers rely on one another in order to achieve the set goals and objectives. In this case, therefore, one should not understand employee engagement as an exercise that occurs instantly. Effective teamwork is therefore a driver for positive organizational outcomes such as improved efficiency, productivity and innovation. To build and develop an organization that responds to change and provides more value to its clients, employees need to employee teamwork. In the case of HCL Technologies in Delhi India, Vineet Nayar accepted the fact that he wouldn’t do the job alone neither was his inspiring speeches going to make the HCL employees embrace the Employee First, Customer Second culture (EFCS). For the HCL employees to develop this culture they had to work together and this lead to formulation of an action plan that includes dos and don’ts towards the development and support of teamwork in the organization (Tjosvold, 2015).

The result of the engagement in teamwork was an almost triple in the annual revenue of HCL in the year 2008 despite the national financial crisis, a double in market capitalization and HCL was voted as the best employer. The best working environment is one that is depicted in the culture of health and safety of organization. The interior design of an office can also affect the engagement of employees. Physical items such as chairs, sounds in the surrounding, lighting, aeration, basic comfort, personal safety, temperature, boardrooms and other meeting areas, availability of personal cabinets for all employees, among other things influence employee performance. A well planned interior space where employees work increases productivity while poor working space leads to poor performance.

When an organization invests in a comfortable working space for its employees it gets the benefits of improved performance and a reduction of complaints and absenteeism. Leaders that have the ability to drive employees to perform to their full potential. This is because leaders play a vital role in the culture of a company (Stanislavov, 2014). There are different organization cultures so is the level of employee engagement and the later depends on the former. Visionary, democratic, and coaching leaders create the most engagement. This study found out that the level of engagement depends on the organization’s objectives, strategy, and culture. When choosing his employees Sir Branson is keen on hire innovative individuals, and giving employees the space to work, explore new ideas and fund those ideas to make a successful organization.

These cases treat employees as if they are the most important asset in an organization. Innovative and engaged employees tend to be more enthusiastic when performing their duties (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2015) thus the conclusion that employee innovation is positively connected to productivity with regard to innovation. When an employee is pursuing their own ideas, they tend to give their best to realize the success of that idea and the desire to make it bigger. It is beneficial to the organization when it creates an environment and the strategy to support such ideas from its employees. It is therefore important for organizations to strive to have a good bond with employees even when they are leaving they leave with a good taste such that they would even refer other professionals to this institution.

If the employees are not happy then it is obvious that an organizations clients will also not be satisfied. Since it takes time to build an organization brand, it is necessary to have a solid strategy that deals with organization-employee relation that is geared towards a consistent relationship. In this digital era, individuals are exposed to all sorts of information. This means that when an individual is seeking to join a particular organization they will already have a lot of information about it. Great teams at the place of work depends on successful leaders that focus on nurturing talents and creating a conducive workplace to attain organizational goals. Employees that consider leaders as a driver for their engagement understand that such leaders can keep all teams, aspire them, and facilitate everyone to achieve the goal.

Furthermore, leaders also have the potential of selecting the correct team sizes and according to available task at hand. Furthermore, a majority of employees from the selected automotive companies see teams as the best point to collaborate and deliver required skills. Similarly, the work of leaders involves acting as key antecedent of employee engagement. Baudler, C. R. Employee Engagement and Communication Research: Measurement Strategy and Action. Personnel Psychology, 67(3), 747-750 Harter, J. , & Adkins, A. , Colquitt, A. , Grubb, A. , Murphy, K. , Ollander-Krane, R. , & Pulakos, E. Corporate excellence through governance and employee engagement: A brief analysis. Journal of Commerce and Management Thought, 8(3), 554. and Processing. New York: Routledge. p5-14. aspx [Last accessed 2 Nov. Anon, (2017). 2016 Trends in Global Employee Engagement AON Hewitt Armstrong, S (2009). Human Resource Management, London, UK:.

Prentice Hall publishers. Employee engagement does more than boost productivity. [Online] from https://hbr. org/2013/07/employee-engagement-does-more. (July 04, 2013) Bamberger, M (2000).  Integrating quantitative and qualitative research in development projects. , & Baralt, S. The role of leadership style in employee engagement. Bedarkar, M. , & Pandita, D. A study on the drivers of employee engagement influencing employee performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Burke, R. J. Page, K. M. Catherine Truss, Amanda Shantz, Emma Soane, Kerstin Alfes & Rick Delbridge (2013) Employee engagement, organisational performance and individual well-being: exploring the evidence, developing the theory, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24:14, 2657-2669, DOI: 10. 798921 Churchill, G. A (1995).  Marketing Research: Methodological Foundations. 6th ed.  A Practical Guide for Undergraduate & Postgraduate Students. 3ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan Collinson, Chris (2001). The Business Costs of Ethical Supply Chain Management: KenyaFlower Industry Case Study.

Natural Resources Institute (NRI). Creswell, J. W (1994). Research Design: Qualitative & Quantitative Approaches, London: SAGE Dan-Shang, W. , & Chia-Chun, H. The effect of authentic leadership on employee trust and employee engagement. J Occup Organ Psychol, 88: 155–177. doi:10. 1111/joop. 12083 development review 8. p506-531 Dörnyei, Z (2014). Pp. 9-11 Emerald Group Publishing Limited (2015). New Perspectives in Employee Engagement in Human Resources. Emerald Group Publishing. Pp. Human sigma. New York, NY: Gallup Press publishers "Forbes Welcome. " Flick, U.  Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research project. London: Sage Forbes. Gallup.  Available: http://www. gallup. com/home. aspx. Employee Engagement Implementation Leading Towards Employee Creativity. Employee Engagement in Media Management, 83-100. doi: 10. 1007/978-3-319-16217-1_5 Greenberg, J. , & Colquitt, J. "Assessing the Effect of Training on Employees' Performance in Nigeria Hotel Industry: A Case Study of Sheraton Hotel and Resorts Lagos.

" Singaporean Journal of Business, Economics and Management Hammersley, M (2013).  What is Qualitative Research?. New York: A&C Black. p6. K. The relationship between engagement at work and organizational outcomes.  Gallup Poll Consulting University Press, Washington. Harter, James K. , et al.  An Introduction to the Philosophy of Methodology. California: Sage. Hrebiniak, D (2006). Employee Engagement. Human Resource Management International Digest, Human Participants: A Practical Guide. doi: 10. 1007/978-3-319-51886-2_4 Implications for HRD. " Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 35, no. 4, p300-325. K. , S. HRD Practices on Employee Engagement: Retail Organizations. SCMS Journal Of Indian Management, 14(2), 105-112. Kahn, W. , and Emily D. Heaphy (1990). Relational contexts of personal engagement at work. " Employee engagement in theory and practice. p82-96. The Effect of Ethical Leadership and Organizational Justice on Employee Engagement — The Mediating Role of Employee Trust.

International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, 6(4), 235-240. doi:10. 7763/ijtef. v6.  Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners. 4th ed. California: Sage. Lazonick, W. , & Huzzard, T. leader and follower development. " The Leadership Quarterly 16. p343-372. Lucienne, T. M (2009). Schaufeli, and Michael P. Leiter. "Job burnout. " Annual review of psychology 52. p397-422. S. The 10 Best Practices for Enhanced Employee Engagement. Mohammad, J. , Quoquab Habib, F. , & Alias, M. 15405/epsbs. 37 Mone, E. M. , & London, M.  Employee engagement through effective performance management: A practical guide for managers. S. How Does Organizational justice Afiect Organizational Citizenship Behavior?.  Handbook of organizational justice, 355. Neelankavil. J. 4, Dec. 2015, pp. 565-579 of the self: New models of prejudice and of the self-concept. Orodho, A (2004). "Techniques and Social Science Research Methods.

the Impact of Employee Engagement on Organization's Productivity. Phyladelphia: F. A. Davis. p53. Research design, qualitative, quantitative and mixed Methods approaches. Psychology Press. p229. Psychology, 63, pp. Publications.  Running Behavioral Studies With Robbins, P. S. , & Judge, A. T. Organizational Behavior (15th Ed. Available at www. Employment-studies. co. uk. [Last accessed 17 Nov. (2014) “What Do We Really Know About Employee Engagement?”, Human Resource Development Quarterly 25 (2), 2014: 155-182. Salas E. , Tannenbaum S. , Cohen D. , Latham G.  The white man's world (Vol. Oxford University Press. Science research and recommendations on how to control it.  Annual Review of Shahzad, S. , & Jamal, W. (2013) "The jingle jangle of employee engagement: Further exploration of the Shuck, Brad, Kim Nimon, and Drea Zigarmi (2017). "Untangling the Predictive Nomological Soenens, B, Vansteenkiste, M and Van Petegem, S (2015).

"Let us not throw out the Stanislavov, I. , & Ivanov, S. The role of leadership for shaping organizational culture and building employee engagement in the Bulgarian gaming industry. Tejaswi B. , & Raya R. P. Employee engagement: Key to organizational success. SCMS Journal of Indian Management, 11(4), 61–71. Tjosvold D. , Tjosvold M. (2015) Building the Team Organization: How to Open Minds, Resolve Conflict, and Ensure Cooperation. Springer. Pp. p3. Wellbeing and Career Experiences. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. p315 Wellins, R. S. Employment Relations Today, 37(2), 47-52. doi:10. 1002/ert. 20297 William R. , J.  Human Resource Management,54(6), 913-931. Woodhams, Carol, Huiping Xian, and Ben Lupton (2015). "Women managers’ careers in China: work. " Employee engagement in theory and practice. p82-96. 551 Skewness -. 092 Std. Error of Skewness. 398 Kurtosis -2. 242 Std. 4 6 - 10 years 7 20. 4 > 11 years 3 8.

0 Total 35 100. 0 Table 3: length of time in the department Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid manager 5 14. 3 supervisor 8 22. 7 agree 8 22. 6 neutral 11 31. 0 disagree 2 5. 7 strongly disagree 5 14. 0 Total 35 100. 1 strongly disagree 1 2. 0 Total 35 100. 0 Table 8: organization inspire me to do 6. 3 Current Level of Employee engagement through Organisation, Strategy and Culture Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid strongly agree 26 74. 3 agree 7 20. 4 neutral 9 25. 1 strongly disagree 1 2. 0 Total 35 100. 0 Table 11: I have a sense of security in my job Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid strongly agree 6 17. 1 agree 13 37. 4 Communication Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid strongly agree 15 42. 9 agree 14 40. 9 neutral 3 8. 4 disagree 3 8. 0 Total 35 100. 3 strongly disagree 2 5. 0 Total 35 100. 0 Table 16: communication in this organization keeps me up to date with what i need to know 6. 5 My work Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid strongly agree 26 74. 3 agree 6 17.