This document provides an overview of a study investigating employee engagement in a UK-based retail organization. It begins with an introduction to employee engagement and its importance. It then discusses the research rationale, aim, objectives, and questions. The plan of work is outlined which will include literature review, methodology, findings, and conclusions. A literature review is then presented covering definitions of employee engagement, frameworks for measuring engagement, benefits of engagement for employees and employers, key responsibilities in building engagement, and important enablers of engagement such as leadership, managers, and leadership/management development. Key points are made about the relationship between engagement and organizational performance.

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Employee Engagement, Involvement, and Participation
Chapter1: Introduction
Employee engagement is one of the prime tasksof the top management today as a highly efficient
andskilled team is required to survive and evolve in this highly competitive global market
(Drizin, 2008). An organization can perform better if bottom line performance is strong as it
ensures the productivity and innovation of the work process (Prosek, 2011).
Employers today are focusing on the creating the engaged employees is because they are capable
of providing Intended business profits and have strong believe in core values of the organization
(Bridger, 2014). Not only this they are ready to give their best shot in terms of performance and
hence show a high level of creativity and customer service (Welch, 2011). All these factors have
been identified as key contributing towards organizational competitiveness.
The report analyzes thelevel of engagement for employees in UK based Retail organization. It
also attempts to analyze key factors contributing towards engaging employees within
anorganization.Employee engagement is further investigated to figure out therelationship
between various employee engagement activities and their impact on increasing profitability and
overall working efficiency of the organization.
The outcome of this study will help in providing useful insight and information for
practitioners,administratorsand researchers about employee engagement in a retail organization
based in the UK.Once the level of employee engagement is identified and relation between the
employee engagement and organization profitability is understood, it will help the practitioners
and administrator to realize the significant of employee engagement and would therefore work
towards creating a work environment that lends itself into engagement.
1.1 Research Rationale
In present times, companies need to retain their highly skilled and trained employees to achieve
increasedrates of growth. Sustained growth for the organization is possible only if the employees
areprovided with the opportunities in which they can adapt according to the working
environment of the organization and become familiar with the working process. Employee
engagement provides such opportunity of socialization to the employees in which they get a
chance to become the part of the working culture of the organization(Vranda, 2014).

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Numerous researches have been conductedin identifying the important key factors that can foster
employee engagement. It is evident that no immediate fix exist to develop the highly engaged
workforce. Hence, Retail Organisation is required to adopt the sustainable strategic approach
(Luthans, 2011).
According to a report available in 2009 byFederman, following outcomes about the employee
engagement can be drawn for business organization of the UK (Federman, 2009):-
 Efficient Employee engagement leads to better performance by employees.
 There is adirect relation between good employee engagement and better performance of
the organizations.
 Engagement activities lead to transformational changes in employees.
The above outcomereveals the importance of employee engagement policy so that the employees
can be motivated to work as a team and with ahigher level of motivation so that organization
efficiency can be increased.On the other hand, lack of engagement greatly impacts the
organizations acrossthe world in terms of additional costs,underperformance on critical tasksand
widespread customer dissatisfaction (Prosek, 2011).
It also shows the evolution in the field of human resource as it has become an important element
of the organization which act as a catalyst for increasing involvement of employees in the
working process the by increasing the level of employee engagement in the organization(Macey
& Schneider, 2008).
Assessment of the level of engagement is necessary as it depicts the current level of productivity
and growth of the organization in the competitive global market.The research provides an
opportunity to figure out the level of engagement in a UK based Retail organization.
1.2 Problem Statement
Recent Reports has shown a significantly low level of engagement in the retail organization of
the United Kingdom, which is an indicator of low-efficiencyandunderperformance of the
organization in the global market.
Four enablers of engagement have been given in the study conducted by Federman in 2009,
which are leadership, work process integrity, engaging managers and empowering employee
voice(Federman, 2009).Evaluations of engagement levels on the basis of these parameters have
shown improvements in the perception of employees during the period of 2004-2011. However,
if these levels of engagement are analyzed according to industries and sectors, it can be observed

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that there are significant variations. It has been reported that employees working intheprivate
sector have a higher level of engagement as compared to the people working in public sector.
One of the needs of having an engaged employee is that they are familiar with the changing
business situation and works in a coordinated manner to expand the job performancefor the
profitability of their organisation(Hewitt, 2012). The research, therefore, highlights the benefits
of employee engagement and how aretail basedorganization can effectively build an engaged
workforce. The studyreveals that the higher levels of engagement enable companies to achieve
higher productivity. The role of the employer in encouraging theparticipation of the employee
also makes a big difference in creating an engaged workforce.
The low level of employee engagement observed in the business organizations of United
Kingdom has reduced the efficiency of the organization to face the global competition. Thus, a
need has arousedto investigate the causes that havereducedthe level of employee engagement and
the ways by which employees of aretail organization can be motivated to work in a collaborative
and efficient way(Bridger, 2014).
1.3 Research aim
The research aims atinvestigatingthe factors responsible for the low level of employee
engagement ina retail organization based intheUnited Kingdom. The research will also analyze
how employee engagement affects the commitment and overall performance of the organization.
1.4 Research Objectives
Below are some of the key research objectives that would help in achieving the aim:
 To investigate the factors responsible for the reduced employee engagement in a retail
organization based in the UK
 To analyzehow, a retail organization can build an engaged workforce
 To investigatewho is accountable for managing employee engagement in the UK based
retail organization.
 To evaluate the role oftheemployer in raising levels of engagement in the organization.
1.5 Research Question
To guide the research work in the right direction the whole project will be guided by following
research questions-
 Why it is essential to engage employee in UK based retail organization
 How employee engagement contributes towards making an organization profitable

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 What are the key indicators to identify the level of engagement of employees in the
retailorganization?
 What are the factors accountable for the low level of employee engagement in retail
organization
 What are the necessary steps that should be adopted by a retail organization to ensure
employee engagement, Involvement, and participation
1.6 Plan of work
To analyze the role of employee engagement in the UK based retail organization a sequential
order of research has been followed to analyze the facts and information, which is shown below:
Chapter 1 of this research gives an overview of the employee engagement. Inthis chapter, a
formal introduction,and key definitions have been provided. The chapter also highlights the aim
and objectives of the research, along with theresearchquestion that guides the project in the right
direction.
Chapter 2 of the research includes relevantliteraturerelated to the employee engagement. This
section will provide detail information about the previous studies done in thisfield. It will also
discuss different aspects of employee engagement inthecontext of the retail organization based
intheUnited Kingdom.
Chapter 3 include the research methodology, in which assessment of levels of employee
engagement in the organization is done by using scientific and logical methods of research.
Bothprimary and secondary methods of research havebeen used along with the tools such as
Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), the Employee Engagement Interpreter Questionnaire
(EES).
Chapter 4comprises of the discussions and findings derived from the use of analytical tools.
These discussionsexplorenew information from the research while findings will help in drawing
aconclusionbased on results.
Conclusion and recommendations are the part of thefifth chapter. In this conclusion will provide
a summary of the present activities of employee engagement in a retailorganizationwhile
measures to improve the level of engagement will be suggested intherecommendation.

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Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 Introduction
Employee engagement is considered as one of the indicators of measuring organizational
performance in present times (Bridger, 2014). However, the effect of management activities on
the level of employee engagement in the retail organization is still unclear.This dearth of lucidity
has led to the use of various parameters and processes to measure the implication and
effectiveness of employee engagement especially in UK based retail organization (Kular et al.,
2007).
Various researchers have defined employee engagement based on different aspects. Research
done by Khan (1990) defined employee engagement as a process that connect employees to their
job roles, enabling them to connect with their work physically and emotionally. According to
ProfessorKatie Truss, it is a way of providing multiple opportunities so that employees can be
connected with the leader and team members. This type of bond will be significant in satisfying
the social needs of an employee (Macleod, 2009). The main aim of Employee engagement is to
provide employees a friendly environment that allow them to bring innovation into the work
processes.
Thus, the definition given above shows different aspects of employee engagement which
considers adjustability, flexibility and continuous enhancement as the basic values for
developing working environment of an organization (Musket, Blackman and Muskat,2012).
Based on the definition given above, three aspects of the framework of employee engagement
can be given -
 Collective Engagement- The extent to which employees in the organization are involved
with their teammates to discuss and suggest matters related to their work. (Craig and
Silverstone, 2010). This shows the involvement of employees in the work process of the
organization.
 Rational engagement- It measures the extent to which employee is devoted to their work
and have a rational attitude to improve his performance (Gandossy, Verma, and Tucker,
2006).
 Emotional engagement- It measures the emotional attachment of the employee with the
organization and the job roles assigned(Gandossy, Verma, and Tucker, 2006).

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The above framework provides a means to evaluate the level of engagement within an
organization. The involvement and participation of employee plays an important role in
increasing the level of engagement. Involvement is a result of emotional attachment while
participation in organizational activities is a result of collective engagement, which can be
observed in when people work together as a team. A shift from rational engagement to
participative engagement causes an increase in the level of employee engagement, which helps in
increasing efficiency and performance. (MacLeod and Clarke, 2011)
According to Williams (2014), the increased level of engagement benefits both employees and
employers. From the perspective of employers, high engagement level can result in numerous
business benefits such as:
 Increased trust in the organization,
 Increased level of creativity
 Foster Innovation
 Better working environment
 Low level of absenteeism and
 Increased cooperation among team members.
With the increased level of engagement, people in the organization feel encouraged to
improve their performance, which directly contributes towards increasing overall efficiency
of the organization. Engagement motivates the employees to go beyond their limits and
work more efficiently to deliver better results.
2.2 Building an engaged workforce
Numerous companies in the retail sector have implemented employee engagement as a means to
motivate employees and hence to increase customer satisfaction level. This is because less
engaged employee cannot deliver better service to their customer, which is an important function
for a retail organization.
As stated by Schneider et al. (2011), the role of human resource management,together with
senior leadership and managers and supervisors are very important in increasing the level of
employee engagement as they have to take the below responsibilities (please refer to figure 1 of
the appendices):-
Take responsibility for improving the performance- It is the responsibility of the human
resource department to evaluate the present level of engagement and work towards it. By making

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employee engagement an integral part of organization drastic improvement in the performance
can be noticed.
Act as the employee engagement expert- With the help of training and coaching, HR can
identify the barriers and plan strategies to tackle them so that engagement level can be increased.
By interpreting the results of the investigation, HR can help the individual to pinpoint important
areas that need attention.
The link between employee engagement to individual performance- Employee engagement is
also associated with the performance of employees, as employee engagement provides an answer
to the queries of the employee regarding his role and importance in the organization.Answer to
these queries constitute the dimensions of employee engagement, evaluation of which will help
the employee to decide whether his presence makes a difference in the organization and can
understand the probability to develop himself as a professional (Cook, 2008)(Please refer to
figure 2 of the appendices).
2.3 Key enabler of employee engagement
To build a highly efficient workforce with increased level of engagement four key enablers has
been suggested by Saks (2006). These are mentioned below-
2.3.1 Efficient leadership
The main function of the leaders is to guide the people so that they would be able to fulfill their
commitment to providing quality service to their customer. Leaders provide a strategic guideline
to their managers and also brief employees about the aim of the organization. Apart from this the
vision on which the aim and objectives of the organization is based, and the way by which the
individual associated with the organization can contribute to the purpose.Therefore and efficient
leader, help employees to understand the importance of their work and role in accomplishing the
objective in the organization (Saks, 2006).
The aims and organizational values set a transparent and strong organizational culture in which
each of the employees has a crucial role to play. It motivates the members of the organization to
work for the goals of the team and organization, instead of working for individual goals
(Schneider et al., 2011). The success of an organization depends on the effectiveness of
leadership style. Effective leadership is characterized by the presence of trust, discipline, support
and stretch that makes the organizational culture” both tougher and tender”.

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The leader plans employee engagement activities in such a way that it relates the efforts of the
employees with the vision and aims of the organization. It enables employees to know their
importance of their individual contribution to the entire working process of the organization. It is
necessary for the employees to understand the organization as a better understanding will help
them to work in a more accurate way. If the employee is aware of the values and vision of the
organization and knows the importance of his contribution to the organization, he/she will be
able to put more efforts in improving the efficiency of his work.This will further improve the
overall efficiency of the organization. Effective Coaching and feedback procedure can help
leaders to motivate their employees (Watson, 2008).
Lack of awareness about organizational goals can result in low levels of employee engagement
in the organization. The visible leadership can be a useful tool for increasing the level of
engagement. This leadership approach emphasizes on direct communication between the
employees and the top management when there is a critical situation (Mone and London, 2014).
Another benefit of direct communication is that it encourages a bond of trust and cooperation
within the organization.
2.3.2 Engaging managers
Macleod and Clarke (2011) have defined engaging managers as who ensure clarity in work and
appreciates employee’s contribution and efforts in efficiently completing the task. The other
qualities of engaging managers are the effective way of treating their team members and
organizing the task structure so that it the efforts of the team member is valued and provides
needed support and possible assistance to its subordinate to accomplish the assigned task.
There is always a difference between the levels of engagement in retail organizations, which are
facing problems in their business. This difference at different levels of management leads to lack
of coordination and cooperation in a different department in the organization. Leaders and
managers with a high level of engagement and abilities to take initiatives can help a retail
organization in improving the situation. With their high level of commitment to the vision of the
organization together with leadership abilities, they help in initiating positive changes in
organization that increases the level of faith and commitment of the employees in the
organization values and vision. High levels of engagement enable managers recognize and
inspire their employees. In context to employee engagement, the main role of the managers is to
initiate dialog with their employees and assess the factors that drive them to improve their

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performance. This function extends the role of manager to care and inspire employees to excel in
the role assigned by the organization. Studies emphasize the need for identifying the true
potential of an employee by the manager so that they can offer coaching and training to the
employee to hone their skills. Coaching and feedback are the important steps in making the
communication smooth and alsodifferentiate between highly engaged employees from a less
engaged employee. An employee who is motivated will always seek for improvement and hence
approach manager for coaching and guidance for improving his performance.
2.4 Improving Leadership and Management Skills
A study by Leitch (2006) shows that the retail organizations in The UK spent less amount of
money in the management of development programs in comparison to any other European
country. This could be the main reason for the low level of employee engagement in the business
organization of the country. A report from the sector skills council suggested that there is an
urgent need to focus on improving leadership and management skills. Lack of sufficient budget
and support has impacted the level of engagement in the business organization of the United
Kingdom (Armstrong, Ward, 2006). It also highlights the need for support and training for
management and leadership so that engagement level in the business organizations can be
increased.
2.4.1 Empowering Voice
Empowering the voice of employees can bring a positive change in the organization.
Engagement level in those organizations is higher, in which the views and opinions of the
employees are listened and considered. This practice benefits both employees and employers as
this enable an organization to assess the work procedure and improve it in a better way (Bridger,
2014). When the top management considers the views of their employees, it gives a message that
the organization values the opinion of their people. Empowering the voice of employees ensures
the establishment of a better communication process in which the people associated with the
organization has a right to raise their voice and challenge the decision of their top management if
needed. Wilkinson (2014) stated that improvements in the organizational strategy and reduction
in internal conflicts have been observed in the organization where employees have been provided
with the freedom of giving their opinion on a particular issue. Empowerment of employees also
gives employees a feeling of being well informed of the procedure adopted in the organization
that increases the level of commitment towards their work. This communication also prepares

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employees to face any change in the system and enable them to respond in case of an
unwelcomed change.
The role of voice empowerment is significant in making system transparent. This transparency
motivates the employees to get accustomed to the working process and environment of the
organization.
2.4.1.1 The significance of workplace representatives in empowering employee voice
Workplace representatives such as trade unions have a significant role in empowerments of
employees in an organization. This empowerment has become an integral part of the
engagement. The collective representation relates to the environment within the organization to
make it better for employees to enhance their working capacity and employee welfare (A Report
to the Wales Public Service Workforce Forum, 2009). It has been observed that efficient
employee engagement can benefit both employee and employer in terms of providing productive
and challenging tasks to employees and achieving better levels of productivity in the
organization.
In the perspective of the retail organization engaging employees help in providing better training
to them and hence are encouraged and motivated enough to come forward voluntarily and talk
about the lack of abilities (for example- lack of computer knowledge) they need during their
course of work. According to a survey conducted by UNITE, the role of employee
representatives such as trade union affects the organizational environment in a positive way. The
survey shows that employees associated with trade unions showed more interest in responding to
the question related to working environment, fair treatment and opportunity as compared to
workers in those organizations without any collective representation (unitetheunion, 2012). This
synergy between the collective representatives and employers along with increased cooperation,
trust and exchange of information, helps in formulating better engagement strategies for the
organization so that a higher rate of retention can be maintained.
According to a report to the government of United Kingdom by BERR (2004), this collaboration
of trade unions and top management has been adopted by many organizations in the recent years.
This collaboration has been a part of almost all negotiations and strategic business decisions.
This measure by the organization has helped in developing a democratic environment that helps
in initiating important changes in the organization and preparing employees to face and changes
in the external business environment. One of the most important evidence of this change is the

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implementation of the regulation of providing employees information and consultation regarding
their field of work in an organization that has at least 50 employees.
Although the density of trade unions in the United Kingdom has been reduced, there is still a
need for collective representation felt by the British employees. The research conducted by
Purcell (2008) indicates that to fill the space made due to low density of trade unions, there has
been a number of trade union representatives in unionized end non-unionized workplaces for
empowering the voice of employees. According to CBI-TUC report of 2001, there is a great
potential of this collaborative mechanism that can increase the rate of engagement in the
organization (MacLeod and Clarke, n.d.).
2.4.2 Integrity
According to Bridger (2014) deals with the extent to which the work process of the organization
motivate the employee to cultivate a sense of mutual faith and the sense of organizational
integrity. An organization is identified by its values and the norms that guide the behavior of an
individual in the organization. Distrust and lack of unity prevail in that organization in which
there is a gap between the organizational values and the real behavior of people in the
organization. While if employees observe their top management and leaders to respect the
organizational values and follow the behavioral norms stated by the organization, they feel
motivated to follow their seniors. A sense of respect develops amongst the employees, and they
work according to the stated values of the organization. This sense of integrity among different
individuals, working in an organizational setup, acts as an influential enabler of engagement,
which gives a reason for an individual to work with his all might for the organization
(Robertson-Smith and Markwick, 2009).
The integrity of an organization depends on various factors associated with the regular working
process of the organization. In most of the organizations, it has been observed that the lack of
integrity emerges from the small flaws in the process of work and working environment Bridger
(2014).
An example of the condition which causes lack of integrity might be the inability to provide
employees with basic facilities such as clean toilets and recycling bin or the large factors such as
an discouraging working environment in which an employee has to face bullying from his
seniors, or the inability of the organization to provide a suitable working condition (example- air
cooling or heating, good equipments for work).

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Maintaining integrity is an important challenge for the top management for enabling employee
engagement.
2.5 Barriers to employee engagement
Despite efforts of the management and the leaders to maintain a better working environment and
high rate of engagement in the organization, sometimes a situation occurs when the level of
engagement is very low. Employees often feel disconnected due to changing attitude towards
work, expectation and norms, which hampers the productivity of the organization (Walker,
2012). This situation is caused due to some factors that are discussed below in details:-
2.5.1 Low level of awareness
It has been observed that in most of the organizations in the United Kingdom has very low
awareness about the concept of employee engagement (Nahavandi, Denhardt, and Denhardt,
2014). One of the surprising facts of this observation is that a majority of people who are
holding important positions in management and leadership are not aware of the importance of the
high level of engagement.
According to a survey conducted by Accor (2009), in context of the business organization of the
united kingdom, it has been observed that about 75% of leaders of these organization did not
have any plan for increasing engagement of employees, although about 90% of the leaders are of
opinion that employee engagement has a straight impact on the productivity and efficiency of the
organization. This situation clearly indicates the urgent need of providing support and training to
the leaders so that they can raise the level of engagement in the organization. In the recent years,
there has been a change in the attitude of leaders as the investors are observing the extent to
which employees are engaged. An engaged workforce is a guarantee of better return on
investment. Realization of this situation by the leaders and the top management has enabled them
to take measures for increasing engagement of employees.
According to Mills (2008), by engaging employees, organization has started to focus on their
human capital as the level of engagement and the productivity of the workforce has become one
of the primary criteria to measure the efficiency of the organization, these two factors attract
investors to invest their resources in organization that has better chances of earning more profits
for them.

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2.5.2 The starting uncertainty
There is a certain situation in which a leader although interested in the concept of employee
engagement, unable to find the right moment of the situation to start the process in the
organization. They know the importance of the increased level of the engagement in the
organization and also aware of the interest of their employees in this process but the lack of
certainty and treating engagement as a complex procedure to follow put barriers in the initiation
of the engagement policies (Carlisle, 2012).
This confusing approach sometimes led leaders to neglect employee engagement in their
organization that reduces the motivational level of employees and lower the level of productivity
and efficiency of the organization.
According to the survey conducted by Accor (2009), a majority of the managers who were aware
of the important of employee engagement, does not had a clear picture of the action required to
increase the level of engagement in the organization or the point from which the process of
increasing the level of engagement can be started. The report indicates that due to the
unwillingness of the top management to communicate on this matter employee engagement has
been widely neglected in the organization. Apart from that, leaders consider engagement as the
process that will reduce their command and control in the organization as they have to
decentralize authority and responsibility (Truss, Shantz, and Soane, 2013).
By analysing the thinking of the leaders and top management about the employee engagement,
one possible means to enhance the level of engagement in the organization is the involvement of
HR department and other professional group to motivate and convince the top management to
implement employee engagement for the betterment of the organization.
2.5.3 The role of a manager within the organization
The role of managers in the organization is one of the decisive factors of the level of engagement
of employees. The disengaging practices adopted by the managers sometimes become a major
barrier to the growth and development of the organization. This disengaging practice adopted by
the managers affects their subordinate and co-workers who gradually adopt these practices
(Drizin and Hundley, 2008).
These practices negatively influence the overall performance of the organization, and the level of
productivity goes very low. This shows that the behavior of the people in the organization is the
main factor that affects the level of engagement and organizational culture. Some of the features

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of these inefficient practices are reactive decision-making approach, inefficient style of
management, improper communication and knowledge about the situation, poor quality of
downward communication and low level of perception of senior management and poor balancing
of work-life due to improper wok culture of the organization.
Federman (2009) stated that the lack of a feedback mechanism and the negative feeling among
employees, which makes them feel that their work has no importance in the organization shows
the serious flaw in the culture of an organization. Similar barrier are observed while investigating
the level of individual engagement. Employees who feel that they are unfairly treated by the
organization and were of the opinion that there is a lack of support from senior officers and
management to enhance and develop new professional skills that can increase their potential and
output (Truss, Soane, Edwards, Wisdom, Croll, And Burnett, 2006).
One of the main reasons which make managers reluctant to initiate any change is the
nervousness and uncertainty about the outcome of these measures and the effect on their comfort
zones and ways of dealing with employees which has been established order in the organization
for a long period of time (Oliver, 2009).
A study on the behavior of the first line of managers revealed that they prefer to perform their
supervisory duties assigned to them without any delegation of responsibility to their team
members due to the fear that they might get the key role within the organisation. This behavior of
the managers lowers the level of engagement in the organization and discourages the employees,
as the level of the engagement reduces to a lower level. This encourages an organizational
culture that believes in retaining more and more power to some of the key members of the top
management. This type of organizational culture prompt employees to move to the other
organization that has better engagement plans and organizational culture (Hales, 2005).
2.5.4 Understanding engagement
Some leaders consider employee engagement as an additional work that involves HR and line
manager to do the main part with a little or no role of the leadership of the organization. With
this misconception, they miss the fact that if employees feel less engaged in the organization,
their working capacity and performance would be negatively affected (Gifford, Finney, and
Hennessy, 2010). Apart from that, the leader has a much important role to play in the process of
engaging employees. Employee engagement is one of the important functions of the strategic
activity of the top management that aims at retaining more and more able and skilled employees

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by giving them a reason to remain associated with the organization. Engagement is a gradual
long-term process of improving the work environment and process in the organization.
One thing that causes reluctance and fear in the minds of a leader implementing engagement
strategy is the outcome of the changes that might rise due to a delegation of power and
responsibility. In these cases, managers always fail to see the positive aspect of this change. A
highly engaged staff will give better performance and high work efficiency hen those who are
less engaged (Hodgetts and Hegar, 2007). A survey by Henley Centre of HR Excellence stated
that if the manager does not implement changes recommended during the measurement of the
level of engagement, there is a larger possibility of further disengaging staff that will prompt able
employee to leave the organization (Employee Engagement Phase 2, 2015).
Thus, it is very important to know about the state of employees in the organization. For this
purpose, a staff survey is the most useful tool that can give a reliable information about the level
of engagement and the factors, which positively or negatively affects their performance.
Listening to employees, instead of following a two-way communication is another better
technique of understanding employees and their needs.
2.5.5 Different levels of engagement
The process of employee engagement can be initiated at two different levels- either as a strategy
implementation or as an integral part of the development of organization and employees. The
strategic approach of implementing employee engagement considered as an additional step to
enhance the productivity of employees and improving the overall performance of the
organization (Cook, 2008). In this case, it might be possible that they have developed an
individual strategy for each of the function of the organization. The Board followed the general
procedure of survey and based on the outcomes, the strategy is implemented. The foremost
feature of this tactic is that the employee engagement is treated like an “add-on” procedure or, a
set of the transaction that is not an integral part of the main business procedures (Flessner, 2015).
The second approach is to consider employee engagement as an integral part of the business
strategy and organizational development. Under this approach, values and the behavior of the
employees are also included to make it more effective (Please refer to figure 3 of the
appendices). Employees of the organization are on the center of focus during development and
implementation of the engagement policy. The policy also considers the ideas of employees and
their view of the final product or services produced in the organization so that further

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improvement can be done.Thus, a transformational engagement is practiced in the organization
that takes this process as an integral part of their overall business approach.
2.6 Models of employee engagement
2.6.1 ISR model of engagement
The research conducted by ISR gives a model that depicts three components of employee
engagement at the level of an organization (Please refer to figure 4 of the appendices.) Also
known as the think, feel and act model, it facilitates the top management in understanding the
whole process of employee engagement in a simple and lucid manner (Wright, 2012). According
to this model, the cognitive (thinking) process starts when an individual associated with the
organization gets familiar with the values, goals and mission of the organization and decides to
follow them. It generates a sense of belongingness within the individual. Due to the positive
impact of the cognitive stage, the individual feel proud and highly honored to be a part of the
organization. This feeling is related to the effective (feeling) component of the model. This
feeling generates loyalty towards the organization that motivates the employee to act for the
betterment of the organization. This is related to the act element of the model. These components
collectively determine the level of engagement of employee in an organization (Wright, 2012).
This model states that employee engagement is the result of the combination of all three
components stated above. It recommends cluster analysis to assess the level of engagement in the
organization.
2.6.2 The Corporate Leadership Council Model
Marreli (2010) suggested that this model suggests top management and leaders to concentrate on
four leverage factors so that high levels of engagement can be maintained in an organization
(Please refer to figure 5 of the Appendices). These four factors are-
 Focusing on the business of organization
 Focusing on key contributors
 Focusing on the removal of barriers to employee engagement
 Focusing on the development of engagement culture.
This model suggests that these four leverage points are crucial as they inquire about the causes
and situation that led to the low level of engagement in the organization. With this assessment, it
analyzes the role of different individuals, work process and leadership in the maintaining existing
level of engagement and the measures needed to improve this situation. This model highlights

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different aspects of the organization which can be affected by the low level of engagement
individually thus giving a clear picture of the areas that might be affected by the low level of
engagement.
This model shows how a systematic approach can be used to improve the level of engagement in
the organization. It focuses on the basic structural framework of an organization and initiates a
process of improving it instead of focusing on just some visible problem areas. It considers
employee engagement as an integral part of the overall business structure and policy. This
approach will bring a gradual but long lasting positive improvement in the organization, which
will formulate a conducive environment with a high level of employee engagement.

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Appendices
Figure 1- key players of employee engagement
Figure 2- employee engagement dimensions

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Figure 3-employee engagement strategy
Figure 4- ISR model of engagement
Figure 4: ISR model of engagement
Behavioral
Act
Cognitive
Think
Affective
Feel
Engagement

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Figure 5: The Corporate Leadership Council Model
The Corporate Leadership Council Model
Leverage point 1
Focus onBusiness
 Strategic gap
analysis
 Assessing
organizational
capabilities
 Measuring
employee
engagement
 Determining drivers
of engagement
 Assessingriskfactor
 Formulationof a
suitable action plan
Leverage point2
Focusing keycontributors
 Assessingcareer
pathing process of
better performers
 Redefiningcareer
pathing process
 Removal of barriers
 Increasing
contribution of
performers
Leverage point 3
Focusing barriers of
engagement
 Initializationof the
process of cultural
assessment
 Determining
relationshipbetween
culture and business
 Identificationof
visible and invisible
aspects ofculture
 Identificationof
barriers
 Determining cultural
barriers of
engagement
 Formulationof a
continuous cycle
Leverage point 4
Focusing onculture
 Identificationof the
culture and leaders
 Identifyingthe
effect of cultural
change inemployee
engagement
 Formulationof a
systemof value
realization
 Restructuring of
leadership
 Involving managers
 Developing
opportunitiesof
contribution for
employees
 Transformation of
values intoaction
and organizational
behavior
 Reinforcement of
values
 Assessment of
alignment of values
with behavior
 Communication of
result with
stakeholders