What works for developing positive
manager behaviour in organisations
Emma Donaldson-Feilder and Rachel Lewis
Affinity Health at Work
Engagement
Engagement + Health & Wellbeing = Sustainability
High productivity but
high burnout and more
likely to leave
Most productive and
happy employees
Least contribution from
employees
More likely to stay but
less committed to
organisational goals
Wellbeing
(Fairhurst & O’Connor, 2010)
Transactional vs. Emotional Engagement
Enjoy work, identify
with values – intrinsic
motivation
Emotional Engagement
Emotional
Engagement
-Increased wellbeing
-Decreased work-family
conflict and burnout
High work demands
and pressure
Interested in reward,
fear of losing job –
extrinsic motivation
Transactional
Engagement
-Increased work-family
conflict and burnout
(Gourlay et al., 2012)
Managers’ role in sustainable
engagement, health and wellbeing
• Managers have:
• Direct impact: their behaviour is potential source of stress
and disengagement or wellbeing and engagement for their
team
• ‘Gate-keeper’ role: influence their team’s exposure to
sources of stress and disengagement or wellbeing and
engagement
• Managers are vital for identifying and tackling
problems…
• …and for supporting organisational interventions
Managing for sustainable engagement health and
wellbeing research programme
Management
competencies for
engendering employee
engagement (CIPD,
2011)
Management
competencies for
preventing and reducing
stress (HSE/CIPD, 200710)
Validation of the
framework
Managing for
sustainable employee
engagement (CIPD,
2012)
Managing for sustainable employee engagement
Competency
Brief Description
Open, fair and consistent
Managing with integrity and consistency,
managing emotions/personal issues and
taking a positive approach in interpersonal
interactions
Handling conflict and problems
Dealing with employee conflicts (including
bullying and abuse) and using appropriate
organisational resources
Knowledge, clarity and guidance
Clear communication, advice and guidance,
demonstrates understanding of roles and
responsible decision making
Building and sustaining
relationships
Personal interaction with employees involving
empathy and consideration
Supporting development
Supporting and arranging employee career
progression and development
Implications for managers
• Manager behaviour is vital for sustainable employee
engagement
• Need to engage and prevent stress
• Use the managing for sustainable employee
engagement framework to:
• Identify which behaviours are already part of
management repertoire and which aren’t
• Change behaviour where appropriate
Implications for employers 1
• Employee engagement is unlikely to be sustainable
unless hand-in-hand with wellbeing
• Beware of fostering the ‘wrong’ kind of engagement
• Manager behaviour is pivotal to engagement and
wellbeing
• Support managers to engender sustainable
employee engagement…
Implications for employers 2
…using the ‘managing for sustainable employee
engagement’ framework to support managers through:
• Learning and development – perhaps including
upward feedback
• Performance management and appraisal
• Selection assessment and promotion
Focus of current research
Developing managers to manage sustainable
employee engagement, health and wellbeing
• Explore how best to support managers to
change their behaviour
• Establish the context that supports managers to
manage for sustainable engagement, health and
wellbeing
Through an evidence-based approach
Developing managers
to manage sustainable
employee engagement,
health and wellbeing: a process over time
3. Organisation
3. Manager
Considerations
3. Method
Considerations
2. Organisation
STAGE 3: AFTER
Embedding learning
after the
intervention
2. Manager
1. Organisation
1. Manager
1. Method
Considerations
STAGE 2: DURING
Designing and
implementing a
intervention
2. Method
STAGE 1: PRE
Considering
conducting an
intervention
OUTCOMES:
Increased
employee
engagement,
health and
wellbeing
Checklists for
organisations/practitioners
Considerations
Method
Manager
Organisation
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Barriers to leadership
Ksenia Zheltoukhova
CIPD
Systems approach
to leadership
Wider economic
and social
context
Organisational
strategy
Work
organisation
Manager
capability
Is the organisational system aligned to
the task of leaders and managers?
• 28% of managers (33% in large organisations) have to
put the interests of the organisation (for example,
achieving an objective) above the interests of the team
every day or often
• One in five managers and one in four junior managers
say they don’t have time for one-to-one people
management
• Although 60% of managers are evaluated on people
management skills, more than a third of those said those
skills are not as important as performance management
The research
• 7 organisations (private, public, third sector)
• 200+ interviews and focus groups
• Managers along the organisational hierarchy
External
environment
Organisational
context
Hierarchy,
bureaucracy
Individualism
Manager
capability
‘Us’ and
‘them’
mentality
Short-term,
bottom-line
focus
Any questions?
For more information
•
A guidance leaflet based on the 'managing for sustainable employee
engagement' research can be downloaded at:
http://www.cipd.co.uk/publicpolicy/policy-reports/engagement-behaviouralframework-guidance.aspx
•
The 'managing for sustainable employee engagement' research report can
be downloaded at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/publicpolicy/policyreports/engagement-behavioural-framework.aspx.
•
If you wish to be notified when the new checklists for 'developing managers
to manage sustainable employee engagement' are published, ask to be
added to the Affinity Health at Work mailing list,
email: emma@affinityhealthatwork.com.
Thank you!
emma@affinityhealthatwork.com
rachel@affinityhealthatwork.com
k.zheltoukhova@cipd.co.uk