The Engagement Factor
Part II: Engagement in
Independent Agencies
J. LEE WHITTINGTON, PhD
University of Dallas; Satish & Yasmin Gupta
College of Business
The Engagement Factor
An Evidence-based Approach for
Building a High Performance
Organization
J. Lee Whittington, Ph.D.
The University of Dallas
The Engagement Factor
“70% of U.S. workers are
not engaged at work”
We Need an Evidence-Based Approach
The Engagement Factor
Organizational Strategy
Macro-Level
(e.g. service excellence, innovation, low-cost provider)
HR Value Chain
Recruitment, Selection,
Orientation and Socialization
Performance Planning and
Evaluation, Pay and Rewards,
Training and Development,
Career Development
Employee Separation
Micro-Level
Full-Range
Leadership
Enriched
Jobs
ENGAGEMENT
Goal
Setting
Trust
Performance
• In-Role
• Extra-Role
(OCB)
What is Engagement?
“The simultaneous employment and
expression of a person’s ‘preferred self’ in
task behaviors that promote connections
to work and to others, personal presence,
and active full role performances.”
What is Engagement?
Physical engagement: the energy exerted and
the physical involvement within the job.
Emotional engagement: the level of
pleasantness and enthusiasm experienced at
work.
Cognitive engagement: the intensity of focus
and concentration applied while performing
work related tasks.
Antecedents to Engagement:
The HR Value Chain
On-Boarding
On-Going
Off-Boarding
• Recruitment • Pay & Rewards Training &
• Employee
Development
Separation
• Selection
• Hire for “Fit” • Career Development &
Management
• Orientation
• Constructive, Corrective &
• Socialization Timely Correction of Deviance
The Importance of Hiring for
“FIT”
Individual
Skills
Job
Requirements
Needs
Rewards
Values
Culture
Antecedents to Engagement:
The Performance-Management System
Use a participative method for goal-setting.
Clarify expectations
Create S-M-A-R-T Goals
Provide frequent informal expectation feedback
Use the performance plan as the basis for the
performance evaluation
Antecedents to Engagement:
MEANINGFULNESS
• The quest for meaning is a universal human need
and there is a growing recognition that people have a
strong desire to experience work as meaningful.
• Meaningfulness means that both the work itself and
the context within which the work is performed is
perceived as purposeful and significant.
• When people are pursuing a profound purpose or
engaging in work that is personally important they
experience significant positive effects.
WAMI: The Work and Meaning
Inventory
• Positive Meaning: individuals want their work
to matter and to be meaningful
• Meaning-making Through Work: translates
the concept of an individual’s work into a
broader context.
• Greater Good Motivations: work has more
meaning if it impacts other individuals
Antecedents to Engagement:
MEANINGFULNESS at Work
People want to be involved in something greater than
themselves.
Meaningfulness at work can be enhanced by providing
a sense of meaning by being part of an organization
instead of what an individual does.
This is done by transformational leaders who connect
the individual’s contribution to this larger purpose.
Antecedents to Engagement:
Full Range of Leadership
Effective
Individualized Consideration2
Intellectual Stimulation2
Inspirational Motivation2
Idealized Influence2
Contingent Reward1
Passive
Mgt by Exception - Active1
Active
Mgt by Exception – Passive1
Laissez-faire
Ineffective
1- These leader behaviors are
typically described as Transactional
Leadership
2-These leader behaviors are
typically described as
Transformational Leadership
Full-Range Leadership
Intellectual Stimulation
Intellectual stimulation shows the degree to
which you encourage others to be creative in
looking at old problems in new ways, create
an environment that is tolerant of seemingly
extreme positions, and nurture people to
question their own values and beliefs and
those of the organization.
Full-Range Leadership
Individualized Consideration
Individualized consideration indicates the
degree to which you show interest in others’
well-being, assign projects individually, and
pay attention to those who seem less
involved in the group.
Full Range of Leadership
Idealized Influence
Idealized influence indicates whether you
hold subordinates’ trust, maintain their faith
and respect, show dedication to them,
appeal to their hopes and dreams, and act
as their role model.
Full Range of Leadership
Inspirational Motivation
Inspirational motivation measures the
degree to which you provide a vision, use
appropriate symbols and images to help
others focus on their work, and try to make
others feel their work is significant.
Full-Range Leadership
Contingent Reward
Contingent reward shows the degree to
which you tell others what to do in order to
be rewarded, emphasize what you expect
from them, and recognize their
accomplishments.
Antecedents to Engagement:
MEANINGFULNESS in Work
Meaningfulness in the work involves organizational
practices that enrich the job themselves.
These practices enhance the individual employee's fit
with their job.
Among the practices that may increase meaningfulness
in the work are job redesign efforts, increased
employee involvement, efforts to clarify the connection
between meeting performance expectations and
rewards.
JOB CHARACTERISTICS MODEL
Core
Job
Dimensions
Critical
Psychological
States
Task Variety
Task Identity
Sense of
Meaningfulness
Task
Significance
Autonomy
Feedback
Individual and
Organizational
Outcomes
High Internal
Motivation
High Levels of
Performance
Sense of
Responsibility
Knowledge of
Results
Growth Need
Strength +
General
Satisfaction
Satisfaction
Low Turnover &
Absenteeism
Antecedents to Engagement:
Bringing MEANINGFULNESS to Work
Employees have an “inner life” that nourishes and is
nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the
context of community.
Work may be the preeminent venue through which
people give expression to their "innermost essence.“
People who view their work as a calling see their work
as having intrinsic value.
These individuals do not work merely for financial
rewards or for advancement, but for the fulfillment
that doing the work brings.
2015 IIAT Survey of
Engagement Factors
IIAT
Average
Response
Scale
Format
Comparison
Sample
Average
ORGANIZATIONAL-LEVEL DRIVERS:
• Human Resource Value Chain
• Performance Management System
3.44
3.59
5-point
4.09
4.24
5.46
5-point
5.79
5.22
5.08
7-point
4.21
5.10
5.33
5-point
5-point
3.28
3.46
MICRO-LEVEL DRIVERS:
• Job Characteristics-Actual
• Job Characteristics-Desired
• Quality of Leader-Follower
Relationship
• Trust in the Leader
• Transformational Leadership
• Contingent Reward
5-point
7-point
7-point
7-point
3.69
4.01
5.03
5.03
4.70
4.78
EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES:
• Engagement
• Job Satisfaction
• Affective Commitment
• Organizational Citizenship Behavior
4.21
7-point
7-point
5-point
3.94
4.60
4.19
4.00