LDR6100 Deliverable 4 – Employee Engagement Executive Summary

Employee Engagement Executive Summary

Student Name

Rasmussen University

LDR6100

Professor Name

Submission Date

Employee-Organizational Performance and Engagement

Maintaining employee engagement is an important factor that influences the performance of an organization. Employee engagement is associated with different advantages that can be summarized as a high level of productivity, a greater level of company commitment, and motivation of the organization to achieve success (Dhir and Shukla, 2019). They had increased satisfaction with their jobs and hence reduced the rates of turnover and absenteeism.

This is why the organization shows low activity towards a new performance appraisal system in the company, thereby disrupting organizational objectives and goals, because the training techniques for the company are not effective. For example, if the employees fail to appreciate or adhere to the appraisal policies as informed by the complicated manuals, then it becomes possible for employees’ performance to deviate from the strategic direction of the organization, and this brings undesirable organizational performance.

For example, suppose a company has a sales department in which the workers are not sure of the goals that they need to achieve or how they’re being assessed for performance. It could result in an internal conflict emerging in the sales department, thereby giving rise to inconsistent sales strategies and underperformance of set targets, which adversely affect the company’s revenue and market share. Conversely, should the employees be highly motivated and aware of their job and how they will be appraised, they would most probably work to the best of their productivity in an attempt to meet and even exceed their targets, thereby positively influencing the performance of the organization.

Employee Engagement and Performance Appraisal Processes

When properly run, performance appraisals are a vital measure aimed at ensuring increased engagement among the staff (Awan et al., 2020). This has a role of telling the employees how they have performed, where they have gone wrong or right, and even commending their efforts. The appraisal process that is being applied in the organization, however, has a high rate of non-engagement owing to lengthy and unclear training books. This causes minimal use of appraisal as both employees and managers are not fully involved in the process.

An example is that marketing of the performance appraisal training using plain language can enhance the level of understanding and engagement since individuals become weary of information presented in a complicated way, and they may not pay much attention to it, and may take part in the exercise in a minimal manner. Having clarity about intention and steps in the process of appraisal, the employee and the managers will be able to engage in the process actively. This can lead to increased accuracy in assessment, enhanced feedback, alignment of projects with the organizational goals, and an enhanced level of satisfaction among employees.

Responsibility and Development of the Employees

It is a widely accepted fact that the development of employees plays an important role in an organization’s performance appraisal system. Training and development make the employees aware that the organization is concerned about their personal development, hence they can work harder. It is also noteworthy that in the context of the organization, the elements of training and further professional development are complex and ambiguous materials that can have a negative impact on employees.

To this end, the company could come up with individual development programs during the appraisal process. For example, the employees could discuss their personnel development targets with their managers, and the targets could be in line with the particular training. Such a method will not only explain the expectations but will also help inculcate a sense of ownership in the employees in their self-development. One can use the example of IBM, where such personalized plans have also resulted in huge gains in engagement and performance (Kiron & Spindel, 2020).

When employees have a sense of direction in their career growth at the organization, they will become more engaged. Constantly developed and checked development plans will result in continuous development and adjustment to emerging difficulties, and the employees will feel appreciated and involved in the success of the company.

Strategically Aligned SMART Goals

To improve employee engagement, it is necessary to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals. Employees are more engaged when they can clearly set goals, and the goals are achievable and in line with the strategic goals of the organization. The company demonstrates that the engagement of employees as well as managers in the appraisal process is minimal, which is partially because of not having clear goals.

By adding SMART goals to the performance appraisal process, it is now possible to present broad goals and objectives to the employees as follows: An example is a marketing team has a SMART target of increasing social media activity by 20% within the next 90 days. This is, in fact, a very specific and measurable objective that specifies what the team should do as well as gives it a definite objective and quantifiable result.

When employees are in a situation where they are able to perceive the following linkage between the Board’s performance in their specific role of operation and the overall organization as a whole, by location in terms of direction and mission. By reviewing these goals at the structure level, ensuring focus and achievable goals is achievable, and gives the employees a purpose and direction in a mission.

Managerial Mentoring Role

Continuing managerial mentoring is one of the most effective strategies for enhancing employee participation. Structured mentoring establishes expectations and continually gives employees help, advice, and constructive criticism, allowing organizational culture to thrive. It is seen that, in the organization, both the level of employee and the level of managers’ involvement in the appraisal is low, and therefore, the level of managerial activities should be increased.

Training managers to become better at coaching is another way to increase engagement. For instance, the managers could schedule a weekly or monthly meeting with each of the team members to discuss the goals, problems, and training opportunities they have met during the past period of time. This approach not only saves the trust and loyalty of the employees but also makes them feel secure and valued by the company.

For instance, Microsoft has adopted routine managerial mentoring that has enhanced employee satisfaction and performance (Microsoft, 2023). The results show that managers who involve themselves in the process of developing their subordinates’ skills foster positive improvement and commitment within the organization, necessary for goal accomplishment.

Recommendations for Improving Employee Engagement

One of the best methods of improving employee participation is to continue to mentor their managers. Formal mentoring creates expectations and constantly provides the staff with assistance, suggestions, and constructive criticism, and organizational culture can flourish. It is observed that the level of employee and the level of involvement of managers in the process of appraisal are low in the organization, and thus, the level of activities of managers needs to be escalated.

Another solution to enhance engagement is training managers to be more coaching-friendly. As an example, the managers might have weekly or monthly meetings with them both as a team, and individually, to talk about the goals, problems, and training opportunities they have achieved over the last period of time. This will not only preserve the trust and loyalty of the employees but also instill a sense of security and appreciation in the company. An example is Microsoft, which has embraced regular managerial mentoring, which has increased employee satisfaction and performance (Microsoft, 2023). The results show that managers who involve themselves in the process of developing their subordinates’ skills foster positive improvement and commitment within the organization, necessary for goal accomplishment.

Suggestions on the way to improve employee engagement.

The training manuals must be substituted with simple, interactive, and accurate materials. Integrating the application of e-learning solutions in the teaching methods with the application of videos and real-life demonstrations to enhance understanding and memorization. For example, e-learning, which is more of an employee self-paced learning tool, can subdivide a policy or, more so, an appraisal policy into segments that can be easily comprehended by the employees.

In addition, it is also important to work towards a continuous feedback method rather than an annual appraisal. It is also beneficial in creating an approach to connect daily and, additionally, it is capable of returning people to their initial state and correcting any issue within seconds (Umair, 2023). This will allow maximum monitoring of the output of the employees, thus reducing stressful and ambiguous performance evaluations that come with the annual performance appraisal.

However, the incorporation of individual development programmes into the current system of appraisal might also be relevant, whereby it would provide organizations and employees with the training programmes, workshops, or courses required to suit the needs of the organizations and personal career ambitions. As an example, they can feel more competent by providing them with access to professional development courses that are connected to the tasks that the employees have to perform.

Also, to confirm the relevance and the achievement of all the objectives proposed in the performance, it is important to assess all the objectives according to the SMART performance metrics together with the strategic plan of the firm, as well as change them as per the existing needs with a frequent review. This can come in handy to ensure that employees remain engaged and feel the value of their contribution towards the overall performance of the firm in a bid to achieve the set objectives.

Increasing the presence of training managers as efficient trainers, which would improve their skills to equip themselves successfully with the necessary tools and knowledge to assist and coach the team members, would help as well. The weekly mentoring will allow the managers to get in touch with the human resources on a regular basis, and hence allow them to have a stronger relationship with their employees and improve the performance of the employees.

In addition, monitoring and rewarding the performance of employees are also effective because, in response to this, employees may feel more valued and appreciated, which can further make them engage more in their work (Clack, 2021). Creating a recognition where employees can be rewarded in front of others will enhance their worth and self-motivation.

Therefore, training, frequent provision of feedback on performance, personal development, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based goal setting, and effective managerial coaching can enhance employee engagement and consequently organizational performance. By so doing, the company will foster motivated, hardworking, committed, and dedicated employees who will steer its bigger goals and objectives as a logical result of positive change. Replacement of long and ambiguous training manuals with enhanced engagement strategies will help in making sure the employees are better prepared to help the company to achieve its goals, thus improving its performance and eventual success.

References

Awan, S. H., Habib, N., Akhtar, C. S., & Naveed, S. (2020). Effectiveness of the performance management system for employee performance through engagement. SAGE Open, 10(4), 1–15. Sagepub. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020969383

Dhir, S., & Shukla, A. (2019). Role of organizational image in employee engagement and performance. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 26(3), 971–989. https://doi.org/10.1108/bij-04-2018-0094

Dr.M.Umair. (2023). Innovations in performance management: A research synthesis. The Journal of Research Review, 1(2), 51–59. http://www.thejrr.com/index.php/39/article/view/7

Kiron, D., & Spindel, B. (2020). Rebooting work for a digital era: How IBM reimagined talent and performance management. 157–172. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/13661.003.0026