Customer Reviews

Employee Engagement: Tools for Analysis, Practice, and Competitive Advantage (TMEZ - Talent Management Essentials)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What can be done to harness the "discretionary" effort of employees? Distinguishing between job satisfaction--mere contentment or satiation--and a deeper connection to work and workplace, the authors "define engagement in terms that connote energy and provide a... set of principles on which any organization can create and sustain a more engaged workforce."

The book begins with a theoretical focus, defining engagement and making the case for an engaged workforce. Readers learn how engaged employees say it feels to be engaged in their work and what engaged employees look like to those around them. The authors make careful distinctions between engagement and the superficially similar constructs of satisfaction and commitment. The discussion expands to the role of trust, justice and fairness in creating a work climate conducive to engagement. Personality factors such as conscientiousness of both employees and supervisors play an important role as well.

The second half of the book delivers practical advice. Chapter Four discusses how to conduct an employee engagement survey that diagnoses four factors: Capacity to Engage, Motivation to Engage, Freedom to Engage and Strategic Focus of Engagement. Chapter Five describes how to interpret engagement survey results and craft action plans that target improvement of the appropriate engagement factors. Chapter Six explores the possible downsides of engagement--such as burnout and workaholism--that occur when there is an imbalance between employee investment in work and perceived return on that investment. The book closes with an annotated slide show--suitable for convincing senior managers about the power of engagement--and a useful reference section.

The book is recommended for organizational development professionals who are already familiar with the basics of survey research and employee development. It can help them apply these skills to the emerging demand for employee engagement interventions. Employees might also read it to decide how to cope with their organizations sudden interest in their level of engagement. It is a well-written guide that achieves a good balance between theory and practice.

Technology, remote officing and other changes to the workplace mean that there are literally hundreds of ways in which employees can disengage from work. More supervision and harsher penalties are never going to fix this problem. Companies simply have to figure out what engages people with their work to remain competitive.
This is the best explanation I've found of what engagement looks like and how to build an engaged culture.
In 5 years employee engagement will be a subject every time profitablity is discussed and this book should be a required text.

Great book if you're looking to see the psychological view of employee engagement. In my course we focus more on the scientific & quantitative view of it, so this book was refreshing and easy to understand.

I've read most of the EE books out there and this is one of the best.

We are going to provide each of our managers with a copy as we kick off our formal EE project.

The book is a must read if you are serious about improving Employee Engagement in your organization. Extraordinarily helpful for those of us practioners trying to move the needle.