Family First: India Inc. Takes Staff Motivation to the Source
Synopsis
This Case Flyer enables a discussion on the concept of employee engagement and helps in understanding the same vis-à-vis commitment and motivation. It helps in developing an understanding on the concept by relating it to commitment and engagement of students and successful sportspersons. The Case Flyer also helps in analyzing the family-centred employee engagement initiatives at several companies and debates on the pros and cons of these initiatives. How effective are these family-centred employee engagement initiatives and what should be done to sustain the effectiveness of these initiatives? What else can be done to increase the level of employee engagement at companies?
Prerequisite Conceptual Understanding
- • “Driving Performance and Retention Through Employee Engagement”, http://www.usc.edu/programs/cwfl/assets/pdf/Employee%20engagement.pdf, 2004 (accessed date: October 28th 2015) – To understand employee engagement
- • Stephen P Robbins, et al., “Motivation Concepts”, Organizational Behavior, 15th Edition, Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd. , 2013 – To understand the concept of motivation
Case Positioning and Setting
This Case Flyer can be used in MBA Program or Executive Development Program for either of the following:
- • HRM Course – To understand the connotation, need and importance of Employee Engagement and examine some of the employee engagement practices in some of the Indian and global companies
- • Organizational Behavior Course – To discuss the concept of motivation and connect the same to employee engagement
Preamble to this Case Flyer Analysis
Engaged employees enable companies to deliver effectively and efficiently. However, getting the required engagement levels is a herculean task given the intricate human behavior. However, as the base article points out, several companies have been making honest attempts to get the employees engaged effectively and efficiently. Will these be enough and sustainable? How can these employee engagement initiatives be translated into higher motivation levels? Based on this premise, this case flyer was discussed in the classroom under two broad headings [Exhibit (TN)-I]. The classroom analysis of the case flyer was carried out by discussing the questions of the case flyer sequentially. In each section, the participants had an elaborate discussion on one of the questions which formed the ‘anchor point of discussion’ for the given section.
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Case Analysis/Case Flyer Discussion
Before coming for this Case Flyer discussion, the students/participants should be encouraged to read the book chapter and the article cited as Prerequisite Conceptual Understanding. This would help in better participation and understanding during the classroom discussion.
I. Employee Motivation and Employee Engagement
The main idea behind the discussion in this section was (a) to understand the difference between ‘engagement’ and ‘commitment’ and (b) understand ‘motivation’ vis-à-vis ‘engagement’. Accordingly, questions were posed and the discussion was orchestrated. The discussion was largely based on the employee engagement framework given in the article suggested as Prerequisite Conceptual Understanding.
• Being engaged to academic proficiency mandate
All the 52 students/participants out of the class of 52 answered in the affirmative of being engaged to academic proficiency mandate. This prompted discussion on the next question
• Determining the Engagement/Commitment of a Student to His/Her Academic Proficiency Pursuit
Engagement/commitment can be understood with the help of a framework [Exhibit (TN)-II], designed to determine employee engagement. The students would have already read this framework in the context of employees (article cited as PCU). They could therefore juxtapose the same framework to analyze a student’s commitment.............
Exhibits
Exhibit (TN)-I: Discussion Dashboard
Exhibit (TN)-II: Employee Engagement/Commitment
Exhibit (TN)-III: A Student’s Engagement/Commitment
Exhibit (TN)-IV: A Professional Sportsperson's Engagement/Commitment
Exhibit (TN)-V: Usage of the Word 'Commit’
Exhibit (TN)-VI: Various Theories of Motivation
Exhibit (TN)-VII: Motivating Factors for Self and for Others
Exhibit (TN)-VIII: ‘Being Engaged to Someone for Life’
Exhibit (TN)-IX: Meaning of an Engaged Employee
Exhibit (TN)-X: Employee Engagement and Employee Performance
Exhibit (TN)-XI: List of Companies with Innovative Employee Engagement Initiatives
Exhibit (TN)-XII: Employee Engagement Requirement Across Various Businesses
Exhibit (TN)-XIII: Pros and Cons of Involving Employees’ Families for Employee Engagement
Exhibit (TN)-XIV: Effectiveness of Employee Engagement Tools for Employees
Exhibit (TN)-XV: Analysis of Various Employee Engagement Initiatives at Companies