Curriculum Information

The module will critically analyse the concept of employee engagement, both intrinsically and also as an instrument for facilitating high-level business purposes. Alternative definitions of ‘engagement’; contrast with other similar concepts such as ‘involvement’, ‘commitment’ and ‘participation’; behaviours and evidential signs for engagement, for example organisational citizenship and discretionary behaviour; engagement, non-engagement and disengagement; the psychological contract; case study applications.

Explain the empirical and philosophical connections between employee engagement, managerial leadership, strategic aspirations and HR strategies focused on infrastructure maintenance and also the development of HRM competitive differentiators. Looks at employee engagement in context; changes in employee expectations; the dysfunctional consequences of instrumentalism task simplification and scientific management; the dysfunctional consequences of instrumentalism, task simplification and scientific management; engagement practices: their significance for the HR infrastructure and the pursuit of HR differentiation; case study applications.

Explore the critical contribution of employee engagement as a route to strategic reputational and competitive excellence within a high-performance working environment. Highlighting the principles for high-performance working; employee engagement as a common element; elements of ‘world-class’ service/corporate performance; the alignment of cultural, strategic and operational practices to stimulate engagement; case study applications. Looks at the design and undertake an analysis of the relationships, causal or correlational, between levels of employee engagement and organisational performance, measured by both process efficiencies and corporate outcomes.

Critical review of the research, experiential and anecdotal evidence linking employee engagement with workplace psychological issues and implications, along with organisational behaviour, and particularly outcomes; problems with identifying cause-effect relationships; disentangling the reality from the rhetoric; case study applications.

The module will also look at the concept as a strategic imperative; i.e. Implications for every thread of HR strategy and practice: HR planning, resourcing, learning and development, performance management, and reward, recognition and review; links to employer ‘branding’, self-managed learning and other mechanisms for advancing a culture of mutuality; the future of the psychological contract in conditions of continued uncertainty, rapid technological change, escalating customer aspirations and globalisation; methods for gaining support and overcoming resistance to change; case study applications (for example in students’ own organisations or case study organisations)

Alternative methods for measuring levels of employee engagement; the Gallup Q12 instrument; balancing the desire for scientific integrity with ‘political’ sensitivities and priorities in the real world; creading project plans for enhancing/retrieving levels of employee engagement; case study applications (for example, any organisation that appears to have lost its ‘excellence’ status’).

(This module is mapped to the following CIPD unit(s):

7 EEG – Employee Engagement)