Impact Of Meaningful Work On Employee Engagement: A Critical Literature Review

Literature review

The concepts of employee engagement and employee retention have spawned significant attention in the last few decades. It is important to understand and study the factors that affect employee motivation and measures that can be taken to improve the same. Employee engagement essentially has three factors – vigor, dedication and absorption. Vigor refers to the resilience and effort that an individual puts into his work. Dedication refers to the involvement of an individual in his work whereas absorption refers to the extent to which an employee is engrossed or focused on his work (Ariani, 2013).

Recently, there has been significant research on the impact of meaningful work on employee engagement. In simple terms, if an employee finds meaning in his work, he or she is more likely to be actively involved in it. In the case of the relationship between employee engagement and meaningful work, there are a few things to be considered. For example, while employee motivation and retention rates are measurable quantities, meaningfulness of work is more subjective and personal. It would vary from person to person. While some people may find meaning in work, others might be faced with disillusionment and despair. In other words, employees should be able to find some kind of connection with the work they are doing, which can be done by maintaining an organizational culture of ethics, values, morals and personal ideological principles. The following sections undertake a critical literature review of the various concepts associated with meaningful work and employee engagement.

Employee engagement 

According to Alfes et al., (2013), the concept of employee engagement strives to understand the underlying factors that determine the relationship between an organization and its employees. It can be said that engaged employees are people who are completely absorbed and engrossed in their work and are completely dedicated to it. Such an employee would abide by the company values and mission and would take proactive measures to improve the company’s reputation and its overall performance in the market. The concept of employee engagement is now one of the most important aspects of human resource management. An organization which shows high levels of employee engagement is likely to fare better in the market than one with lower levels of employee engagement.

It must be remembered that the employees are the chief assets of all organization and the success or failure of the organization would rest on these pillars. The market is highly competitive today in an era of industrialization and globalization (Albrecht et al., 2015). As a result, companies are fighting for a highly engaged workforce that would sustain the organization and help in the fulfillment of short term and long term goals. Employee engagement is not just related to the level of involvement and dedication of the employees. It also comprises organizational commitment, job satisfaction and also organizational citizenship behavior (Tims, Bakker & Derks, 2013).

Employee engagement

However, Anitha (2014) argues that there is more to employee engagement and performance than simply motivation. The workforce at an organization is diverse both in terms of culture and skills. It is thus the onus of the human resource department to make the most of available human resources to enhance productivity. This critic is of the opinion that employee engagement is intimately associated with the quality of relationships between the employees and the interrelationships between the management and the employees. For instance, employees are encouraged to be sociable and establish positive relationships with those around him. That would promote a healthy and positive ambience in the workplace (Bal, Kooji & De Jong, 2013). Contrary to popular belief, employee engagement is not simply about employees being content in their roles. This job satisfaction would directly be translated into profitability and top performances. High rates of employee engagement would foster the loyalty of customers, improve organizational profitability, retain talent, improve stakeholder value, reduce absenteeism, decrease employee turnover and disputes, promote collaboration in the workforce and enhance the quality of service provided to the customer. This has a direct impact on customer service, which would then affect customer loyalty.

According to Saks and Gruman (2014), it was Kahn who first used the term employee engagement. Kahn opined that employee engagement was only related to the dedication levels of the employees. On the other hand, it was Menguc et al., (2013) who followed Perrin’s argument and defined employee engagement as the willingness and enthusiasm that an employee feels towards his or her job. However, Schaufeli (2013) claims that employee engagement has its roots in psychology. Due to some specific factors, an employee would be more inclined towards business objectives and even exceed expectations as far as performance is concerned.

Meaningful work

According to Berg, Dutton and Wrzesniewski (2013), meaning or meaningfulness is a concept that is intricately connected to an individual’s own existence. Naturally, this concept relates to one’s workplace as well. However, Geldenhuys, Laba and Venter (2014) argue that meaningful work would include concepts of social relationships in the workplace and allow individuals to express themselves through their work. A person would find his work meaningful, significant and purposeful only when he finds some meaning in him or is able to identify with it. Thus, in the workplace, meaningful work may be defined as the meaning a person bestows upon his or her work and the significance it holds in his life. Work can be called meaningful only when the person is able to find the work worthwhile and fulfilling and when it complies with his or her own ideological principles and standards. Such kind of work would promote self actualization and would enhance creativity, ingenuity and imagination. Since the person would personally value his work, it would increase his productivity levels (Shuck and Rose 2013). Meaningful work it has an impact on the emotional and psychological states of the employees. Employees would prefer to have their own individual selves manifested in work they are doing. Consequently, meaningful work would have an effect on employee engagement. Such work would help an individual realize his life purpose, his full potential and manifest his goals and beliefs in work (Schullery, 2013). However, Hoole and Bonnema (2015) opine that it is important to measure the meaning work contributes to life. That can be done through measurement of two attributes. One, it is important to see the extent to which the concerned work contributes to greater good. Two, work should have a certain purpose and significance and should add meaning to life.

Meaningful work

Herzberg’s Two Factor theory and meaningful work 

The dual factor theory or the two factor theory was first introduced by Frederick Herzberg in the year 1959. An American psychologist, Herzberg was keen on learning the various factors that affected job satisfaction and motivation of employees. According to Alshmemri, Shahwan-Akl and Maude (2017), he conducted a research where he studied the responses of various employees about the favorable or unfavorable experiences they have had at work. According to him, there are two factors that determine the quality of job satisfaction (Sanjeev & Surya, 2016). One, the factors which are motivators and increase job satisfaction would be job status, recognition, responsibility and opportunity for growth. All of these are present in the hospitality industry. On the other hand, secondary working conditions, disputes between colleagues, unimpressive work place and meaningless work could be classified as dissastisfiers. Many hospitality organizations are often notorious for having ill treated their employees or paying them less than they deserve. In such cases, employee engagement would take a toll. Herzberg’s concept of motivators refers to the various intricacies within the hospitality industry that make it meaningful (Yusoff, Kian & Idris, 2013).

However, Malik and Naeem (2013) elaborate on this concept and claim that recognition and rewarding systems that appreciate the contribution made by employees, the job description itself, growth and future prospects play an integral role in determining how a person would perceive his or her job. Rewarding systems are common in hotels. Employees who demonstrate exemplary performance are rewarded while those whose performances are not up to the mark would be penalized. Among the hygienic or maintenance factors that determine meaningfulness of work, Herzberg opined that company policy, employee’s relationships with his supervisors and colleagues, supervision, working conditions and salary must be taken into account. All of these factors together contribute to motivation and employee retention.

(Diagram: Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory)

(Source: Author)

William Kahn’s employee engagement theory 

William Kahn can be called the father of employee engagement theories. Kahn arrived at the conclusion that it was important to understand what employees thought about the work they were doing. On the contrary, organizations were mainly focused on how an employee would fit into a job. Instead, Kahn opined that organizations should emphasize on the emotional aspect of the employees (Heaphy & Kahn, 2013). He based his theory on the claim that individuals would make decisions and choices based on how far they could express their real selves through work. He said that psychological availability, psychological safety and meaningful work were some attributes that an individual would look for in the work he or she is doing. In the hospitality industry, employees form the chief assets of the company since they directly interact with the customers. An individual should feel that he or she is contributing to the organizational culture of the hospitality company in some way and enjoy supportive and collaborative relationships with peers (Crawford et al., 2013). According to Kahn, work relationships form the foundation of a smooth and functional career. It would be impossible for employees to keep their professional relationships separate from their work. In this industry, since customers interact intimately with the customers, the quality of social relationships should be optimized to improve service delivery.

Herzberg’s Two Factor theory and meaningful work

Relationship between the two theories 

The two theories can be applied to the hospitality industry which is entirely dependent on its workforce for the quality of service delivered. It would be imperative to draw parallels between the two theories. The main connecting point between the two theories is that both William Kahn and Herzberg discuss about the employee’s perspective towards his job. According to both theorists, it is how the employee views his job and all that it entails that determines employee engagement. Both theorists speak about the positive impact that meaningful work, characterized by favorable working conditions, motivation, reward system, appreciation and consideration of the greater good, has on employee engagement.

Kahn argues that engagement is determined by what an employee feels towards his job. On the other hand, Herzberg has specified the factors that contribute to job motivation. However while Herzberg focused on the various aspects of the job profile that could contribute to job satisfaction, Kahn emphasizes on certain specific aspects. He believes that more than hygienic or the management aspect of the job, an individual is greatly influenced by the relationships he shares with other people. He also deciphered that the engagement of an employee is not static. This is because his or her engagement levels would depend on the day to day experiences of a person and might change in due course of time.

Both theorists have defined the factors that could lead to dissatisfaction or low levels of employee engagement. Kahn defines disengagement as the way an individual withdraws from his job and organization on an emotional and cognitive level. This is all the more poignant if an employee has worked at the organization for a prolonged period of time. Similarly, Herzberg said that adverse hygienic conditions in the workplace could increase levels of dissatisfaction and reduce engagement. Both theories are related because they deal with the same variables of employee experience and their own personal experiences at work which shape employee perceptions and affect their levels of engagement.

Gap in literature 

According to Shuck and Rose (2013), employee engagement is closely related to the way an individual feels about his or her job. The literature review presented above explores the concepts of meaningful work, employee engagement and also studies two theories pertaining to the same. However, two gaps in literature have been identified. One, there is a lack of empirical evidence linking employee engagement and meaningful work. In most cases, there are evidences of theories which claim that meaningful work would have a direct impact on employee engagement. However, empirical evidence would not only have improved the credibility of the literature but also strengthened the argument. Another major gap is the link between employee engagement and the personal character of the employee. It is natural that the personality of an employee should be compatible with the kind of work he is doing. Otherwise the employee would fail to find meaning in his job. In other words, meaningfulness or meaninglessness of work would be directly linked to the personal nature or character traits of the employee.

Research methodology 

According to Lewis (2015), there are numerous approaches to research methodology. Research methodology refers to the specific techniques or procedures which can be used to select, identify, process and also analyze information on a certain topic in research papers. Such methodologies of research would assess and test the validity and the credibility of the paper. Out of the numerous approaches to research, this paper used a method of deductive reasoning. In such a research methodology, reasoning would be applied to form a causal link or relationship between the theories studied in the paper and the data obtained through qualitative and quantitative means. Unlike inductive methods, deductive reasoning would be tested against the hypothesis or the observations method.

The main advantage of a deductive reasoning is that there are a plethora of resources available. Moreover, it would help establish a causal relationship between the variables and concepts. These concepts could easily be measured in a qualitative fashion. In addition, deductive reasoning allows for generalization of the research findings.

Research design 

Research design refers to the arrangement or the order of conditions and data collection methods. There are numerous types of research design, ranging from exploratory to experimental modes of study. In this paper, since a qualitative data analysis method would be used, a descriptive research design would be employed. Descriptive research design is entirely observational in nature. In this case, the research would be based on observation of the employee and their responses to the questionnaire. Such descriptive research design would have to be implemented without any external influences to enhance the credibility of the paper.  

Sampling methodology 

Sampling refers to the process of selecting a subset or a statistical sample from a population to identify the common traits of the entire population. Using a sampling method, the researcher would be able to acquire valuable results without having to survey the whole population. Like research methodology, there are three kinds of sampling methods – a simple random sampling, stratified sampling and cluster sampling (Robinson, 2014). In this paper, a simple random sampling will be used to analyze the questionnaires prepared. As the name suggests, in this sampling method, people belonging to a certain population are chosen on a random basis (Acharya et al., 2013). Every individual belonging to the population has the possibility of being chosen as a sample.

The selection of the sampling method would be dependent on the research methodology. Since a qualitative analysis method would be followed, a simple random sampling method would be opted for. A hotel would be approached and one employee of the organization would be selected on a random basis. Preferably, the front office manager would be approached. The questionnaire would be designed to study the various motivating factors that affect the employee’s engagement levels. This would be compared with his or her performance and productivity levels to get a definite result. The reason why such a sampling method has been selected is because different employees would have different opinions on what motivates them. Employee engagement is closely associated to the kind of work they are doing. Thus it would be important to study the employee perceptions about the organization, the work they do, their superiors and so on.

Data collection and analysis 

Data collection would refer to the way data is obtained in the course of a research. The data would be collected through primary means in the form of questionnaires. Secondary sources would be used to review the literature related to the topic. Data analysis may be defined as the process of assigning meaning, structure and order to the data that has been obtained. After the sampling method has been applied, there will be a huge mass of data that would be available to the researcher. The researcher would then have to analyze the data obtained. There are usually three methods of data analysis – qualitative, quantitative and mixed research. In the case of quantitative research, en empirical investigation is carried out and results are obtained through computational, mathematical and statistical evidences. In the case of qualitative research, subjective judgment which is based on unquantifiable information would be assessed. For example, interviews would be qualitative research since it presents the personal opinions of the interviewee. In case of mixed research a mixture of both quantitative and qualitative analysis would be used be used to acquire reliable and accurate data (Brannen, 2017).

In this research paper, a qualitative analysis methodology has been followed. A questionnaire has been prepared and will be distributed to the selected employee to test the factors motivate or demotivate him. The main reason why such a research methodology has been chosen is because qualitative research paves the way for accurate and credible evidence. Employee engagement is a measurable quantity and thus quantitative analysis has been used. Moreover, questionnaires are structured and close ended and would help the researcher gain insight into the exact feelings of the employee and understand the various factors that promote employee engagement.

Ethical considerations and limitations 

While conducting any kind of research, it is the onus of the researcher to ensure that certain ethical considerations are kept in mind. This would strengthen the credibility of the paper. The main aim of the paper is to study the impact of meaningful work on employee engagement. The researcher seeks to affirm the argument that meaningfulness in work would motivate the employees and improve their levels of productivity. As such, it would be necessary to remember that the researcher cannot indulge in personal questions or reveal the personal identities of the participant. Moreover, since an organization would be approached to conduct the survey, it is imperative to take into consideration the policies and regulations of the concerned company.

The study also has certain limitations. The research paper is entirely quantitative in nature and analyzes questionnaires submitted by the employee of an organization. Since a questionnaire would be used, it would limit the responses of the participant. He would not be able to express their points of view or their subjective opinions which would have been valuable in analyzing employee’s perspectives of engagement and motivation.

Proposed timeline of the research:

(Figure: Gantt chart)

Conclusion:

To conclude, it can be said that monetary incentives are not the only motivating factors for the employees of an organization. They are greatly influenced by the professional relationships they share with other members of the organization. Apart from that, employee engagement rates are also linked to the quality of work that employees do. For instance, employees need to be able to express themselves through their professions. They should be able to find meaning in the work they do, which consequently extends some purpose to their lives. Work can be called meaningful only when an employee is able to relate to his job on a personal level. In the above research paper, two theories have been examined, namely William Kahn’s theory of employee engagement and Herzberg’s two factor theory of motivation. Both theories inspect different aspects of employee engagement and emphasize on the importance of quality for work for increasing employee motivation. Increasing employee engagement would boost the morale of the employees and improve performance levels of the entire organization.

References:

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Albrecht, S.L., Bakker, A.B., Gruman, J.A., Macey, W.H. and Saks, A.M., (2015). Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), pp.7-35.

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