Strengthening employee engagement through internal communication practices : A single case study
Van der Hoven, Louise
Employee engagement is a phenomenon that has gained increasingly more attention in organisational communication studies and also in the postmodern organisational context. In the postmodern organisational environment, employee engagement focuses more on building relationships with employees than on individual performance. However, the value of internal communication practices to enhance employee engagement within a postmodern organisation has still not fully been explored. The study thus investigated, in accordance with what the literature suggests, a single case to test which internal communication practices are perceived as strengthening employee engagement within a postmodern organisation. Consequently, the study adopted a mixed method research approach utilising three research methods, namely a survey, a focus group and semi-structured interviews, to establish which internal communication practices the management of the organisation must adopt to strengthen employee engagement. The worldview adopted for this study was both the positivist and interpretivist research paradigms.
Findings indicate that because the organisation’s employees’ views are heard, responded to and even form part of the solution, employees become more engaged. In addition, having too many internal communication tools and implementing them without a strategy in place can lead to employees becoming less engaged. Overall, the findings indicate that having a supportive management style, meeting employees’ needs and providing enough opportunities for employees to participate in problem-solving are deemed important for employee engagement. Interestingly, the findings show no correlation between the importance of establishing a good organisational culture and enhancing employee engagement in the organisation. Although the findings cannot be generalised to the larger population, the insight gained could serve as a heuristic for similar organisations to strengthen their employee engagement.; Werknemerbetrokkenheid is ’n verskynsel wat al hoe meer aandag kry in organisatoriese kommunikasiestudies en ook in die postmoderne organisatoriese konteks. In laasgenoemde konteks word daar meer met werknemerbetrokkenheid gefokus op die bou van verhoudings met werknemers as op individuele prestasie. Die waarde van interne kommunikasiepraktyke om werknemerbetrokkenheid binne ’n postmoderne organisasie te bevorder, is nog steeds nie ten volle ondersoek nie. Daar is dus in die studie, in ooreenstemming met wat die literatuur suggereer, ’n enkele gevallestudie ondersoek om te bepaal watter interne kommunikasiepraktyke beskou word as praktyke wat werknemerbetrokkenheid binne ’n postmoderne organisasie bevorder. Gevolglik is daar in die studie ’n gemengdemetode-navorsingsbenadering aangeneem wat drie navorsingsmetodes insluit, naamlik ’n opname, fokusgroep en semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude, met die doel om vas te stel watter interne kommunikasiepraktyke die bestuur van die organisasie moet aanneem om werknemerbetrokkenheid te bevorder. Die wêreldbeskouing wat vir hierdie studie aangeneem is, is sowel die positivistiese as vertolkende navorsingsparadigmas.
Bevindinge dui daarop dat omrede die werknemers van die organisasie se sienings aangehoor word, daarop gereageer word en dit selfs deel van die oplossing uitmaak, werknemers meer betrokke raak. Daarbenewens kan te veel interne kommunikasie-middels en die implementering daarvan sonder ’n strategie daartoe lei dat werknemers minder betrokke raak. Oor die algemeen dui die bevindinge daarop dat ’n ondersteunende bestuurstyl, voldoening aan werknemers se behoeftes en die verskaffing van genoegsame geleenthede vir werknemers om aan probleemoplossing deel te neem, as belangrik geag word vir werknemerbetrokkenheid. Interessant genoeg wys die bevindinge geen korrelasie tussen die belangrikheid daarvan om ’n goeie organisatoriese kultuur te vestig en om werknemerbetrokkenheid in die organisasie te bevorder nie. Hoewel die bevindinge nie veralgemeen kan word om die groter bevolking in te sluit nie, kan die insig wat verkry word as ’n leerproses gebruik word vir soorgelyke organisasies om hulle werknemerbetrokkenheid te bevorder.
↧