Essay: Strategies For Increasing Employee Engagement & Preventing Conflict.

Please read the Frishco Case Study for an example of a successful organisation that has been able to increase employee engagement through the implementation of various strategies.

Critically discuss the ways in which organisations could implement strategies that would increase their employees’ engagement. Your answers should provide examples of best practice from relevant industries and professional bodies such as the Chartered Insitute Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Critically discuss how conflict can arise when implementing the strategies that you have identified in question one. In your answers, you should outline ways in which conflict could be avoided or reduced. Relevant examples must be provided to support arguments.

Strategies for Increasing Employee Engagement

The Frishco Case Study demonstrates to us how successful on the organization can be if it takes care of its people. The company has been around for many years and has been able to grow due to engagement with its personnel through various strategies. The company operates on values which are greatly upheld by its employees. Communication is key in this company, and this has led to many great benefits.

The company had a high turn-over rate at some point and did a survey so as to know why this was happening, and so as to tackle this they came up with various strategic plans. The company changed its structure and gave employees more responsibilities and this greatly enhanced job satisfaction. It also looked at leadership and delegated further responsibilities hence employees were more engaged. Communication became open hence positive relations. Brand values were also an emphasis so that each person understood.

All these things have helped the organization to change its culture. Organizational culture makes change-initiatives in any organization more sustainable. Many change programs that succeed have an influence from cultural factors (Aggure,Post & Alpern 2013). This case study aims to discuss how companies can use various strategies to engage employees so as to bring about success.

Employee engagement is the processes of ensuring employees have the ability to be focused and energized. It is very important as it has numerous benefits. It makes employees happier in every aspect of their lives, both work and personal. Being engaged makes employees do everything with enthusiasm and pride. It’s important to companies also as it helps in attracting the right people and retaining them. A workforce that is fully engaged will bring benefits like innovation and also better profits in the long-run (Engagementmultiplier 2016).

Companies can employ different strategies to make sure its workforce is fully engaged. The first thing is to start at the top. Engagement should begin with the company’s top management. Leaders should portray the behaviors that they are asking their employees to emulate. The leaders should be role-models, and this will have a trickle-down effect (Wasyluk 2015).Organizations like the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) help companies to achieve employee engagement by offering consultancy through various experts. The company can use such an organization in engaging management, and they will also assist the management to engage its employees (CIPD 2017).

Transparency is another important aspect of employee engagement. The managers should be able to trust their direct-reports with sensitive information. This way employee will feel that they are part of the larger team and will have a sense of belonging (Eisenhaueur 2015). Google is once a company that has effectively engaged employees through transparency. They have created a company culture that focuses on transparency. This has helped the company’s employees to have freedom of creativity and has broken down barriers within the organization. Employees also feel valued (CMI 2015).

Best Practices in Employee Engagement

The management should also offer visibility. There should be an open floor plan, and managers should be easily accessible to their direct-reports. The managers should also be approachable. The company should make sure there is employee recognition. Anyone who contributes to the organization’s success in a certain way should be rewarded and recognized for their achievement. This will motivate employees to keep doing better, and also it will influence their peers positively (Eisenhaueur 2015).Hyatt is a company that focuses on employee development. This company is in the hotel industry which usually has very high turnover rates, but they have defied the odds and have been able to retain employees. The employees and management listen to each other and also to their customers and come up with workable solutions together. This has led to a highly motivated team (CMI 2015).

Thanking staff should also be a part of the process. Employees feel great when they are acknowledged by management. Employees who have supportive leaders are better performers and most likely to be retained by the organization (Eisenhaueur 2015).

Another strategy for a company to engage employees is to create healthy relationships. People should be genuine with each other at the workplace. This ensures that trust is built among employees and management and it makes it easier to work with each other (Eisenhaueur 2015). John Lewis is a company that uses empowerment to engage its employees. It considers its workers to be partners. This emphasizes to employees that they have a shared responsibility with the company to take care of the customers. The company involves the partners in decision making so as to create memorable customer experiences. Employees are empowered to take more responsibilities as they want to do their best for the company (CMI 2015).

The company should also be flexible. They should listen to employees input and in the process allow employees to adjust their schedules of work and also location. This ensures that employees are comfortable when working and it will lead to better output (Eisenhaueur 2015). Virgin Airlines focuses on listening so as to engage its employees. They make their employees feel valued and give space for continuous innovation. Employees also feel that they are taken importantly by the organization (CMI 2015).

 The company should focus on traits and behavior when hiring. An employee may be hired with the right skills but may lack the right attitude. The company should emphasize on right behavior and those who are passionate and have a good attitude should be used as champions to influence the others (Eisenhaueur 2015). American express is a company which for the past 25 or more years has focused on behavior as an employee engagement tool. They understand the importance of impacting their staff behaviors, especially on an emotional level. The company values how its employees perform their job. Due to engagement, employees become high performers and behave respectfully (CMI 2015).

Conflict and Ways to Prevent It

Engagement of new hires from the first day should be a priority. They should be paired with mentors who will guide them and eventually inculcate in them the company culture. This will also help them to fit into the organization fast and have the right attitude towards learning (Eisenhaueur 2015).

The company should have activities beyond normal work that bring employees together. They can be volunteer activities or team buildings or sporting activities. These give employees a sense of belonging to their company as they feel that they can also do other things together besides work (Eisenhaueur 2015).

Conflict occurs when people have different opinions or beliefs. When trying to engage employees, conflict can occur due to various reasons. There are different types of conflict. The first type is Values Conflict. This occurs when employees disagree due to different principles in ethics, religion or even politics. The difference in values can also occur due to generational gaps. Conflict arises when employees do not respect each other’s values (Johnson Nd). Another issue that may occur is when organizational values do not reflect employee values. This will greatly affect any employee engagement efforts as employees will feel that the organization does not take their feelings into consideration (Gaither 2014).

Another type of conflict is power conflict. This can occur when different parties want to be seen as the one in charge hence they get at loggerheads due to this. Power conflict may be due to different issues like physical attributes which may cause people to conflict due to gender or age. It may also be caused by skills, status or job experience. Some employees may feel that they are better that the rest due to these factors and this may hinder employee engagement efforts greatly (Scott 2009).

Economic conflict occurs when employees fight over different resources. Competition and changing markets can bring about this. This can affect how the company engages employees. Interpersonal conflict occurs when two people disagree due to personal issues. This can lead to heated arguments and stress in the workplace. This will make it very difficult to engage employees. Interpersonal conflicts can really escalate and have negative effects on the staff and on the company (Wai 2015).

Organizational conflict occurs due to reporting lines. A misunderstanding of the hierarchy can cause many conflicts. Some employees do not want to follow chains of command. A hierarchy that is structured helps the employees to know which procedure to follow whenever there is a conflict (Boogard 2016).

The first step in resolving conflict will be to acknowledge that there is a problem. Here, there will have to be clear communication so that the matter is resolved .Employees should be encouraged to open up, and management should treat all the parties of the conflict equally. Employees should then be encouraged to express feelings. Each party should say how they feel about what is happening and why they think the situation is the way it is (Berkley 2016).

The next step is to define the problem and how it impacts negatively to employee engagement. The employees should be met separately for more insight. The people conflicting should then take part in suggesting solutions. Underlying needs should be identified. There should be common areas of agreement. The conflicting parties should agree on the problem and the procedures to solve. They should also express their worst fears. There should then be a follow up that can be determined by the party trying to resolve the conflict. This can be after every two weeks so as to determine if the conflicting parties are resolving their issues. If the conflict goes unresolved, another way of resolving must be thought out. The company can involve an outside party (Berkley 2016).

Conflict resolution is very important as it will lead to benefits that are important for employee engagement. It will lead to better relationships within the organization. This will enable team members to learn how to collaborate, and this will lead to better engagement and better performance. Positive relationships lead to a happier workforce and create a good working environment in the organization. Resolving of conflicts will also lead to better problem-solving. Employees will be able to solve problems within themselves and do not always have to escalate issues to management. This will lead to more efficient work (Frost 2017).

Conflict leads to a lot of tension in the workplace and also leads to dragging of other people who were not originally part of the problem. Making sure that conflicts are resolved reduces this tension and morale is boosted among employees. This leads to a better working environment. Effective conflict management also leads to better understanding. Employees put their feelings aside and make the best decisions for the benefit of the company. Whenever there is a challenging employee will think deeply about it and resolve it maturely without unnecessary disagreements (Frost 2017).

As demonstrated in the Frishco Case Study, it is very important that management listens and get employee opinions so as to avoid issues such as conflict. The management of Frihsco was able to carry out surveys and to encourage openness in the company, and this enabled them to get feedback before any conflict could arise. The employees felt part and parcel of the company hence resolved any arising issues amicably. For companies to effectively engage employees, they must minimize conflict as much as possible. This leads to successful organizations and ensures that companies are always on the growth path to success.

Conclusion

Employee engagement and conflict resolution are directly related. Companies must ensure that conflicts are minimized so as to ensure effective engagement of employees. However, there might also be some hidden dangers to engaged staff. These employees may encounter difficulties along the way which may lead to various frustrations. For example, the company may be very bureaucratic and introduce new procedures which may be a hindrance hence limiting these employees who are already the company’s change agents. The company should use these same employees to find solutions to these obstacles. This will enable the company to continue moving forward. If getting the obstacles out of the way prove to be a challenge then other employees should be brought in to assist so that frustrations do not occur (Smith 2015).

Everyone in an organization has a responsibility in engagement .Each employee's role should be identified, and all of them should be accountable for what they are supposed to do (West 2011).

Employees need to feel a connection to those around them so that they are comfortable and this will also lead to good relations (Donohoe 2015). This means that conflict will be avoided as the employee will feel a sense of obligation to be responsible towards the company.

References

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