Keith Owen's Discussions
Why do people become engaged at work?
Replied Aug. 1, 2008
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I have beed involved in several layoffs activities; some of which seemed to foster the re-birth of trust and some of which did not. I was asked to reflect on the differences between the two and one thing that seemed to differentiate the 'successful'…
This comment was motivated by Mitch's comments to whom I want to express my thanks for getting me off the slopes and back to thinking about these important issues. First, I am wondering if the names I gave to the factors really capture what they mea…
Comment Wall (2 comments)
- At 2:43pm on August 6, 2008,
David Zinger said… - Keith:
You provided an insightful and informative response. I am concerned that many people might miss it. I encourage you to copy and paste this and make it a blog post. You have a blog attached to your own page and it will appear on the front page too. If you need any help with this let me know.
David
- At 4:24pm on August 5, 2008,
David Zinger said…
- Keith,
I appreciate you joining the employee engagement network. I would love to hear how you think employee engagement has evolved over the last 15 years and if you perceive any changes in how employee engagement work should be done. Thank you for joining the network.
David
Profile Information
- Who are you?
- I am a retired college professor/administrator who also has been engaged in doing organizational research since 1980 or thereabouts.
My interest in engagement began when I was commissioned to do a study for an oil company to see iof there was a relationship between leadership practice and work unit productivity. This research interest has continued till this day.
- What is your interest or involvement in employee engagement?
- I have been doing research on the drivers of engagement for about 15 years, althiough when I started it wasn't called engagement.
- Website:
- http://www.SomersetGuild.com
- Where are you located?
- Austin, Texas
Keith Owen's Blog
Engagement
I have been away for a while (2 months) but have noticed a stream of blogs about specific behaviors that enhance engagement. I suspect this list is a loong one but since I am a bit of an academic, I was asked by a colleague to isolate the behaviors that enhance engagement.
To give you a backdrop to this endeavor - this colleague worked for an company that was interested in determining if there were specific leadership practices that enhanced engagement as we had already demonstrated that high l… Continue
To give you a backdrop to this endeavor - this colleague worked for an company that was interested in determining if there were specific leadership practices that enhanced engagement as we had already demonstrated that high l… Continue
Posted on December 2, 2008 at 3:15pm — 7 Comments
Reflections on the Evolutionof the Concept of Engagement
Thanks for the interesting request. It is challenging to think back over almost two decades of research on engagement to determine how it has evolved. My first thought is that the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same. I recall doing an evaluation of the world wide employee survey for an oil company about 15 years ago, the reason for which was the company did not observe any movement in the so called commitment index they were tracking, this in spite of many efforts to improve… Continue
Posted on August 7, 2008 at 9:29am — 3 Comments
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Dear Ray,
Your concern is well founded. Employees look forward to surveys like they do a visit to the dentist! The Horsepower Survey, however, is an employee-focused survey to measure how rewarded employees feel about their work. It consists of sev…
Mike,
I will make mention of this new group in the next newsletter. Thank you for starting this and I wish you well and all European members the best with this focus.
David
Jason:
Good points about trust and aligning the strategic engagement with employee engagement. We need results for all.
I am concerned you will lose readers due to lack of formatting on this post. I encourage you to ensure that you format your pos…
Thanks for sharing this information, Roy.
When I was Research Director at The Loyalty Institute, we found that the #1 driver of employee commitment was an organization's efforts to build a sense of spirit and pride. This was true in the US as well…
As a survey consultant I guess that I should like the idea of conducting monthly surveys, but I am concerned that employees may feel that they are being "over surveyed."
There are options, of course. An organization might randomly assign each emplo…
This is a great read, a great story. I smiled the whole time as I read this. If this conversation is possible in your organization, then I'd say your leadership is trusted and transparent. Thanks for this story.
I won't be wishing you "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" this December. These secular, generic salutations are popular in corporate America because they are not specific to any one religion or belief system. The business world, like America's…
Hello Paul:
"if you want to improve productivity and reduce costs, you need to
tap into human nature’s pleasure-fueled engine."
I could not agree more but if we wait until after we hire someone we have waited too long.
Bob
A Manager shall know one's team member more than his/her mother knows him/her.
Offered by Shweta Mohanty Posted by David Zinger
"If managers cannot commit, then they shouldn’t expect their employees to commit either."
Well said and very true. I much enjoyed your article and share your views.
Bob Carpenter's experiences in turnarounds are the same as mine although I only di…
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