Employee Engagement is a critical business issue for the pharmaceutical industry especially owing to the highly competitive nature of this industry. This research postulates that factors can be identified that promote employee engagement in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. The purpose of the study is to research the factors that contribute to employee engagement in the pharmaceutical industry and to make recommendations in line with the results obtained that may be appropriate and significant to assist the pharmaceutical industry / Graduate School of Business Leadership / (M.B.A.)

Abstract Employee engagement refers to what takes place when people are interested in a positive way and when they are excited about their jobs, exercise discretionary behaviour and are motivated to achieve high levels of performance. The present research therefore examined employee engagement of the academic staff in the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges in South Africa. A quantitative design was used. In total, 2 054 academic staff completed the questionnaire. A self-administered 4-point Likert-type scale questionnaire was developed. The data was gathered and then analysed by using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics were used to present the findings. An employee engagement framework, which incorporates the main ideas of the article, suggests a new perspective about how to foster and manage employee engagement in today’s workplace is presented.

Employee Engagement is a critical business issue for the pharmaceutical industry especially owing to the highly competitive nature of this industry. This research postulates that factors can be identified that promote employee engagement in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. The purpose of the study is to research the factors that contribute to employee engagement in the pharmaceutical industry and to make recommendations in line with the results obtained that may be appropriate and significant to assist the pharmaceutical industry / Graduate School of Business Leadership / (M.B.A.)

This study was designed to examine affective leader behaviours, and their impact on cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement. Researchers (e.g., Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005; Moorman et al., 1998) have called for more research to be directed toward modelling and testing sets of relationships which better approximate the complexity associated with contemporary organisational experience. This research has attempted to do this by clarifying and defining the construct of engagement, and then by examining how each of the engagement dimensions are impacted by affective leader behaviours. Specifically, a model was tested that identifies leader behaviour antecedents of cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement. Data was collected from five public-sector organisations. Structural equation modelling was used to identify the relationships between the engagement dimensions and leader behaviours. The results suggested that affective leader behaviours had a substantial direct impact on cognitive engagement, which in turn influenced affective engagement, which then influenced intent to stay and extra-role performance. The results indicated a directional process for engagement, but particularly highlighted the significant impact of affective leader behaviours as an antecedent to engagement. In general terms, the findings will provide a platform from which to develop a robust measure of engagement, and will be helpful to human resource practitioners interested in understanding the directional process of engagement and the importance of affective leadership as an antecedent to engagement.

The objective of this research was to determine whether there is a relationship between the level of maturity of an organization's business processes as measured by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award's Criteria for Performance Excellence (BCPE) and the level of employee engagement. Two organizations were selected for the study based on their overall level of maturity measured by the BCPE scoring guide representing firms with high and low levels of maturity. The first hypothesis tested indicates a negative statistically significant relationship between the level of maturity of an organization and the level of employee engagement. Next, the level of employee engagement between males and females was significantly different as the level for men was higher than the level for women participating in the study. Finally, no support was found for the third hypothesis exploring differences in the levels of employee engagement between military and civilian employees. This study was limited to predominantly full-time personnel assigned to two of twenty-eight state Army National Guard (ARNG) organizations that participated in the ARNG Army Communities of Excellence (ACOE) award process during the award years of 2009-2010. The absence of support for the BCPE's effect on the level of employee engagement within organizations could be an indicator of other factors affecting employee engagement that are needed to be researched further before any conclusions can be reached.

Research revealed that 20% of American employees are not actively engaged in the workplace. Disengaged employees cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars annually in lost productivity. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies that small business managers of a privately-owned company used to maintain an engaged work force. The target population consisted of 4 small business managers from the same organization within Fairfax County, Virginia. Leader member exchange was the conceptual framework chosen for this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and review of company documents. Member checking was used to address the dependability of data. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5-phased cycle of data analysis and methodological triangulation. The final interpretations revealed 2 major themes: creating and sustaining a cohesive, engaging organizational environment and ensuring effective communications. The contributions of this study to positive social change include encouraging managers and their employees to have a healthier attitude at work, having a better sense of work-life balance, and having pride in belonging. Understanding the contribution of an engaging workforce may enable organizational leaders to improve performance and profits for catalyzing monetary and nonmonetary contributions benefiting communities.

This study seeks to explore, in one particular UK Higher Educational Institution (HEI), the relationships between engagement, motivation, resilience and the quality of the relationship between managers and those being managed. A literature review provides salient themes relating to the four concepts of: employee engagement, motivation, emotional resilience, and leadership. The changing landscape of the University sector in the UK is also considered for contextual purposes. A mixed methods approach was used to explore relationships between these four concepts. Methods included: observation, focus groups, questionnaires and interviews. Findings from this study indicate that motivation, resilience, engagement and leadership all interrelate; but that leadership interrelated with the other concepts to a lesser extent. Prerequisites of engagement were found to be motivation and resilience, both of which were inter-reliant and as such were difficult to separate. Prerequisites of motivation and resilience were found to be individuals’ personality characteristics, mind-set and thinking style. Higher quality relationships with managers were consistently associated with higher effort, whereas lower quality relationships ranged from making no difference to the exertion of effort, to being a minor irritation in the background, to adversely affecting effort and resilience. Specific leadership attributes and behaviours were found to be more influential in terms of creating affinity between the line manager and follower which were more likely to positively influence engagement, motivation and resilience. Conclusions indicate that the majority of effort is influenced by an individual’s personality characteristics, mind-set and thinking style. The minority of effort therefore was influenced by external factors such as job enjoyment, as a loci of engagement, and autonomy, as a determinant of engagement. The role of a leader is therefore critical in terms of creating and maintaining an engaging work environment. Certain leadership attributes such as gaining trust, being genuinely caring and compassionate and having a positive outlook were positively associated with the followers having a stronger emotional attachment to the organisation manifesting in increased engagement, motivation and resilience. Practical recommendations for senior leaders in organisations, people managers and HR practitioners include: creating operational clarity and clarity of vision; creating and maintaining a culture of care and support; developing leadership attributes and competencies which are key to achieving an engaged workforce; and implementing practices to facilitate job satisfaction, personal and professional growth and a climate of team collegiality which were found to be the three most important work related factors which positively influenced engagement. This research contributes by bringing a new dimension to employee engagement, motivation, resilience and leadership, adding to the existing literature relating to these four concepts. Three different perspectives are presented and one conceptual approach, relating to these four concepts. Each perspective and approach contains elements which can be applied by HR professionals and organisational leaders to create a culture of employee engagement. This study provides a questionnaire that may be used by other organisations to determine engagement strategies and policies.

Secondary data defines employee engagement as “a workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success and are able at the same time to enhance their own sense of well-being” (Guest, 2009). Corporate branding is defined as “the systematic planned management of behaviours, communication, and symbolism in order to attain a favourable and positive reputation with target audiences of an organisation” (Foster, Punjaisri&Cheng, 2010). This research paper has three research questions which examine the relationship between employee perception of a corporate brand and employee engagement; what impact strong corporate brands have on employee engagement and lastly examines demographical factors that may impact employee engagement.The study design was non-probability and convenience sampling was used. Statistical tools that were used in this study included t-test, correlation analysis, Cronbach’s alpha test and factor analysis. The data was collected from seven organisations namely: MTN, BMW, Absa, McDonalds, KFC, Eskom and Pep which are located within South Africa. The questionnaire was delivered to a 150 respondents across seven organisations.The research results indicate that corporate brand variables: brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived brand quality, brand leadership, perceived brand value, brand personality, brand organisation and brand differentiation, have a positive influence on employee engagement.The findings from this research can contribute to the body of knowledge within the domain of improving employee engagement within organisations, which will result in increased profitability, reduced turnover, improved working environment and enhanced employee satisfaction. The primary audience for the study will be the academic community and more specifically individuals interested in marketing and general business and managerial practices. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Includes bibliographical references / A customer's overall experience of interaction with a firm can be influenced by a variety of antecedents including employee behaviour, and can affect a variety of constructs including a customer's intention to remain loyal to a firm. The study contributes to the customer experience literature by constructing and empirically testing a theoretical model that integrates the construct of employee engagement as an influencing variable on customer experience in a business-to-business environment. Employee engagement is characterised by the level of engagement an employee depicts through attributes such as vigour, dedication and absorption. The study sampled 106 employee respondents and 1,216 customer respondents of a South African mining and construction firm. The combined dataset of both employee and customer responses was empirically tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling. The research finds a relationship exists between employee engagement and customer experience of employee performance. Additionally, customer experience of employee performance was significantly statistically associated with overall customer experience, a construct focusing on customer experience comparative to competitors and alternate suppliers. The enhancement of understanding of the antecedents of employee engagement and the effect of customer experience on customer loyalty may assist in the development of interventions to address the gaps in the employee-customer encounter. The principle implication emanating from this study is that customer experience, as a construct, should not be ignored, as the inclusion of a customer experience construct may enhance and complement the prediction of customer behaviour, not only in a business-to-business environment. Establishing the positive and negative levels of the required competencies of employees assists in guiding the supervisory performance discussion, subsequent training suggestions and required on-the-ground coaching.

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