Workplace incivility is increasing in prevalence in healthcare organizations. Despite the adverse effects of workplace incivility on employee engagement and voluntary employee turnover, some organizations do not have policies to address workplace incivility among employees. The purpose of this descriptive, single case study was to explore successful strategies leaders at healthcare organizations with 50 or more employees used to reduce workplace incivility and improve employee retention. The spiral theory provided the conceptual framework for the study. Semistructured interviews were held with 2 human resources (HR) professionals and 1 department manager with experience dealing with employee relations and success in retaining healthcare employees within Greenville, South Carolina. Interviews and policies were reviewed, analyzed, and coded for themes and subthemes. To assure the credibility and trustworthiness of the findings, member checking and methodological triangulation were used to verify and compare the interpretations from the interviews and the organization's policies and processes. Among the key themes that emerged were the uniform use of strategies and processes for addressing workplace incivility including consistently communicating and enforcing policies for addressing workplace incivility, using one-on-one communication techniques between managers and employees, and addressing key implementation barriers such as resistance to change. To effect positive social change, HR professionals and department managers in similar organizations can assess the findings' relevance for reducing workplace incivility, reducing employee turnover, and increasing retention for improving the quality of patient care to benefit patients, families, and communities.

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Rapid expansion, globalization and companies always wanting bigger market shares are just a few of the reasons why digital internal communication is a must in organisations today. In parallel, digital development has increased rapidly during the last decades and organisations that keep up with technological innovations can gain competitive advantages. But how does digital technology affect organisational members? The COVID-19 pandemic has forced digital communication and remote work to many organisations. Making sense of digital communication and maintaining employee engagement are new challenges that organisations need to manage in the digital format. The purpose of this thesis is to explain how to make sense of digital internal communication and how this affects employee engagement. A case study of Organisation X digital communication consisting of four qualitative interviews and secondary data has been conducted to investigate this. A theoretical framework consisting of theories about sensemaking and employee engagement are combined to construct an analysis model that explains this relationship. The results show that digital communication through video-calls and informal communication channels are effective for sensemaking in the digital environment. The results also show that social interactions decrease in digital communication due to more planned communication, which affects employee engagement.

Studien syftar till att studera och bidra med kunskap om vilka uppfattningar medarbetare har om hållbart medarbetarengagemang, och dess betydelse för att stanna i en kommunal verksamhet. Syftet preciseras genom två frågeställningar; Hur uppfattar medarbetare hållbart medarbetarengagemang i den studerade kommunala verksamheten? Vilka uppfattningar har medarbetare om förutsättningar som främjar deras engagemang att vilja stanna kvar i den kommunala verksamheten? Studien har en fenomenografisk forskningsansats där data har samlats in genom tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med medarbetare inom en kommunal verksamhet. Resultatet visade att medarbetarengagemang uppfattades som ett viktigt fenomen i arbetet, som kan förstås utifrån medarbetarens inre och yttre förutsättningar. De inre förutsättningarna kan kopplas till medarbetarnas personliga vilja och till ett personligt ansvar. Yttre förutsättningar är aspekter som organisationer och chefer kan bidra med och tillhandahålla för att medarbetarnas engagemang ska bli hållbart. De yttre förutsättningarna som identifierades var arbetsrelationer, arbetsmiljö, lärande-, utveckling- och karriärmöjligheter samt arbetsuppgifter. / The study aims to study and contribute knowledge about what perceptions employees have about sustainable employee engagement, and its importance to stay in a municipal operation. The purpose is specified through two research questions; How do employees perceive sustainable employee engagement in the studied municipal operations? What perceptions do employees have about conditions that promote their commitment to wanting to stay in municipal operations? The study has a phenomenographic research approach where data has been collected through ten semi-structured interviews with employees within a municipal operation. The result showed that employee engagement was perceived as an important phenomenon in work, which can be understood based on the employee's internal and external conditions. The internal conditions can be linked to the personal will of the employees and to personal responsibility. External prerequisites are aspects that organizations and managers can contribute to and provide in order for employee engagement to be sustainable. The external conditions that were identified were work relations, work environment, learning, development and career opportunities, and work tasks.

This study focuses on the development of a validated and confirmed employee engagement measuring model for use by managers and academia. Data was collected from an array of South African managers by employing a structured 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. A total of 260 usable questionnaires could be analysed, signifying a high response rate of 80%. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (Version 18, Version 22.0 and AMOS for Windows) was used as the quantitative analytical software. The following statistical techniques were employed to analyse the data, namely the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, Bartlett‟s test of sphericity, Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficients, Exploratory factor analysis, Confirmatory factor analysis and the Pearson correlation coefficient. The development of the Measure Employee Engagement model wielded theoretical and empirical research. The format was structured into four logical stages, hence the presentation of the study in the approved article format. The study covers the following four steps (as per articles): Article one departed by performing a literature study of employee engagement constructs and its measuring criteria. It examined the application of a myriad of models in various application settings to identify the relevant constructs and measuring criteria. From these constructs and criteria, a draft questionnaire was constructed to collect the data on 11 employee engagement constructs. Validation of measuring criteria was performed to ensure that the criteria accurately measure the specific employee engagement construct. The data was also tested for acceptable reliability levels. The second article departs on the validation of the constructs and its measuring criteria, this time as a unified model and not, as performed in Article 1, the construct validation individually. The objective of this article was to simplify the complex model without deterioration of the measuring contribution thereof. This was achieved by employing factor analysis, and after four rounds of eliminating low-loading and dual-loading criteria, the questionnaire was reduced by 25 measuring criteria and seven factors were extracted explaining a favourable 69.75% of the variance. The simplified model was scrutinised to ascertain statistical validity thereof, an objective achieved with flying colours. The inter-correlations between the seven factors were satisfactory, underpinning the validity of the model. The third article focuses on confirming the employee engagement constructs statistically by means of Confirmatory Factor Analysis as well as to determine the goodness of the model fit. The results confirmed that all seven constructs were significant (p<0.05) and important according to the standardised regression weights. Surprisingly, the most important respondent construct Behavioural engagement had the lowest regression weight, while the lower rated Career growth opportunities showed a much higher regression weight – signifying a higher importance and influence on employee engagement. Regarding goodness of model fit, the CFI, RMSEA and Hoelter‟s indices‟ were used. These indices showed that the model as stated above to measure employee engagement is a good fit and that it can be operationalised to be employed in managerial application settings. Article four operationalised the model validated in Articles 2 and 3. The article thus reports on the actual measurement of the different employee engagement constructs as perceived by the respondents. The results showed that the respondents regarded all seven the constructs as important, with Behavioural employment being regarded as the most important one. Career growth opportunities, surprisingly, was rated the least important construct of employee engagement. Correlational analysis indicated that no significant correlation coefficients exist between the demographic variables and the constructs of employee engagement. The study consisted of both a literature study as well as an empirical study. The university libraries of the North-West University and Management College of South Africa‟s Business School were used to source reference materials with the aid of a specialised research librarian at the North-West University to assist in the location of the most appropriate sources. Apart from the conclusions based on the results obtained in model development, generalised conclusions include the development of a successful model development methodology and guidance in the use of a number of the statistical techniques. This could greatly assist future researchers in the design of their studies, even outside the discipline of employee engagement. / PhD (Business Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This research stems out of the desire to uncover and learn the impact and influence of internal communication as a strategic function that enhances productivity, organisational growth, employee engagements and above all organisational success 1 . Internal communications is a body of knowledge that is gaining momentum throughout the world. It is a global discipline that organisations have adopted as their instrument to measure the effectiveness of their communication campaigns, programmes and strategies both internal and external. Internal communication has been forced to adjust to numerous changes in the workplace. Macleod and Clarke (2009) argue that good quality internal communication enhances engagement and emphasise that employees need clear communication from senior management to understand how their own roles correspond with the leadership vision. The overarching aim of this investigative study was to examine the influence of internal communication as a key driver of employee engagement and organisational performance. In doing so, the research study employed qualitative approach method to investigate the extent in which internal communication as a strategic function enhances employee engagement and promotes organisational performance. This qualitative exploratory study relied on the experiences, thoughts, behaviours, and the understanding of the research respondents to articulate their knowledge about the phenomenon under investigation; therefore data was collected by means of various processes, including semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions. The study was carried out amongst employees of LG Electronics2 , Seoul in South Korea to establish the extent to which internal communication influences or drives employee engagement3. The study adopted content analysis as a well-tested method of data analysis to better understand the data collected. Through content analysis, thematic connections were made and data was categorised in different themes that emerged systematically from similar characteristics mentioned in the conversations with the respondents. Inferences were drawn from the similar characteristics and presented in the data analysis and interpretations chapter of the research study. The results revealed that a deep awareness of internal communication existed among the respondents of the study. They also revealed high levels of consciousness of factors that contribute immensely to internal communication as a strategic function that enhance engagement, organisational culture, goals and values. The results revealed that a strong sense of identification and ownership was given to employees as part of programmes that intensified employee's contributions, level of engagement and understanding of goals and culture of the organisation. The empirical findings further postulated that employees were incorporated into the dominant coalition of the organisation and were also regarded as change agents, through which their inputs and suggestions were valued and recognised. The empirical study also revealed that employees were engaged because of the organisational culture shared by the strong leadership and management philosophy; LG-way was implemented as a framework to guide open and transparent communication. The results indicated that there was no salary gap between males and females, employees were rewarded according to their performance targets and capabilities and were also encouraged through coaching to improve their targets where necessary for the successful growth of the organisation. Through the empirical findings, the study recommended that a well coordinated internal communication function which is aligned and guided by the fundamental principles of the organisation will produce rewarding results for the organisation. There is a greater need for the organisation to conduct an intensified research on the impact and contributions of proactive internal communication strategies. Such research will guide and direct the coordination and implementation of proper and relevant programmes to assist the organisation to be more engaged and embedded among employees. LG Electronics must also come to terms with the fact that internal stakeholders make or break the organisation. The organisation needs to treat all employees equally and monitor the value of employees in the organisational growth and success. Management needs to know that the internal stakeholders are important as they provide the foundation of the organisation as well as acting as the liaison between the organisation and the external stakeholders. / Thesis (M.A (Communication) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2014

This study focuses on the development of a validated and confirmed employee engagement measuring model for use by managers and academia. Data was collected from an array of South African managers by employing a structured 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. A total of 260 usable questionnaires could be analysed, signifying a high response rate of 80%. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (Version 18, Version 22.0 and AMOS for Windows) was used as the quantitative analytical software. The following statistical techniques were employed to analyse the data, namely the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, Bartlett‟s test of sphericity, Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficients, Exploratory factor analysis, Confirmatory factor analysis and the Pearson correlation coefficient. The development of the Measure Employee Engagement model wielded theoretical and empirical research. The format was structured into four logical stages, hence the presentation of the study in the approved article format. The study covers the following four steps (as per articles): Article one departed by performing a literature study of employee engagement constructs and its measuring criteria. It examined the application of a myriad of models in various application settings to identify the relevant constructs and measuring criteria. From these constructs and criteria, a draft questionnaire was constructed to collect the data on 11 employee engagement constructs. Validation of measuring criteria was performed to ensure that the criteria accurately measure the specific employee engagement construct. The data was also tested for acceptable reliability levels. The second article departs on the validation of the constructs and its measuring criteria, this time as a unified model and not, as performed in Article 1, the construct validation individually. The objective of this article was to simplify the complex model without deterioration of the measuring contribution thereof. This was achieved by employing factor analysis, and after four rounds of eliminating low-loading and dual-loading criteria, the questionnaire was reduced by 25 measuring criteria and seven factors were extracted explaining a favourable 69.75% of the variance. The simplified model was scrutinised to ascertain statistical validity thereof, an objective achieved with flying colours. The inter-correlations between the seven factors were satisfactory, underpinning the validity of the model. The third article focuses on confirming the employee engagement constructs statistically by means of Confirmatory Factor Analysis as well as to determine the goodness of the model fit. The results confirmed that all seven constructs were significant (p<0.05) and important according to the standardised regression weights. Surprisingly, the most important respondent construct Behavioural engagement had the lowest regression weight, while the lower rated Career growth opportunities showed a much higher regression weight – signifying a higher importance and influence on employee engagement. Regarding goodness of model fit, the CFI, RMSEA and Hoelter‟s indices‟ were used. These indices showed that the model as stated above to measure employee engagement is a good fit and that it can be operationalised to be employed in managerial application settings. Article four operationalised the model validated in Articles 2 and 3. The article thus reports on the actual measurement of the different employee engagement constructs as perceived by the respondents. The results showed that the respondents regarded all seven the constructs as important, with Behavioural employment being regarded as the most important one. Career growth opportunities, surprisingly, was rated the least important construct of employee engagement. Correlational analysis indicated that no significant correlation coefficients exist between the demographic variables and the constructs of employee engagement. The study consisted of both a literature study as well as an empirical study. The university libraries of the North-West University and Management College of South Africa‟s Business School were used to source reference materials with the aid of a specialised research librarian at the North-West University to assist in the location of the most appropriate sources. Apart from the conclusions based on the results obtained in model development, generalised conclusions include the development of a successful model development methodology and guidance in the use of a number of the statistical techniques. This could greatly assist future researchers in the design of their studies, even outside the discipline of employee engagement. / PhD (Business Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015