Hye Chong Yi (260446951)
McGill University
CORG 555, Winter 2011
Professor Sema Burney
3 March 2011
“em·ploy·ee (-noun): a person working for another person or a business firm for pay. en·gage (-verb): to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons). en·gage·ment (-noun): the act of engaging or the state of being engaged.” -Dictionary.com (2011)
Introduction
Employee. Engagement. Separately, each word has a clear, concise definition. Their descriptions are easy to grasp. However, once you put the words together the concept of employee engagement is complex because there are many variations on its definitions and dynamics that contribute to engagement. “To date, there is no single and generally accepted definition for the term employee engagement (Markos & Sridevi, 2010, p.90).” The difficulty of pinpointing an exact definition lies in the fact that employee engagement does not have the same meaning for everyone (Blessing White, 2011). The goal of this paper is to provide a general discussion of its definition, history, current state, future trends, and close the discussion with a conclusion.
Employee Engagement: Definition
Generally speaking, employee engagement is the concept of an employee that is fully invested emotionally, intellectually, and socially into their work, company, and colleagues (Markos & Sridevi, 2010). “Engagement is about passion and commitment-the willingness to invest oneself and expand one’s discretionary effort to help the employer succeed, which is beyond simple satisfaction with the employment arrangement or basic loyalty to the employer (Markos & Sridevi, 2010, p. 90).”
Employee engagement is something that is felt more than something that is done however, there are many measures that can be taken to improve employee engagement. As stated by writer Sarah Cook, “Employee engagement is more a psychological
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