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Employee Engagement of Managerial Staff in Hospitals–an Indian

Pilot Study

Article · July 2013

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Journal of Business & Management (COES&RJ-JBM)
ISSN (E): 2306-7179 ISSN (P): 2306-8043
Publisher: Centre of Excellence for Scientific & Research Journalism
st
Online Publication Date & Issue: 1 July 2013, Vol.1, No.3, July 2013
http://centreofexcellence.net/J/JBM/JBM Mainpage.htm

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT OF MANAGERIAL STAFF IN HOSPITALS

-AN INDIAN PILOT STUDY

J.Swaminathan, Dr.S.Aramvalarthan

ABSTRACT

Employee engagement is a state of emotional and intellectual involvement that employees

have in an organization. An engaged employee is aware of business context, and works with
colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organization. It is a
positive attitude held by the employees towards the organization and its values.

This study focused on how employee engagement is an antecedent of job involvement and
what should the management of hospitals do to make their managers engaged. This study
conducted was to find out the levels of employee engagement, the drivers of it, which
includes Employee Empowerment, Communication, Team Work, Training and Development,
Recognition, Leadership Quality, and Work Life Balance to analyze their impact and to offer
suggestions to improve the same. The study adopted non-probability sampling using
systematic method to collect primary data. The samples of the study constituted 100
managerial staff from various hospitals in Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu, India. Anova,
Chi square and Paired t-test were employed in the analysis of data.

The results of the study indicated that the Employee Engagement of Managerial Staff in
Hospitals of Nagapattinam District is moderate and Recognition helps to attain Employee
Engagement.. The hospitals should concentrate on dimensions like Recognition and Team
work to improve Employee Engagement of the hospitals.

Key words: Employee empowerment, Team work, Recognition, Communication, Work life
Balance

Citation: J.Swaminathan, Dr. S.Aramyalarthan, “ Employee Engagement of Managerial Staff

in Hospitals – an Indian Pilot Study”, (2013), Journal of Business & Management
(COES&RJ-JBM), Vol.1, No.3, pp 166-174.
 Employee Engagement:….

INTRODUCTION
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Employee Engagement is a state of emotional and intellectual involvement that employees

have in an organization (Laurainne Theogaraj, 2007). Engagement is much more than
satisfaction. It is one of the HR interventions that are being used in many organizations to
know the extent to which people value, enjoy, and believe in what they do.

Engaged employees are seen to be productive members of an organization who are

psychologically committed to their role in the organization. They are likely to stay longer in
their organization, advocate its products and services and contribute to the overall success of
an organization.

Identifying what enables employee engagement is difficult, because within the literature, a
multitude of definitions and drivers of engagement are suggested. Research conducted by IES
in 2004 (Robinson et al., 2004) found considerable variation in the views of authors in what
drives engagement and pointed out that ‘there is no easy answer as far as engagement is
concerned’. (p. 26). The levels of engagement and its drivers vary according to the
organisation, employee group, the individual and the job itself (Robinson, 2004). There is ‘no
definitive all- purpose list of engagement drivers’(CIPD, 2007).

Employee engagement is likely, therefore, to be influenced by many interrelated factors. The

Conference Board (2006) found that 26 different drivers of engagement were proposed in 12
major studies of engagement. The most commonly reported drivers of engagement are
Employee Empowerment, Communication, Team Work, Training and Development,
Recognition, Leadership Quality, Decision-Making, Decision-Making, Work-Life Balance,
etc.(The Conference Board, 2006). Numerous studies such as these have proposed a variety of
different drivers of engagement. According to GALLUP consultancy, the Engaged
employees are those who “work with passion and feel profound connection to their hospitals,
drive innovation and move the organization forward”.
Some of the drivers used in this study are explained.

Employee Empowerment: It means giving the employees the authority to make decisions and
providing them with financial resources to implement these decisions.

Communication: An effective organization is one that has open and transparent

communication channels which allow free flow of information, both horizontally as well as
up-and-down the organizational hierarchy.
Team Work: Employees, encouraged to work in teams are actively involved in solving day-
to-day problems of the organization and share responsibility to achieve the goals of their
department.
Training and Development:The provision of adequate facilities for training and overall
development of the employees.
Recognition:The practice of recognition and appreciation of employees who come up with
creative ideas or those who are honest, sincere and hardworking.
Leadership Quality: The most important part of the role of a leader is not what he does
Himself but what he causes other people to do.
Decision-Making: An organization that empower and supports people down-the-line to take
independent decisions within the sphere of their job responsibilities can, through such actions,
create employee engagement.
Work-Life Balance: When the demands of work hamper the pursuit of other life interest, it is
likely to create a crisis and the resultant stresses and strains among the employees.
Relevance of Employee Engagement:
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Journal of Business & Management (COES&RJ-JBM), 1(3), pp. 166-174

In 2006, the Conference Board published “Employee Engagement, A Review of Current

Research and Its Implications”. According to this report, twelve major studies on employee
engagement has been published over the prior four years by top research firms such as Gallup,
Towers Perrin, Blessing White, The corporate Leadership Council and others.

According to the report, employee engagement is a very big deal. There is clear and
mounting evidence that high levels of employee engagement keenly correlates to individual,
group and corporate performance in areas such as retention, turnover, productivity, customer
service and loyalty.

IMPORTANCE OF MANAGERS

Any manager can influence significantly the engagement levels of employees from the
moment people are recruited into the organization. ‘Employee engagement research shows
that the right managers can have a direct impact on bringing people into the organisation who
are committed to doing quality work and facilitating a fun and caring atmosphere, which can
nurture friendships among employees.’ (Ott et al, 2007)

‘The quality of the relationship that an employee has with his or her immediate manager is
one of the most influential factors driving engagement and satisfaction.’(Dulye, 2006) backed
up by a number of sources. A study by Kenexa Research Institute found that managers are
critical to engagement (Kenexa, 2008). Also individual performance was closely tied to
satisfaction with one’s supervisor (Judge et al. 2001). Initially management style and process
as a key source of employees feeling psychologically safe in their work environment as a
contributor to employee engagement was identified by Kahn (1990). A strong link between
employees’ self- reported engagement and perceptions of supportive supervisor relations
was found by May et al. (2004).

Many of the factors that influence employee engagement and retention are factors directly or
indirectly within the manager’s control.’(Towers Perrin, 2006). Blessing White (2008) report
had a major concern that managers are not effectively recognising and rewarding
achievements, and not effectively encouraging the use of their talents. ‘The immediate
manager influences many aspects of working life, leading ultimately to higher or lower
engagement levels.’ (Robinson et al., 2007). ‘The line manager clearly has a very important
role in fostering employees’ sense of involvement and value.’ (Robinson et al., 2004)

So we may conclude that the managers has an important role in influencing employee
engagement and it means if managers can enable their staff to feel involved and valued in
their work, with freedom and support, then they play a very important role in nurturing
engagement.

PROBLEM DEFINITION

Employee Engagement is the energy, passion or fire that employees have towards their work
and the organization. The major reason for disengagement is the absence of appreciation or
‘positive stroke’. Knowing the current level of Managerial Engagement in Private Hospitals
will also enable to uncover actionable findings by identifying the prime “Drivers” of
employee engagement. It also helps to identify the productive managers of the organization,
who are psychologically committed to their role in the organization. Sometimes the
intelligent, capable managers also disengage when they do not get support from their
management for the good work they did or sometimes, they loose their confidence about Top
management’s credibility.

168
 Employee Engagement:….

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

•To ascertain the level of employee engagement among managerial staff of private hospitals.
•To identify the key factor among the drivers of employee engagement.
•To give suitable suggestions for improvement.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research is descriptive, with non-probability sampling using systematic method.

In the research 100 samples have been taken from the total population of 136 Employees,
from 21 Private hospitals of Nagapattinam district. Primary Data was collected through
structured questionnaires containing 20 multiple choices questions during April - June 2012.

TOOLS USED

In order to analyse the data the researchers used statistical package for social sciences (SPSS)
by using the tools
? Anova
? Chi square
? Paired t-test

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

(Table 1 to Table 5 may be inserted here)

Table 1: Demographic data of respondents.

Demographic
Total
Variable
Male Female
Gender
53 47 100
40 &
20-25 25-30 30-35 35-40
Age Above
12 17 38 15 18
Arts / With
High Diplom Scienc Management Engineerin
School a e Qualificatio g Degree
Degree ns
Education 1 5 20 55 19 100
Single Married
Marital status 47 53 100
10K – 15K- Above
< 10000 20K-25K
15K 20K 25K
Monthly
15 39 41 9 5 100
Income
Less
Freshers 1-3 Above5Ye
Than 1 3-5
Years ars
Year
Experience 4 10 41 15 30 100

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Journal of Business & Management (COES&RJ-JBM), 1(3), pp. 166-174

Table 2: Combined responses

Variables

Strongly
agree

Disagree

Strongly
disagree

Wt Avg
Neutral
Agree
Opinions seem to count 24 55 15 1 5 78.4
Opinions implemented 15 30 30 18 7 65.6
Been successful 10 31 23 30 6 61.8
Satisfied with Information provided by 26 60 13 0 1 82
organization
Satisfied with Level of Trust on The 26 59 14 1 0 82
Team
Satisfied with Supportiveness of the team 30 63 7 0 0 84.6
members
Satisfied with Training program provided 18 44 26 7 5 72.6
based on with
Satisfied performance
Training program update 34 47 11 5 3 80.8
knowledge and skills for excellent
Satisfied with Rewards 20 31 28 18 3 69.4
performance
Satisfied with the recognition system 20 59 12 5 4 77.2
Satisfied with the Kind of Supervision 6 13 60 14 7 59.4
Satisfied with Supportiveness of 26 59 13 1 1 81.6
Superiors
Satisfied with Festivals celebrated in 37 54 7 0 2 84.8
organization
Satisfied with Stress Relief Programs 16 25 10 1 1 27.6
Average 72.0
Are you Engaged 16 57 25 0 2
Average
77

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 Employee Engagement:….

Variable Source Sum of Mean Df F-Ratio Significance

of square square
variation
At work Between 206.8 51.70 4
Opinion is Group
counted 591.20 29.56 20 1.749 Not
(Qualification* Within Significant
Opinion ) Group

TOTAL 798 24
At work Between 206.8 51.70 4
opinion is been Group
implemented 223.20 29.56 20 4.633 Significant
( Age* Within
Opinion ) Group

TOTAL 430.00 24
At work Between 182.40 45.600 4 4.079 Significant
opinion is been group
counted
( Experience* Within 223.60 11.180 20
Opinion ) group

Total
406.00 24
At work Between 362.40 90.60 4
opinion is been group
implemented 4.748 Significant
( Experience* Within
Opinion ) group 381.60 19.08 20

Total 744.00 24
At work Between 4
opinion is been group 206.80 51.70
counted 1.215 Not
( Salary* Within 851.20 20 Significant
Opinion ) group

Total 1058.0 42.58 24

Table 3: Anova for Opinion is Counted in the Organization

DISCUSSION

The major findings of the pilot study are summarized below.

60% of respondents are satisfied with the information provided by the organization, 59% of
with the level of trust provided by their team and 63% with the support provided by their team
members. 44% of respondents are frequently provided with the training program and 47% feel
that training program is helpful to update knowledge and skills. 31% of respondents are
frequently rewarded for their excellent performance.
59% of respondents are satisfied about the recognition and satisfied with the support provided
by their superiors.60% of respondents have Normal kind of supervision. 54% of respondents
Agree that festivals are been celebrated in their organisation. Only 25% of respondents are
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Journal of Business & Management (COES&RJ-JBM), 1(3), pp. 166-174

satisfied with the stress relief programs conducted by the organization. In total 57% of
respondents are engaged in their job.
(Table 4 may be inserted here)

Table 4: Chisquare Analysis

Variable ?2 value
Df At 5% significant
level
At work opinion is counted* Marital 1.597 4 Sig
Status
At work opinion is implemented* 0.5512 4 NS
Marital Status
Marital Status * Employees Rewarded 12.067 4 Sig
For Excellent Performance

The chi-square test showed the marital status has a significant impact on counting the opinion
of managers but not so in implementing. Only 30% of respondents’ opinion had been
implemented. This shows that the implementation is purely based on the merit of the opinion
suggested and 31% of respondents opinion had succeeded after implementing. But, rewarding
of employees for excellent performance has a gender bias because most of the hospitals
follow a pattern of awarding two employees at a time like one male and one female.
(Table 5 may be inserted here)

Table- 5 Paired t- Test

Variable t-test Df 5% significant
level
At work opinion is been counted based 0.5512 4 NS
on gender
Opinion succeeded based on marital
status 0.000 4 NS
At work employees been rewarded for
excellent performance 0.8615 4 NS

The Paired t- test shows that there is no significant association between the gender wise
employees opinion counted at work, success of opinion or rewarding of employees for
excellent performance.

The ANOVA test on the collected data shows that the opinion given by the managers are
having significant differences among many variables. The qualification and the salary of the
managers are not considered in selecting the opinions and suggestions given by the
managerial staff. This difference is mainly because of the individual perceptions.

Finally the average score of Employee Engagement among the hospital managerial staff are
72 which is higher than the global average for all industries (Gallup and Towers Perrin
Reports) which is a good sign. But when the employees are asked about their own
engagement level and when included in the average score it increased by 5% (77) which is
mainly because individuals perception about Employee Engagement which may be neglected.

SUGGESTIONS
? The hospitals shall consider the opinions of employees based on their experience and
qualification and can implement their opinions to make them engaged at work.

172
 Employee Engagement:….

? The management can create friendly environment by providing supportive superiors to

make employees engage at work.

? The employees can be provided with training programs based on the qualification and
performance to update the knowledge.

? The employees can be encouraged by providing reward for excellent performance based on
gender and fair compensation to make them feel that they are getting worth of their input.

? The employees may be encouraged to get advice from other members in their team which
will help them to approach work problem from variety of constructive angels and make them
engaged at work.

? Recognition is the mediating factor to employee engagement, persons with creative ideas
and those who are honest, hardworking and experienced need to be recognized and
appreciated. Employees who do well need to be felicitated through public functions.

? Team Work is positively influencing Employee Engagement and hospitals can encourage
team bonding between employees to complete any task.

? The employees can be provided with the stress relief program to make employees cope
with pressures. The employees need to be provided with flexible working hours and there
should be more frequent social get-togethers for employees and their families to make them
meet their personal, family and social commitments.

CONCLUSION

The primary focus of the study was to ascertain the level of Employee Engagement of the
managerial staff of hospitals. The Employee Engagement drivers are used to ascertain the
level of Engagement at their work. One of the factors Recognition is the key factor to
employee engagement and the Team work is most influential factor to the key factor
recognition. Since the recognition is key to employee engagement, the hospitals should
recognize their employee through considering their opinion according to their experience. The
opinion may be implemented where ever possible. The employee should be rewarded when
the implemented opinion succeeds.

The team work and empowerment of the employee are also the most influential factors to the
key factor recognition. It is suggested that organization may encourage Team Work to make
employees to be committed to the work which will result in increased employee engagement.
The hospitals may identify the right kind of people for the right job and make them a group,
and assign suitable task to the group, motivate them by providing training based on the
performance to achieve their task within reasonable time bound. So that the empowerment
can be enhanced and make the employee loyal to the organization.

If the hospitals concentrate over the other dimensions like Work life balance by conducting
some games, celebrations to reduce work stress, Leadership Quality by providing supportive
superiors, Training and Development by providing training based on the performance of the
employees and Communication that employees are getting the information from superiors to
do their job effectively and will make employees engage highly at work.

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 Journal of Business & Management (COES&RJ-JBM), 1(3), pp. 166-174

References

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2.CIPD (2007), Employee Engagement,
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implications, The Conference Board
4.Dulye & Co (2006), 5 Ways to Keep New Hires Engaged, www.lmdulye.com
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About the Author(s)

J.Swaminathan, Assistant Professor, Dept of Management Studies, A.V.C.College of
Engineering, Mayiladuthurai, Research Scholar, Periyar Maniammai University, Thanjavur
Corresponding author Email: jsavcce@gmail.com
Mobile +919488923659
Postal Address- Department of Management Studies,
A.V.C.College of Engineering,
Mannampandal, Mayiladuthurai, Pin 609305
Tamil Nadu, INDIA
Dr.S.Aramvalarthan, Professor & Head, Dept of Management Studies, Assistant dean
SHSM, Periyar Maniammai University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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