Course: Principles of Management

Assignment 1, Research Based Assignment

Name: RESHMA MENON Register No.: 2027153 Submission Date: 22/07/2020

Article Title: Impact of Leadership Style on Employee Engagement

Articles Reviewed:
1. Carasco-Saul, M., Kim, W., & Kim, T. (2014). Leadership and Employee Engagement. Human Resource Development Review,
14(1), 38–63.
2. S, Swathi. (2013). Impact of Leadership On Employee Engagement. International Journal of Marketing, Financial Services &
Management Research
3. Strom, D. L., Sears, K. L., & Kelly, K. M. (2013). Work Engagement: The Roles of Organizational Justice and Leadership Style
in Predicting Engagement Among. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 21(1), 71–82
4. Wang, D.-S., & Hsieh, C.-C. (2013). The effect of authentic leadership on employee trust and employee engagement. Social
Behavior and Personality, 41(4), 613–624
5. Gruman, J. A., & Saks, A. M. (2011). Performance management and employee engagement. Human Resource Management
Review, 21(2), 123–136

Introduction
 Employees are at the heart of every organisation – they make up the institution, run it and help it to survive and thrive in a
competitive environment. Employee engagement refers to an individual’s extent of commitment and involvement towards the
organisation and its values. This is a key concept in matters of worker retention, managing employee satisfaction and, eventually,
organisational performance. Kahn (1990) introduced the concept of individual engagement as when “people employ and express
themselves, physically, cognitively or emotionally during role performances” (p. 964), which has become the fundamental concept for
what is described as employee engagement.
It is often found that employees leave a company because of poor management and the manager himself/herself rather than the
company indicating that leadership styles, to a great degree, decide and help predict employee behaviour. From a bird’s eye view,
employee dissatisfaction is either caused by the employees themselves or their manager and the organisation’s inability to prevent
such behaviour on the part of the superior or not having empowered the individual to speak about their issues freely to the company.
Constructive criticism is an essential tool in improving the effectiveness of an organisation. Employee voice is defined as "non-
required behaviour that emphasises expression of constructive challenge with the intent to improve rather than merely criticise" (Van
Dyne & LePine, 1998). Several studies argue that voice behaviour is dependent on the person and the situation, and, hence, employee
voice cannot be self-oriented. They, also, hypothesise that as critical opinions can be viewed in a negative light by fellow colleagues,
an individual may perceive challenging the status quo as a potential risk. If constructive opinions are perceived as complaints or
criticism of personal in nature, they can create unfavourable impressions or upset balance in interpersonal relations in the workplace.
There are several schools of thought that attempt at exploring the connection between employee voice and employee engagement.
This is in line with the findings that individuals that have possess psychological safety and the confidence to speak up publicly
regarding discrepancies and are able to share opinions with the organisation fee empowered and valued and, hence, are able to
successfully engage themselves with the organisation’s goals.
The literature review detailed below attempts to understand how leadership affects employee engagement in an organisation.

Literature Review
Introduced in 1990, there has not been any rigorous research conducted in the concept of employee engagement; hence, it can
be said that it is a relatively new concept. Howard and Foster (2009) view personal engagement as a vital tool in managing talent that
does not only fortify the competitiveness of the firm but also, enhance the organisational reputation because it helps to reduce the
employee attrition rate in a business firm.
Authentic leadership refers to leader behaviour that aims to promote positive psychological attitude and ethical climate that
encourages self-awareness and transparency of how leaders work with the employees. Personal engagement has a significant impact
on individual job satisfaction and, in turn, the organisation’s performance.
In a nutshell, engaged employees have a much smoother relationship with their superiors compared to the disengaged ones (Van den
Broeck et al., 2008) as they encourage team-spirit and togetherness amongst the workers.
The sample group used for the research conducted in the journals mainly consist of employees from manufacturing companies. Data
were collected via an investigator developed questionnaire, and responses for all scales were made on a 5-point Likert scale ranging
from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Because self-report measures were collected on a single occasion from the employee
himself or herself, steps were taken to attempt to reduce the potential influences of social desirability and common method bias.

Findings and Conclusions

Strom et al. (2013) found that there is indeed a positive relationship between authentic leadership and employee trust and that the
supervisor’s consistency in words and actions have the strongest influence on the employee behaviour. They also note that
organisational justice plays a critical role in the individual’s perceived organisational support (POS), which refers to the extent to
which employees perceive the organisation cares about their well-being and appreciates employee contributions (Eisenberger et al.,
1986).
The journal by Carasco-Saul et al. (2014) infers that the all the research on the concept have a singular approach and that a leader
cannot be bound to or stereotyped as possessing one style of leadership. They argue that temporary shifts in style or adoption of
different styles and projecting a combination leadership style has not yet been studied with employee engagement. This can be seen in
every organisation, as human behaviour is volatile and cannot be predicted exactly. It is also important to understand that leadership
styles are a reflection of one’s personal traits and moral system inculcated within the individual.
Gruman & Saks (2011) propose a model to integrate performance management and employee engagement which would include –
performance agreement, goal setting, psychological agreement, engagement facilitation, appraisal and feedback. The model focuses on
engagement which helps create a different managerial perspective and a more employee-oriented approach towards management.
They also argue that role of supervisors need to be recast as coaches who design tasks and provide support and resources to the
employee to not only energise them towards the activity but also absorb them in their jobs.
The study conducted by Wand and Hsieh (2013) focuses on the importance of authentic leadership and its impact on employee
behaviour. They emphasise on their research finding that trust acts as an adhesive, a cohesive bond that links, people, processes and
the environment and improve the level of employee engagement and overall success rate of the organisation.
From the above, it can be concluded that for an organisation to function it is important that its human resource is understood and that
the employees must be provided with the stability of tenure and the opportunity to voice our concerns, ideas or suggestions.
The “inclusion versus efficiency paradox” represents a clear trade-off that a manager must decide on, however, successful and
efficient managers are able to strike a balance between the two by maintaining a delicate balance between authority and employee
engagement and inclusion.
S. no Full APA Reference Citation Article Title Journal Name K PI

Problem Identification: The study attempts to identify the

types of leadership behaviour that affect employee
engagement

Managerial Role: It was noted that leaders that act as

figureheads and spokespersons tend to encourage
employees to feel empowered and helped integrate their
Carasco-Saul, M., Kim, W., &
values with the organisational values.
Kim, T. (2014). Leadership and
Employee Engagement. Human
Management Principles: Henry Fayol's management
Resource Development Review, Carasco-
principles 'espirit de corps' is related to promoting unity
14(1), 38–63. Saul, M., Leadership Human Resource
and team spirit.
1 doi:10.1177/153448431456040 Kim, W., & and Employee Development
This is defined under the function - Directing - where
6 Kim, T. Engagement Review
managers must have the interpersonal skills to be able to
(2014)
empower their subordinates.
Retrieved from:
Connecting current situation with any Management
Research gate
Theory and Management Approaches :
Supercell, a gaming giant, only has 200+ employees;
however, they achieve revenue of USD 2.3 Billion by
focusing on facilitating employee engagement. Here,
we can see Elton Mayo's Human relations theory in play,
wherein being attentive of the employee needs and
suggestions helps boost employee morale
 Journal
S. no Full APA Reference Citation Article Title K PI
Name
Problem Identification: The study argues that
customer engagement is possible only through
employee engagement.

Managerial Role: It was noted that leaders that

act as liaisons and disturbance handlers are
able to establish a good connection with the
employees and help them with issues and
problems and in turn making them relate with
the organisational goals.

S, Swathi. (2013). Impact of

Leadership On Employee Management Principles: Henry Fayol's
International
Engagement. International Journal of management principles 'stability of tenure of
Journal of
Marketing, Financial Services & Impact of personnel' which indicates that employee
Marketing,
Management Research, 2(5), 151- S, Swathi. Leadership On retention is of utmost priority and should be a
2 Financial
157. ISSN 2277-3622 (2013) Employee priority.
Services &
Engagement This is defined under the function - Staffing -
Management
Retrieved from: which entails recruiting and selecting the right
Research
http://indianresearchjournals.com/p employees and providing them with the
df/IJMFSMR/2013/May/14.pdf required encouragement and recognition.

Connecting current situation with any

Management Theory and Management
Approaches :
In light of COVID-19, retaining employees not
only provides them with a sense of stability and
job security but also shows that the
organisation is people-centric. Adopting,
sItuational theory several companies, are trying
to retain employees by cutting costs in order to
survive the pandemic-driven recession.
S. no Full APA Reference Citation Article Title Journal Name K PI
Problem Identification: The study argues that an
important function served by effective leaders in
the provision of direct and unambiguous
information about organisational goals and
personal rewards.

Managerial Role: It was noted that leaders that

act as Spokesperson and negotiator tend to speak
up when they identify discrepancies and empower
Strom, D. L., Sears, K. L., & Kelly, their subordinates to follow suit.
K. M. (2013). Work
Work
Engagement:The Roles of
Engagement: Management Principles: Henry Fayol's
Organizational Justice and
The Roles of management principles, 'equity' and 'unity of
Leadership
Strom, D. Organizational command' is related to promoting employee voice
Style in Predicting Engagement Journal of
L., Sears, Justice and and engagement.
Among Leadership &
3 K. L., & Leadership This is defined under the function - Directing -
Employees. Journal of Leadership & Organizational
Kelly, K. Style in where managers must have the necessary
Organizational Studies, 21(1), 71– Studies
M. (2013) Predicting negotiation skills to be able to diplomatically
82. doi:10.1177/1548051813485437
Engagement handle and voice out employee concerns.
Among
Retrieved from:
Employees Connecting current situation with any
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1 Management Theory and Management
177/1548051813485437  Approaches :
Systems approach states that organisation's
success depends on interdependence, synergy
and interrelations between subsystems. This is
only possible if employees are freely
communicating with the management. Companies
should seek out suggestions during the lockdown,
to improve efficiency, given that working from
home can be monotonous and lead a lack of
motivation to work and decreased productivity.
 Journal
S. no Full APA Reference Citation Article Title K PI
Name
Problem Identification: The study attempts to
explore the relationship between positive
leadership and employee trust and engagement.

Managerial Role: It was noted that leaders that

act as Figureheads and disseminators tend to
effectively promote positive behaviour within the
employees providing them with the incentive to
value organisational interests and connect with
Wang, D.-S., & Hsieh, C.-C. the company goals.
(2013). The effect of authentic
leadership on employee trust and Management Principles: Henry Fayol's
employee engagement. Social The effect of management principles 'Initiative' and 'unity of
Behavior and Personality, 41(4), authentic command' is related to promoting employee
Wang, D.-
613–624. doi:10.2224/sbp.2013.41. leadership on Social voice by providing employees with the
S., &
4 4.613 employee Behavior and encouragement to create and carry out plans;
Hsieh, C.-
trust and Personality also, having one efficient superior helps to
C. (2013)
Retrieved from: employee establish close rapport with the manager.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication engagement This is defined under the function - Directing -
/263197526_The_effect_of_authentic_lea where managers must possess the necessary
dership_on_employee_trust_and_employ interpersonal and communication skills to
ee_engagement effectively disseminate the priorities and also be
able to motivate the employees in the process.

Connecting current situation with any

Management Theory and Management
Approaches: Human relations theory - This
stands true, in the current case, when working
from home can be challenging, it is important
that the company tries to maintain the well-being
of its employees.
S. no Full APA Reference Citation Article Title Journal Name K PI
Problem Identification: The study explores the
relationship between employee engagement and
performance. The study also aims at conceptualising a
model of the job performance of management that
considers employee engagement as a central factor.

Managerial Role: It was noted that leaders that act as

Negotiators and Liaisons tend to improve employee
engagement which in turn enhances job performance
at, ultimately, organisational performance.
Gruman, J. A., & Saks, A. M.
(2011). Performance Management Principles: Henry Fayol's management
principles 'Initiative' and 'unity of command' is related
management and employee
to promoting employee voice by providing employees
engagement. Human Resource
Performance with the encouragement to create and carry out plans;
Management Review, 21(2), Gruman, J. Human
management also, having one efficient superior helps to establish
123–136. A., & Resource
5 and close rapport with the manager.
doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2010.09.00 Saks, A. Management
employee This is defined under the function - Directing and
4 M. (2011 Review
engagement Controlling- where managers must possess the
necessary communication skills and the willingness to
Retrieved from: take actions in order to achieve goals and improve
performance.
Science Direct 
Connecting current situation with any Management
Theory and Management Approaches :
Human relations theory states that employees are more
motivated by individual approach and belonging to a
group compared to compensation and work climate.
Companies such as Google, have lower employee
turnover because individuals feel empowered to
practice employee voice and are able to connect with
the organisational goals and foster high levels of
commitment with themselves.