Involvement of staff: levels of commitment

The involvement of the organization's personnel in recent years has become an increasingly important indicator of the successful operation of the enterprise. The subject of the theory of employee involvement is the search for ways for the company to achieve its strategic goals and at the same time create a special climate for its employees, in which all of them (and ordinary employees, managers and manager) will be interested in maximum efficiency.

What is Involvement Theory

In fact, it is rather difficult to give any precise definition or clearly formulate the postulates of this theory, since it is based on elementary common sense. The complexity is also due to the fact that for a long time for the organization of management activities often used incorrect, inefficient methods and theories. Today, the development of practices and theories of involvement finally focuses on the real state of things and on common sense.

The brief description of the theory is as follows: the main task of the organization's leader is to create an atmosphere in the enterprise whereby employees could demonstrate maximum productivity, that is, they would be present at their workplaces not only because they are obliged, but also at their own volition. Employee loyalty and involvement (EaP) means employees' interest in the work process, their dedication, initiative and responsibility. For each leader, workers who treat their duties as well as an entrepreneur to their business or like each person to personal matters are extremely helpful. In other words, the involvement of staff is indicative of the extent to which employees are personally interested in activities that fully occupy their attention, and whether they are willing to make every effort to implement it.

Why the theory of involvement is needed

The desire of almost any employer is ideal, productive employees, but few can know how this can be achieved. A theory describing the involvement of staff and methods for improving it is needed as a tool for eliminating ingrained ineffective management practices over a century.

Statistics show that very few employees are fully involved in the work process. A study of staff involvement in Foggy Albion shows that on average only twelve percent of workers in most companies are really interested in their activities. When it comes to European enterprises, the percentage is even lower.

In addition to defining the concept of involvement, the theory allows us to identify the means and the course for raising this indicator. According to many modern leaders, the success of an organization largely depends on the creation of a corporate culture. This is a system in which the involvement of staff at all levels is maintained automatically.

Value

To illustrate the importance of such an indicator as the involvement of staff, you can compare the company with the football team. What would be the results of games with 12% involvement of players? No success in this area is out of the question, if the players are not engaged in the field, and the upcoming dates, the approaching vacation, news from the Internet and other things. Obviously, with the effective management of football teams invariably apply the principles of involvement, however, they have other names.

What is actually employee involvement?

The management of staff involvement is a set of principles, activities and methods, an original approach. With its help, the company's management receives a staff of competent, responsible, proactive and active employees. Each of the employees involved expresses sincere concern for the company they work for. He completely devotes himself to the work process and makes every effort to achieve high work efficiency.

It is necessary to realize that the involvement of the staff is always a mutual interaction, the participants of which are the employer and the employee. This type of relationship becomes possible with the trust and respect between them. Seeking a high VP, the manager or manager of an enterprise must engage in the formation of a clear and broad communication system. He should also clearly indicate to the workers their tasks, to give them the powers that correspond to their competence. In addition, increasing the involvement of staff is inseparable from comfortable working conditions and the corresponding corporate culture.

The difference between company satisfaction and involvement

Since the 70s of the last century , management theory has been constantly updated with new developments designed to improve and optimize the process of personnel management. The most interesting and common were the following theories:

• Job satisfaction.
• Loyalty of employees.
• Authority of employees.

Their main idea is the motivation and interest of the employee in a particular company. Often these theories are confused with the theory of EaP. It can not be said that they have nothing to do with it at all. Being integrated into one and supplemented by newer ideas about management, they can be elements of a sufficiently reliable theory of involvement. The main difference between these concepts is that, unlike the company's high satisfaction, loyalty and motivation, increasing the involvement of staff leads to an improvement in such indicators:

• Quality of service and work with clients.
• Quality of products.
• Productivity of labor.

There is also a significant reduction in the number of absenteeism, delays and unauthorized absences from the workplace, that is, an increase in the level of retention of workers.

The employee involved: who is he?

So, the involvement, the motivation of the staff make workers not just people who are present in the workplace, but conscious and responsible participants in the work process. They prefer to search for new methods and ideas to optimize their activities, instead of perceiving existing rules and established methods of work as the only possible ones.

It can be argued that a truly involved employee has the following qualities:

• Absorption of work. For him, the working day passes quickly.
• Maintaining concentration over long periods.
• Feeling a strong emotional connection with the company.
• Passionate attitude towards work (enthusiasm).
• The desire to expand the scope of its activities (flexibility).
• Adaptation to changing circumstances.
• Striving to develop working skills.
• No need for reminders and orders.
• Timely execution of tasks.
• Perseverance.
• Initiative.
• Orientation to the fulfillment of plans, goals.
• Honesty.
• Responsibility and commitment.
• Commitment to work.

In many ways, the education of employees with such qualities becomes possible with the help of an appropriate corporate culture.

How can you measure employee engagement rates

In order to improve any indicator, it must first be measured. When assessing the phenomena influenced by the human factor, it is extremely difficult to obtain reliable and objective data.

Evaluation of the involvement of personnel is carried out by specialists on the basis of studying the general principles of formation of involvement. Knowing how this phenomenon occurs, you can evaluate it and calculate the index of involvement (IW).

This methodology is based on the fact that the EP includes three components:

• Participation in solving corporate problems.
• Level of interest in the work in general.
• Orientation to increase their productivity, as well as the level of initiative.

All these factors of staff involvement are of great importance for the calculation of IW. However, their share in the numerical index calculated for different companies will differ. For example, for an organization's IW with ambitious corporate objectives, the value of the first factor will become decisive. This is due to the fact that such enterprises are trying to attract the majority of their employees to the solution of common tasks. However, the subtlety lies in the fact that the optimal value of this factor in the IW will not be more than 50 percent, since good ordinary employees are involved in their own labor process.

As a rule, the value of the third factor in assessing the EaP is minimal. Of course, it is taken into account, but rarely exceeds 20 percent. This is not surprising, because the effectiveness of innovation depends on how they will be implemented and used during the work process.

Questioning: the essence of admission

The main source of information about the level of EaP is the survey of company employees in any way. The most informative is the questionnaire, which can be open or anonymous at the request of the employer.

Depending on the size of the company and the scope of research, questionnaires can contain quite a different number of items. Questions formulate in a traditional way or offer to agree / disagree with the thesis.

The answer form can contain options (tests) or the questions remain open. The nature of the answers gives an idea of the extent to which the staff is devoted to the organization.

Examples of key questions

There are several universal questions, the answers to which can provide general information about the level of EaP:

• Do you know what results of your activity the leader expects to see?
• Do you have the materials and equipment necessary for your work?
• Do you have the ability to do what you are doing very well every day of the day?
• During the past week, have you been praised or awarded for quality work?
• Does your manager or employee care for your personal growth?
• Do you have a colleague who encourages your professional growth?
• Do your employees and manager take into account your professional opinion?
• Do you think the statement is correct: due to the objectives of the enterprise's activities, I realize the importance of my work?
• Are your employees interested in doing the job from a high-quality standpoint?
• Do you have a friend at work?
• Have you discussed with someone in the workplace your progress over the past six months?
• Could you learn something new and gain professional growth over the past six months?

After analyzing the data obtained, the company's management makes a decision to introduce changes in the corporate culture and determines what methods of involvement of personnel (more precisely, its increase) will be used.

What can be done to increase involvement?

There are several universal methods that allow you to achieve impressive results soon after implementation:

1. Maintain involvement at the stage of formation of the team. Having the opportunity to choose, it is better to give preference to those candidates who are loyal to the enterprise and would like to use the manufactured product. Being familiar with the products, they will be able to more flexible and non-standard approach to solving unusual situations and to improve its quality. Active and involved employees influence their colleagues.
2. Setting specific and clear goals. Workers who know the composition and purpose of their work duties, work with the greatest productivity. However, the general wording will not have the proper effect. That is, the call to be the best does not work: it should be clarified which privileges follow the achievement of the result. Also, you must first inform the team about the company's standards, algorithms of its work and standards of conduct.
3. Timely promotion. Such a simple and cheap measure, as non-material encouragement, can be an extremely effective lever for increasing involvement. Recognition of the merits of an employee and his contribution to the common cause must necessarily be marked by praise, since it perfectly influences the mood of employees and their desire to work. Of course, this should not be a substitute for traditional awards: bonuses, bonuses, certificates.
4. Providing each employee with the opportunity to develop. In order to maintain the interest of employees to work, and also to show them the general course of the enterprise, experts recommend the organization of trainings, seminars and other mass events.

At such meetings it is recommended to pay attention to sounding the company's orientation for the future, its plans and achievements. By the way, it is here that you can get good feedback from the state.

This method of staff involvement is not a complete list, since each enterprise chooses a strategy taking into account its own capabilities and tasks, as in each organization the levels of staff involvement are different.