Employee engagement is an approach in relation to the workplace that results in producing the right condition for all the members of the organisation. Employee engagement results in the organizational success and helps in attaining the goals of the organisation (Brown, Crossley and Robinson 2014). A positive culture can be introduced into the workplace with the help of proper leadership traits. This report focuses on the fact regarding how employees can be engaged by creating a positive atmosphere at the workplace. This report also discusses the key competencies that are essential for the 21st century leader.
Culture of the workplace is of crucial importance as a positive environment translates into producing increased revenue. The culture has an effect on the attitude of the employees and a negative culture produces dissatisfied employees. Some business have a workplace culture that has a rigid style in relation to the management whereas there are others that have a flexible culture (Rego et al., 2014). Workplace culture should be communicated to the employees from the outset. The attitude of a business leader has an important bearing on the quality of work being produced in the workplace. By showing gratitude, an ideal leader will be able to produce a positive environment in the work place.
The positive aspects should be focussed when a leader interacts with his subordinates. The accomplishments and abilities of the employees should be highlighted that will create a positive atmosphere in the workplace. This can act as a great motivation tool that can create an ideal environment at the work place. The employees should be complemented and even a small accomplishment should be highlighted within the organisation. Whenever an employee feels unmotivated, the manager should laud his efforts and appreciate him that will help him in getting over the frustration (Birasnav 2014). He should be made to feel valued so that he gets motivated to perform better in the organization.
According to Solomon Markos, people should have a sense of purpose in order to be happy in the work place. The leader should be able to make the employees feel how their task contributes to the overall development of the organisation. The employees should be motivated to strive for a better performance by the management. Engaged employees can help the organization to succeed. The managers should take responsibility for their health and well-being and encourage the staff to perform the same. The management should be able to prevent the ill-health of the workers on account of work-related stress in order to create a good environment at the workplace.
The employers should be able to handle workplace stress and the six arenas of work in the words of Solomon Markos that leads to stress are-demands, control, support, relationship, role and change. The arena of demand includes that of work pattern and control is indicative of the say that the person has in relation to their work (Tsai et al., 2015). Support is in reference to the encouragement along with resources that is provided by the organisation. Relationships promote the creation of a positive working environment in order to steer clear of conflict. Another important area that is important is in regard to the role within the ambit of organisation and whether the roles are conflicting. Another issue that leads to stress is that of managing the organisational change (Liden et al., 2014). The employers should consult with the occupational health department and psychological risk assessments should be carried out at regular interval. These assessments should be reviewed from time to time whenever there is a significant change in the arena of work. The modern environment at the workplace is complex and involves a lot of stress. The employers should be able to provide a healthy working environment that would eventually result in the development of the company and add to the revenue of the company (Mishra, Boynton and Mishra 2014).
It is opined by James K. Clifton, conflict is an integral part in relation to the employment relationship. The scope of modern organisation is complex and it is composed of people coming from different back grounds. Misunderstandings are often created owing to cross-signals and it is on account of the differences in the manner individuals perceive the world. Continuous change in relation to the working environment and the pressure of producing quality services to the clients often result in increasing the conflict in relation to the work place (Bouckenooghe, Zafar and Raja 2015). The era of reduced resources necessitates that the managers provide a working environment that is supportive. The environment should be able to respect the dignity of the work force. Fair competition in between the individuals is a positive factor that can help in improving quality of work in an organization. It helps in the creation of innovation within the team. Tension gives rise to discord and creates negative conflict. The employers should be able to handle disagreement in the proper manner (Lu et al., 2014).
Open feedback mechanisms should be integrated within the organisation that can help the employees to provide feedback and provide suggestions in relation to certain specific areas. The employees should act as change agents and bring about revolutionary ways in relation to operation. Respecting diversity within the organization helps in creating a positive culture in the arena of workplace. Dialogue should be integrated within the organization that suggests the significance of diversity and inclusion in the organization. The workplace should be able to identify the distinctive skills of the professionals that is irrespective of gender and religion (Northouse 2015). Organization acts as a melting pot of the cultures and common awareness should be created among the employees in relation to the language and culture. A learning environment should be integrated within the organization that encourages the idea of creative thinking. The organization should be eco-friendly and good corporate citizenship should be encouraged within the organization.
Researchers have come to the conclusion that when the managers come across disagreements they should never take it for granted but rather take active steps in order to resolve the conflict. The minor conflicts go out of hand at times and the minor conflicts should be resolved at the initial stage so that it does not turn into something big. Unresolved conflict results in time and energy being diverted away from that of activities that can result in accomplishment of the organisational goals. They give rise to poor co-operation and reduce the motivation. Timely intervention is of crucial importance in maintaining the work place culture and it reduces the risk in relation to escalation. It also gives the opportunity for exploration of ideas and to look out for alternative approach in relation to the problems.
Effective leadership depends to a great extent on the traits that are possessed by a leader. An effective leader should possess the following qualities-intelligent, alert, insightful, responsible and be self-confident. General cognitive ability is one of the most important attribute of an ideal leader. Creative reasoning abilities along with problem-solving skills are important attributes for a leader. These qualities determine whether a leader will be successful or not in the realm of the professional world.
General intelligence is extremely important and is an important yardstick for measuring the effectiveness in relation to leadership. Spreitzer, McCall and Mahony has pointed forward to the association between that of analytical ability and the ratings of the executive potential along with that of current managerial performance (Tannenbaum, Weschler and Massarik 2013). Recent studies has highlighted the fact that creative thinking accounts for an ideal leadership trait and it is particularly in relation to compex problem solving skills. Mouly and Sankaran has pointed out that creative capacity is directly related to that of performance of leader. Tierney, Farmer and Graen has deduced that the creative skills of the leader are directly related to the creativity that is displayed by the members of the group (DuBois et al., 2015).
The personality of the leader is of exceeding importance in the modern world. According to Stephen J. Zaccaro, personality traits can be sub-divided in five important headings like neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience. Salgado has pointed forward to the thing that emotional stability and agreeableness are important attributes in relation to ideal leadership. Stevens and Ash has stated that extroversion along with conscientiousness are directly related to that of job performance. It was found that agreeableness along with openness was related to that of greater performance in relation to participative management style (Daft 2014).
According to Cary Kemp, optimism, adaptability along with pro activity are important traits in a leader. The trait theory in relationship to leadership is dependent to a great extent on the characteristics of leaders and it can help in judging whether the leadership will be effective. Scholars use the trait approach in order to identify the personality and social characteristics in relation to leadership. Those leaders who are successful have interests and abilities that are different from those that are less effective. These traits act as preconditions that bestow the people with leadership related potential. The core traits are that of achievement drive, cognitive ability and emotional maturity. The trait theory has been validated by a lot of scholars (Antonakis 2017). It works as a yardstick on the basis of which the leadership traits in relation to an individual can be assessed.
There is some amount of disagreement regarding which traits can prove to be more effective. List in relation to traits is very long and different traits have been recognized in different leaders that makes it a bit difficult to generalise on the ideal leadership traits.The trait theory produces constructive information in relation to the leadership. Management can use the information in relation to the theory in order to evaluate their position within that of the organization. It can help in understanding how the position of an individual can be made stronger within the organization (Landis, Hill and Harvey 2014). It can help in understanding regarding the strengths and weakness in relation to the management within an organization.
A leader who wants to keep his employees happy should be able to develop operating system along with a culture that reinforces the role that an individual plays within the community. (Van van Wart and Dicke 2016).Leaders should perceive the firm like that of a nested set of communities and individuals are the main components of each of these set of community. Nurturing in relation to the communities- sub-segment of firm like that of work-groups and overall community-is the primary task of business leaders.
It has been opined by Cantor and Kihlstorm, that a leader should be able to realize that social events like picnic and holiday parties are of great importance for the firm and they help in enhancing the communities. They become a vehicle in generating value in relation to the individuals. They act as an important component in relation to the happiness of the employees.
Individuals develop a sense of identity when they feel proud about their place within the relevant community. Paige Bader has deduced that positive pride along with respect helps in generating positive identification by individual within a community (Hunter et al., 2013). When an employee develops a positive sense of pride and can identify with the firm then he will be willing to go beyond that of set-out mandatory behaviour and engage themselves in discretionary behaviour.
The findings suggest that a direct relationship exists between that of emotional intelligence and that of happiness and the former leads to a greater experience of the latter. Happiness is dispositional instead of being circumstantial. Self esteem, optimism, extraversion and sense of control are the important traits that keep an employee happy and the organization should be able to provide the employees with these so that they feel themselves to be an integral part of the organization. Daniel Goleman made an analysis of 150 jobs in 120 organizations and it was found that emotional competency helped in differentiating between that of star performer and that of other typical performer. IQ accounted for variation in relation to job performance but the greatest difference was made by abilities like that of controlling the emotions of other people and that of identification of the emotions of other people. Hay McBer studied different executives at 20 global organization and found out that the competency that was of great importance for success was related to that of emotional competence (Higgs and Dulewicz 2016).
A workplace culture that is flexible accounted for the success of the organization as the employees could voice out their own opinion and ideas. This makes the employees feel committed to the organization and give their best for the growth of the organization. The finding has highlighted the fact that workplace culture should be communicated to the employees from the very beginning. An ideal leader should show gratitude that will help him in creating positive environment in the organization. Hac McBer’s study has indicated that a sense of purpose is integral for the success of an organization. The leader make the employees feel motivated by expounding on their achievements and it should be communicated to them how their work is important for the organization (Roueche, Baker and Rose 2014). The abilities of the employees should be praised and it will create a positive atmosphere in the organization. Findings has suggested that this can act as a great motivation tool and create an ideal environment within the arena of work. The management should be keen in prevention of the ill-health of the workers due to work-related stress. It has also been deduced from the different research that knowing how to manage organisational change is crucial for the successful growth of the organisation. Employers should engage themselves in consultation with the occupational health department in order to ascertain the mental health of the workers.
Conclusion
Creative reasoning ability is of crucial importance for a leader and he can solve a lot of problems by taking recourse to the idea of critical thinking. Problem-solving skills can make a leader popular among the subordinates and contribute to effective growth of the organization. These qualities determine whether a leader is fit for the professional world. Social events like that of picnic along with holiday parties can help in creating a positive atmosphere within the organization and lead to employee engagement. They help in creating value in the employees of an organization. Misunderstandings are created in the workplace on account of cross-signals and they should be resolved in a peaceful manner that will help in creating a positive atmosphere in the organization. Continuous change in the working environment leads to complications in the work environment and they should be resolved effectively for the perfect development of the organization. Pressure of producing quality services to clients results in conflict and they should be handled in a harmonious manner for the perfect growth of the company. Self esteem and optimism are important attributes and the management should work in such a manner that these qualities will be ingrained in the employees. Culture in an organisation is of great importance because a positive environment will eventually translate into increased revenue and lead to the growth of the organisation.
References:
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