[Include any grant/funding information and a complete correspondence address.]
Comprehensive Scholarly Analysis
Challenges
This comprehensive scholarly analysis will start with the challenged faced by a business executive, "Dr. Marsh". He has experience in business, organizational leadership, development, and change occurring in other several industries for more than 25 years. Dr. Marsh throughout his career has faced some organizational challenges, and they are part of his professional experiences. These have allowed him to analyze different situations, and explore them to get an appropriate answer. For Dr. Marsh, the real leadership challenge was the structure of the virtual organization, which was dispersed globally. The two critical constructs including employee engagement and performance management ideas were important to be understood. The virtual organization had around 500 workers, who were living in different parts of the globe and worked remotely. These workers involved in dealing with costumers directly, while these workers, were not directly hired by Virtual organization. They were hired on contract for a part-time job in the organization, so that, they would be involved in direct customer services.
With the rapid growth of the organization, it required some major structural changes to ensure organizational growth and maintenance of services. As mentioned by the Doctor, loose structure of service professionals who were hired on contract were supposed to provide customer services and quality work. These contracted professionals had a background of higher qualification, experience of multinational work, and they had also gained experience in remote working around the globe. While, they were also part-time workers, and their connections with the company were tenuous. The problem was to treat them as employees of the organization to make them fearful of violating their local tax laws. These were the major reasons due to which, it was not possible in the organizational environment to promote employee engagement. However, it was also not possible to create a relationship based on trust among teams and create an appropriate work environment. Problems faced by Dr. Marsh continued, and a number of questions were raised resulting in key challenges, which included the methods of introducing a culture of engagement, effective processes to promote performance management, and lastly constructing a leadership structure.
Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is defined as a level of commitment, efforts for work, and a desire to stay in the organization by the workers ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"7bg6eRIb","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Storey, Welbourne, Wright, & Ulrich, 2008)","plainCitation":"(Storey, Welbourne, Wright, & Ulrich, 2008)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1151,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/AIX2JQC9"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/AIX2JQC9"],"itemData":{"id":1151,"type":"chapter","title":"Employee engagement","page":"299-315","source":"ResearchGate","abstract":"The aspiration to involve, engage and win commitment from employees has long been high on the agenda of a select portion of enlightened management. However, there has been a notable resurgence of interest in employee engagement in recent times and it seems that the phenomenon has evolved and been redrawn. Distinctive posts are now advertised which call, for example, for 'Directors of Employee Engagement' rather than, or sometimes in addition to, Director of HR. Recent conferences linking employer branding to employee engagement also indicate the nature of the trend, and the professional associations for HR professionals in the USA and the UK have both paid close attention to the issue (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2006, 2007; SHRM 2008). The Australian Human Resource Institute has engagement as a key component of its 'Model of Excellence' which incorporates the latest research results from the HR Competency Model developed by Dave Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank of the University of Michigan. The practices and the remit are being reimagined and reinvented.The intensity of interest has been such that the Editor of T&D has moved to ask: 'What's the Big Deal About Employee Engagement?' (Ketter 2008). The purpose of this chapter is to explore the meanings and manifestations of employee engagement in its revitalized mode.We will answer four questions about employee engagement: 1. What does employee engagement mean? 2. What are the outcomes? 3. What are the methods? 4. What are the future theoretical and practical challenges? Answering these four questions will help academics and consultants synthesize and advance engagement work and assist managers and HR professionals to make wiser choices about employee engagement activities and investments.","ISBN":"978-0-415-77204-4","note":"DOI: 10.4324/9780203889015.ch18","author":[{"family":"Storey","given":"John"},{"family":"Welbourne","given":"Theresa"},{"family":"Wright","given":"Patrick"},{"family":"Ulrich","given":"Dave"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2008",12,23]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Storey, Welbourne, Wright, & Ulrich, 2008). Employee engagement helps organizations to minimize stress and conflict, increases confidence of employees, and promotes willingness of employees to work for organizational development. Employee engagement is achieved by creating opportunities, providing incentives, and more importantly having a clear vision by leader. Employee engagement can be ensured by providing a conducive environment that may be beneficial for the organization.
Perspective by Researchers
The theory of self and interaction of people being designated with roles, that are important to be played at their concerned organizations may help to understand the issue of employee engagement. The personal engagement is the process of connecting organizational members with their work and roles which employees have to perform. The process of engagement includes; employee’s physical, cognitive and emotional expressions during their performances and services by people ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"18mKuztX","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Kahn, 1990)","plainCitation":"(Kahn, 1990)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1154,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/IYARYR45"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/IYARYR45"],"itemData":{"id":1154,"type":"article-journal","title":"Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work","container-title":"Academy of management journal","page":"692-724","volume":"33","issue":"4","author":[{"family":"Kahn","given":"William A."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1990"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Kahn, 1990). While, personal disengagement is to move backward from work roles, people deny to continue to work and they try to defend themselves whether it is mental, physical and cognitive denial.
Practitioners’ Perspective
Employees who have been engaged in organizational tasks are always ready to work for their organizations with passion, and they always feel thoughtful about their connections with their companies. Engaged workers and employees in the organization intend to be more creative and help their companies to develop and grow ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"iJ2PIcGw","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Kruger & Killham, 2006)","plainCitation":"(Kruger & Killham, 2006)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1155,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/UB3E786I"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/UB3E786I"],"itemData":{"id":1155,"type":"webpage","title":"Why Dilbert Is Right","container-title":"Gallup.com","abstract":"Gallup research backs up what the comic strip has already told us: The less you like the physical surroundings of your work environment, the more likely you are to be dissatisfied with your job. Read this and other results from the <i>GMJ</i>'s latest survey of U.S. employees.","URL":"https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/21802/Why-Dilbert-Right.aspx","language":"en-us","author":[{"family":"Kruger","given":"Jerry"},{"family":"Killham","given":"Emily"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2006",3,9]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",12,12]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Kruger & Killham, 2006). Employees who are not engaged tend to be separated by their work, they are not active physically and mentally, they always feel unhappy during their working hours and they are also involved in undermining their co-workers.
Performance Management
Performance management is the process of including employees by the managers, so that they may be able to set organizational expectations, rewards to employees based on their performances, review of results, and to make further changes in performances to improve organizations ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"N5wAK4pF","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Den Hartog et al., 2004)","plainCitation":"(Den Hartog et al., 2004)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1156,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/DL5VR8QK"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/DL5VR8QK"],"itemData":{"id":1156,"type":"article-journal","title":"Future directions in performance management","container-title":"Applied Psychology: an lnternational Review","volume":"53","source":"ResearchGate","abstract":"Le management est confronté au défi lancé aux organisations quand elles doivent définir, mesurer et stimuler la performance des salariés avec pour objectif ultime d'améliorer la performance organisationnelle. La gestion des performances implique différents niveaux d'analyse et est manifestement reliée à l'évaluation des performances et aux thèmes relevant du management stratégique des ressources humaines (MRH). Cet article présente un modèle convenant à la gestion des performances qui combine des perspectives issues du MRH stratégique et des psychologies organisationelle et du travail. Le modèle intègre des éléments de différents niveaux et enrichit les modèles antérieurs en prenant explicitement en compte la perception des salariés, le rôle des supérieurs directs et une causalité qui peut être inversée. On présente enfin les défis que les futures recherches devront affronter. Performance management deals with the challenge organisations face in defining , measuring, and stimulating employee performance with the ultimate goal of improving organisational performance. Thus, performance management involves multiple levels of analysis and is clearly linked to the topics studied in strategic human resource management (HRM) as well as performance appraisal. This paper presents a model for performance management combining insights from strategic HRM and work and organisational psychology. The model incorporates multi-level elements, and adds to previous models by explicitly incorporating employee perceptions, the role of direct supervisors, and possible reversed causality. Challenges for future research are also presented.","journalAbbreviation":"Applied Psychology: an lnternational Review","author":[{"family":"Den Hartog","given":"Deanne"},{"family":"Boselie","given":"Paul"},{"family":"Paauwe","given":"Jaap"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2004",1,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Den Hartog et al., 2004). One of the problems for Dr. Marsh was system metrics, which would be helpful for the organization to measure the performance of management. According to Dr. Marsh, performance management was doubtful about effective performance metrics. Therefore, he established a dashboard on the organizational level, which enabled him to collect data about front-line professionals and their interventions.
These challenges were not allowing Dr. Marsh to implement performance management, and employee engagement policies in his virtual organization. These both are important for the growth and development of organizations, because they enable employees to work positively in a conducive environment. Employee engagement ensures the commitment of employees towards their organization, but Dr. Marsh was not able to implement this. the contracted employees were highly qualified who were dealing with customers directly. However, performance management was also not carried, because employees were not directly hired by his company, they were hired on contracts to provide customer services.
Leadership Style
Every organization has a leader who adopts different policies and leadership skills, to make developmental changes and decisions in favor of the organization. Based on the case study, operational leadership would be the relatable leadership style. The Virtual organization required the effective engagement of employees or the front line, therefore, Dr. Marsh was also required to adopt an operational leadership style. He termed this leadership style as the first line of leadership in the organizations, which was important for organizational culture and development. As there was a structural challenge, that was faced by Dr. Marsh, so this can be observed with the help of an operational leadership style, and this deals with the structure of the organization. While, in my opinion, I would adopt entrepreneurship style, because this is also related to the virtual organization. Entrepreneurship leadership style is the style of leadership that emphasizes organizational based creativity, idea sharing, innovation, and implementation of the discussed ideas (Faruk, 2017).
Entrepreneurship is also defined as the leadership style, which focuses on organizing groups and people to achieve a common goal. These are achieved by adopting new and behaviors of risk-taking, making changes to become innovative and by interchanging ideas. It not only affects the product or arrangement of the enterprise but also has a major role in the sustainability of an environment. Entrepreneurs discuss and deal with different aspects to improve develop whether they work as a group or in the form of an organization. Furthermore, this will help organizations to grow with the help of knowledge, and idea-sharing in the market. In addition to that, entrepreneurial leadership helps in creating, changing or removing policies in a particular business enterprise or organization, which may affect their production, the lifestyle of employees. In a nutshell, the future of business organizations depends upon the entrepreneurial leadership skills of the workers and their ability to sustain it for the future. This will allow employees within the organization to participate in organizational policy-making and developmental initiatives. For an organization active participation of employees and their commitment towards their work in terms of creativity, flexibility towards changes and new initiatives.
Cultural Change Model
In this globalized world, many organizations tend to develop and compete with others because they want to develop more, and they want to survive. It is important to note that, organizations are able to survive in the market because they tend to adopt new policies and they aim to involve all of its employees in the strategy-making of their organization. However, strategic development is also important to involve employees in each process carried out to achieve organizational targets and objectives. It is important to discuss the cultural change for the organization, so that, it may develop and involve all of the employees in every action related to the organization. The organizational cultural change model involves different processes but before getting into a discussion it is important to describe the process of change. This is the process that includes organizational executions enabling people to make changes, then it involves the process of freezing and unfreezing. This change emphasizes the current environment of the organization, which hinders the growth and implementation of strategies that are important for an organization.
The organizational cultural change model in particular to the Virtual organizational case study, personnel change would be appropriate. This is selected because Dr, Marsh has been facing issues for the implementation of employee engagement, performance management, policies, and strategies, because of highly qualified employees who have had global virtual experience. However this is a difficult task for an organization but still, it has to be followed to ensure the development of their organizational culture. The personnel change in the sense that, it will help to make such strategies which will focus on the involvement of these employees so that, it would be easier for organizations like virtual organization. It would be easier for the organization to implement employee engagement and performance management of these employees regardless of their qualification and their experience.
Personnel change is important because it enables organizations to change the culture by putting more emphasis on the involvement of every single employee. If this does not help the organizations, then making changes in hiring policies may help to implement policies and strategies. The hiring of employees is important for an organization because it is the process that brings talent to the organization. Personnel change is possible when the organizational leader guides all of the employees to work and follow the organizational strategies and policies. A leader has a responsibility to make appropriate and strong strategies during the hiring process. If organizations fail to follow the appropriate hiring process, then it tends towards failure in achieving organizational objectives, and it hinders implementing appropriate structural changes within the organizational culture.
Global Agent and Actions
Personal change intends to prioritize the process of hiring when organizations need the most. This is a process that will either increase employees' morale or decrease it because personnel change involves hiring and layoffs of employees within the organizations. A leader plays an important role in development of employees, whether it is their performance or their morale. A leader encourages employees to show commitment and dedication to achieve organizational targets. However, it is important to focus more on personnel change because employees are responsible to help organizations to achieve their goals and objectives.
As a global change agent, I would say that the personnel change model is important because gives more importance to the basics of organizations. While, the basics include, making changes within the organization, the process of hiring, and layoffs if required. In any organization, it is important to focus on employees because you make them sources through which you aim to make changes required for the development of your organization. However, these organizational changes may help the organization to compete in the market and survive. Personnel change plays a vital role in organizational culture in the sense that, it gives creative and talented mindsets who would not hinder the strategic planning of the organization. For example, in the case study, some highly qualified employees were not hired by the company but they were hired on contract. As a global agent, I believe that appropriate ways of selection is to promote accountability and to allow skillful people to work in the organizations will help organizations to grow. Accountability and skills of employees are also important to achieve organizational goals and develop positively. The further changes for the organization would be that, it should strengthen virtual management, so that, they may be able to carry hiring and layoff process on time and in an appropriate manner.
For organizations, it is important to hire employees by following an appropriate procedure that is already decided by the organization. As a global change agent, I would focus more on hiring employees as there has to be an appropriate implementation of strategies and plans required for organizational change and development. Organizational success is possible when organizations are able to implement the required and important policies and strategies by the time. They become unsuccessful when they are unable to implement policies and strategies regardless of high qualifications and experiences. To ensure success, it is important to focus on the hiring of employees by following strict and appropriate processes.
Every organization faces challenges, while, a leader plays an important role in handling these problems by making required changes and improvements. Making organizational cultural changes is important to ensure the success and efficiency of an organization. It helps organizations to make appropriate changes with the time, and organizations which are more flexible towards changes become able to bring positive changes, and it also results in the effectiveness of organizations.
Personnel changes may help the organization to implement employee engagement plans and performance management in the organization. As a virtual organization, in this case, faced issues regarding structural changes, therefore, it is important to more focus on hiring and layoff of employees no matter what their qualifications and experiences are. Organizations need to make strict policies and strategies, so that, they would be able to implement desired changes and policies. The mitigation plan emphasizes on the process of planning, so that, it will identify and implement appropriate actions, that are intended to eliminate risks and losses to the organization. The organizational mitigation process includes appropriate planning, so that, the organization may not lead towards failures. The mitigation plan for Virtual organization may be to emphasize more focus on the personnel change and then implement structural changes. These structural changes must be implemented based on the talent, that the organization has hired employees to achieve goals, objectives, and more importantly to compete in the market. The organization has to hire employees directly, they should not be hired based on contracts because indirect hiring of employees hinders the structural changes later on. This also makes difficulties for organizational leaders and management to implement structural changes including employee engagement and performance management. While, both are very important to ensure the success of an organization as they include performance evaluations, commitments, and dedication of employees.
Vision Statement
Every organization believes in the appropriate processes of hiring employees who would show commitment to their works and make a contribution to the development of the organization by adopting an entrepreneurial leadership style. These leadership styles are important for both, the management and employees because they both are directly involved in the success and failure of their organization.
References
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Den Hartog, D., Boselie, P., & Paauwe, J. (2004). Future directions in performance management. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 53.
Esmer, Y., & Faruk, D. A. Y. I. (2017). Entrepreneurial leadership: a theoretical framework. Mehmet Akif Ersoy Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, 4(2), 112-124.
Kruger, J., & Killham, E. (2006, March 9). Why Dilbert Is Right. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from Gallup.com website: https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/21802/Why-Dilbert-Right.aspx
Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4), 692–724.
