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Page 1: ENGAGED TO PUBLIC SERVICE - University of Haifa8|JANU ARY 2013 HR NEWSM G ZI employee engagement employee engagement employee engagement E mployee engagement represents an affective,

| 8 | JANUARY 2013 HR NEWS MAGAZINE

� employee engagement � employee engagement � employee engagement �

Employee engagement represents an affective, motivational,work-related state of mind characterized by feelings ofpersistence, vigor, fulfillment, enthusiasm, absorption and

dedication. It has become an intriguing issue for human resourceprofessionals due to its potentially optimal means of redefining theemployee-organization relationship.

Moreover, there is increasing awareness that employee engagementis also crucial to the successful performance of one’s job. For exam-ple, recent studies, including one by Gallup Consulting in 2007(Employee Engagement. The employee side of the human sigma equa-tion), as well as one by J.K. Harter, F.L. Schmidt and T.L. Hayesin 2002 (“Business-unit-level relationship between employee satis-faction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis,” published in the vol. 87, no. 2 issue of the Journal ofApplied Psychology) and another, in 2005, by Towers Perrin (Work-ing Today: Understanding what drives employee engagement) havedemonstrated the uniqueness of employee engagement as a factorin high levels of job performance, good citizenship behaviors, opti-mal service provision, improvement of client satisfaction and qual-ity service

Thus, it is not surprising that employee engagement has caughtthe attention of human resource professionals. But that is in theprivate sector. Does this finding translate to the sphere of public

By Liat Eldor and Eran Vigoda-Gadot

ENGAGED TOPUBLIC SERVICE: Strategies for EnhancingEmployees’ Engagement in Government Agencies

service? The answer is yes. Public sector service today faces seriouschallenges. And one of the keys to meeting these challenges isengaged public employees.

The Meaning of EmployeeEngagementWhen human resource practitioners talk about employee engage-ment, they are referring to involvement, passion, enthusiasm, andenergy. For example, the 2005 Towers Perrin Global Workforcereport defines engagement as employees’ willingness and ability tohelp their organization succeed, largely by providing discretionaryeffort on a sustained basis. In addition, Gallup Consulting (2007)conceptualizes engagement as an individual's pride in and passionand enthusiasm for work.

Much of the academic research on employee engagement has beeninspired by William A. Kahn’s definition of the concept as “theharnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles bywhich they employ and express themselves physically, cognitively,and emotionally during role performance”—a definition whichappeared in his article, “Psychological conditions of personalengagement and disengagement at work, in the Academy ofManagement Journal (p. 694). According to this view, work roles

Page 2: ENGAGED TO PUBLIC SERVICE - University of Haifa8|JANU ARY 2013 HR NEWSM G ZI employee engagement employee engagement employee engagement E mployee engagement represents an affective,

purpose, and connotes involvement, commitment, passion, enthu-siasm, focused effort and energy” (p. 4), and a “discretionary effortor a specific form of in-role or extra-role effort or behavior” (p. 6).

In sum, the notion of employee engagement as an active, motiva-tional and fulfilling state of mind related to work broadens ourview of the meaning of the employee-organization relationship inthe contemporary organizational setting.

Focusing on engagement may offer benefits to both public sectororganizations and their employees.

Employee Engagement in PublicServiceWhy is engagement so important in the public sector? More thanever before, public service managers would agree that employeeshave a critical impact on an organization’s effectiveness. At a timewhen public service organizations are expected to provide effectiveand high-quality service in an economy of constant budget cutting,they must be lean and learn to achieve more with less. Thus, theyneed engaged employees who are proactive and take responsibility

WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG JANUARY 2013 | 9 |

� employee engagement � employee engagement � employee engagement �

allow employees to invest their physical, cognitive and emotionalenergies in a holistic and simultaneous fashion.

Interestingly, it is the issue of burnout that has stimulated researchon engagement. In their book The Truth About Burnout: HowOrganizations Cause Personal Stress and What to do About it (©1997,San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass), Christina Maslach and MichaeP. Leiter used the Maslach Burnout Inventory to define engage-ment as the opposite end of a continuum between engagement andburnout: exhaustion (vs. vigor), cynicism (vs. involvement), andineffectiveness (vs. efficacy).

Wilmar B. Schaufeli, Marisa Salanova, Vicente Gonzalez-Romaand Arnold B. Bakker propose a slightly different taxonomy ofengagement as a distinct concept, one that is negatively related toburnout. Accordingly, they define engagement as “…a positive,fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor,dedication, and absorption,” in their article, “The measurement ofengagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factoranalytic approach (p. 74), published in 2002 in the Journal ofHappiness Studies.

In a 2008 review entitled “The Meaning of Employee Engage-ment,” William H. Macey and Benjamin Schneider describeengagement as “…a desirable condition, has an organizational CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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| 10 | JANUARY 2013 HR NEWS MAGAZINE

in order to achieve the desired performance standards. However,studies by the Gallup Organization show that more than 74percent of U.S. employees are disengaged from their work. More-over, a quarter of these are “actively disengaged,” and constitute thegreatest concern for HR professionals because they spread theirdisconnect among their peers and to the outside world. In addition,as Paula K. McDonald, Kerry A. Brown and Lisa M. Bradleypointed out in their 2005 article, “Have traditional career pathsgiven way to protean ones? Evidence from senior managers in theAustralian public sector,” which appeared in Career DevelopmentInternational, the need for self-fulfillment is emerging as a signifi-cant element for public service employees as well. Accordingly, theynow prefer to establish a different dialog with their public organi-zation employers, seeking to satisfy their self-actualization andpersonal growth needs.

Engagement consists of mission-related characteristics such asdedication, absorption and devotion—a core goal of the activity ofpublic service employees towards the state and the public. Thisunique sense of purpose calls for committed, involved, and engagedpublic sector employees who serve rather than simply do the job.

Indeed, we, along with Lior Schohat, have found a high level ofengagement among public sector employees in comparison toprivate sector employees, which indicates that the importanceemployees place on contributing to the public service mission oftheir organizations may provide psychological rewards thatcompensate for the low levels of their extrinsic rewards. We there-fore feel that engagement is essential for building modern publicadministrations. The drive to instill a sense of “mission” amongpublic personnel may encourage higher levels of effectiveness andquality service that will benefit citizens, policy makers and otherstakeholders in the public sphere.

Moreover, employee engagement fits with the core values of initia-tive and affect of New Public Management, which encourageresponsiveness and sensitivity to public needs and quality service.Research demonstrates that engagement is positively related to theproviding of good service and the improvement of client satisfac-tion, which might, in turn, according to the 2008 article “Publicsector management and the democratic ethos: A five-year study ofkey relationships in Israel,” by Eran Vigoda-Gadot and ShlomoMizrahi, published in the Journal of Public Administration Researchand Theory, lead to increased satisfaction with public services andtrust in government agencies.

Indeed, studies such as the 2006 one by Haksoo Lee, N. JosephCayer and G. Zhiyong Lan (“Changing federal governmentemployee attitudes since the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978,”published in vol. 26, no. 1 of Review of Public Administration), andby Laurie E. Paarlberg (“The impact of customer orientation ongovernment employee performance,” published in vol. 10, no. 2 ofInternational Public Management Journal) have found positive rela-tionships between employees’ motivation and customer orientation.

This is also where the concept of Public Sector Motivation camefrom and became so influential in better understanding perform-ance of public employees, wrote James L. Perry in his 1996 article,“Measuring Public Service Motivation: An Assessment ofConstruct Reliability and Validity,” which was published in the vol.6, no. 1 (1996 January 1996) issue of the Journal of Public Adminis-tration and Research. In addition, research by Christina Maslachand Michael P. Leiter published in the vol. 93 (2008) issue of Jour-nal of Applied Psychology (“Early predictors of job burnout andengagement”) demonstrates that engagement is negatively relatedto burnout across time, sectors and cultures. Reducing the levels ofburnout of public sector employees, especially among employeeswho provide service to the public, may improve the level of respon-siveness towards the public, influence the efficiency of this sectorand improve the services they provide. Thus, employee engage-ment seems to be a key component necessary for meeting the chal-lenges that public service organizations face and may help themachieve their goals.

Antecedents of EmployeeEngagement in the Public Sector Studies have thus far mentioned several questions worthy of exam-ination in this context. For example, what drives engagement?How can we engage our public service employees? What factorspersuade employees to “go the extra mile” and provide quality serv-ice to the public? The 2010 Best Places to Work in the U.S.Federal Government rankings offer the most comprehensiveassessment of what drives federal employees to engage in theirjobs. The report includes 290 federal organizations and more than263,000 employees. The report shows that some of the mostengaged employees are in highly demanding work environmentssuch as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the GovernmentAccountability Office. The factors that contribute most to encour-aging employee engagement are: 1) a match between the employ-ees’ skills and the organization’s mission, 2) the opportunity forpersonal development, and 3) effective leadership.

1. A match between the employees’ skills and the organization’smission – Engaged employees need to feel that their work is valu-able and makes a meaningful contribution to the achievement of

� employee engagement � employee engagement � employee engagement �

Engaged CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

“We therefore feel that

engagement is essential

for building modern public

administrations.”

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� employee engagement � employee engagement � employee engagement �

WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG JANUARY 2013 | 11 |

their organization's goals. Furthermore, they must believe that thework they are doing matches their values and is important forthemselves and others.

2. The opportunity for personal development – In order to feelengaged, employees need to feel they are constantly learning anddeveloping. Challenge plays a key role in facilitating engagedemployees. Thus, having access to opportunities for career growthand personal development is important in encouraging engage-ment.

3. Effective leadership – Inspiring leadership that gives employeesthe autonomy to make decisions with clear goals and accountabilityleads to more engaged employees. It also provides an appropriaterole model of desired organizational behaviors.

While improving the level of engagement in public service may notbe easy, it is certainly possible. Employee engagement can bestrengthened without investing a lot of money or resources. More-over, concentrating on achieving this goal will reap significantadvantages and benefits for the organization, the employees andthe public.

HR Strategies for EnhancingEmployee Engagement in PublicService In order to create government services that perform at a high level,we propose several strategies for HR managers that incorporate thevalue of engagement across all levels of the organizational system.

1. Use employee engagement as a selection criterion for publicservice employment – Utilize engagement values as indicators forhiring employees who are devoted, have initiative and a passionaterelationship with public service.

2. Use employee engagement as a criterion in appraisal systems –Develop a performance evaluation system that appraises andrewards employee engagement values such as initiative, dedicationto the client, and continuous improvement.

3. Promote the social significance of the job – Creating social inter-actions with service beneficiaries may provide a face for employees’engagement values and translate abstract organizational goals intomeaningful action. Sharing stories that convey the social significanceof one’s work may also have a positive effect on employees’ engage-ment. In other words, HR managers should inspire employees to beengaged by clearly communicating how their work benefits society.Indeed, Philip E. Crewson noted, in his 1997 Journal of PublicAdministration Research and Theory article, “Public service motiva-tion: Building empirical evidence of incidence and effect (vol. 7, no.4) that federal employees who associated themselves with theirmission were more engaged in their work.

4. Base the organization’s mission and vision on employees’engagement values – Use the organizational mission as an engage-ment tool. In other words, develop a mission statement that

describes a vision of engagement and emphasizes the opportunityafforded by that public sector mission. Then, communicate thisvision through both formal mission statements and informalmeans such as organizational stories, myths, and symbols.

5. Promote engagement through leadership – An importantspringboard for promoting engagement values is leadership. Theupper echelon must lead by example, model the interaction withthe public that it seeks, and express passion, enthusiasm and asense of mission about the organization’s work. In other words,public service managers should not only explain what employeesshould do, but also why and how to do it. Public service leadersshould also emphasize the value of the employees’ contribution tosociety and make them feel their work is a worthwhile and impor-tant mission. Such communication is crucial in facilitating engage-ment in the public service arena.

Redefining Employee-PublicOrganization Relationships throughEmployee EngagementEngagement has the potential for redefining the optimalemployee-public organization relationship. The traditionalemployee-organization approach sees the viewpoint of the organi-zation as the starting point, while the employee’s perspective isincidental. We believe that a positive, holistic, and fulfilling state ofmind that expresses itself through employee engagement repre-sents a mutually beneficial employee-public organization relation-ship that sees the employee as a critical component. Moreover, ahighly engaging organizational culture may create a brand thatattracts and retains the best talent.

Engagement can also contribute to better public service, because ithas a special bearing on the citizens who interact with it. Modernpublic service organizations need their employees to be proactive,show initiative, feel dedicated, take responsibility and be commit-ted to high quality performance standards and effectiveness. AsHRM expert Dave Ulrich (1997) argues in his book HumanResource Champions (© 1997, Harvard Business School, Boston,Mass.), “Employee contribution becomes a critical issue because intrying to produce more output with less employee input, organiza-tions have no choice but to try to engage not only the body but themind and soul of every employee” (p. 125). In conclusion, integrat-ing the paradigm of engagement into the HR agenda of publicagencies will promote the functioning of their employees and offerbenefits to citizens, policy makers and other stakeholders in thepublic sphere.

Liat Eldor is doctoral student at the University of Haifa, Israel. Shecan be contacted by email at [email protected]

Eran Vigoda-Gadot is professor of public administration and manage-ment at the School of Political Science, University of Haifa, Israel. Hecan be contacted by email at [email protected]. —N