There’s some recent research suggests that value congruence – the extent to which employees can behave at work consistent with their own self-image – might enhance employee engagement. Employees are just not likely to fully invest their head, hands, and hearts in work they don’t find meaningful.
But employees also need to believe their work is manageable. This recent research also showed a link between perceived organizational support and engagement.
Individuals feel safe in organizational contexts perceived to be trustworthy, secure, predictable, and clear in terms of behavioral consequences….Individuals with trusting interpersonal relationships in supportive organizational environments are able to take risks, expose their real selves, and try and perhaps fail without fearing the consequences (Kahn, 1990)…Thus, supportive management and interpersonal relationships foster feelings of psychological safety that increases willingness to engage fully in work roles. (Rich, et al. 2010, p. 621).
Just to be clear, let me show you some of the questions the researchers asked employees in order to measure perceived organizational commitment:
- The organization takes pride in my accomplishments
- The organization really cares about my well-being
- The organization values my contributions to its well-being
- The organization strongly considers my goals and values
- The organization shows little concern for me (reverse scored)
Employees need support at work if they are expected to deliver the performance and citizenship that result from engagement. If employees believe they work for folks that don’t value their contributions or care about their well-being, they won’t feel safe enough to fully engage in their work.
I think this is ultimately a supervisory issue. If the organization is sincerely trying to provide this support to employees but discovers that individual supervisors are not fully “engaged” in the effort, those supervisors need to be developed or replaced. If you as a supervisor work for an organization that does not sincerely care about you or your direct reports, you should do your best to stop that “shit from rolling downhill” and provide those you have been given the privilege to supervise with as much support as you can.
As I’ve said a number of times, there is no substitute for caring. We now have some credible evidence for a link between caring, engagement, and employee performance.
[This post originally appeared on Positive Organizational Behavior. Find more great content at www.bretlsimmons.com]
Bret L. Simmons, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Management in the College of Business at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), where he teaches courses in organizational behavior, leadership, and personal branding to both undergraduate and MBA students. Bret blogs about leadership, followership, and social media at his website Positive Organizational Behavior. You can also find Bret onTwitter,Facebook, and Linkedin.
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