Relationship Between Employer and Employees | PEL, Pakistan

race Between Employer and Employees picture element, PakistanE actu eithery business is looking for a key that open up their success and satisfy their employees. Employers need employees who go the extra mile and do their best put to drop dead and employees need undertakings that fulfil their needs and encourage them. simply it gutter be verbalize that employers need an act operateforce. Employee interlocking toilet be said to be a combination of inscription to the musical ar locatement and cheekal citizenship ( all in allowingness to booster out colleagues) (CIPD, 2010).The purpose of this question is to get wind the habit and importance of employee elaborateness and to identify the causes of employee dis enf cardinal-time(a)ing at picture element in Lahore, Pakistan.In todays emulous business environment it is very important for all(prenominal) business to ameliorate productivity and sustain competitive advantage to exist in the market. Marchington (2001 cited in Bratton and Gold, 2007) state that employee booking is a key attri moreovere of employee relations and plays a central role in the development of higher(prenominal) serveance system. Most organisations expect employees to perform well and follow rules and regulations of the prune place engaged employees muckle fulfil such(prenominal) expectations of employers. Similarly employees run through just intimately expectations of job security, fruit in future cargoner, to be paid well and be recognised in response from an brass instrument.A commanding spatial relation held by an employee towards the brass instrument and its respect employee engagement specify by Robinson et al (2004) cited in Markos Sridevi (2010). An engaged employee is aw atomic number 18 of business consideration and cut back with colleagues to improve instruction execution within job for benefit of the placement. pixel must work to develop and nurture engagement, which require a devil -way descent among organisational object and employee.Company ProfileThe question chair be carried out in picture element (PAK ELEKTRON LIMITED), based in Lahore, Pakistan. Pak Elektron special(a) (PEL) was established in 1956 in technical collaboration with AEG of Ger to a greater extent and is a develop of Kohinoor Industries Limited. PEL is the pioneer manufacturer of electrical goods in Pakistan with approximately 7000 employees all over the Pakistan. In October 1978, the company was taken over by Saigol stem of Companies. Since its inception, the company has al slipway been contributing towards the advancement and development of the engineering welkin in Pakistan by introducing a range of quality electrical equipment and home office appliances and by producing hundreds of engineers, skilled workers and technicians through its apprenticeship schemes and training programmes. PEL export many products to otherwise countries like Afghanistan and Bangladesh. PAK ELEKTRON LIMITED spends a considerable amount on employee training and development to improve their performance and to boost organisational productivity (Company History, 2010).thither be ii master(prenominal) divisions in PEL Power part and Appliances persona.PELs Power Division manufactures Transformers, Switchgear, Electric Motors, Energy Meters, Kiosks, Compact Stations, Shunt condenser Banks, etc. of highest quality and of latest international Standards.PELis one of the major(ip) electrical equipment suppliers to Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), and Karachi Electrical tot Corporation (KESC) which argon the monolithicst Power Companies in Pakistan. In additionPELis also supplying to major projects in the private welkin.The PEL Appliances Division was established in 1980-81 when the Company launched the first consumer product to its output range i.e. Window TypeAir conditionersof 19000 BTU. PEL is also manufacturing Refrigerators, Deep freezers, micro-cook Oven, Split Air Conditioners andColour Televisions. This inquiry was carried out in the switchgear crudes variance of power division. Approximately 1000 employees be operative in this department.Organisational linguistic contextPakistan has been facing both economic and political instability over pull through few years in parallel to the global financial crisis. PEL is a manufacturing company that contributes a major part in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. Manufacturing industry is badly influenced by the recent flood and power dearth problem in Pakistan (Statistics Pakistan 2010). Purchasing power of the customers is also adversely influenced by inflation in Pakistan.The direct competitors of PEL ar Dawlance, Waves, LG, and Haier. The Dawlance is market draw in the refrigerator followed by PEL. But PEL is dominant in market with maximum sh be in window room radiate conditioner (WRAC) in Pakistan.Statement of ProblemPEL Annual and monthly production reports show product ion targets were not achieved in time. After discourseion with a PEL HR repre directative it understood that the production gap is perhaps due to low level employee engagement. Some other important agents that grass influence production are machinery faults, poor materials, poor logistics, un handiness of material, fall demand due to recessionary pressures and labour faults such as uninformed worker, skilled workers and low/no employee engagement.Signifi keisterce of ResearchThis inquiry focuses on current employee engagement in PEL. Causes of employee disengagement pull up stakes be place that faecal matter help face to choose take away strategy. PELs mission description says To focus on personal development of our employee to meet the future challenges. PEL is pull to employee engagement and selection of practise according to employees needs and requires is very essential to achieve the organisational goal. An plaque with an engaged workforce apprise perform disc ontinue and employee prat be engaged by divergent factors such as job security, future growth, appreciation, motivation etc. This research helps PEL analyse the level of employee engagement, empowerment, satisfaction and causes of disengagement. This research will be multipurpose to the memorial tablet to displacevass the current employee engagement practices and importance of effective employee engagement practices.Research Aim and verifiablesAimTo identify the effectiveness of employee engagement in PEL PakistanObjectivesTo investigate current levels of employee engagement in PEL.To decisively assess the perceptions of employee engagement by different worker root words in PEL.To recommend an ameliorate tog of practices to aid employee engagement in PEL, Pakistan.Chapter 2Literature refreshEmployee interlockEmployee Engagement is moldd by Corporate leaders Council (2004) cited in Lockwood (2007, p11), The extent to which employees commit to some thing or someone in t heir organization, how hard they work and how great they stay as a result of that fealty. Employee engagement concerns employees beliefs to the highest degree organization, leaders and working conditions. Employee engagement is not except simple job satisfaction and loyalty with employer but it is a passion and shipment with job, willingness to help colleagues and discretionary effort for success of the organization (Macey and Schneider, 2008). Rutledge (2005) also explains truly engaged employees were attracted to and inspired by, their work, committed and fascinated. organisational success depends on engaged employees along with other resources like material, machinery, finances etc. If an organization has disengaged employees it whitethorn probable suffer because throng lavatory be a source of competitive advantage or disadvantage Catlette Hadden, (2001).T here is no universal explanation of employee engagement but according to some authors employee engagement can defin ed as jibe to Kahn (1990, p694) engagement besotteds in engagement people express themselves fleshlyly, cognitively and wound uply during role performance.A positive position held by an employee towards the organization and its value an engaged employee is aware of business context and work with colleagues to improve performance within job for benefit of the organization Robinson et al (2004) cited in Markos Sridevi (2010, p90).Kroth and Boverie (2003) said engaged employees feel passionate and energised by their work. Excitement, enthusiasm and productivity come with passion. Erickson (2005) referred Kroth and Boverie employee engagement definition cited in Macey Schneider (2008, scalawag number) employee engagement is a desirable condition, passion, enthusiasm, commitment, loyalty for organization, focuse effort, energy and connotes engagement this definition also supported by Katzenbach (2000), engaged employees are committed motivated, energetic, enthusiastic and enjoy p roblem solving. Saks and Rotman (2006) argued that commitment is different from engagement, commitment refers to a persons attitude and addition towards the organization whereas engagement is not merely an attitude it is the degree to which an one-on-one is attentive to their work. Employee engagement has both physical and behavioral components. If employees work under all these physical and doingsal conditions the consequences are estimate to be valuable for organizational effectiveness depending upon the nature of the organization. importance of Engagementthither is a psychological relationship between business performance and employee engagement (Harter et al, 2002) and it has a positive impact on both employees and on the organization (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004). Managing the employment in such a way that promotes engagement, employees are said to be happier and organization benefits as a result Harter et al. (2003) cited in Rich (2006). Along with all other factors like labour, machinery, materials and finance etc two important factors lack of commitment and motivation can lead some organizations to poor performance (Harter et al, 2002). An organization that wants to keep cherished workforce, employee engagement is critical for them. Engaged employees look for challenging work in the organization because they are in a cycle of building skills and knowledge so they are finding work according to their abilities (Csikszentmihalyi Hunter 2003). Engaged employees think innovatively for the growth of the organization.Engaged employees perform better than others they think about organizational not personal goals. Employee outcomes, financial performance and organizational success predicted by employee engagement (Saks and Rotman, 2006). There is a link between employee engagement and profitability engagement leads to employee retention that leads to customer satisfaction, a satisfied customer use products again and again that boost organizational prof itability. There is also a physical relationship between engaged employees and the organization, engaged employees express themselves physically in their roles (Kahn 1990).Engaged employees build an emotional relationship with the organization emotions play a vital role in ones performance emotions energize an employee psychologically for an appropriate action (Rich 2006). They put their emotional commitment at work that enables them to bemuse or deliver better services that can constitute as a competitive advantage (Katzenbach, 2000). Their attitudes reflect care for organizations customer thereby it improves customers satisfaction.Key Drivers of Employee EngagementAlong with the definition of employee engagement many authors define several key wedgers of employee engagement. Research shows that there is a relationship between organizational strategy and employees job, employee apprehensiveness that how important is his work for the success of the organization is the most impor tant fight offr of employee engagement Lockwood (2007). Some of factors that not simply aid employee engagement but also hand over means for standard current level of employee engagement in an organization such as organizational subtlety, leadership and communication.In the past, many researchers worked on employee engagement and contributed their ideas in form of models and explained factors that influence employee engagement in the workplace. There are two most important factors that drove employee engagement explained by Hosford (2007) cited in westernmost (2008) awareness about operational and organizational goal, policies and procedures. Other is their participation to drive these goals depending on their knowledge. McCoy (2007) criticised these factors as it is difficult to communicate organizational goals, policies and procedures throughout the organization to foster employee engagement. Gallup (2009), contributed to employee engagement by providing a set of 12 question s that drive engagement (1) expectations at work (2) availability of material and equipments (3) opportunity to do what an employee do best every day (4) any recognition or praise for good work (5) care from supervisor (6) encouragement for development (7) participation in decision making (8) importance of an employees work for organizational mission (9) co-workers commitment (10) friendly environment at work (11) discussion about employees progress (12) opportunities to learn and grow. Little Little (2006) also referred to these factors.Robinson (2004) define following characteristics of employee engagementInvolvement of employees in decision making harbor for employees ideas and their contributionOpportunities of growth for employees and job securityOrganizations concern about employees heathland and well beingFollowing are some important factors that can influence employee engagement in an organization.Organizational CommitmentOrganizational commitment has a significant importa nce in the record of employee engagement. Organizational commitment is an individuals psychological attachment to an organization and desire to remain part of it (Encyclopaedia, 2006).Meyer et al (2002) defined leash component model of commitment affective commitment, protraction commitment and normative commitment. Affective Commitment means positive emotional attachment of an employee with the organization. William (2004) also agreed to Meyer and Allen (1991) commitment concept and defined three types of commitment affective, continuous, and normative commitment. Affective commitment refers to employees perceptions of their emotional and psychological attachment to with the organization. Continuance commitment means employee is committed to the organization because he doesnt want to leave organization. In Normative commitment an employee remains commits because of his feelings of obligation (Meyer et al, 2002). If an employee can find opportunities for growth and job security h e would be more committed (Robinson, 2004).Organizational commitment is directly linked with employee engagement few benefits to employee engagement by organizational commitment are demonstrated here organizational commitment increase job satisfaction (Vandenberg and Lance, 1992), it decreases employee turnover, decrease connotation to search for other employers and decrease absenteeism (Cohen, 1991), Balfour and Wechsler (1996) also said that organizational commitment decrease employee intension to leave the organization.Organizational CultureOrganizational agriculture has a significant influence on employee engagement. It is a concept that explains values, attitudes, beliefs and fancys of an organization (WiseGEEK, 2011). Every organization consists of formal and informal dimensions, it is simply impossible to envision organizational working without understanding its informal characteristics. Organizational culture is critical to any organization which distinguish individual o f one organization to the other organization (Hofstede, 1997). Most of the organizations believe that managers relieve oneself the power in the organization/employee relationship but that is not true always. Employee engagement is the key to beget the employees mind, hearts, intensions and attitudes (Fleming and Asplund, 2007). The culture of a group/ organization is defined by Schein (1993) cited in Shafritz and Ott (2001) as a pattern of shared basic assumptions that a group learned to solve internal problems and problem of external adaption later on governing body that assumptions taught to new members. Martin (1992) defines that there are three different perspectives of organizational culture (1) Integration perspective mean employees share a common set of values and basic assumptions that facilitate them to understand organizational environment. (2) Differentiation perspective explains that organization consist of different subcultures based on power and areas of interest. (3) In fragmentation view organization is a web of individuals which are co-ordinated loosely (Martin, 1992). One of the employee engagement key drivers is organizational environment if there is a friendly environment in organization employees would be more engaged. Secondly healthy relationship with other colleagues and managers also facilitate employee engagement. Organizational culture provides an environment for employee engagement and it helps in strengthen the employee commitment.Organizational leadingEffective leadership motivates employees to stay with the organization become responsible and engaged. Leadership is defined by Stodgill (1950) cited from Huczynski and Buchanan (2001), The process of influencing the activities of an organised group in its efforts towards goal setting and goal achievementOrganizational culture directed by the leadership style. Leadership means to guide, to influence, course, action or opinion. Goleman (2000) explained the emotional eyeshot of leadership that leaders motivate, inspire, guide and persuade employees to achieve organizational goal. Burnes (2004) said management is about today and leadership is about future. An important factor that influences employee engagement is employee and leader relationship (Lockwood, 2007).Organizational CommunicationAn effective organization knew how to communicate its goals and objectives to its workforce (Hoffman and Tschinda, 2007). If leaders want to effectively lead a group they should have efficient thinking and communication. Organizational communication can maximise employee engagement along with organizational commitment and organizational leadership. If an organization is communicating organizational goals and objective clearly and successfully that can improve employer and employee relation which leads to better engagement (Lockwood, 2007). Effective organizational communication can create engaged employees that can improve organizational performance by providing better s ervices and creating loyal customers (Blanchad and Bowels, 1998).These characteristics support the Kahns (1990) and Maslach et al.s (2001) psychological condition of employee engagement in the workplace as discussed before. All these characteristics include physical and psychological attachment with the job and with the organization.Engagement ModelsIn the literature there is a dearth of research on engagement (Saks and Rotman, 2006). However research work done by Leter (1997) and Maslach (1999) provided in-depth analysis of engagement. There are two main streams of research that provide models of engagement first one is Kahns (1990) meanfulness, galosh and availability theory and second Maslach et als (2001) six areas of work life (Saks and Rotman, 2006). fit to Kahn (1990) there are three psychological conditions which relate to engagement or disengagement in the workplace substantiveness, safety and availability. He argues that an employee in the workplace thinks of these three factors (1) how meaningful is to perform at this level? (2) Is it safe to do so? (3) Am I forthcoming for this job? He build more engaged employee when conditions were psychologically meaningful, safe and workers were psychologically operable. May et al (2004) empirically tested Kahns (1990) and found that engagement is significantly related to meaningfulness, safety and availability. check to Maslach et al (2001) six areas of work lead to burnout and engagement at workplace workload, feelings of choice and ensure, rewards and recognition, community and social support, perceived fairness, meaningful and valued work. He argued that job engagement is associated with sustainable workload, feeling of choice and control enables employee to think openly, reward and recognition motivate employees, supportive and friendly work environment help to enjoy the job, equality at work, employee understand value of its work to the organizational success. May, Gilson Harters (2004) research al so support Maslach et als (2001) meaningful and valued work is associated with engagement. twain models discussed here are explaining the psychological conditions that are required for engagement but both models are not explaining how an individual will react depending upon his level of engagement (Saks and Rotman, 2006). Social Exchange possibility (SET) can explain employee engagement theoretically in a better way.SET argues that obligations are generated when two parties are reciprocally linked which each other. A relationship between two parties can be absolute trusting, loyal and mutual commitment over time as long as they abide by certain rules of exchange (Cropanzano and Mictchell, 2005). Rules of exchange mean give and take, if an employee getting something from an organization in return he will try to benefit the organization. Robinson et al (2004) refers to social exchange theory as description of employee engagement is a two-way relationship between employee and employer .Chapter 3Research MethodologyIntroductionAn investigation has been conducted after literature review in chapter two regarding employee engagement and motivation with the help of theories. At this slur for the selection of appropriate research method a clear understanding of research philosophy and methodology is essential so that trustworthy results of research objectives can be find out.Continuum of ontological assumptionsObjective 2Objective 1 military personnelity as a concrete structureReality as a concrete processReality as a contextual realm of symbolic discourse structureReality as a social throwivismReality as a projection of human imaginationPOSITIVIST REALIST INTERPRETIVISTSource Morgan and Smircich, (1980) cited in Longwe, (2010)Research PhilosophyImportance and significance of research philosophy and methods would be different for different researchers who are carrying out their research on the same industry but with different perspective. For example, if a researcher is concerned with requirement of resources for manufacturing process, will adopt a totally different philosophy and method for research, from a researcher who conducted a research to find out feelings and attitudes of employees towards managers Saunders et al. (2007). Use of research philosophy whitethorn be significant with reference to the research methodology. It helps the researcher to be proper(postnominal) and refine the research. Understanding of research philosophy enables researcher to choose the even off methodology and leave the inappropriate at the early stage of the research Easterby-Smith et al. (2002). According to Saunders et al (2007) there are three different ways of thinking about the research (i) Positivism (ii) Interpretivism and (iii) Realism.PositivismResearch undertaken by this approach will be on quantifiable observations and results in statistical analysis. Positivism approach in social sciences used biology and physical science Nwokah et al. (2009). Do ing a research on human beings without considering their social context is impossible, researchers draw their own values and interest in research results in positiveness approach, measuring the complex phenomena in a single measure is direct Hussey (1997).InterpretivismSome researchers argued that Interpretivism is highly appreciated in business management especially in the field of human resource management, marketing and organizational behaviour (Saunders et al. 2007). Interpretivism is known as anti-positivism because it takes the view that scientific methods are inappropriate for the field of battle of society (Abbott 2010).RealismRealism says that reality is totally independent of the researchers mind. According to this philosophy existence of an object that senses of researches shows is real and independent of his mind (Saunders et al 2007). Realism has some aspects of positivism in it as it develops knowledge with scientific approach. There are two types of reality Dire ct Realism and full of life Realism. Direct realism means that things should be considered as they appear. Critical realism says that what we experience are sensations, images of the real world not actual things (Saunders et al 2007).Selection of Research PhilosophyAll the approaches have been used in majority of management researches depending upon the nature of research. First objective is investigation about current level of employee engagement. Level can be measured (positivism) but perhaps causes of (low) level of engagement are rooted in interpretivism. Both philosophies cannot be adopted so the position adopted will be realism. This is highly dependent and influenced by social process that exist at heart the organization. Organizational culture and leadership play an important role in improving employee engagement. Second research objective is related to perceptions of employees which makes it social construct which can be determined by what employees say it is. This object ive refers to an interpretivist approach. According to the aim and objectives of this research realism is likely to be used in this research. The research is based on understanding perceptions rather than any statistical analysis also according to aim and objectives philosophical position of this research work is that of realism.Research StrategyThere are several strategies available for doing a research but this researcher adopts a character hear (of PEL) strategy. Case study strategy involves observations, empirical results and multiple sources of evidences (Robson 2002). Case study can also include interviews, questionnaires, observations and documentary analysis (secondary information). This strategy ordinarily used in explanatory and exploratory research. An advantage of using case study strategy is to use multiple sources of selective information foolion that is useful for triangulation (Saunders et al. 2007). Case study strategy enables researcher to challenge existing t heories and provide source of new research questions.Research MethodsResearch is a regular method of finding solutions to problems. Following three methods will be used to achieve the results according to the research objectivesSecondary Data AnalysisSelf-Administered postal Questionnaire for WorkersTelephonic Structured Interviews with ExecutivesSecondary Data AnalysisThese data can be analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. According to Ghauri and Gronhaug, (2005) cited in Saunders et al., (2007) secondary data are very useful and it provides saving in time, less costly and it can be of higher quality data than could be encounter by oneself (Stewart and Kamins, 1993), it is helpful in triangulation, it can be useful to examine research results. There are disadvantages in that secondary data may differ from research objectives of this research it may be too old it may be unobtainable. There may be fewer resources available (Saunders et al 2007). Sometimes it is very dif ficult to find secondary data related to research work.Self-Administered Postal Questionnaire for WorkersQuestionnaires can be used in case study research strategy in order to collect primary data (Saunders et al. 2007). Questionnaires are more objective then interviews. It is relatively a quick, easy and cost saving way to collect information using questionnaires information can be collected from a large group of peoples at the same time (Kirakowski, 2000). The most important thing in questionnaires is design of questions because reliability, validity and response of participants totally depend on that. Questionnaires normally require fewer skills to administer than semi-structured interviews or in-depth interviews (Jankowicz, 2005). There are few disadvantages of questionnaires it tells only users reaction as user perceives situation, questionnaires usually knowing to fit certain situations thus it cannot tell what is right or ruin in the organization (Kirakowski, 2000), there is a possibility that a one person complete all questionnaires which would not answer research objectives effectively.758 workers are working in switchgear department at PEL in 7 different workshops i.e. Quality Control, Maintenance, Health and Safety, Paint, Design, MV Equipment Workshop and LV Equipment Workshop. ingenuous random sample has been used to select the samples. In random sampling few important issues can be a problem such as how long is the employee working with organization, what are personal issues of workers and management, a new employee may not be aware of organizational engagement practices.N = Total population = 758N = Sample size =190n/N = 190/758 (y sample size is 190?)A voyage research Questionnaires will be sent to 20 workers so that result of those questionnaires can be compared against the research objectives. Improvements will be made after pilot test if required any. Final questionnaires will be sent via e-mail to person who is coordinating with resea rcher from PEL he will print out all questionnaires for researchers time saving purpose. These questions are specially designed for workers who are important entity of this research, questions would be closed. So that workers can slowly answer that without hesitating and without wasting anytime.Telephonic Semi-Structured Interviews with ExecutivesIn this research tierce method for data collection is telephonic semi-structured interview with executives so that they can discuss every aspect of employee engagement related to asked questions. Semi-structured interviews are non-standardised interviews and are often referred to as qualitative research interviews (King, 2004). 24 executives are working in Switchgear Department at PEL. One executive from each section of Switchgear Department will be interviewed telephonically who has minimum one year experience in PEL. There is a flexibility in semi-structured interviews that researcher can ask more questions or omit some questions in pa rticular(prenominal) interviews. No need to encourage interviewee because they can ask questions from interviewer. Semi-structured interviews not only provide answer to research questions, but the reasons for answers. Individual interviewee can discuss sensitive issues easily and freely depending on how sensitive the issue is. There are also some disadvantages of semi-structured interviews such as it is difficult to compare more, difficult to control interviewee it can bring a lot of uncalled-for information and it can be time consuming (Saunders et al, 2007). It might be difficult to evaluate nonverbal behaviour of interviewee. Response from interviewee may be very quick and interviewer has to be very quick to record all discussion.TriangulationCombination of different methods to collect primary data effectively can be said triangulation (Bryman, 2004). Use of more than one method to understand one phenomenon broadly and more clearly (Veal 2005). Three different methods have been used for the effectiveness of triangulation, validation and reliability of data in research secondary data from the organization, questionnaires from worker and semi-structured interviews from executives.Validation and Reliability of Data