PROFESSIONAL PROJECT- BUSN20019 Assessment 1: Project context and proposal COURSE COORDINATOR: Dr.Olav Muurlink LECTURER AND TUTOR: Nazila Razi PROJECT TOPIC: Employee engagement, wages, and workforce performance Submitted by Md. Abdullah Al Mamun S0276890 Sydney campus Submission Date: 23/04/2017  Table of Content Content Page Project Context ………………………………………………………….. 3 Project Proposal …………………………………………………………. 5 Title ………………………………………………………………………. 5 Background ……………………………………………………….. 5 Aims and Objectives ……………………………………………… 6 Research questions ……………………………………………….. 6 Literature review ………………………………………………….. 7 Research Methodology …………………………………………………... 8 Secondary information sources …………………………………..... 8 Research Analysis Methods ……………………………………….. 8 Milestones and Time plan …………………………………………. 9 References ……………………………………………………………….. 10   Project Context To many, the human resource profession is the last and most advent faction of bureaucracy. This outlook is catalysed by the traditional roles that are held by HR professionals who in most cases will deal with the systematisation of an organisation as well as arm the management with policies (inclusive of the executive) (Itika, 2011). In essence, their roles will align with those of administration and personnel support which is highly characterised by paperwork. However, the responsibility held by HR personnel is much greater than this simple and traditional outlook. In fact, according to Siddique (2004), investing in competent HR personnel and practices can lead to higher productivity and can enhance an organisation’s financial performance. This perception is owed to the operations HR hold, for instance, resource identification and recruitment which in this case will stand for prospective employees. Therefore, becoming a professional in the field of HR will require a number of skills, most of which are only learned through experience. As a future expert, it's hard to identify the competency requirements needed to highlight a HR profession, this because the role requires many complex operational variables. However, the HRPA (Human Resource Professional Association) identifies two major competencies to gauge one’s professional outlook, these are functional and enabling variables (HRPA, 2014). Now, to fulfil the mandates set by the industry, one must fulfil these variables where functional requirements will outline the ability to perform tasks within the HR framework (learned requirements). Enabling competencies, on the other hand, will outline other supportive skills needed to fit the role, although not taught in schools e.g. soft and interpersonal skills (Itika, 2011). In addition to this, one’s ethical and cultural outlook must represent a morally upright individual. As a HR professional, an individual may pose the necessary technical skills but lack the ability fit in any given environment. Moreover, they may lack the emotional intelligence needed to deal with different people who may have different life perceptions (Fottler, 2011). Therefore, a holistic approach is needed to categorise oneself as a HR professional i.e. the overall intelligence to gauge the workplace environment and its affiliated variables such as other employees. In light of modern trends especially those of information technology, HR professionals must be versatile and adapt to any give situation, in fact, they must regularly and continuously develop new competence skills to fit their positions that are ever changing through constant diversification (Ramlall, 2006, Manole, Alpopi & Colesca, 2011). Consider, the looming economic crisis that the world currently faces. This crisis heavily affects organisations together with their practices as they are forced to go through many turmoil changes across different operational levels. It’s the duty of the HR professionals to develop strategic plans to deal with this crisis as well as their associated outcomes. In conclusion, a proactive mindset may be needed by any HR personnel in order to meet the strategic requirements of organisational development, which again is an imperative demand of the modern and globalised world. Therefore, being an HR professional requires a multitude of skills that encompasses all aspects of life from personal to organisational and even intellectual resources. Project Proposal Title: Employee engagement, wages, and workforce performance Background A looming economic crisis has shifted employer’s priorities from employing world-class employees to engaging workplace personnel in an attempt to enhance productivity (Dajani, 2015). Moreover, the move to enhance the relationship between employees and employers is a top priority for HR departments who in the past have suffered due to the increased workplace demands, wage freezes and downsizing factors. Nevertheless, through engagement or team building tools, organisations have developed strategies to enhance their competitiveness in markets in spite of the low wages and minimal employment rates. Now, employee engagement is a vital driving force for the success of any organisation, for one, satisfied employees are in most cases as a result of proper engagement procedures. These engagement procedures enable employees to have a sense of belonging to an organisation in spite of the working conditions (Insync surveys, 2012). Furthermore, past research by the likes of Gallup and Harter (2002) outline a direct correlation between employee engagement and workplace outcome measures such as profit, productivity, turnover, satisfaction and even safety. This relationship is evident in both internal and external structure of an organisation where highly engaged departments produce the best workplace results. Nevertheless, employee engagement constitutes a number of different factors and not just the basic factors such as team building events. In essence, the attitude, behaviour and communication strategies employed by the employers must be analysed to determine the best outcome. This endeavour highlights the major issues related to employee engagement where cultural differences may produce different outcomes when using certain engagement techniques (Richardson, 2014). Aims and Objectives In general terms, engagement will highlight the relationship, pride and beliefs that employees hold with their employers more so, their immediate supervisors or management. Therefore, this project aims to highlight the major driving forces of employee engagement. Unlike other studies that focus on the percentage or qualitative aspects of employee engagement, a thick or qualitative analysis will apply for this research. Moreover, the following subsequent objectives will be highlighted: 1. To identify and develop the major driving forces (factors) of employee engagement. 2. To analyse the relationship between organisational cultural and workplace engagement. 3. To define a construct that predicts workplace performance based on the engagement policies adopted. According to Dale Carnegie (2012), in any given work place environment 29 percent of the employees are usually fully engaged with another 26 percent being fully disengaged. Furthermore, over 45 percent of the employees are usually partially engaged due to poor engagement strategies. In light of these outcomes, the following questions will facilitate this research in order to achieve good and conclusive results. Research questions: 1. How does an organisation conceptualise employee engagement? This question outlines the major issues that relate to workplace engagement, for instance, what is engagement? Secondly, how can it be operationalized in an organisation and finally, what elements and evaluation tactics can be used to identify the engagement outcomes? (AON Hewitt, 2011) 2. How do cultural and individual differences relate to engagement? Basically, how individuals perceive their work based on the engagement techniques used. In addition to this, how does employee’s emotional and well-being experiences facilitate their performance in a work place environment? 3. How does wages and workplace incentives (wages) relate to employee engagement? Literature review An overall review of the existing literature will outline one major problem, that of definition. In most of the work cited such as that of Wellins and Bernthal (2015), engagement is seen as a multifaceted construct where the conditions that promote satisfaction and best workplace beliefs are highlighted. However, like in any other academic outlook, this definition is different from any other developed by other researchers and academicians. Moreover, employee engagement is seen to take an abstract view where it’s seen to relate and at the same time differ from organisational culture, this includes behaviour, commitment and business awareness. In essence, engaged employees may attain or lack these organisational elements (Tokdemir, 2014). In light of these definitions and engagement constructs it's clear to highlight the gaps and issues of the existing literature as well as research. To start with, there lacks a clear structure of predicting the outcomes of engagement techniques. Moreover, most engagement policies will take a holistic approach without considering the cultural and the individual differences among employees. Therefore, research is needed to identify how cultural and personality differences impact employee engagement. Finally, most of the research done so far is based in developed countries i.e. USA and European countries, which greatly differs with modern economic requirements that have forced organisations to venture into developing countries (Kular, Gatenby, Rees, Soane & Truss, 2008). Research Methodology Secondary information sources This research aims to develop a common perception of employee engagement while highlighting its many related dimensions. To meet this objective, this research will use accredited literature especially, scholarly material such as journals, Articles, books and website.The works of the previous authors who have carried out similar kinds of study will be taken into consideration. Furthermore, the concepts outlined by this research topic identify some of the major challenges associated with the human resource department (Wachira, 2013). Therefore, an emphasis will be given to academic resources relating to HR. Research Analysis Methods In all, this research will identify, compare and forecast variables related to employee engagement. Moreover, because a huge part of this analysis will involve secondary data, both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods will be used to conceptualise the information identified. When it comes to the quantitative data obtained simple programs such as excel will be used to analyse the data. Nevertheless, conclusive results that meet the objectives set will require intricate processes to evaluate (Shannon & Hseih, 2005). This outcome necessitates the following chosen analysis methods: Content analysis – Applying the objectives and research questions identified above, data related to these aims will be collected. Furthermore, the information used will be categorised into groups for better analysis. Social network analysis – an analysis technique that is specifically designed to identify the link between individuals and their motivations. Essentially, it outlines individual perceptions, behaviours and outlook of society (Haregu, 2012). Constant comparative method – An analysis technique that will compare qualitative data from different sources. Milestones and Time plan a. Milestones to achieve • Outline the research plan • Determine the source of the research material • Primary research • Secondary research; library and internet • Organize, synthesise and review the data collected • Initial findings • Revise the finding with existing research • Final findings b. Gantt chart of the time schedule References Dajani. Z. (2015). The Impact of Employee Engagement on JobPerformance and Organisational Commitment in the Egyptian Banking Sector. Journal of Business and Management Sciences, 3(5). Retrieved 20 April, 2015, from:http://pubs.sciepub.com/jbms/3/5/1/ Dale Carnegie. (2012). What drives employee engagement and why it matters. White paper. Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from: https://www.dalecarnegie.com/assets/1/7/driveengagement_101612_wp.pdf Fottler. M. (2011). Strategic human resources management. Fundamentals of Human resources in healthcare. Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from:https://www.ache.org/pubs/Fried%20Sample.pdf Haregu. T. (2012). Qualitative data analysis. M&E and research manager, African medical & research foundation. Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from: https://www.slideshare.net/tilahunigatu/qualitative-data-analysis-11895136 HRPA. (2014). Human Resources Professional Competency Framework. The HR professional competency framework task force. Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from: http://hrdesignations.ca/HRPA-Professional-HR-Competency-Framework.pdf Insync survey. (2012). The impact of employee engagement on performance. White paper. Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from:https://hbr.org/resources/pdfs/comm/achievers/hbr_achievers_report_sep13.pdf Itika. J. (2011). Fundamentals of human resource management. African Public administration and Managementseries. Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/22381/ASC-075287668-3030-01.pdf?sequence=2 Kular. S, Gatenby. M, Rees. C, Soane. E & Truss. K. (2008). Employee Engagement: A Literature Review. Kingston University. Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from: http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/4192/1/19wempen.pdf Manole. C, Alpopi. C & Colesca. S. (2011). The Strategic Role of Human Resources Development in the Management of Organizational Crisis. Economia. Seria Management, 14(1). Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from: http://www.management.ase.ro/reveconomia/2011-1/18.pdf Ramlall. S. (2006). Identifying and Understanding HR Competencies and their Relationship to Organizational Practices. Applied H.R.M. Research, 11(1). Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from: http://www.xavier.edu/appliedhrmresearch/2006-Summer/11_1_%20Ramlall%20(pages%2027-38).pdf Richardson. F. (2014). Enhancing Strategies to Improve Workplace Performance. Walden dissertation and doctoral studies. Walden University. Retrieved 20 April, from: http://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1105&context=dissertations Shannon. S & Hseih. H. (2005). Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis. Sage journals. Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1049732305276687?journalCode=qhra Siddique. C. (2004). Job analysis: a strategic human resourcemanagement practice. Int. J. of Human Resource Management. 15(1). Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from: https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/hsw/psychologie/professuren/ppd/lehre/AS/skripte/testtheorie_teilstandardisierte_verfahren/wintersemester_201516/Dozentin_Luong/gruppe_1/siddique_2004.pdf Tokdemir. Y. (2014). The Impact of Employee Engagement on Performance Top 6 Findings for Leaders. Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140922205658-18650118-the-impact-of-employee-engagement-on-performance-top-6-findings Wachira. J. (2013). Relationship between employee engagement and commitment in Barclays bank of Kenya. A research project. Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from: http://chss.uonbi.ac.ke/sites/default/files/chss/Research%20Project-final%20jwm.pdf Wellins. R & Bernthal. P. (2015). Employee engagement: the key to realizing competitive advantage. Development dimensions international. Retrieved 20 April, 2017, from: http://www.ddiworld.com/ddi/media/monographs/employeeengagement_mg_ddi.pdf?ext=.pdf