Baldev R. Sharma

Study of Employee Engagement and its Predictors in an Indian Public Sector Undertaking

This article presents an assessment of the level of employee engagement among managers of a public sector undertaking in India. Besides highlighting the level of engagement, the study has identified the predictors of organizational commitment, which was used as an important manifestation of employee engagement. The study is based on primary data collected from 84 managerial employees on a number of parameters relating to employee engagement and its potential predictors. The study has revealed that the level of employee engagement in this organization is quite modest. Three factors, namely, pay, job content and objectivity are found to be the predictors of employee engagement.

Drivers of Organizational Commitment among Managers of Industrial Organizations

On the basis of an in-depth analysis of the responses of managers of two organizations from the same industry, one from the public sector and the other from the private sector, the authors identified the determinants of managerial organizational commitment. Thereafter, a comparison has been made of the factors thus identified with those found through other studies on the subject to demonstrate the relevance, nature and extent of the relationship between organizational commitment and its drivers. As a departure from the conventional approach, the authors have attempted to develop an unbiased model for testing the relationship between variables as would emerge from the data suo motto. In the present day dynamic scenario of increased mobility, high employee turnover and a volatile talent market, the authors contend that it is necessary to identify organization-specific drivers of organizational commitment and to formulate commitment-inducing HR policies and practices.

Student Engagement and Its Predictors: An Exploratory Study in an Indian Business School

The concept of student engagement is gaining widespread acceptance in the West as it is found to be positively related to academic outcomes as well as personal development of the students. Although it is generally agreed that student engagement is a multidimensional construct, there is no agreement over its dimensions. The study on which this article is based, seeks to identify the dimensions of student engagement through exploratory factor analysis, analyzing a pool of items drawn from various sources, including some of the authors’ own. Using the five dimensions identified through this process, the study attempts to assess the level of student engagement among the first-year students of a two-year full-time MBA programme of an Indian business school. Finally, it uses step-wise regression analysis to identify the predictors of student engagement.

Search for the Drivers of Employee Engagement among Executives of a Manufacturing Organisation

Based on a review of available literature, this paper argues that the recently coined concept of employee engagement has a lot in common with the existing construct of employee motivation. Because of this similarity, these two concepts have been used interchangeably in this paper. Using a sample of 116 executives of a manufacturing organisation, an attempt was made to discover the drivers of employee engagement. The study used a specially designed structured questionnaire that covered, besides employee engagement, a measure of job content and nine dimensions of organisational climate. Using correlation and multiple regression as statistical techniques, a set of four critical predictors (drivers) of employee motivation (engagement) have been identified, which together explain almost three-fourth of the variance in engagement.

Organizational Commitment as a Measure of Managerial Motivation: Search for its Predictors in a Multinational Organization

The study on which this article is based was carried out in a multinational manufacturing organization operating in India. The study was aimed at ascertaining the level of motivation of the managerial employees as well as to identify the predictors thereof. Organizational commitment was used as a proxy measure of managerial motivation. Guided by the review of literature, certain personal attributes of the employees, a measure of job characteristics and several dimensions of organizational climate were used as the potential predictors of organizational commitment. The study obtains the data from 507 managers working in a multinational manufacturing organization. Data was collected online with the help of structured questionnaire. The study has found that (a) the level of managerial motivation is quite high, (b) the employees are endowed with a positive work ethic and governed by internal locus of control, but (c) there is considerable variation in the ratings given to various dimensions of organizational climate. The result of step-wise regression analysis has revealed six factors as the critical predictors of organizational commitment.

The Level of Student Engagement and Search for its Predictors: An Exploratory Study of MBA Students

The main objectives of the study on which this paper is based are to explore the status and the predictors of student engagement, a topic not so far studied in India. The term student engagement stands for cognitive, affective and behavioural involvement of students in educationally purposeful activities. Studies conducted outside India have shown that level of student engagement is a useful “proxy” for determining the effectiveness of learning. The sample for the study was drawn from a management institute located in the National Capital Region (NCR) and consisted of 171 second-year students of the two-year MBA programme. The results of the study show that the students are most engaged in terms of active participation in the learning process, only moderately engaged in terms of dedication and vigour, and least engaged in terms of commitment to the institution where they are pursuing their studies. Search for the “drivers” of engagement revealed that both situational factors and personality traits are the critical predictors of student engagement. Neither demographic factors nor family background was found to influence student engagement.

A Study to Develop an Instrument to Measure Work Ethic

Work ethic is one of the most notable constructs that has endured over a long period of time. Among other things, it indicates the extent to which a person considers work as his central life interest. The purpose of the study on which this article is based is to develop an instrument to measure work ethic. Surprisingly, the role of ethical behaviour has not been adequately studied in India in spite of the widespread clamour in the country against corruption! The instrument to be developed through this study, it is hoped, will enable social and behavioural scientists to study this neglected aspect of employee attitude and behaviour. Data for the study was collected from a sample of 507 managerial employees working in the Indian wing of a multinational organization. The 10-item scale developed through this study is uni-dimensional and its psychometric properties were established with the help of appropriate statistical tools and techniques.