This document is a 2288 word consulting report that addresses employee engagement within a multinational IT business. The report aims to provide recommendations on whether the client should participate in an industry-wide employee engagement survey and what engagement means within their context. Through a literature review, the report finds that participation in the survey could help the client better understand their workforce and contribute to research in the field. Key factors that influence engagement are identified, and it is recommended that the client participate conditionally to address issues like absenteeism and turnover.

1. Running Head: EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT 1
Employee Engagement within a Multinational IT Business
Word count: 2288 words
By: Momo Ueda
For
7002EHR Evidence-Based HRM Practice

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................................3
Report Aims and Scope.............................................................................................................................4
Context and Industry Information .......................................................................................................5
2. Research Design..........................................................................................................................................6
Nature of the problem................................................................................................................................6
Research Approach.....................................................................................................................................6
Review of the Literature......................................................................................................................7
3. Research Review.........................................................................................................................................7
Review of the Literature...........................................................................................................................7
Peer-reviewed Articles.........................................................................................................................7
4. Findings and Implications ....................................................................................................................9
Employee Engagement..............................................................................................................................9
5. Conclusions and Recommendations............................................................................................10
6. References...................................................................................................................................................12

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Executive Summary
This consulting report addresses the problem faced by the Head of Human Resources
of a Multinational IT business. The client had sought out help from an external
consultant to gain assistance to resolve the problem of whether they should participate
in an industry wide employee engagement survey and what engagement means in
their context. This report aims to provide the client with recommendations for
participating in the survey and under what conditions and also with a definition of
employee engagement within the industry. The consultant used a literature review as a
method of reviewing articles for an evidence-based response. The key findings
indicate that many IT firms within India utilise employee engagement results to assess
their workforce. It was recommended to the client that participation in the industry
survey will help the HR department gain a better understanding of their workforce
and will also contribute to furthering research in this field.

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1. Introduction
This report is an evidence-based consultant’s response to whether a
Multinational IT Business should be concerned about employee engagement, and
whether they should participate in an industry engagement survey. This report will
also address what engagement means within this context.
Report Aims and Scope
This report aims to address client’s problem above in a clear and logical order
offering suggestions grounded on analysis conducted on peer-reviewed articles
available at the time of research. Due to the lack of peer-reviewed articles specifically
on engagement in Multinational IT Businesses the report scope has been extended to
include knowledge transfer, as communication is one of the biggest factors impacting
on engagement. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) defines
the IT sector in three groups. Firstly, computers and electronic product manufacturing
e.g. computers and communications equipment manufacturing. Secondly,
telecommunications, thirdly, web search portals, data-processing services and internet
service providers (NAICS, 2002). It is unclear which segment this business operates
in thus the research will include articles that are generalised to the IT industry.
Furthermore there will be a slight focus on the relationship between the headquarters
and subsidiaries and how it impacts on engagement.
This report is segmented to ensure the information is presented in a logical
manner. In total there are five sections to the report, the first section is a brief
overview of the IT industry. The second section describes the nature of the problem in
the IT industry. The third section is a critical review of the literature gathered from a
conceptual and methodological view. The fourth section is a presentation of the
literature including key findings and their implications. The fifth and final section is a
conclusion of the report with a brief recommendation for the Multinational IT
Business and future researchers.

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Context and Industry Information
The IT industry is large and developing quickly, a Multinational business
operating in this industry is assumed to have subsidiaries operating in different
countries. One of the ways to ensure that an MNC has a successful start-up of a
subsidiary the organisations requires the transfer of knowledge from the company’s
headquarters to the subsidiary and from the subsidiary back to the headquarters. The
Multinational Companies use this knowledge to maintain a competitive advantage and
ensure the subsidiaries will be successful (Liu, Pucel, & Bartlett, 2006). Miron and
Petrache (2012) identified that interaction within different departments and services
concerning IT systems are extremely difficult and inefficient due to reasons that are
not related to I.T but rather poor transparency.
Employee Engagement is a term that was coined by the Gallup Organisation
as a result of interviewing and surveying employees and managers for over 25 years
(May, Gilson & Harter, 2004). This definition was created as a measure that could be
used to compare organisations. However, Little and Little (2006) had found a range of
issues with the definitions of employee engagement. These issues include a lack of
clarity of whether engagement is an attitude or behaviour, individual or group
phenomenon. In addition to this the relationships between engagement and other well-
known constructs are not clear. Some examples of these constructs are organisation
commitment, organisation citizenship behaviour and job involvement (Swarnalatha &
Prasanna, 2013).
It is said that engagement has three dimensions, cognitive, physical and
emotional (May, Gilson & Harter, 2004). For the purposes of this essay the definition
that was chosen is “to compete today, companies need to win over the minds (rational
commitment) and the hearts (emotional commitment) of employees in ways that lead
to extraordinary effort” (May, Gilson & Harter, 2004). This definition is the one that
is used by Dell Inc. (a Multinational Enterprise in the IT industry), which is why this
definition was chosen for this essay. It is important to mention that this definition is
an example of Employee Engagement provided by an IT firm. It is more effective for
Human Resource practitioners interested in employee engagement to create their own

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definition and own measures based on the organisations strength and weaknesses
(Swarnalatha & Prasanna, 2013).
2. Research Design
Nature of the problem
In order to determine the most suitable research design, the nature of the
problem within the company is to be defined. The brief provided by the Head of
Human Resources is that their company has been approached to participate in an
industry wide survey to measure employee engagement within the IT industry. The
client would like to know what engagement means within their context and whether
they should participate in this survey.
The consultant has framed the problem by dividing it into two sections that are
required to be addressed. First it is important to identify if other IT multinational
businesses are participating in surveys measuring employee engagement. It will also
be useful to view the types of information employee engagement surveys produce and
if it is useful for the organisation to know. Secondly, the consultant will highlight the
impact of employee engagement on business outcomes. To answer the client’s issue
the consultant will gather evidence through researching peer-reviewed articles
discussing employee engagement in the IT industry.
Research Approach
To address the client’s problem the consultant has adopted a literature review
approach to gather evidence related to the problem. This research approach is
designed to assess the current research available on the topic and provide the client
with the best possible answer based on the literature available. The consultant will
then be able to provide the client with an evidence-based response.

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Review of the Literature
To obtain current literature for this project peer-reviewed articles were
searched for by using search terms such as “employee engagement” “Multinational
business” “IT industry” and similar derivatives. The purpose of the review is to gain a
complete understanding of the client’s problem through the analysis of studies from
multiple sources. Furthermore, this research method seeks to identify practical
strategies based on evidence to address the client’s problem. A systematic review
approach was conducted in terms of the research question, scope and methodology.
3. Research Review
Review of the Literature
Through the review of the literature the consultant was able to find scientific
evidence that would help to answer the client’s problem. The main strength that was
identified using this method is that it revealed the implications of having a disengaged
workforce and generated a number of evidence-based strategies for increasing
engagement in a Multinational business. However, it was found that there was a lack
of information specific to a multinational IT business therefore it was necessary to
expand the literature search to include the topic of knowledge sharing as mentioned in
the aims and scope section. A systematic approach was used to review the literature.
The research was examined thematically and critically using peer-reviewed articles
that are recent and relevant.
Peer-reviewed Articles
Source
The articles that were reviewed by the consultant are 12 peer-reviewed journal
articles from the years 2006 to the present year. An analysis of the articles illustrate
that they have been published in journals within three categories: Management
(Chaudhary, Rangnekar & Barua, 2013; Garg, 2014; Suhasini & Babu, 2013; Saradha
& Patrick, 2011); Human Resources & Industrial Relations (Liu, Pucel & Bartlett,
2006; Sharma & Raina, 2013; Cabrera, Collins, & Salgado, 2006; Robertson, Jansen

8. EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT 8
Birch & Cooper, 2012); Psychology (Rani & Reddy, 2015; Dalal, Baysinger,
Brummel & LeBreton, 2012; Kamalanabhan, Sai, & Mayuri, 2009). The consultant
has observed that a large number of these studies were conducted in India with only 7
articles in the I.T. Industry (Saradha & Patrick, 2011; Rani & Reddy, 2015;
Kamalanabhan, Sai, & Mayuri, 2009; Garg, 2014; Muritiba, Muritiba, Campanário &
Galvão de Albuquerque, 2010). An examination of these articles show that Liu et al.
(2006) and Cabrera et al. (2006) is focusing on knowledge sharing and Muritiba et al.
(2010) is focusing on HR strategies. From this review it can be suggested that there is
a gap in the current literature regarding employee engagement in the IT industry
outside of India.
Conceptual approach
A review of the articles bought to light some issues regarding employee
engagement. It was found that employee engagement is linked to a range of factors
such as training and development, pleasant working environment, motivation,
effective management policies, performance evaluation, reward and recognition,
empowerment, clarity in the job and team work (Chaudhary et al., 2013) in large
organisations (Robertson et al. 2012; Cabrera et al., 2012; Saradha & Patrick, 2011;
Muritiba et al., 2010; Liu, 2006). This indicates that the findings from these studies
may be applied to the client’s organisation due to the similar size of the organisation.
Methodological approach
The most common type of methodology employed by the researchers of the
studies in this report was surveys (Robertson et al., 2012; Cabrera et al., 2006;
Saradha & Patrick, 2011; Rani & Reddy, 2015; Suhasini & Babu, 2013; Dalal et al.,
2012; Kamalanabhan et al., 2009; Sharma & Raina, 2013; Garg, 2014, Liu et al.,
2006; Chaudhary et al.,2013). The main limitation to this methodology type is
attributed to the sampling. The nature of the survey requires the participant to self-
report the data and this information cannot be validated. Due to the increased number
of surveys on the internet the response rates of emailed surveys are the same as
traditional mailed paper surveys. Sampling issues inhibit the ability of the research to
generalise the information (Wright, 2005). Furthermore if the survey is lengthy this
can cause the fatigue of the respondent and loss of attention. Acquiescence bias may
occur if the respondent picks a positive response each time. The respondent may also

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demonstrate demand characteristics if they are aware that the survey is a part of a
research project. Extreme responding patterns may also occur as well as social
desirability bias (Goedert, 2014).
4. Findings and Implications
The key findings from the literature review highlight that engagement surveys
are fairly popular to assess employee engagement in IT firms. From this information
employers are able to determine if they have an engaged workforce, what factors are
contributing to their engagement as well as what may be harming it. From the wider
research conducted it was found that employee engagement has a high positive
correlation with business performance (Swarnalatha & Prasanna, 2013). This is one of
the reasons why that engagement surveys are becoming increasingly popular.
However one implication that was identified is that there is lack of a definition of
what engagement is as it may appear differently depending on the context. This
means that the measures will be different for each organisation however a survey is
almost always used (Attridge, 2009). These issues are further explained below
including their implications for the research sponsor.
Employee Engagement
Employee Engagement is defined in many different ways and the term is
typically interchanged with similar constructs (Attridge, 2009). From the research
conducted there is a positive correlation between employee productivity and
employee engagement (Roberston et al., 2012). Different drivers of engagement had
different effects. The highest influencer of employee engagement was found to be
career opportunities followed by job satisfaction, pay and benefits, management,
equal opportunities and organizational citizenship behaviour (Saradha & Patrick,
2011). Employees feel especially disengaged if there is inadequate training, career
growth opportunities or internal promotions (Rani & Reddy, 2015). Dalal et al. (2012)
stated that employee performance is the best predictor of employee engagement, job
satisfaction and trait negative effect. Moreover a significant correlation was found
between job satisfaction and employee engagement (Kamalanabhan et al.,2009 ;
Garg, 2014). Furthermore job content, objectivity and benefits are also linked to

10. EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT 10
employee engagement (Sharma & Raina, 2013). As an employer it is important to
consider the links between employee engagement and other factors as many things
can affect it. Employers are able to identify disengaged employees by looking at
factors such as absenteeism, lateness and voluntary turnover (Duxbury & Halinski,
2014). Thus a disengaged workforce can cost the organisation a lot of money. Across
the U.S. each year disengaged employees cost organisations $450-$550 Billion (Saks
& Gruman, 2014).
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
In conclusion through the research conducted it has been found that there is
strong evidence confirming that participating in an industry employee engagement
survey will be beneficial to the organisation. Employers may be concerned about
engagement as there are many links between employee engagement and other
constructs such as job satisfaction, productivity, commitment to the organisation and
discretionary effort. The client may consider participating in the survey in order to
provide data for further research in this field and to gain important knowledge
regarding their employees. The findings from the survey can highlight what motivates
and engages employees and can save the company a lot of money due to reduced
voluntary turn over and absenteeism.
There are many different definitions for employee engagement; the best
definition however, is one that is specific to the organisation. Therefore it is up to the
client to determine what the measurable behaviours of an engaged employee is.
However, for the purposes of this report the definition by Dell Inc. was used, as it is a
Multinational IT Business.
Furthermore to address the client’s problem, employee engagement is an
important aspect of your business that should be considered. Without further
information it is unable to be determined whether the Head of HR is required to be
concerned about the business in question specifically. However from the research
conducted it can be said that employee engagement in the IT industry is becoming
increasingly popular and investigated. On the conditions that the client would like to
learn more about the employees in the organisation and address absenteeism and

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turnover rates it would be beneficial for the client to participate in an engagement
survey. Furthermore by participating in an industry survey this will help to develop
this field of research as currently there is limited information on the IT industry.

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Cabrera, Á., Collins, W. C., & Salgado, J. F. (2006). Determinants of individual engagement
in knowledge sharing. The International Journal of Human Resource
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Chaudhary, R., Rangnekar, S., & Barua, M. K. (2013). engaged versus disengaged: The role
of occupational self-efficacy. Asian Academy of Management Journal,18(1), 91.
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of job performance. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 42, E295-E325.
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Goedert, N. (2014). Political scandal and bias in survey responses. PS: Political Science &
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Organizational Culture, Communication and Conflict, 10(1), 111.

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