Case Response Written Guidelines:
Case responses should not exceed 2.5 pages (this count does not include cover page and references page). All writing for the course should adhere to APA formatting regarding spacing (double-spacing), font style (Times New Roman) and font size (12), cover page and references page. Responses to case questions must be accurate, detailed, and substantive. Students must support their responses to case questions using in-text citations when the idea or quote to which they are referring is based in the course text or another source. Students, in addition to the course text, may include other sources to strengthen their case question responses. Students should be careful to use credible and scholarly resources. Students must also pay close attention to APA formatting for all in-text citations (See Plagiarism Brief for Review). Failure to approximate responses using the above guidelines will result in a lower point total for this component of the course.
Cultivating Engagement: How managers build engagement and fuel performance
Kathy and Matt are both executive-level managers in a successful Silicon Valley-based startup called Rocket Inc. Rocket Inc. is seven years old and has approximately 175 employees. The company, due to its success, has been expanding rapidly. New employees have been added at all levels of the organization. Kathy and Matt, though they are responsible for separate departments in Rocket, they have roughly the same number of managers who report directly to them (8 managers each). Each manager has 15 direct reports. The average age of the reports is 36. There are three different generations represented in the total group of reports (Millennials, Generation Xers, and one or two Baby Boomers).
Both Kathy and Robert have become concerned about how to raise the level of employee engagement within each of their departments. They both know that engagement leading to performance must be based on something more than a paycheck and a "cool and progressive" organizational culture. Though their managers and teams do well, both Kathy and Robert have noticed that "something more" is needed.
They have decided to take a more strategic approach to increasing engagement rather than simply trying to offer a short-term fix such as adding incentives or providing cash bonuses (which research has shown has little longer-term impact of improvement engagement and morale). After discussing the issue with the senior executive team, they both decide that a primary missing link is the way their managers cultivate engagement in the workplace. Furthermore, they both have discovered, through their own experiences, that when employees experience engagement in the workplace it is usually the result of the way managers manage their direct reports. If managers are not clear on what positively impacts engagement, they may be the source of raising levels of disengagement.
After consulting with their peers across the industry, both Kathy and Matt decide to pilot their new Engagement E+6 Model that they believe will properly train their managers and eventually make a positive difference in their respective departments and teams at Rocket. As part of developing this new pilot, they have asked you to help them define thespecific practices that managers can use in each of the six areas below in order to increase the likelihood that each employee in each department will be authentically engaged in their work and with their teams.
In your paper define what it means when an employee is engaged as well as disengaged. Next, you are to define each of the areas in the Engagement E+6 model below. Find one piece of research that supports eachof your definitions. Finally, you are to describe the actions/practices that managers could/should take to ensure that each of the 6 areas are fully experienced by employees at Rocket, Inc