Managing work engagement : A qualitative study of a teleoperator
Lehtimäki, Toni (2016)
2016
Master's Degree Programme in Business Competence
Johtamiskorkeakoulu - School of Management
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2016-06-07
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201606101877
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201606101877
Tiivistelmä
This study focuses on the phenomenon of work engagement and examines how management can support work engagement. Given the research purpose of identifying and analyzing managerial activities related to work engagement, this study will approach work engagement from the perspectives of job resources and psychological capital. In the area of leadership perspectives, this research focuses on the enabling leadership style. This study is conducted in the context of consumer services among management in a teleoperator. Six interviews are executed in this study in the teleoperator. Thereby, this will be a qualitative study.
The theoretical part of the study is focused on understanding the phenomenon of work engagement. Schaufeli and Bakker s definition of work engagement is used in this study. Based on theory, positive drivers of work engagement such as job resources and psychological capital (PsyCap) play an important part in this study. More precisely, the study shows that job resources such as autonomy, competence and relatedness need to be supported by management. The enabling leadership style or more precisely, the servant leadership style can be used as managerial activity to promote work engagement. Additionally, PsyCap also has a positive influence on work engagement. It is important to support and develop PsyCap, too. The first research question of this study, -what kind of managerial activities are related to work engagement, will be answered based on theory.
The second research question, how managerial activities are carried out in practice, will be answered based on the six interviews. The results of the empirical part of the study show that job resources such as autonomy, competence and relatedness are in line with the literature and quite well supported by the management in the context of a teleoperator in consumer services. PsyCap is partly supported by the management. In the future, closer attention needs to be paid to the element of hope. This can be done e.g. by implementing a psychological capital intervention (PCI), which has been proved to be an excellent way to increase and develop PsyCap. Three interesting and important points are discovered from the empirical findings as an extra discovery. Supervisory coaching, courage and gratitude are important points to be raised from the empirical findings, which correlate positively with work engagement.
The theoretical part of the study is focused on understanding the phenomenon of work engagement. Schaufeli and Bakker s definition of work engagement is used in this study. Based on theory, positive drivers of work engagement such as job resources and psychological capital (PsyCap) play an important part in this study. More precisely, the study shows that job resources such as autonomy, competence and relatedness need to be supported by management. The enabling leadership style or more precisely, the servant leadership style can be used as managerial activity to promote work engagement. Additionally, PsyCap also has a positive influence on work engagement. It is important to support and develop PsyCap, too. The first research question of this study, -what kind of managerial activities are related to work engagement, will be answered based on theory.
The second research question, how managerial activities are carried out in practice, will be answered based on the six interviews. The results of the empirical part of the study show that job resources such as autonomy, competence and relatedness are in line with the literature and quite well supported by the management in the context of a teleoperator in consumer services. PsyCap is partly supported by the management. In the future, closer attention needs to be paid to the element of hope. This can be done e.g. by implementing a psychological capital intervention (PCI), which has been proved to be an excellent way to increase and develop PsyCap. Three interesting and important points are discovered from the empirical findings as an extra discovery. Supervisory coaching, courage and gratitude are important points to be raised from the empirical findings, which correlate positively with work engagement.