Dissertation Title: Measuring And Evaluating The Impact Of High Involvement Work Practices (HIWP) On Employee Engagement.

Background to the choice of subject (Reasons)

Employee engagement is a valuable concept academically and professionally that has gained importance in recent years. It has got significance in different disciplines including management sciences, psychology, HRM and behavioural studies (Shuck et al., 2014). Existing literature shows that employee engagement is vital for successful performance of employees and it is directly related to their satisfaction, commitment, contribution and performance. Yet many studies result consistently reports low levels of employee engagement (Saks and Gruman, 2014, Shuck et al., 2014, Sorenson, 2013, Stairs and Galpin, 2010, Wollard and Shuck, 2011). Academically this concept is far more explained but its practical results and implications are not enough. HIWPs is an important human resource aspect which needs to be explored in relation to employee engagement. By investigating its impact on employee engagement this work will provide greater insights academically and empirically as well (Boxall and Macky, 2014, Mohr and Zoghi, 2008, O'Neill et al., 2011, Oppenauer and Van De Voorde, 2016).

Research Objectives (Building Blocks)

The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of HIWP on employee engagement. Specific objectives are defined are as follow;

1. To measure the current level of employee engagement in the organisation.
2. To assess the impact of power on employee engagement.
3. To determine how information affects engagement of employee.
4. To explain the impact of reward on employee engagement.
5. To evaluate the impact of knowledge on employee engagement.
6. To explain, measure and evaluate among four, which HIWP has strongest impact on employee engagement.

Results from primary review of the literature:

1. Who are the key authors in this field/subject area?

William Kahn was the first authored to conceptualise the concept of employee engagement (Wollard and Shuck, 2011). High involvement work practices comprise of four aspects power, knowledge, information and reward. Both concepts are likely to impact the performance of firm (Mohr and Zoghi, 2008; O'Neill et al., 2011).

2. What are the main theories/debates?

Two decades ago, the concept and theoretical basis for employee engagement was firstly introduced by William Kahn, from there it gets significance and now is researched explaining various aspects of organisation. Employee engagement is defined as self-attachment of organisational members to the roles of their work (Shuck et al., 2014). Importance of employee engagement cannot be neglected as organisational outcomes comprising OCB, employee commitment, retention and performance are dependent on it (Shuck et al., 2014, Stairs and Galpin, 2010, Wollard and Shuck, 2011). A practical work system high-involvement work practices (HIWPs) that is also known as Hight commitment, high involvement and high performance (Guthrie, 2001)is also under exploration in this research. Four aspect are covered by HIWPs including power, information, reward and knowledge. HIWP refers to a set arrangement that increases skill, knowledge, motivation and performance of employee to achieve desired organisational performance (Guthrie, 2001, Mohr and Zoghi, 2008).

Proposed methods of data collection:

Among qualitative or quantitative approach, this study will utilise quantitative data. In management and social science, it is a most commonly used research design as it gives an in-depth information in terms of figures of the topic (Bryman and Bell, 2015).  Primary data collection will be collected through structured questionnaire. Questionnaire will be divided into two parts first part will cover demographics of the respondent and second will cover questions related to variables. The rationale for selecting primary methods is to get recent and up to dated data about this research issue.

Possible methods of data analysis:

Data analysis is projected to answer the research question. To check the relation among independent and dependent variable hierarchal regression will be applied. Cronbach alpha (α) will be used to test the reliability of the variable and its construct. Kurtosis value and Kolmogorov-Smirn test will be used to check data normality. To treat outliers Grubbs test, Tietegen-Moore test will be used. All the tests will be conducted on SPSS software.

Future action:

1. What sources of information/support are available to you?

For extensive literature review research will use different journal like Elsevier B.V., Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., Taylor & Francis Group, Nova Science Publishers, Inc., Wiley Online Library and ScienceDirect. Different other resources will also be used including university library, fellow students, supervisor, module lecturer etc.

2. What obstacles/barriers may you be faced with as you continue your research?

To pursue this research, the main obstacle will be data collection. As this is a time-consuming process and access to organisations will not be easy. Finding a participant institution will also be a difficulty. Managing and dealing data is also a challenge. Moreover, though a lot of literature exist yet many earlier studies are not accessible. Finding appropriate and relevant literature is a big task. Lastly, ethical consideration is an important aspect of research process this one is also a potential barrier for conducting research as one cannot force the respondent to participate, willingness of participants is necessary.

3. What do you plan to do next?

Research will usually take up to 4 months. Data collection will be done through personal and university references. No potential cost is associated with the study.