The Impact of Employee Engagement on Organisational Change in a

Telecommunications Organisation

​Abstract: ​There are limited empirical studies that discuss the role of human resources management in change project. This
research contributes to the manner in which projects could be managed in enhancing the engagement of employees,
particularly in an emerging economy. Studies on employee engagement indicate that employing engagement strategies, during
times of change, can greatly improve the success rate of improvement initiatives. The study objectives were to determine the
impact of employee engagement, during implementation of a project. In particular, we examined how employee engagement
affects the success of implementing change programmes. The research question is: how does employee engagement influence
the success of change management initiatives? The model of Towers Watson was used to establish the engagement levels of
respondents. The research methodology selected was qualitative in nature, drawing a sample from an organisation in the
telecommunications industry where fourteen employees across different levels were interviewed. The participants comprised
individuals who were affected by change, in the Finance Division. Thematic content analysis was used to interpret data.
Findings indicated that engagement levels of employees fluctuated during the change implementation process. However, most
of the respondents displayed low levels of engagement, suggesting that the change assignment was partially successful.
Recommendations based on the findings include the need to improve communication, planning of future ventures, need to
support employees, and improve on the reward and recognition practices, during the transition process. These findings may
provide useful insights on employee engagement to organisations that are planning and implementing an improvement on
their systems, practices, and procedures.

​1. Introduction
The study objectives were to determine the impact of employee engagement in managing change during
implementation of a project. In particular, the research examines how employee engagement affects the success
of implementing change programmes that are innovative in nature. The research question is: how does employee
engagement influence the success of change management initiatives? The model of Towers Watson (2012) was
used to establish the engagement levels of respondents.
According to research published by John Kotter in 1995, only 30% of change initiatives undertaken by organisations
are successful. This percentage remained static for over a decade, as confirmed by the 2008 global study by
McKinsey & Company (Keller and Aiken, 2009). Employee attitudes and management behaviour were identified by
Keller and Aiken (2009) as factors that contribute to the failure of change management initiatives. Change requires
the co-operation of a large number of individuals who buy-in to the purpose of the project and are motivated to be
a part of the initiative (Kotter, 1995). Without this level of commitment from employees, senior management face
huge challenges when change plans are implemented. Engaged people outperform disengaged people and that the
workforce needs to be engaged for change implementation endeavours to be successful (Dale Carnegie &
Associates Inc, 2012).

​2. Literature review

2.1 Employee engagement
The concept of engagement was coined by Kahn in 1990 when he undertook a study exploring the psychological
involvement and behaviours of people during work role performances. The more people invest and identify with
their work roles, the greater their effort towards achieving the objectives of their work tasks. The author espouses
that there are employees who are engaged versus those who are disengaged. Those who are engaged, they
actively mobilize other staff members to express themselves verbally, non-verbally, cognitively and emotionally. To
the contrary, disengagement occurs when there is withdrawal and expression of defence mechanisms verbally,
cognitively or emotionally (Kahn, 1990).

Other scholars have defined engagement differently, using concepts that are not always consistent with one
another. For example, Gallup, a global consulting company that conducts forward thinking research on a wide
range of business problems facing organisations, built on Kahn’s research in the 1990s and formalised the concept
in the global business environment. Gallup suggests that employee engagement contains similarities to the
concept of customer engagement, and includes the dimensions of confidence, integrity, pride and passion. They
define engaged employees as those who “work with a passion and feel a profound connection to their company,
drive innovation and move the organisation forward” (Gallup, 2006).

Also, the Corporate Leadership Council (CLC), another global research company, has also done a significant amount
of research on employee engagement, and suggests that engaged employees have a positive emotional connection
to their work and do more than what is expected of them to help meet business goals (CLC, 2004). Macey and
Schneider (2008) define employee engagement “as a desirable condition that has an organisational purpose, with
high levels of involvement, commitment, passion, enthusiasm, focused effort, and energy” (p.4).
Components of employee engagement suggested by Macey and Schneider (2008) are trait engagement,
psychological state engagement and behavioural engagement. Trait engagement relates to an individual’s view
and perception of the world, while psychological state engagement focusses on feelings, commitment, employee
morale and passion. Behavioural engagement is described by Macey and Schneider (2008) as additional role
behaviour characterized by personal discretionary effort. Employees develop a psychological connection with their
organisations through commitment and enthusiasm.

Earlier definitions of employee engagement have mainly been focusing on behavioural, psychological and trait
aspects of employees, AON Hewitt (2013) has recently linked engagement to concepts in organisations. AON
Hewitt (2013), argues that there are three components that assist in defining engagement. Firstly, the cognitive
component relates to the beliefs employees have about their organisation, its leadership and culture. Secondly,
the emotional component is about the focus, motivation and passion employees display towards their work tasks.
Lastly, the physical component relates to the behaviours employees demonstrate and can be viewed as the
amount of effort employees put into achieving their work tasks.

Researchers agree that the workforce is split between these two broad categories, engaged and disengaged, and
have broken down these two main levels to account for those employees who do not fit into either category.
Meaning employees of an organisation may occupy different levels of engagement. For example, Gallup identified
three levels of engagement: engaged, not engaged and actively disengaged. They described engaged employees as
passionate and motivated individuals who add value to the organisation and display high levels commitment; not
engaged employees as merely present and not investing enough motivation and energy in their work, and actively
disengaged employees as negative influencers spreading their unhappiness to the rest of the workforce (Gallup,
2006). Research conducted by the company indicates that engaged employees are adding more to bottom line
profits now than ever before. They conducted a study in 2012 across 192 organisations over 34 countries and
found that organisations with high levels of employee engagement have lower absenteeism, higher customer
metrics, higher productivity and higher profitability than organisations with low engagement in similar industries
(Gallup, 2013).

On the other hand, AON Hewitt in their 2013 research categorised levels of engagement into the four groups: the
highly engaged, moderately engaged, passive, and actively disengaged. Employees with low engagement levels are
unsatisfied and unmotivated, their low levels of engagement contribute to their poor performance and they can be
a negative influence on the rest of the workforce. On the other end of the scale are those employees who
demonstrate high levels of engagement by being committed to the organisation’s mission and vision. These
employees are committed to achieving objectives and add value to the organisation by being innovative and
creative and identifying opportunities to improve processes. The two levels in between comprise employees who
do not have interests in the organisation and do not contribute positively in achieving business goals.
Findings from a study conducted by the CLC in 2004 across 59 organisations in 27 countries revealed that
committed employees perform 24% better than their counterparts and are 80% less likely to leave their
organisations. CLC has also found that organisations with higher employee engagement scores perform 10% better
than organisations with low engagement scores (CLC, 2004).

2.2 Theory for this study: Towers Watson levels of engagement

For the purposes of this study, the Towers Watson (2012) description of the different levels of engagement was
identified as being the most relevant for this research. This definition was used to answer the research question on
employee engagement. Towers Watson (2012) identifies four levels of engagement depicted as follows:
▪ ​Highly engaged: Those who believe in their organisation’s objectives and are energetic and enthusiastic. This
group of employees have an emotional connection to their organisation and are willing to put in extra effort to
achieve success.
▪ ​Unsupported: Those who believe in their organisation’s objectives, but lack enablement and or energy.
Detached: Those do not believe in their organisation’s objectives, but feel enabled and or energised.
▪ ​Disengaged: Those who do not believe in their organisation or do not have an emotional connection to it. They
lack energy and enthusiasm and are not willing to put in any extra effort to achieve the organisation’s objectives.
(Towers Watson, 2012).

The findings of the 2007/2008 global workforce study conducted by Towers Watson on over 50 global companies
indicated that higher levels of engagement contribute to better financial results and an increase in the retention of
high performing employees. The results also showed that high engagement was linked to an increase of 19% in
operating income and a 28% increase in earnings per share, while low levels of engagement result in a drop of 32%
in operating income, with an 11% decrease in earnings per share. The study further revealed that 21% of
employees worldwide were fully engaged, with the balance being partly to fully disengaged (Towers Perrin ISR,
2008). A follow-up study conducted by the company in 2012 revealed similar findings to the 2007/2008 study, and
indicated that while the percentage of engaged employees had increased to 35%, organisations were struggling to
maintain engagement levels (Towers Watson, 2012).
In order to improve employee engagement, organisations need to understand factors that lead to disengagement
and the impact of disengagement on business performance and objectives. Engagement should not be a once-off
activity, but rather it should be incorporated as an on-going activity that forms part of normal operations,
particularly during change management projects that are innovative in nature. Effective monitoring and
measurement tools need to be implemented in order to ensure that the employees are actively engaged and are
positively impacting on business performance, when implementing change.
2.3 The relationship between employee engagement and change management
Positive engagement has been linked to progressive organisational outcomes. Royal (2013) stated that
“engagement + enablement = success in times of change” (p.34). Engagement has been linked to increased
productivity, attraction and retention of high performing employees, loyalty of employees to their organisations
and commitment of employees to fulfilling their job requirements. Highly committed and motivated employees
who are enabled by management may help organisations to respond more effectively to opportunities and
challenges, and are considered a key resource to organisations going through change. Guy and Beaman (2005)
postulated that employee engagement was instrumental in the successful implementation of change projects.
Towers Watson (2012) discusses the concept of sustainable engagement, which describes the “intensity of
employees’ connection to their organisation” (p.5). They identified three core elements, namely:
▪ ​Being engaged
▪ ​Being enabled
▪ ​Feeling energised

The company suggested that when sustainable engagement starts to decrease, organisations become susceptible
to a decline in productivity, poor customer service and increased staff turnover. An organisation needs to provide
adequate internal support, sufficient resources and appropriate tools to create an environment of enablement
where employees are encouraged to perform well. An environment of enablement should be ingrained into the
organisation’s culture and can be created by visible leadership, effective communication, and training and
development programmes that focus on the employee’s personal and career growth.

Furthermore, an organisation that builds an energetic culture promotes the physical, emotional and social
well-being of its employees. An energetic culture creates a healthy environment that promotes innovation and
“out of the box” thinking, thereby adding more value to the organisation. Enabled and energetic employees
believe in their organisation and its objectives, and because of their emotional connection to the organisation they
are more likely to fully engage during normal operations and during times of change, as they believe that the
achievement of the organisation is linked to their successes.

In a survey conducted by the Conference Board in 2005, Guy and Beaman (2005) found that a large number of the
senior managers interviewed agreed that employee engagement played a huge role in implementing change
successfully. The successful implementation of change initiatives requires the engagement and buy-in of all
employees who are involved in the change. The authors further explained that planning, communicating and
achieving participation are three crucial factors that organisations need to consider when preparing for change and
developing strategies to engage employees during the change.
Also Haudan and MacLean (2001) support the notion of the link between employee engagement and successful
change implementation of a project. They assertain that the “the purpose of change management is to engage
employees in a business, such that, they can “think and act differently about it” (p.255).They suggested that in
order for change initiatives to be successful, the project should be defined, aligned, understood and sustained.
Dicke (2007) proposed that employees who are engaged during a change management initiative are more likely to
“buy-in” to the change and perform better than those who are not engaged, thereby supporting business success.
He proposed that communication, collaboration, knowledge sharing and trust are key functions associated with
both successful change management and employee engagement. If organisations are capable in the functions
required for successful change management, they will be capable in the functions associated with employee
engagement.
3. Research methodology
A qualitative semi-structured interview was selected as the research method for the purposes of this study. This
method was useful in gathering data from direct experiences of employees who were experiencing change. The
case site was the Financial Operations (FinOps) Division at the Company X head offices based in Johannesburg,
South Africa. In total, 14 participants were interviewed with each interview timed to take about one hour. We
sampled five junior (JE), four senior (SE), and five middle (MM) managers in the FinOps Division. There were eight
male and six female employees of which five were Black, one Coloured (mixed), four Indians, and four White.
Questions sought to assess the views of employees on the change process. In particular, the major focus was on
the levels of engagement of employees during the change intervention and how this contributed to the success of
the project. This sample was interesting because of recent change management initiatives the organisation had
implemented. Thematic content analysis was the approach followed to analyse and interpret the data collected.
Thematic content analysis can be described as “as a matrix based method for ordering and synthesising data”
(Bryman, 2012, p.579). We selected this approach due to the qualitative nature of the study and the data was
analysed to identify any recurring patterns.
4. Results
Themes were identified from the data firstly across employee levels, then secondly across the whole group of
levels of participating employees. On the question of level of interest and commitment to the project organisation
X was implementing, eight out of fourteen participants indicated interest and commitment to the project. The
majority of the committed respondents were senior and middle managers, while only one junior employee
belonged to this group. The others without interest, two employees, one from middle management, and the other
from junior management level, had low levels of commitment. The low commitment was attributed to poor
communication, limited management support and involvement of these participants in the activities surrounding
the change. The remaining four employees without interest, who had representation across the various levels of
the firm, were initially uninterested, but changed their positions during implementation.
Respondents were also asked whether they felt they were sufficiently engaged during the implementation of the
project and how this affected their contributions. Five of the total participants felt adequately engaged and
continuously informed on the progress of the project. A total of six participants felt not sufficiently engaged. These
six participants also thought that an enabling environment was not present at organisation X. The three remaining
participants felt that they were engaged to a limited degree, but would have benefited from getting more
communication and information to facilitate the engagement process.
The respondents were asked about the key words that described the implementation of project. At the start of the
project, eight of the participants were nervous and uncertain. These feelings later changed during implementation
and a more positive and motivated approach was adopted. Five respondents developed negative feelings for the
project as they were uncertain of their job security. One employee was positive from the initial stages of the
project and understood the positive impact of change within the organisation, thus felt empowered.
A question was also asked on the challenges associated with change implementation. Data migration into Systems,
Application Products (SAP) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) was confirmed by middle management as the most
difficult part of the project. It was felt across all the levels that training tended to be too theoretical, complex and
high-level to an extent that the actual practical work was significantly self-learnt. Many of the trainers were not
local South Africans and their spoken English language was not as good as expected. Senior management
concurred with middle management that the change process tended to be target-driven rather than focused on
solving immediate problems facing the organisation. Other challenges mentioned were failure to adopt the new
ways of working and the adjustments to the organisational structure, by the general employees.
On the question of whether employees’ contributions were valued by the organisation during the project, a large
number of the participants felt their efforts were not adequately recognized. Only three out of 14 respondents felt
valued by the firm. Did the employees feel the project was successful, somewhat successful or not successful at
all? Four respondents said the project was completely successful. The ten remaining respondents thought partially
successful was the more appropriate evaluation of the new assignment. Middle management gave the partially
successful response, while senior employees were split evenly between the project being completely successful or
partially successful. It was rather interesting to note that three of the five junior employees actually thought the
project had been successful.
Overall, the majority of the respondents were positive about the implementation of the project. There were
serious concerns regarding potential job losses and an environment that was not very enabling, resulting in some
employees to being disconnected from the change process. Job insecurity was quite common and some employees
felt were being excluded from the important parts of decision-making, affecting their professional lives. As many of
the employees felt they were not adequately acknowledged and valued during the implementation of the
assignment, the project was generally perceived to have been a partial success.
5. Analysis
In general, demographic considerations that include, gender, race and educational qualifications did not seem to
have any bearing on the results obtained. However, there were some noticeable differences in the varying
responses for employees occupying different management levels. The senior and middle management employees
generally developed commitment to the project. They felt that being involved and obtaining information about the
project, equipped them to be effective employees as part of the Finance Division, across different regions where
the organisation operates. On the contrary, junior employees exhibited low levels of commitment to the project,
as they felt their own ideas and suggestions were not considered during decision-making. They, therefore, felt
disempowered. During the implementation of the project, there were respondents who were initially not
integrated; however, they became involved as the project progressed. As these employees developed deeper
understanding about the project, they became more eager to participate.
Vance (2006) contends that employees’ level of commitment improves when an organisation values their
participation. In Macey and Schneider (2008) employee engagement is a function of commitment, involvement as
well as focused effort. Using Watson (2012) levels of engagement, employees with no commitment at the onset of
the project fell into the unsupported and detached categories. The full match with Watson (2012) reveals that
eight participants in the study were highly engaged, one respondent was unsupported, one was detached, while
four were disengaged.

Engagement levels were fluctuating during the different phases of the project. There were higher levels of
engagement at the start of the venture. However, during implementation, the majority of the employees fell in the
unsupported, detached and disengaged categories. There is consistency between the findings of Haudan and
MacLean (2001), Guy and Beaman (2005), Perlman and Leppert (2013), Gallup (2006) and Royal (2013) on the
importance of effective engagement of employees to raise productivity.
Employees had a range of feelings regarding the project. The resultant emotional impact was confusion, doubt,
loss of focus and disorientation. The behaviour observed as a result of change included poor decision-making and
stifled problem-solving (Attridge, 2009). Baumeister et al. (2006) postulated that positive emotions are an
important ingredient in helping employees to cope with change. The study finds that emotions of employees
fluctuated during project implementation. Only three employees changed to become more optimistic and
empowered, during the assignment implementation, which contradicts the responses of the participants, in
general, on the question of engagement levels across project implementation where a noticeable downward trend
was noticeable.
On the challenges facing employees, middle management had to grapple with data migration. On the other hand,
junior employees struggled with the functionality of the ERP system itself. The system appeared to be generally
inadequate to the junior employees, was difficult to work with and seemed not to be able to handle large amounts
of data. New ways of working required change in structure and culture, new levels of cooperation, the reduction in
the number of staff, but increased workload and work stress. At the same time, the employees valued by the firm
were also observed to be highly engaged while the remainder were in the unsupported, detached and disengaged
categories of the Watson (2012) framework.
Four of the participants, which were from senior management, felt that the change process was successful. The
rest of the respondents felt that the undertaking was still a work-in-progress and some problems were yet to be
resolved. The results are comparable to those of Maurer (2010), Keller and Aiken (2009) and Kotter (1995) who
found only 30 % of change projects results in some success.
6. Conclusion and recommendations
6.1 Conclusion of the study
The aim of this study was to assess the impact of employee engagement on organisational change. While research
indicates that one single definition for the concept has not yet emerged, the various definitions that have
developed contain similar themes. Gallup defined engaged employees as those who “work with a passion and feel
a profound connection to their company; drive innovation and move the organisation forward” (Gallup, 2006),
while Towers Watson (2012) described it as “the intensity of employees’ connection to their organisation” (p.5).
The common themes identified included commitment, profound connection, enablement, improved performance
and increased productivity. The first question that we asked our participants was used to establish the levels of
engagement during the change. The questions that followed were intended to assess changes in engagement
levels based on employees’ experiences during the change. The majority of the respondents were committed to
the change, which was evident in the percentage of responses that were categorised as being highly engaged.
However, despite being committed, we found that the percentage of highly engaged respondents changed over
the remaining questions. Many of the respondents felt that management did not create an environment of
enablement. The employees’ lack of involvement resulted in their fluctuations of levels of engagement,
throughout the project phases. Feelings of negativity, disempowerment, insecurity and a lack of appreciation from
management further influenced engagement, with more respondents moving from being engaged to being
unsupported, detached and even disengaged.
Based on the findings, we conclude that while engagement levels fluctuated during the implementation of Project
Y, the majority of the respondents displayed low levels of engagement which contributed to the change being
partially successful.

6.2 Recommendations
Organisations face change at an increasing pace and strong leadership is required in responding to adjustments.
Employee attitudes and behaviours are the main challenges that organisations need to address during change. It
would be therefore strategic for organisations to identify the nature of change they are experiencing to develop
appropriate strategies. Employee engagement may be implemented as a tool that organisations may use, during
change projects. Employees require support and efficient business processes to perform their jobs effectively. In
turn, organisations should ensure that they provide these and create an environment of enablement where
employees are able to maximise their skills.
The recommendations include the need to improve internal communication as in Guy and Beaman (2005) and
Kotter (1995) where it is acknowledged that effective communication helps to eliminate misunderstandings.
Regular evaluation of the planning and implementation of change helps in staying on course. Management needs
to create an enabling environment which allows employees at all levels to participate and contribute effectively.
Middle management requires additional empowerment and there is need to rethink the rewards and recognition
practices to achieve the intended objectives. Further research may investigate the leadership roles in creating
sustainable engagement. Future research may examine further into the barriers to engagement and the strategies
to mitigate the problems.