Engaging the Workforce: The Grand Management Challenge of the 21st Century

233 Pages·2022·5.919 MB·English

by  Nicos Rossides

“A successful organisation is like a successful sports team. Skill is
important, but teamwork, commitment and – dare I say – fun will
always beat isolated stars. I had the pleasure of working with
Nicos for many years. He is a star, but certainly not isolated. He is
a consummate team player with a management style that energised
and motivated the diverse teams he led. That natural ability and
practical experience shine through in this important contribution
to better management and stronger, happier organisations.
Engaging indeed.”
Adrian Chedore, Chairman, ABN Impact;
Former Global CEO, Synovate
“With Dr. Nicos Rossides well-described as a ‘pracademic,’ let me
profile myself as the ‘pragmatic practitioner’ who has worked and
partnered intensively with Nicos for many years in the marketing
services industry.
This inspiring book balances beautifully between the art and the
science required to successfully drive employee engagement in the
fast-changing dynamic talent world we live in.
Working in a global business with over 45,000 passionate
marketing communication professionals with an average age well
under 30 years, the topics discussed in the book are keeping me
busy every day and will have a significant impact on how
successful businesses will be in the future.
In my environment, most of the great talent around the globe are
GenZ and GenY and the relationship they want with their
employer goes well beyond a transactional one. While recent
COVID years have accelerated the pace of change, the direction
of change was already set. Remote working, increased emphasis on
employee well-being, and faster adoption of all kinds of digital
interactions have made us skip at least five years in a trend that
was underway already.
For me, it’s now about ‘really understanding what’s behind this
fast-changing dynamic.’ Trying to summarize my personal findings
in six words, I would say it’s all about Purpose, Inclusion,
Flexibility, Perspective, Autonomy and Trust. Each of these
elements are fundamental and, although I am not naming them
in any particular order, Purpose and Inclusion are crucial to
defining the right Employer Brand and Employee Value
Proposition that resonates with our new workforce. These values,
applied with integrity and honesty, are what will drive sustainable
employee engagement. Every day, I can see that many of our GenZ
and GenY talents want to actively drive Social Impact and ‘growth
for good’ through diverse and engaged teams.
In this context, it’s important that leaders and managers realize that
they will need to lead and manage very differently to be successful
in this new world. Openness, Transparency, Vulnerability, and
Generosity are all critical to mastering these new relationships. For
many, this is an important ‘reset’ in how they work, and leaders may
benefit from some ‘reverse mentoring,’ helping them understand what
really drives their partners in the workforce.
Coming from this background and with this experience, I have very
much enjoyed and valued reading Engaging the Workforce and thank
Dr. Nicos Rossides for offering several new perspectives which will
help to further strengthen relationships and ultimately drive talent
competitiveness.”
Peter Huijboom, Global CEO Media & Global Clients,
Dentsu International
“As an author, Nicos gives us a masterpiece to guide managers and
human resource advisors. As an academic, Nicos gives us an
anthology of scholarly research about the history of work and the
people who do it. As a practitioner, Nicos gives us models, frame-
works, and typologies to design our interventions. As a realist, Nicos
gives us foundational knowledge so we can ask new questions as we
engage the workforce in a post-Covid world.”
Bud Taylor, Practitioner and author of
Customer Driven Change, Virginia, USA
Engaging the Workforce
Grounded in 25 years of research and practical experience, this book shows how
to create engaging work environments and practices that harness employees’
energy and talents toward achieving organizational goals, while enhancing
workers’ motivation and well-being.
Creating and sustaining high functioning work environments lies at the core
of management practice, and employee engagement is a key element in shaping
these workplaces – and a significant challenge for business leaders. Academic
researchers and practitioners have tackled the topic, but a chasm exists between
these perspectives: academics tend to emphasize theory over problem-solving,
while practitioners tend to rely on formulaic approaches and experience, rather
than empirically tested theoretical frameworks. Thought leader, accomplished
CEO, and organizational development consultant Nicos Rossides bridges this
gap, exploring the complexity and fragmented nature of the academic literature
and offering insight into practitioner approaches used by research and consulting
organizations. He also presents his own conceptual framework that he has built
over the years and is meant to be customized to specific organizational contexts.
This insightful book will be of great interest to CEOs, board members and
line managers across industries, as well as HR/OD practitioners and students,
especially those who wish to learn how to apply time-tested intervention
strategies to the workforce engagement challenge.
Nicos Rossides is an accomplished CEO and management consultant. While
running his own consultancy and acting as CEO of CREF Business Ventures (as-
sociated with the Cyprus Institute), he also serves as Chairman of the Advisory
Board of DigitalMR, a London-based digital marketing insights firm, which he co-
founded, He is also joint owner of MASMI Research Group, an international
marketing insights agency with head offices in London. Dr. Rossides is the author
of a book on Japanese culture and is a frequent speaker on business and man-
agement topics, especially employee engagement, entrepreneurship, and bridging
the academic-practitioner gap. He studied in the United States as a Fulbright
scholar, holds a doctorate in engineering from Kyoto University, Japan, and re-
ceived his senior management training from MIT’s Sloan School.

Engaging the Workforce
The Grand Management Challenge
of the 21st Century
Nicos Rossides
Cover image: syolacan
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Nicos Rossides
The right of Nicos Rossides to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: Rossides, Nicos, author.
Title: Engaging the workforce : the grand management challenge of the
21st century / Nicos Rossides.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Includes
bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2022008166 | ISBN 9781032224381 (hbk) | ISBN
9781032220352 (pbk) | ISBN 9781003272571 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Employee motivation--History--21st century. |
Management--History--21st century. | Organizational effectiveness--
History--21st century.
Classification: LCC HF5549.5.M63 R6777 2022 | DDC 658.3/140905--
dc23/eng/20220525
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022008166
ISBN: 978-1-032-22438-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-22035-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-27257-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003272571
Typeset in Sabon
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
Contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgments xi
Foreword by Lawrence A. Crosby xii
PART I
The “What” and “So What” of Employee
Engagement 1
1 Introduction 3
2 The Evolution and Importance of Work 11
3 The Future of Work and the AI-Powered Revolution 20
4 The Human Side of Management 27
5 The Emergence of New Management Paradigms 35
6 Building Engagement: An Integrative Conceptual
Framework 43
7 Academic and Practitioner Perspectives on
Engagement 60
8 Relevant Theoretical Frameworks 67
9 Research on the Drivers of Engagement 80
10 Research on the Consequences of Engagement 88
11 The Dysfunctions of Disengagement 95
viii Contents
PART II
The “Now What” Around Engagement:
A Practitioner Focus 107
12 Implications for Managerial Action 109
13 Building Managerial Competencies 121
14 Practitioner Toolkits for Measuring and Managing
Engagement 133
15 The “Now What?” Around Engagement:
Structuring the Intervention Process (Preparing to
Change) 145
16 The Importance of Context 168
17 Getting to Work: Intervention Strategies 192
18 Epilogue 203
Index 208
Figures
1.1 New Era – New Paradigm: Future-Proof
Organizational Structures 8
2.1 a: Job, Career, Calling. b: Calling as a Confluence of
Passion, Aptitude, and Societal Need 16
2.2 21st Century Megatrends: Affecting the Workforce 18
3.1 The Blurring of Our “Worlds” 21
3.2 Modes of Thinking: “Fast” versus “Slow” 21
3.3 Hybrid Knowledge Work 24
4.1 Human-Centered Organization 33
5.1 Human Drives 38
6.1 The Employee Engagement Causal Chain 44
6.2 The Antecedents of Engagement 47
6.3 a: Temperament: Sensitivity to Environment. b: The
Big 5 Personality Traits: Low, High Scores 52
6.4 Engagement Referents 57
6.5 The Consequences of Engagement 58
8.1 Self-Determination Theory: Innate Psychological
Needs 70
8.2 Job Demands and Resources Theory 71
8.3 Broaden-and-Build Theory: Impact of Positive
Emotions 75
11.1 Toxic Work Places 100
12.1 Managerial Action 111
12.2 HR Practice Dimensions 114
12.3 The Virtuous Engagement Cycle 117
13.1 The Manager Leader Continuum 124
13.2 Job-Person Fit 127
14.1 Employee Segments 139
14.2 a: Performance versus Impact. b: Impact versus Effort:
Priorities against Required Effort 140