Relationship between employee behaviours and engagement in organisations’ internal environment

The objective of this study was to critically evaluate the relationship between employee behaviours and engagement in organisations’ internal environment. This objective was achieved in the context of Adeeb Group. Combination of primary and secondary data was used in achieving the objectives. In terms of primary data, questionnaires were carried out among the employees of Adeeb Group. Findings showed that among components of engagement, participants obtained the highest level on vigour; followed by dedication, and the lowest levels were obtained for absorption. In fact, the results revealed that employees’ level of engagement was low, especially for absorption. In terms of employee relations, it was found that even though the communication between employees is regarded as better than the communication with organisation, employees do not think that it is good whereas these communications should be open. Employee growth responses also revealed that even though the opportunities provided for training and development is regarded as better than the opportunities for career growth, most of the employees do not think that the organisation supports growth of its members. The findings related to commitment showed that most of the participants were not satisfied about some politics of the organisation.


Introduction
It is generally thought that the core advantage an organisation possesses is its workforce with requisite skills for the competent functioning of the company. This makes it essential to not only hire capable individuals but also to retain its existing trained and competent employees. This is not an easy task as such employees are aware of their worth and may possibly have rival organisations offering them a job with better terms [1]. Employee engagement, therefore, becomes an important endeavour of an organisation's human resources team. Past research has shown that employee engagement occurs not only through extraneous factors such as monetary benefits. For a committed employee, money is an important factor but not at the cost of other aspects like job satisfaction and prospects of further career growth and being appreciated and treated on par with other employees [2]. The presence of employees with an apt skill-set is not sufficient for an organisation to succeed. Such valuable employees need to be managed appropriately so they can perform to the best of their capabilities and deliver what is expected [3].
Their mere attendance at work is not likely to translate into achievement of organisational goals if the employees are not motivated enough and engaged with the organisation [4]. To meet its set goals, an organisation requires three elements in its employees which are their basic competence, engagement and the contribution of an employee towards the goals. Thus, it is imperative for employees to have an emotional connection with the organisation and the tasks along with the basic skills required for accomplishing the said tasks [5].
Past studies on the subject of employee engagement proffer numerous academic and practical definitions of the term. However, there is no unanimity on what constitutes employee engagement. This element is gradually being clubbed with various factors such as cash flow, profit, sales and customer satisfaction that gauge the overall health of a company. Employee engagement can broadly be considered as the constructive association employees have with the organisation. This emotional link encourages them to perform optimally for the wellbeing of the company, leading to a beneficial effect on both, the individual as well as the company [6]. Despite the significance of this attribute, studies show that few employees are seen to be sufficiently engaged with their organisation.
Studies showed that four out of five employees are not sufficiently stimulated enough to give their best for their organisation [7]. Studies done for the US workforce state that only 14%-30% of employees were motivated enough to be engaged with their company [6]. This state of affairs has come about, according to academics, due to the increasingly different pressures on business organisations. The competition is rising considerably in the current environment, necessitating altered requirements from employees. There is a heightened expectation from them because of flatter and smaller organisational structures. This situation, at times, creates a sense of frustration and disenchantment with work in the minds of employees [8]. Threats of retrenchment, downsizing and reengineering are increasingly becoming a fact of work-life. This implies more demands on the employees to perform without the job security they require. This, naturally, creates a negative psychological impact on employees. They realise that the hard work and loyalty that traditionally offered them job security and career progression does not do so any more. This decreases their motivation significantly which, in turn, shows up in the company performance as well [9].
The present changing work scenario thus makes it imperative that new studies that focus on employee engagement be carried out to suit the fluid work environment. The topic requires to be studied in depth along with exploring various means of encouraging employees to be highly engaged and the eventual results this methodology will lead to. It is a proven fact that highly-engaged employees demonstrate a far better performance at work as compared to those who are not engaged. Studies have also pointed out that employers expect highly-engaged employees to go out of their way and beyond the set parameters of their job requirements in order to meet the goals of the company. But it is still not clear how employee engagement can be improved and the role of employee relations in determining and improving the employee engagement.
In this context, the objective of this study is set as to critically evaluate the relationship between employee behaviours and engagement in organisations' internal environment. This objective is achieved in the context of Adeeb Group. Accordingly, followings are the objectives: • To determine and critically evaluate the level of employee engagement in Adeeb Group • To determine and critically evaluate the perception of employees about employee relations initiatives in Adeeb Group • To determine and critically evaluate the relationship between employee relations initiatives and the level of employee engagement in Adeeb Group Adeeb Group is a pioneering firm established in 1995 with its headquarters located in Riyadh. The company realised an effective market entry and acquired an endurable competitive position in the field of offering telecommunication operators and suppliers know-how through fixed charge resolutions on a turnkey basis as well as providing outsource solutions of non-central competences.

Employee relationship management (ERM)
For today's organisations, the employed workforce, their capabilities and mental resources have emerged into essential sources of differentiation. In this context, the conventional human resources (HR) function in organisations has become a progressively a more strategic function [10]. Therefore, the HR strategy is intended to be aligned with the overall corporate strategy by means of the establishment of an employee service tradition centred on knowledge [11]. DeSanctis [12] argued that companies currently focus on improving their HR activities for gaining and sustaining competitive advantage by means of carrying out strategic employee encouragement and contentment practices.
Delaney and Huselid [13] emphasised that the essential concentration is on human resources due to the fact that they are the greatest assets of an organisation. Moreover, it is suggested that positive results occur as a consequence of business stipulation of premium services [14] and the emergence of Employee Relationship Management (ERM) takes place when the HR and employee service coincide [15]. Within the organisation's internal relationship management are the relationships between employee and the employer as well as employee with the organisation [16]. Ehlers and Jordaan [17] defined employee relationships as a directory helping to analyse the contentment, esteem, trust, fairness and assurance relationships between employer and the employees as well as the organisation and the employees.
ERM deals with the administration of relationships in a company with employees [18]. Within the context of ERM, establishing comprehensible communication, guaranteeing that the complaints are addressed on a timely manner, endowing with necessary trainings and offering unambiguous career paths take place. It is quite significant for organisations to manage its workforce effectively, regardless of the scale of the organisation. ERM is a course of actions used to establish and sustain relations with employees. With the usage of ERM, organisations guarantee employee contentment, enhance efficiency, and progress employee confidence. Moreover, ERM helps employees to carry out their tasks in a superior manner, leading to the accomplishment of both individual and corporate goals. An important number of studies on the internal relationship management have put concentration on human resources management and corporate behaviour and theory.

ERM in the framework of corporate behaviour and theory
When the corporate behaviour and theory is taken into consideration, ERM is regarded within the perspective of the corporate citizenship behaviour that is instigated into companies with the purpose of analysing the job contentment as well as corporate dedication at the individual degree; and consistency at the group level by means of hierarchical linear modelling. It is suggested that more polite attitudes can be expected from employees that are engaged with more interconnected work groups in comparison to those based on merely job contentment and corporate dedication. Moreover, the correlation between job contentment and the degree of polite manners by the employees is higher in strongly interconnected groups [19].
The playing down influences of company-based confidence on employee reaction relationships are analysed by Hui and Lee [20]. As a result, it is illustrated that the higher degrees of company-based self-respect generate lower levels of reactions to the comprehension of corporate vagueness. Gopinath and Becker [21] also study the relationships between administrative communications, comprehensions regarding practical fairness of dismissals, and employee manners in the framework of divestiture. They argue that the insights regarding the fairness of the divestiture account for differences in confidence and dedication more than that rationalising the comprehended fairness of dismissals. However, administrative communications which enabled the employees to comprehend the happenings in relation with the divestiture improved the awareness of the practical fairness of the divestiture and dismissals; which had explicit and implicit impacts on prospective dedication [21].
Korsgaard et al. [22] conduct a study on the prospective undesirable impacts of devising strategic transformation on the employment relationship making use of the practical fairness as well. The academics offer that devising transformations can revise the emotional agreement; for example; the employees' consideration modify to the direction that the company's obligation towards them will reduce. As a result of the study outcomes, the responses to devising transformations are based on the considerations of practical fairness since the employee commitments and aim to retain only change negatively by devising change when the employees believe that the practical course is unfair [22].
According to Bell and Menguc [23], the corporate citizenship manner is an essential connection between elements of the company-employee relationship and the recognition of the service standards by the consumers. The scholars also research the function of the job independence in granting the essential attitude judgment for the workforce in order to be capable of practising citizenship attitudes [23].

ERM in the framework of human resources management
Within the framework of human resources management, social exchange theory puts forward that human resources practices influence the emergence and improvement of employee confidence. In the context of the social exchange theory, people establish, sustain and end interaction with each other depending on their considered relative amount of advantages to sacrifices in the associations. Cropanzano and Mitchell [24] argue that social exchange can take place in associations in which the participating bodies foresee a longstanding relationship and have faith in one another. When employee relationships are taken into account, it is suggested that in case the employees believe that they are being treated impartially and the current association is exceeding the boundaries of economic exchange to involve genuine cooperation by the company, they will be more prone to continuing their service and prefer to be more dedicated. As a result of this, more beneficial outcomes take place by the hands of more dedicated employees.
In fact, if the pattern of human resources practices is designed well to establish confidence, the corporate accomplishment can enhance [25]. Whitener [25] carries out a cross-level theory and social exchange theory (acknowledged corporate encouragement) in order to figure out the associations between the human resources exercises, confidence towards the management and corporate dedication. According to the outcomes of this study, human resources exercises influence the relationship between acknowledged corporate encouragement and corporate dedication or the confidence in management [25].
A scrutiny on the industrial relations (IR) and human resources (HR) paradigms on divergence in the employment relationship is conducted by Lewin [26].
IR's principles regarding this kind of a divergence suggest that the divergence rises from the inequality of the power allotment among the employer and the employees; it is permanent; and frequently necessitates corporate involvement by means of directives to adjust the power inequality. On the other hand, HR's principles on this divergence are that they rise from ineffective administration and they can be diminished to some extent by means of modernisations on the corporate and workplace levels resulting in establishing a common set of benefits between the employees and the employer. Moreover, these two sets of principles are scrutinised in the study of Lewin [26] with relation to case studies and pragmatic proof on complaint course of actions, employment favouritism, and employee contribution and commitment schemes [26]. By making use of existing literature, blending and debates, Cioca et al. [27] research the several applications of power assessments in order to establish a typology determining two aspects which are employee power assessments and mutuality in the relations of the employees with the employer.

Employee engagement
According to Kahn [28], employee engagement creates a relationship between an organisation and its employees. Engagement encourages employees to be an integral part of the organisation physically and cognitively. As part of his socio-cultural study, Kahn [28] examined two sets of employees: one from a summer camp and the other an architectural firm. The findings helped him devise the concept of employee engagement. There are three antecedent conditions in this concept that help employees feel suitably engaged with the company: "psychological safety, psychological availability and psychological meaningfulness" [29].
The first of these conditions makes the employee psychologically secure with other workmates and perform his/her role appropriately. Psychological availability refers to the ample availability of personal resources to employees to perform their assigned roles. The third condition suggests the significance work has for employees so as to make their personal investment in it important enough. Employees who are sufficiently engaged in the organisation assimilate these three conditions while undertaking their tasks and enhance their performance. Apart from these conditions, other literature on the subject forwards other related concepts that are expected to enhance an employee's association with the workplace. These concepts include involvement with the job, job satisfaction, motivation, commitment to the task, organisational citizenship behaviour, associating oneself with the organisation and positive proactive behaviour of employees towards the organisation [30]. These suggested concepts have common ground with the ideas mooted by Kahn [29].

Methodology
In this study, combination of primary and secondary data was used in achieving the objectives. In terms of secondary data, books and articles which are related to employee relations and employee engagement were used in forming the theoretical framework. In terms of primary data collection questionnaire method was used. Questionnaires were carried out to identify employee engagement level and employee relation level from the point view of employees. Therefore, questionnaires were distributed to Adeeb Group employees. In the questionnaire, in determining the level of employee engagement the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) was used. This covers the three constituents on engagement: vigour, dedication and absorption. Vigour is signalled by high and enduring activation, readiness to devote hard work, keeping tiredness at bay, and perseverance when faced by challenges. In this light, vigour is gauged against six indicators and in the questionnaire these six indicators were used in determining the level of vigour in Adeeb Group: • Feeling energetic at the workplace • A sense of power and enthusiasm at work • Feeling motivated to go to work in the morning • The ability to put in long hours at a stretch • Mental strength at work, and the ability to withstand pressure • The ability to persist in one's efforts irrespective of circumstances The indicators of dedication on the other hand are associated with a feeling of ownership and dignity regarding one's work, being actively interested in it and feeling stimulated and ready to take on difficulties. These five factors are: • Regarding one's job as meaningful and important • Being motivated towards one's work • Feeling stimulated by one's work • Deriving a sense of achievement from the work • Finding one's work demanding In the questionnaire these five indicators were used in determining the level of dedication in Adeeb Group.
Absorption on the other hand is characterised by complete and pleasurable involvement in one's job and finding it difficult to extricate oneself from the work in such a way that one does not feel the hours passing and becomes oblivious to all else. This is indicated by six factors: • Not noticing the quick passage of time • Becoming oblivious to one's surroundings during work • Deriving pleasure out of one's hard work • Being completely absorbed in one's work • Being in a totally different world while working • Finding it hard to disengage from one's work In the questionnaire these six indicators were used in determining the level of absorption in Adeeb Group. Therefore, in the questionnaire, total of 17 statements (6 vigour, 5 dedication and 6 absorption) were given to employees and asked them to indicate their feelings. 7-point Likert scale was used in determining the rates: "1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Somewhat Disagree, 4=Not Sure, 5=Somewhat Agree, 6=Agree, 7=Strongly Agree".
The third section in the questionnaire aimed at identifying the perception of Adeeb Group employees about employee relations initiatives within the organisation. Aspects of ERM (communication, administration of the employment contract, management of disputes, employee career growth, commitment, compliance with employment laws) were used in determining the employee relation within Adeeb Group. 12 statements were used (2 statements for each aspect of ERM) in determining employees' perception. Again, 7-point Likert scale was used in determining the rates.
The fourth section in the questionnaire aimed at identifying the overall satisfaction, loyalty and commitment among the Adeeb Group's employees. Three questions were asked to determine each point. Questionnaire were carried out among the employees of Adeeb Group. In this context, all of the employees of Adeeb Group form the population of this study. Since the number of employees working for the company is high, 130 employees targeted for the conduction of the questionnaires. Snowball sampling method was used and therefore at beginning, questionnaire was given to one of the employees of the Adeeb Group and asked them to pass the questionnaire to their colleagues. This applied to all participants and when the number of 130 was achieved the researcher stopped the process. This study was participated mostly by males, aged between 40-49 and full-time employees.  Above results show that employees commitment, satisfaction and loyalty levels are rather low. In this study considering the importance of employee engagement, so as to reveal overall level of employee engagement further analysis was conducted. The above bar chart demonstrates overall scores of vigour, dedication and absorption. These variables were measured through 7-point Likert scale, so the highest score that a variable could obtain was 7. As it is seen, the highest score (average) reported for vigour, dedication (average) follows it, and the lowest score (average) reported for absorption. The overall score for the vigour, which denotes energy and activation rather than exhaustion, was 4.77. It is seen that, participants feel energetic to large extent; they may sometimes feel exhausted or tired, but in general they appear to have energy more than moderate levels even in the persistence of job-related problems and challenges. They appear to have endurance strength and eagerness when working. However, the overall score also signs that it is still important to pay attention to these employees and try to improve their energy when they need it.

Overall level of employee engagement
For dedication, which means identification with the job, the overall score was 3.99 which was moderate considering the highest score. Regarding both individual scores of the items and overall score of the scale, it is seen that some employees feel higher levels of inspiration and identification while some others feel lower levels.
Some participants are not enthusiastic about their job, find it as not challenging, are not proud of it, and do not obtain meaning from the job while some other employees indicated the opposite. Therefore, employees' level of dedication should be carefully investigated and the reason why employees differ so much should be identified.
However, considering the overall result of absorption, which includes happy engagement and concentration, the overall score was 3.09; which is very low. It is seen that participants do not feel good about their job instead they are more likely to be detach from their work and they think various things during working, so time passes so slowly for them. The low score indicates that employees find it difficult to handle with job demands, happy engrossment do not occur. It is important to deal with absorption problem of employees.
In short, it can be said that, for this study overall employee engagement is not very good especially for dedication and absorption. These variables deserve careful attention. For vigour, even though it appears to be better, it still needs attention. Employee engagement is not only important for employees but also for employers. Because, as it was previously stated, employee engagement is crucial for employees to function effectively at work. Research confirmed this prediction. Schaufeli et al. [31] conducted structured interviews with employees who also filled the UWES. The authors revealed that employees who obtain higher scores on the variables vigour, dedication, and absorption, as an indicative of high work engagement, are likely to have social activities apart from work activities. Besides, these employees have values which fit perfectly with the values of their organisation, as an indication of their identification with their workplace.
In addition, they are more active in terms of both starting a work and providing positive information about what they have done. It is evident that, work engagement is strongly associated with positive consequences for employees and employers.

Effect of employee relations on employee engagement
In order to explore whether employee relations have an effect on employee engagement, a regression analysis was conducted. The criterion variable was employee engagement and the predictor variables were management communication, employee communication, working conditions, safety procedures, disciplining procedure, grievance procedure, career growth opportunities, training and development opportunities, satisfaction, rewards and benefit programmes, diversity, and unfair dismissals.
In predicting employees' engagement, R value of regression was significantly different from zero and F (12, 178) = 143.39, p < .001; indicating that the model is significant. Predictor variables explained almost all of the variance, 99%, of employee engagement. Explained variance in the regression revealed that, these variables are crucial in employee engagement.
As it is seen from the table, most of the variables did not significantly predict employee engagement. Safety procedures positively and significantly predicted employee engagement, it had regression coefficient that was significantly different from zero (β = .59, p < .01). The regression coefficient is strong; the size and the direction of the relationship suggested that increasing good safety procedures has a strong potential to increase employee engagement. Therefore, managers should carefully attend to safety procedures if they desire engaged employees. Safety procedure is one of the component of "management of the employment contract" so if managers successfully handle with the contract, employees will be better engaged to their organisation. In the current study, almost half of the participants, 12 (40%), disagreed that safety procedures are good while 4 (13%) were not sure. For the current organisation, enhancing the safety procedures will make these employees to agree that safety procedures are managed well, in turn employee engagement will be higher.
Another variable who significantly and positively predicted employee engagement was grievance procedure, it had regression coefficient that was significantly different from zero (β = .29, p < .05). The size and the direction of the relationship suggested that implementing better grievance procedures has a strong potential to increase employee engagement. Grievance procedures are one of the components of "conflict management" which states that managers should be able to professionally solve the problems between employees and between employees and employer. So, if managers are educated about how to resolve and avoid from conflicts and disputes, grievance procedures will in turn be enhanced. In the present study, 8 (27%) of the employees disagreed that grievance procedures are good while 11 (37%) were not sure. For the current organisation, enhancing the conflict resolution procedures will make these employees to agree that grievance procedures are managed well, employee engagement will increase.
The last variable predicting employee engagement was diversity; it had regression coefficient that was significantly different from zero (β = -.33, p < .05). The size and the negative direction of the relationship suggested that decreasing diversity will enhance employee engagement. According to employment laws, the organisations are expected to be against discrimination, however the findings of the current study demonstrated that 23 (77%) employees do not think that diversity is important in their organisation, which is an indication of employee engagement. For the current organisation, it appears that complying employment laws will not bring employee engagement. This may be related to culture of the employees of Adeeb Group. Most of employees may be thinking that foreign employees valued more within the organisation so that national employees may not want to see any discrimination with regards to payment and rewards.
According to the results other variables are not significantly related with employee engagement; that is employee engagement function independent from these variables.

Conclusion and recommendations
The objective of this study was to critically evaluate the relationship between behaviours and engagement in organisations' internal environment. This objective was achieved in the context of Adeeb Group.
Findings showed that among components of engagement, participants obtained the highest level on vigour; followed by dedication, and the lowest levels were obtained for absorption. In fact, the results revealed that employees' level of engagement was low, especially for absorption. Respondents appeared to be somehow vigorous, energetic, and active yet it is important to attend to people who disagree or not sure that they are vigorous. These employees should be carefully monitored to improve energy level for higher employee engagement. For dedication, almost half of the employees of Adeeb Group do not feel attached to their jobs and have positive feelings, while some others feel strong attachment and have positive feelings such as enthusiasm, inspiration, being challenged, meaning and purpose, and pride. Adeeb Group should make an effort for these employees to make their situation better.
Despite these findings it was identified that employees of Adeeb Group have greater problems in absorption. A great majority of the participants reported dissatisfaction. For most of participants, being in work settings is not an enjoying activity in which they can feel attached to it and forget the time while working. According to the scores of the absorption scale, Adeeb Group should consider this issue immediately if it wants engaged employees. Since employees cannot feel attached, happy, or immersed; it is difficult for them to put their heart to work.
In terms of employee relations in Adeeb Group, it was found that even though the communication between employees is regarded as better than the communication with organisation, employees do not think that it is good whereas these communications should be open. Open communication can be performed through giving feedbacks about their performance, applying surveys to get information about their ideas. Organisation should regard the ideas of the employees because if employees do not feel that their ideas are valued, they may get angry and be demoralised.
Similarly, it was found that working conditions and safety operations were not totally evaluated as good. A significant number of employees are not satisfied even though employment contract requires them to be operated properly.
Conflict management in Adeeb Group were not totally evaluated as good either even though managers are expected to solve conflicts such as discipline and grievance. In this manner it can be said that managers should obtain mediation and counselling methods to solve conflict and be professional problem solvers. Besides, employees should know regulations about their rights and rules of their organisations.
Employee growth responses also revealed that even though the opportunities provided for training and development is regarded as better than the opportunities for career growth, most of the employees do not think that the organisation supports growth of its members. However, organisations are expected to encourage its members.
Commitment responses also showed that most of the participants were not satisfied about some politics of the organisation. If organisations cannot make their employees committed, their chance to succeed diminishes. Compliance for employment laws responses showed that most participants think that organisation comply with employment laws in terms of not applying unfair dismissals. This can make employees to trust the organisation and feel commitment.
Results of regression analysis showed that safety procedures, grievance procedure, and diversity significantly predict employee engagement. Among variables, safety procedures were very influential indicating that it is crucial in engagement. This finding was confirmed the findings of Ibrahim et al. [32] who found that safety had a considerable effect on employee engagement. In this manner it can be said that if employees feel that safety procedures operate well, their engagement increases indicating that employees care about their safety. Therefore, managers should make a great effort to meet employees' expectations for safety.
Grievance procedure revealed significant effect on employee engagement signifying that employees are too concerned with the conflict in the organisation; if conflicts are resolved properly, their work engagement increases. This finding was somewhat related to findings of Maslach et al. [33] who claimed that the reverse of this, obviously, leads to burnout. In this manner, it can be said that they desire to see that their complaints and discomfort are handled carefully and tried to be resolved. This can make them feel that the organisation cares them. In fact, Kahn [28] in his analytical study provided a connection between an encouraging leadership and greater employee engagement. Therefore, it can be said that good management leads employee engagement.
Lastly, diversity significantly predicted engagement; if employees think that their organisation values diversity, their engagement decreases. That is, employees do not support diversity in work environment; they want their co-workers as similar with them. This may be related to culture of the employees of Adeeb Group. Most of employees may be thinking that foreign employees valued more within the organisation so that national employees may not want to see any discrimination with regards to payment and rewards.
The remaining of the employee relations variables did not significantly predicted employee engagement. For most of these variables, respondents indicated various levels of dissatisfaction. It is evident that, although they are not contended with employee relations, these factors are not influential to their engagement to work. Explained variance in the analysis reveals that, there is almost no other factors influencing employee engagement; Adeeb Group should focus on safety procedures, grievance procedures, and diversity in order to achieve higher employee engagement. This is important it is because, engaged employees are seen to be more efficient and involved in organisational matters as they make optimum use of their talents while performing their duties [28]. Such employees not only stay in their jobs far longer than those with no organisational engagement, but also have enhanced productivity and possess better wellbeing [34].