Exploring the relationship between service orientation, employee engagement and perceived leadership style: a study of managers in the private service sector organizations in India

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between leadership, employee engagement and service orientation, specific to the private service sector organizations in India. The paper also explores the ability of leadership style and engagement to predict service orientation in the given cross section. Design/methodology/approach – The paper has used a single cross-sectional descriptive design. Purposive sampling has been used to identify respondents who are managers in the private service sector organisations in India. A valid sample size of 106 has been used for the analysis. Instruments used for perceived leadership style are as follows: Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5X short form); Employee Engagement E3 (DDI) and Service Orientation (Frimpong and Wilson, 2012). Findings – Service orientation is found to be strongly correlated to employee engagement and employee engagement is a strong predictor of service orientation. The other relationships which are significant and moderately correlated are that of transformational leadership and employee engagement and also of transformational leadership and service orientation. Research limitations/implications – The study highlights the importance and significant role of leadership and employee engagement for higher service orientation in the given cross section. The mediating impact of employee engagement of the leadership style and service orientation relationship could be further explored through path analysis or structured equation modeling techniques. Practical implications – The research emphasizes that organizations need to focus on employee engagement as much as they focus on customers. The differential advantage to organizations will come through the employees and their behaviors towards customers. Appropriate leadership styles that drive engagement and service-oriented behaviors can be fostered in organizations to drive service performance. The mediating impact of employee engagement of the leadership style and service orientation relationship could be further explored through path analysis or structured equation modeling techniques. Originality/value – The research is focused in the private service sector organizations in India and data and results support the need to focus on employees for higher scores on customer parameters. The respondents are from a cross section of service organizations and, hence, emphasizing the interplay of the three variables across organizations. The paper supports the critical role of leadership and employees in creating a higher service orientation.

Employee Engagement in the Education Industry: An Examination of Determinants

“…Academic leaders must focus on the above-discussed dimensions and put in place an effective employee engagement program to not only gain a competitive advantage, but also control the problems associated with employee disengagement. Extant literature indicates that employee engagement programs generally focus on the top management (Popli and Rizvi, 2015). The current study indicates that variables such as peer culture and quality of teamwork, and supervisor support foster employee engagement.…”

Değişim Odaklı Liderlik, Örgütsel Özdeşleşme ve Örgütsel Vatandaşlık Davranışı İlişkisi

“…Literatür incelendiğinde dönüşümcü liderliğin örgütsel özdeşleşme üzerinde olumlu etkileri olduğu; sağlık (Hayati ve diğerleri, 2014), özel sektör (Popli ve Rizvi, 2015;Zhu ve diğerleri, 2009;Eren ve Titizoğlu, 2014 ), yüksek öğretim (Turgut ve diğerleri, 2012), mühendisler (Vincent-Hoper ve diğerleri, 2012) gibi farklı örneklem düzeylerinde gösterilmiştir. Ancak yapılan çalışmalarda örgütsel özdeşleme bütünüyle ele alındığı için liderlik davranışının örgütsel özdeşleşmenin alt boyutlarında nasıl etkilere sahip olduğu incelenmemiştir.…”

Research on Training and Developing Employees

“…What do you think are some of the main drawbacks of relying on informal on-the-job training for breaking new employees into their jobs? New employee orientation [1][2][3] has been shown to have measurable and positive effects on employee retention and satisfaction. In spite of this, many organizations do not have a formalized orientation process and each employee gets a different orientation to the organization.…”

“…The general management development process consists of (1) assessing the company's strategic needs (2) appraising the managers' current performance and (3) developing the managers. Succession planning [8] is part of this process, and is the process through which a company plans for and fills senior level openings.…”