Cam Caldwell, PhD – Saint George, Utah, USA
Verl Anderson, PhD – Professor, Business, Dixie State University, St. George, Utah, USA
Series: Business Issues, Competition and Entrepreneurship
BISAC: BUS041000
Book Review
“My MBA class this week has been focused on the human aspect of change and specifically employee engagement. One of the references was Employee Engagement: A Human Resource Management Perspective. This book wasn’t about groundbreaking discoveries or quick magical fixes but rather a well-crafted reminder of the human element in business operations. While it may be categorized under HR, its insights hold relevance for all involved stakeholders. It serves as a crucial note that amidst the rise of technology and AI, employees should not be equated to mere tools or software. If you are looking for new reading material I recommend checking this one out.” – Joshua Peterson, Transitioning Special Operations Veteran, Senior Operations Manager, SNHU MBA Candidate, North Carolina, USA
Description
Leaders continue to struggle to earn the followership of others – a challenge they have faced for millennia. According to extensive research, the key to effective leadership lies in demonstrating the ability to achieve a worthy purpose while simultaneously helping employees to improve themselves. Lacking the capacity to demonstrate those two abilities, leaders consistently fail to engage, empower, and enable employees to contribute to their companies’ success.
This book by Cam Caldwell and Verl Anderson addresses the importance of employee engagement – the degree to which employees feel connected to their organizations, dedicated to its purposes, and able to utilize their talents to help organizations succeed. The alarming findings of leadership research confirm that more employees currently feel negatively engaged than fully positively engaged in their relationships with leaders, managers, and supervisors.
In addition to identifying the nature of engagement, we have explained why those who lead organizations are so often ineffective – and we offer suggestions throughout this book to help leaders, managers, supervisors, and those who work in Human Resource Management to create organizational relationships that build employee trust, commitment, and ownership. Readers of this book will find well-documented information incorporating the findings of management experts, practitioners, and consultants – but also new ideas that we have refined from our past research about human relationships and leadership effectiveness.
Trust has often been called the most important ingredient in successful relationships. Ethics and leadership have been described as two sides of the same coin. Employee commitment is acknowledged to be the key to competitive advantage. Each of these factors is closely related to employee engagement and each enables leaders to develop relationships that build more effective organizations.
Although there are no instant answers or magic wand solutions to restoring the lack of trust that enormous numbers of individuals have in organizations, leaders, and managers, we confidently proclaim to those who read this book that the information, recommendations, and observations contained herein are worthy of your close attention – and your application.
Target Audience
Academic University Undergraduate and Graduate Students; Corporate and International Businesses
