Important Aspects of the Social Climate That Act As Antecedents to Employee Engagement.

Reproduced from Engaged to Perform: A new perspective on employee engagement. Lancaster University Management School White Paper 09/04, May 2009.

Shashi Balain and Paul Sparrow

1. The perception that the organization’s systems, procedures and ways of allocating resources (financial and non-financial) are fair i.e. that there is no perceived breach in key forms of justice. When employees look at the budget mechanisms, the rewards systems, the promotions and performance systems, do they think they are fair, reliable and equitable?

2. The perceived support received from the organization (this is called Perceived Organizational Support (POS)). This describes the quality of the employee-organization relationship and is defined as a general perception by the employee about the extent to which the organization values their general contribution and cares about their well-being. Employees might understand that times are hard and there is little their organization can do for them at the moment, but they may still sincerely believe that if the organization could do something, it would.

3. The support received from the supervisory relationship. This describes the perceived supervisor support, but also importantly describes the quality of, and the existence of, a positive two-way relationship between a supervisor and an employee. It is often measured using the concept of what psychologists call Leader-Member Exchange (LMX).

4. The level of trust that exists in the employment relationship, notwithstanding the fact that the nature and focus of trust these days is changing (employees might be more likely to trust their profession, their team, their project or mission, rather than necessarily trust their organization).

5. The existence of sound job characteristics and designs that provide employees with the necessary job variety and challenge, autonomy, control and power to deliver the strategy the organization wants them to engage with.