Employees Engagement: A Case Study of Zenon Oil

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, it would give me great pleasure to show my gratitude to my professor, for his propositions, remarks, understanding and patience. It would also be an honour to express gratitude to my parents, my mother, my father, my sister and my brother for their endless support in my life and allowing me to make all my decisions. I would also like to take the opportunity to show appreciation to my co-workers for their expert cooperation on every occasion. I would also like to be grateful to the Department, managers of the university, instructors and students who have supported me throughout this research.

DECLARATION

I declare that the content presented in this thesis/dissertation is, in my understanding and opinion, original and has not been presented for scholarly assessment in the past, either completely or partly, for an academic degree at this educational institution or elsewhere. I would also like to admit that I have studied and understood the principles, prerequisites, processes and guidelines of the University regarding the higher academic degree research award and to my dissertation. I would also like to declare that I have abided by the University's principles, prerequisites, processes and guidelines.

ABSTRACT

The overall aim of this study is to study the level, determinants, reasons and challenges in employee engagement through the case study and already existing literature. Employee engagement refers to the positive, affective psychological work-related state of mind that leads employees to actively express and invest themselves emotionally, cognitively, and physically in their role performance. Although there are slightly different views in defining employee engagement, in the human resources literature, employee engagement is generally agreed to be a psychological facet that encompasses energy, enthusiasm, and engrossed effort. The extant literature on employee engagement shows positive associations with both job satisfaction and organisational commitment. The purpose of this qualitative research therefore is to explore the challenges of employee engagement at Zenon Oil and Gas Nigeria, from the employer's perspective with a view to develop a set of practical recommendations to enhance employee engagement at Zenon Oil and Gas. In this research, data was gathered through interviews and questionnaires from managers and employees of Zenon Oil respectively. The research strategy chosen for the thesis is the case study that is, analysis of an organisation, Zenon Oil, a petroleum refinery in Nigeria.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION1

1.1.Introduction1

1.2.Problems in the employee engagement3

1.3.Research Background4

1.4.Aims And Objectives6

1.5.Structure of the Dissertation7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW9

2.1.Introduction9

2.2.Reasons For Employee Engagement11

2.3.Determinants of Engagement13

2.4.Challenges Of Employee Engagement14

2.5.The role of Employee Communication15

2.6.Development of Employees16

2.7.PEP (Perceived Organizational Prestige)16

2.8.Studying Employee Engagement within Organizations17

2.9.Levels of Employee Engagement17

2.10.Behaviours Formulating Employees Engagement18

2.11.The Case for Employee Engagement19

2.12.Strategies Driving Employee Engagement20

2.12.1Relationship between management and employees21

2.12.2Policies and procedures in organization21

2.12.3Training and development program21

2.12.4Burn out in employees22

2.13.Benefits of Engagement22

2.14.Summary23

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY24

3.1.Research Philosophy25

3.2.Research Approach26

3.3.Research Strategy27

3.4.Research choice28

3.5.Time Horizon28

3.6.Techniques and Procedures of Data Collection28

3.6.1Primary Data29

3.6.2Secondary data29

3.7.Reliability and Validity30

3.8.Ethical Considerations30

3.9.Limitation of the Research31

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS32

4.1Analysis of Interview from Managers32

4.1.1Value and Importance of Employee Engagement32

4.1.2Employee Engagement a Strategic Priority33

4.1.3Various Management Challenges in Employee ...