Employee Engagement Definition

Most employees experience stress as a usual or normal part of their jobs. However, some individuals experience stress more strongly than others, to a point where they may need time off from work. The area of occupational stress has rapidly grown over the last two decades, to the extent that there are now two international journals devoted entirely to its study (Spector & Goh, 2001). The incidence of occupational stress in India has steadily increased over the past decade with ComCare reporting psychological injury as a key contributor to the increase in premiums in 2003/04.

Although EI has become a popular tool in organizations, there still remains a need for increased empirical research on the construct (Salovey, Woolery, & Mayer, 2002). This

Emotional Intelligence

There are various different arguments about the definition of Emotional Intelligence. One attempt toward a definition was made by Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer (1990) who defined EI (Emotional Intelligence) as “the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions.”

Despite this early definition, there has been uncertainty regarding the exact meaning of this construct. The definitions are so varied, and the field is growing so rapidly, that researchers are constantly revising even their own definitions of the construct. Main models of EI:

The ability-based model of emotional intelligence describes four separate but interrelated abilities. These are the ability to perceive emotions, use emotions, understand emotions, and manage emotions.

The trait model proposes that people have a number of emotional self-perceptions and emotional traits that form their

An "engaged employee" is one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization's reputation and interests. An organization with 'high' employee engagement might therefore be expected to outperform those with 'low' employee engagement, all else being equal. There are, however, a range of definitions that have emerged around concepts relating to employee engagement. William Kahn provided the first formal definition of personal engagement as "the harnessing of organization members' selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances." In 1993, Schmidt et al. proposed a bridge between the pre-existing concept of 'job satisfaction' and employee engagement with the definition: "an employee's involvement with, commitment to, and satisfaction with work. Employee engagement is a part of employee retention." This definition integrates the classic constructs of job satisfaction (Smith et al., 1969), and organizational commitment (Meyer & Allen,