ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the purposes to which HR functions put employee engagement strategies, and how these strategies should fit into the total HR strategy. It analyses the assumptions that are being made in practice, both about the nature of employee engagement, and about the ways in which it contributes to organizational performance. It identifies the challenges and directions being taken by organizations when they use employee engagement as a basis for HR strategy, and argues that we should use the engagement strategy as the unit of analysis, rather than individual levels of engagement. It discusses the challenges involved in explaining employee engagement as a strategic narrative, principally by examining the ‘performance recipes’ involved in the delivery of two high-level strategic drivers – innovation and lean management. It considers how the delivery of these outcomes might be associated with employee engagement, and finally considers the implications of the analysis for HR practice.
