Engaging the Workforce: The Grand Management Challenge of the 21st Century

Grounded in 25 years of research and practical experience, this book shows how to create engaging work environments and practices that harness employees’ energy and talents toward achieving organizational goals, while enhancing workers’ motivation and well-being.

Creating and sustaining high functioning work environments lies at the core of management practice, and employee engagement is a key element in shaping these workplaces – and a significant challenge for business leaders. Academic researchers and practitioners have tackled the topic, but a chasm exists between these perspectives: academics tend to emphasize theory over problem-solving, while practitioners tend to rely on formulaic approaches and experience, rather than empirically tested theoretical frameworks. Thought leader, accomplished CEO, and organizational development consultant Nicos Rossides bridges this gap, exploring the complexity and fragmented nature of the academic literature and offering insight into practitioner approaches used by research and consulting organizations. He also presents his own conceptual framework that he has built over the years and is meant to be customized to specific organizational contexts.

This insightful book will be of great interest to CEOs, board members and line managers across industries, as well as HR/OD practitioners and students, especially those who wish to learn how to apply time-tested intervention strategies to the workforce engagement challenge.