Effect of Employee engagement on organizational performance: Case of African Evangelistic Enterprise

Abstract

This dissertation studies the effect of employee engagement on organizational performance in the context of Non-Governmental Organizations in Rwanda with a specific focus on African Evangelistic Enterprise. It examines the extent of employees’ motivation to contribute to organizational success and their willingness to apply discretionary effort to accomplish tasks important to the achievement of organizational goals. Specifically the focus is on employee engagement and organizational performance exploring the management role to create a conducive environment for increase employee engagement. The discretional absorption in their work stimulates better individual performance and hence improved organizational performance. Despite the growing significance of employee engagement on organizational performance, many managers remain with limited knowledge on employee engagement measurement a factors that has resulted in limited engagement of employees in their services. The situation is even worse for not-for-profit organizations as most contemporary researches are more focused of profit making organizations. The study covered this gap with a methodological approach that analyzed factors of employee engagement and organizational performance using a descriptive and correlational research design. It utilized a structured questionnaire that was administered to 72 employees and 160 stakeholders to establish the factors enabling a positive environment for unleashing employee unique talents for engagement and measure the stakeholders’ commitment to promote the organization to friends, family, peers and other potential stakeholders. Key findings of this study revealed that the employees of African Evangelistic Enterprise are engaged at a level of 25%. Further indications also established a correlation between employee engagement and organizational performance. Suggestions from employees proposed meaningfulness of employees’ work, health relationships with managers and employees, autonomy and independence in decision making and clarity about expectations as areas that may improve employee engagement.