Two Differing Assumptions behind Employee Engagement Theories The “Jackasses” and the “Partners”

Abstract

When we talk of employee engagement, what kind of an engagement are we talking about? One of building relationships or leading battles? Do we engage employees in loving ways to achieve common goals, or do we struggle to get things done? What would be the ideal way to interpret employee engagement? Which definition would be more scientific? Among the executives and workers, the ‘us and them’ attitude starts from the beginning of their service. The contempt grows and at a crucial moment explodes shattering the entire set up. Unfortunately, even today, Management Education is busy teaching Taylor’s theory which is built on the archaic assumptions that are inimical to the workers. Management students are not educated to treat workers as partners, but as a group to be controlled, using carrot and stick. Enlightened education should abandon the assumptions on which Taylor built his management theory and teach managers to treat employees as partners. The present day managers should find themselves on the side of employers as their agents, often, taking pride, in their abilssity to squeeze work out of employees. Employees who are not cared for by the employers and managers respond in kind. And, that is taken by employers and managers as a justification for their unequal treatment of employees.