Something Fishy: Exploring Change, Job Engagement and Work Environment in the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries

Abstract

ABSTRACTIt is widely accepted by researchers and HR practitioners alike that engaged workers produce better results. But there is a general lack of agreement as to the meaning of employee engagement. Whether referred to as employee engagement, work engagement, or job engagement, ‘engagement is a desirable condition, has an organizational purpose, and connotes involvement, commitment, passion, enthusiasm, focused effort, and energy, so it has both attitudinal and behavioral components’ [Macey, W. H., & Schneider, B. (2008). The meaning of employee engagement. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1, 3–30]. Yet, there have been few empirical studies that explore the linkage between work environment and job engagement. It is this linkage between the attitudinal and behavioural components of engagement, and the work environment in the context of organizational change, that is explored in this paper using a combination of psychometric and qualitative tools, and how these interact to affect behavioural outcomes leading to a change in the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries. The findings indicate that different levels of engagement are clearly related to how individual employees both perceive their work environment and how they approach their job.