Engaging with disengagement: Alienation in the public sector in the UK and Ireland

Introduction Research into work engagement continues apace (see Bailey et al., 2015 for an overview of recent research). However, as Purcell (2014: 244) points out, the influence of positive psychology which underpins much... [ view full abstract ]

Introduction
Research into work engagement continues apace (see Bailey et al., 2015 for an overview of recent research). However, as Purcell (2014: 244) points out, the influence of positive psychology which underpins much engagement research may mean that such research provides 'a distorting and misleading mirror on the world of work and the experience of workers in employment'. This paper aims to provide a counterbalance to the emphasis on engagement within the positive psychology movement. We contend that an enhanced understanding of engagement is gained by understanding more about the processes underpinning and resulting from disengagement which we explore through our attention to alienation, defined as 'estrangement or disconnect from work, the context or self' (Nair and Vohra, 2009: 296). We believe that our focus on alienation in a public sector context is particularly apposite given the decline in terms and conditions of employment that have been experienced by its employees over the last number of years as a result of the European economic downturn that followed the 2008 banking crisis.
We situate our rationale for the exploration of alienation within the framework of 'analytical HRM' with its understanding that 'the fundamental mission of the academic management discipline of HRM is not to propagate perceptions of "best practice" in "excellent companies" but, first of all, to identify and explain what happens in practice' (Boxall et al., 2007: 4). In adopting this approach, we focus on the three characteristics of analytical HRM: the 'what' and 'why' in trying to understand 'what management tries to do with work and people in different contexts and with explaining why'; the 'how' 'in the chain of processes that make models of HRM work well (or poorly)'; and 'questions of "for whom and how well", with assessing the outcomes of HRM taking account of both employee and managerial interests, and laying a basis for theories of wider social consequence' (ibid: 7).
We utilise the tools and techniques of psychology in undertaking our analysis but do so within a multi-disciplinary perspective and with a conscious attempt to avoid the pitfalls of the increasing 'psychologisation' of the study of employment relations (Godard, 2013). By paying due regard to the analytical HRM framework (Boxall et al. 2007), we take account of the contexts and wider social setting within which our research was situated. Thus we compare two samples of workers: one comprising officers and staff in a police force within the UK, the second comprising employees in a large public sector organisation in Ireland, in order to try and understand the contextual conditions that may impact alienation and disengagement from work as such understanding has been largely missing from the extant literature (Jenkins and Delbridge, 2013; Bailey et al., 2015).
In our attention to alienation we return to the roots of engagement, focusing on the work of Kahn (1990) and his distinction between engagement and disengagement. In so doing, we use role theory within the multi-disciplinary framework proposed by Kahn to explore whether factors such as the design of jobs, opportunities for involvement, and role overload are linked to alienation and whether these then impact on employees in terms of their perceptions of their well-being and their intention to leave their employment.

Research Method
Our research was undertaken in two public sector organisations: a large regional police force in the UK and a large civil service Department in Ireland. In 2013, all 1901 employees within the regional police forces were invited to take part in a survey. 674 employees completed the questionnaire, yielding a response rate of 35%. A number of cases were deleted owing to missing values, which yielded a final sample of 656. In 2015, an online survey was administered to staff in a large civil service Department in Ireland. A total of 1017 responses were received, an overall response rate of 52 per cent.

Findings and Discussion
Our findings show that while perceived relational job design had a direct and negative influence on perceived emotional exhaustion, it had an indirect (positive) influence on perceived exhaustion via alienation. Thus, where employees were already alienated, relational job design increased perceptions of emotional exhaustion. This finding is contrary to the negative relationship between meaningfulness and alienation reported in other research (Shantz et al., 2014; Nair and Vohra, 2009). However, the context for our study was the public sector, in contrast to the manufacturing (Shantz et al.) and knowledge-intensive (Nair and Vohra) contexts of the other researchers. In our public sector organisations, many respondents were in roles that frequently require intense interactions with members of the public. We had assumed that as all respondents were public sector employees, and therefore 'servants of the public', they would view positively their public-facing roles. However, this assumption does not take into account the specific nature of our two organisational contexts. Thus, in the case of Organisation1, the police officers were mainly drawn from constable and sergeant grades and therefore have a great deal of face-to-face contact with the public, often in difficult, challenging, or threatening situations and such circumstances have been shown to impact negatively on police officers' well-being (Brunetto et al., 2011). In the case of Organisation2, many individuals were also in challenging, frontline roles where they had direct contact with a public who might be particularly demanding or abusive. The findings therefore support the view that studies of engagement need to take account of context (Jenkins and Delbridge, 2013; Bailey et al., 2015).
Second, at a theoretical level, the findings suggest that there may be differences in the ways in which certain factors may influence disengagement as measured by perceptions of alienation. In Kahn's (1990) theoretical framework, engagement and disengagement are opposites and the factors that positively influence engagement negatively influence disengagement. Similarly Hirschfeld and Feild (2000) propose that alienation is the opposite of engagement. However, our findings do not suggest that this is in fact the case.

Implications for practice
The findings first of all identify the potentially negative impact of relational job design on emotional exhaustion, particularly if alienation is high. This suggests that individuals, particularly those in public-facing roles, need to be provided with adequate supports to cope with the complex and challenging demands of their work. Second, the findings suggest that organisations need to give careful consideration to whether they wish to enhance engagement among their staff or whether it might be more beneficial (for both organisations and employees) to concentrate on reducing alienation. Yet strategies to reduce alienation do not necessarily have the same appeal to top management as those that focus on 'harnessing engagement', perhaps because the notion that alienation exists brings with it overtones of conflict and dissent that upset self-images of organisations as united entities. 'Alienation' as a construct has Marxist and old-fashioned connotations that may not resonate well with contemporary management. Yet, in terms of employee well-being, it may be more crucial to concentrate on reducing alienation.

References
Bailey C, Madden A, Alfes K and Fletcher L (2015) The meaning, antecedents and outcomes of employee engagement: A narrative synthesis. International Journal of Management Reviews, DOI: 10.1111/jmr.12077: 1-23.
Boxall P Purcell J and Wright P (2007) Human resource management: Scope, analysis and significance. In Boxall P, Purcell J, Wright P (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1-18.
Brunetto Y, Teo S, Shacklock K and Farr-Wharton R (2012). Emotional intelligence, job satisfaction,well-being and engagement: explaining organisational commitment and turnover intentions in policing. Human Resource Management Journal 22(4): 428–441.
Godard J (2013) The psychologisation of employment relations?. Human Resource Management Journal 24(1): 1-18.
Hirschfeld RR and Feild HS (2000) Work centrality and work alienation: Distinct aspects of a general commitment to work. Journal of Organizational Behavior 21, 789–800.
Jenkins S and Delbridge R (2013) Context matters: examining 'soft' and 'hard' approaches to employee engagement in two workplaces. The International Journal of Human Resource Management,24(14): 2670-2691.
Kahn W (1990) Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal 33(4): 692-724.
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Shantz A, Alfes K and Truss C (2014) Alienation from work: Marxist ideologies and 21st century practice. The International Journal of Human Resource Management 25(18): 2529-2550.

Work engagement; Alienation; Positive psychology; HRM processes; Emotional exhaustion [ view full abstract ]

Work engagement; Alienation; Positive psychology; HRM processes; Emotional exhaustion