Leadership Strategies to Increase Employee Engagement

Sixty-five percent of small business leaders indicated a lack of workforce engagement practices as an administrative strategy to mitigate the adverse effects of employee disengagement. Guided by Weber\u27s organizational theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies some leaders used to increase employee engagement. Five small business leaders in the southwestern United States participated in semistructured interviews. The participants employed successful strategies to increase employee engagement. Data collection included the review of company documents, face-to-face interviews, and member checking to explore successful strategies to increase employee engagement. Data analysis included coding and organizing data and information according to Yin\u27s 5-step process. Using topic coding, data were arranged into nodes grounded in the context of organizational theory. The study results revealed 3 principal themes: effective and honest communication, supportive leadership behavior, and implementation of employee engagement practices into the business culture and practices. The implications of this study for positive social change include that leaders can apply employee engagement strategies for emerging leaders and develop mentoring and leadership opportunities and programs to maximize the sustainability of the organization