Impact of terrorism on employee engagement of female educators in Dissertation

Impact of terrorism on employee engagement of female educators in peshawar, pakistan - Dissertation Example This is a major exogenous factor with enormous significance in under developed countries like Pakistan. Women potentially represent 50% of the workforce in any economy. Where women are barred from educational opportunity and subsequently from prospects of gainful employment the impact on economic growth and development is likely to be profound. Female illiteracy results in high birth rates, high infant mortality and high incidences of poverty. This situation is recognised by the Pakistani Government through its social policy of co-education. 1.1. ORGANISATIONAL BACKGROUND AND RELEVANCE The research focuses on the impact of an external factor on the engagement of female educators; therefore, it is not ideal to use one organisation’s data for any analysis. Hence, 4 different schools were used to conduct the research initially. The data gathered was used to make formulate some key propositions regarding the situation in the region. The schools were divided into two groups. One gr oup operates in the state financed co-educational system whilst the second group offers private education and focuses exclusively on educating females. The research will derive the trends of employee engagement within the 2 different settings of the 4 schools and explore whether there are differences and if there are in what ways they become manifest. In addition, an effort is made to ascertain the extent to which any differences are a result of institutional policies and practices. Further research that focused on one school only was then conducted . The school chosen for further research was the one most affected by terrorist activities. It also happened to be a school dedicated to the education of females and therefore a specific target. Staff behaviours and reactions in this context it was felt would provide deeper insights into the impact of terrorism on employee engagement . The Snowballing technique was used to identify specific schools and in particular the school that becam e the focus for in depth research. Snowball Sampling is commonly used when it is difficult to identify members of the desired population (Saunders et al 2009). Moreover, purposive sampling was used to identify four junior teachers for interviews in each school. It was also used to choose the school for further research. Purposive sampling enables you to select cases that will best enable you to answer your research question(s) and to meet your objectives (Saunders 2009). Due to ethical considerations, the names of the schools are kept anonymous. This reasons are revealed in later chapters. 1.2. Employee Engagement Employee engagement is defined as the passion and energy employees when giving their own best to the organization in order to serve the customer. It is all about the willingness and ability of employees to give sustained discretionary effort to help their organization succeed. (Sarah Cook, 2008). Employee engagement, also called work engagement or worker engagement, is a b usiness management concept. An "engaged employee" is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests. Ken Scarlett defines â€Å"employee engagement† as an individual’s degree of positive or negative emotional attachment to their organization, their job and their colleagues.