Cultivating Engaged Staff

February 15, 2018

What causes a once enthusiastic employee to become disengaged and uninterested, and how can a manager turn this situation around? Law (director, external relations, Univ. of Alberta Libs., Edmonton) addresses these questions with this insightful guide, exploring not only how but also why. A detailed introduction examines the significance of commonly used terms that describe people's relationship with their work. The author continues this discussion in Chapters 1 and 2, citing examples from the literature of organizational psychology, management theory, and other areas and explaining workplace fairness and organizational justice. Chapters 3 through 5 comprise the practical meat of the volume and provide concrete strategies for increasing engagement, job commitment, and "organizational citizenship behavior," as well as examples of how these strategies can be integrated into common workplace processes (e.g., performance reviews). The final two sections examine the relationship of professional associations, unions, and library and information science programs to engagement and professional identity and suggest ways to assess workplace climate and initiate change. VERDICT A how-to that also includes important details of the why, this book will appeal to managers who want to understand the problem as well as solve it.--Sara Holder, Univ. of Illinois Libs., Champaign

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