"Nature Times Nurture: How Organizations Can Optimize Their People's Contributions"
Journal of Organizational Excellence
Winter 2004, pp. 21-30
The author of this article focuses on combining both personality and learned factors to develop high-performance organizations. In the case of employee selection, he recommends that organizations attempt to hire more for attitude and train for skills (rather than vice versa)-especially in the service industry.
Most of the article focuses on the concept of employee engagement, which is defined here as "psychological ownership". The author recommends that companies should focus broadly on employee engagement, rather than narrowly on employee satisfaction (which may or may not yield a return in performance). Eight factors are seen as the primary drivers of the level of employee engagement:
- Teamwork, involvement, and belonging
- Open, two-way communication
- Recognition and rewards
- Empowerment
- Growth and development
- Trust and confidence in leadership
- Future vision
- Product/service quality
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