High Engagement Work Culture

DAVID BOWLES is an international management consultant, speaker and author in the area of morale and engagement at work. Before 1988 he was a Senior Vice President with Hay Group, the global consultancy, directing Hay's corporate culture and morale/engagement activities in the western and southwestern US. Since that time he has been Managing Director of Research & Consulting International in Rancho Santa Fe, California, whose projects center around the measurement and enhancement of morale/engagement and corporate culture. Dr. Bowles has a Ph.D. in Management Sciences (emphasis: organizational psychology) from the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology, UK (UMIST), and has worked across all major industry and non-profit groups from his two bases in southern California and Bavaria, Germany. His first book, Employee Morale, Driving Performance in Challenging Times (also with Cary Cooper) was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in 2009. He can be reached at db@moraleatwork.com and blogs at www.moraleatwork.com.   CARY COOPER is Distinguished Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at the Lancaster University Management School, UK. He is the author of over 125 books, has written over 400 scholarly articles, and is a frequent contributor to national newspapers, television and radio. He is a Fellow of the British Academy of Management and also of the US-based Academy of Management. In 2001 he was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. He was Founding President of the British Academy of Management, and formerly the Chair of the Sunningdale Institute in the National School of Government, UK. He was also the lead scientist to the UK Government Office for Science on their Foresight programme on Mental Capital and Wellbeing, and was appointed a member of the expert group on establishing guidance for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on stress management in the workplace in 2009. Professor Cooper is Chair of the Academy of Social Sciences, President of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, President of RELATE, President of the Institute of Welfare and Patron of Anxiety UK. HR magazine named him the 5th Most Influential Thinker in HR in 2011. He was awarded the Lord Dearing Lifetime Achievement Award at the Times Higher Education Awards 2010.   David Cary

'Great read. There are many good examples that show how organizations can create a high engagement culture. It clearly describes how successful companies have achieved outstanding levels of performance by balancing me and we.' Edward E. Lawler III, Author of Management Reset: Organizing for Sustainable Effectiveness, Director, Center for Effective Organizations and Professor at Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. 'The way we manage our employees has not kept pace with the changing nature of workplaces, growing competition and the changing attitudes of people at work. This mismatch is not sustainable; this is a vital topic for our ability to sustainably create wealth and for the wellbeing of our people. David Bowles and Cary Cooper have written an important book, at an important time on a vital topic. The good news is that some (but all too few) organizations have risen to this challenge and are sustainably engaging their people while delivering great business outcomes. The current crisis has focused attention on this topic and has resulted in the UK government-sponsored, employer-led Task Force movement on this topic being well supported. With thoughtful contributions such as this book, we have every opportunity to evolve a better way of working for the good of organizations, for the good of the country and for the wellbeing of our people.' David MacLeod, Chairman, UK Employee Engagement Task Force 'David Bowles and Cary Cooper take us from the financial Crash of 2008, through the ego, into culture, and offer the reader perspective and approaches to create high engagement by weaving me with we. The authors offer depth and detail to understand and achieve engaging work cultures. The book is laced with specific examples and research from BMW and Whole Foods Market, among many other organizations, to shopping experiences in Germany. This is a book to be read together with the people where you work to create a culture where all will benefit from an improvement in the workplace.' David Zinger, Founder and Host of The Employee Engagement Network (www.employeeengagement.ning.com) 'My personal experience from many years in practice tells me that a strong corporate culture is the driver for sustainable, profitable growth of a company. Highly engaged employees create loyal customers and as a result, great financial results. This new book from David Bowles and Cary Cooper fully supports this experience with strong case studies, combined with a prescription for a more 'balanced' form of capitalism which works for everyone, not just a few.' Dr. Pius Baschera, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hilti Corporation, Liechtenstein The authors have done an excellent job of laying the foundation for their thesis. There's much here that can and should be applied to the larger debate about what kind of Capitalism the U.S. should practice in the future. - Peter Smirniotopoulos, The Huffington Post

• Introduction and Background   Part 1 What Has Happened to Our Work Culture and Why?   1. The Crash of 2008: What Happened and Why Did It Happen?   2. A Benefit of the Crash: More Focus on Culture and Engagement at Work   3. Ego at Work: The Common Thread between the Crash and Low Engagement   Part 2 What Can We Do To Change?   4. Balancing Me and We : Building a Sustainable, High Enagement Work Culture   5. Case Studies for the High Engagement Culture: BMW Group and Whole Foods Market   6. Why All This Matters So Much, and Where We Go From Here   Notes   Index