Running head: EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT CAPSTONE PROPOSAL 1

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY

MONTEREY BAY

Employee Engagement

CAPSTONE PROPOSAL

Submitted in partial satisfaction of requirements of the degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE in

Instructional Science and Technology

Amanda Berry & Carol Bandura

September 8, 2020

Capstone Approvals: (At least one advisor and capstone instructor should approve)
Employment Engagement Capstone Proposal 2

___________________________ _____________

Advisor Name Signature Date

___________________________ _____________

Capstone Instructor Name Signature Date

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 4

Introduction/Background 5

Background on Project 5

Problem description 5

Target Audience 6

Literature Review 7

Employee Engagement 7

Engaged Employees 7

Engagement Surveys 8

Engagement Strategies 8

Solution Description 9

Goals of the project 9

Employment Engagement Capstone Proposal 3

Learning Objectives 9

Proposed Solution to Fill the Gap 10

Learning Theories, Instructional Principles 10

Media Components 11

Anticipated Challenges 11

Methods/Procedures 12

Resources 12

Timeline 12

Evaluation/Testing Plan 15

Level 1—Participant Pre-Survey 15

Level 2—Performance 15

Level 3—Transfer to the Workplace 16

Levels 4 & 5—Business Impact and Return on Investment 16

References 17
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Executive Summary

Monterey County Human Resources Department aids in maintaining standards of

excellence through all departments of Monterey County. Currently, there are twenty-four

departments with over five-thousand employees. About six-hundred of those employees hold

positions of a leader in their department. Leaders are identified as managers, supervisors,

department heads, etc.… This paper will use the term ‘leader’ to encompass the aforementioned

leadership positions. With so many employees in a multitude of departments varying in size, it is

the goal of the Human Resources Department to use data from the Employee Engagement

Survey to drive instruction for leaders in all departments.

Instructional areas of concern as based on the Engagement Survey include: career

development of employees, emotional/social intelligence of leaders, communication between

colleagues and departments, positive interactions with colleagues, and creating SMART goals

through action planning. The goal of the Leadership Engagement toolkit is to support

departmental leadership in gaining skills and confidence in selecting and owning the best

improvement strategies to address the needs of their department as highlighted by the Employee

Engagement Program. It is hoped that a positive upward trend will be seen in data from the

yearly Employee Engagement Survey as a result of training leaders.

Training will be hosted online and is accessible by county leaders anywhere they are able

to access online content. Materials will be delivered to the Monterey County HR Department

members for publishing alongside other Engagement Program toolkits. A review of training

material will be conducted Fall 2020 to determine effectiveness and areas of improvement based

on feedback given to the authors of this Capstone. Once feedback on the toolkit is received,
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training will be adjusted accordingly in order to be ready for final release to all leaders within the

county. The Toolkit will be launched prior to release of the 2021 Employee Engagement Survey.

This Capstone is important to Monterey County because training will aid leaders in

facilitating positive change in the perspectives of their employees throughout the county.

Positive change in the workplace begins with leaders who are able to inspire others within their

departments in meaningful ways. Training provided by the Capstone will cover many aspects of

Employee Engagement and human interaction that will foster more productive and engaged

employees.

Introduction/Background

Background on Project

Monterey County Human Resources Department developed an Employee Engagement

Survey that was first implemented May 2018. The survey measures ten engagement areas of the

workplace. During this time, the Human Resources Department has been instrumental in

marketing the survey, analyzing the results, and implementing responsive changes. The long-

term goal is to have department leadership take a greater role in the program to increase

participation from their teams and create action plans to address issues within their department.

The creation of toolkits with resources and mini-trainings focusing on the areas of Marketing,

Communications, and Leadership Engagement will serve this purpose. The design and

development of the Leadership Engagement toolkit has been requested of the authors of this

Capstone.
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Problem description

The Employee Engagement Survey has been in use for two years. Current results of

employee participation in completion of the Engagement Survey are as follows: 2017-32%

participation, 2018-52% participation. The survey is currently available through Survey Monkey

and paper hard copy. Of 3,915 exempt and non-exempt employees of the County of Monterey,

1,272 responded. Leaders of departments currently have guidance on creating SMART goals that

include: packet with overview of what engagement is, mini agendas, talking points to get to

solutions, template progress check, and documents.

Continual implementation of the Employee Engagement Survey will provide quantitative

data on all areas of Employee Engagement and Satisfaction within the County. Once trends are

determined, Management teams working in conjunction with the Employee Engagement

Manager will be able to implement improvement strategies to meet SMART goals that address

determined areas of need. It is also hoped that the toolkit from this Capstone can be used to aid

leaders in improving departmental performance by creating action plans and SMART goals.

The County would like to train leaders in order to further improve participation in the

Engagement Program and increase the effectiveness of action plans. The toolkit will highlight

the following: five improvement strategies, three engagement types, and implementation of both.

Target Audience

The target audience of this proposed Capstone includes County Leadership, which is

defined in the proposal Executive Summary. It is believed that a top-down approach to training

will be most beneficial to achieving the desired outcomes of positive trends in all categories of
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the Employee Engagement Survey. A connection has been observed that scores in the Employee

Engagement Survey are a reflection of leadership skills, relations, and communication.

It is expected that leaders understand the importance of motivating their departments to

complete Employee Engagement surveys. When reviewing survey results, one department did

report 100% of employees completing the survey, while other department completions ranged

from 0-80%. It would be prudent to interview the department manager with 100% completion as

to what they had in place to motivate their employees to complete the survey. Including the

interview video with a successful leader in the Capstone training would be a motivating factor

for the training to be a success.

Training will also be provided on how to enhance interactions with colleagues, all aspects

of emotional intelligence (quality of one’s thinking, positive/disruptive emotional states,

managing emotions), encouraging career development within departments, action planning, and

what is and isn’t employee engagement.

Literature Review

All companies strive to be successful. Of many elements that must come together, the

most important is employee engagement. Employee engagement is a driving force for company’s

well-being. Without engagement from and with the employees, a company will struggle to

become successful. Becoming a forefront in business research today, understanding employee

engagement research and literature is integral to Instructional Designers working with big

companies.

Employee Engagement

To decipher employee engagement, it is important to consider current literature on the

topic. Having been introduced in the early 1990s (Reio & Schuck, 2011), the topic has come to
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the forefront in the past decade in an effort to define what it is and how to apply strategies to

improve it within businesses to further their success. Employee engagement, as a concept, has

many aspects, from employees to engagement strategies and surveys, that make it an important

piece of business and employee relations and growth.

Engaged Employees

To determine what makes an employee engaged, many definitions, from many sources,

have surfaced. Some examples from the literature describing ‘Employee Engagement’ include:

an employee who goes above and beyond their prescribed job description (Eaglebarger, 2017),

the many facets that comprise the job and its environment (Sindhar, 2018), the direct relationship

between employee and company goals (Wiley, 2013), and someone who is engaged both

emotionally and physically in their position (Reio & Schuck, 2011) all describe ‘Employee

Engagement’ in literature. When reviewing goals for a company, it is important for managers

and supervisors to reach a consensus of which definition they will be using in order to move

forward in further research and action planning. Sat Sindhar’s (2018) article gives solutions to

the problem of vague definitions for engagement by suggesting the creation of engagement

surveys that consist of ten key areas that help focus company need based on answers provided by

employees.

Engagement Surveys

According to Sue Eaglebarger (2017), Vice President of Human Resources at Lawson

Products, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Her article, among others, all state the

effectiveness of implementing employee engagement surveys as a tool to drive improvement

within companies. Robert Gerst (2013) of Converge Consulting Group discusses the importance
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of gathering qualitative data from employees prior to creating engagement surveys. His article

focuses on the ‘Math’ of surveys. Data is obtained, analyzed, and shared in many different ways.

The ambiguity of data and loose definitions of employee engagement allow for data to be

skewed, he states. The fluidity of information that can be gathered and analyzed further

emphasizes the importance of improved definitions, research, and understanding of the core of

what employee engagement is, how it can be measured, and how it can be improved. Sindhar

(2018) proposes the following ten areas of engagement to improve surveys: feedback,

recognition, happiness, relationship with peers, relationship with managers, personal growth,

alignment, satisfaction, wellness, and ambassadorship. Using these topics as guidelines allows

content area questions to become more and more focused in order to address issues that

companies perceive need improvement.

Engagement Strategies

The authors, Brad Shuck & Thomas Reio (2011), focus their article on the increase that

has occurred around creating strategies that improve employee engagement. A cohesive

approach to creating employee engagement strategies is needed for companies to improve

engagement overall. Research shows that companies composed of engaged employees are more

successful and maintain a competitive edge with similar companies in their field. These engaged

employees may have already been within a company, or a strategy was put in place to improve

engagement. In regard to disengaged employees, there seems to be a lack of consensus as to the

best solution to teach employees how to become engaged. The authors address the gaps in

research of employee engagement and employee engagement strategies. They also offer their

own definition of employee engagement as well as components that make-up engagement. They
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are: cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, and behavioral engagement. The components

of engagement are integral to the overall success of employee engagement initiatives.

Through implementation of all aspects of Employee Engagement as identified in this

Literature Review, the author hopes to create and implement successful training to leaders of

Monterey County.

Solution Description

Goals of the project

While there are several topics embedded in the Employee Engagement County website,

the authors of this Capstone will be focusing on creation of the Leadership Engagement Toolkit.

The main goal of the Leadership Engagement Toolkit is to support departmental leadership in

gaining skills and confidence in selecting and owning the improvement strategies provided as a

tool to address the needs of their department as highlighted by the Employee Engagement

Program.

Sub goals are as follows:

● Enable Department Heads to promote participation in the survey with their

managers/supervisors and employees.

● Increase participation in completing the Employee Engagement Survey.

● Educate leaders of Monterey County about Employee Engagement.

● Enable County leadership to promote positive change within their departments.

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Learning Objectives

To address the variances of engagement, this training will focus on the skills leaders can

use to work with their employees and use the Engagement Program Survey to make

improvements.

The content and activities in the course will allow learners to meet the following

objectives:

1. Provided five Employee Engagement Improvement strategies, Monterey County

leaders will be able to implement a chosen improvement strategy within their

department within a year of reviewing Survey results.

2. Given a handout on engagement strategies, Monterey County leaders will be able

to apply engagement strategies to areas of concern identified in the Employee

Engagement Survey with competency as observed by Employee Engagement

Manager.

3. With a ranking scale of one to five, Monterey County leaders will be able to

prioritize areas of need for their department utilizing Accelerated Action Planning

toolkit.

4. Provided the Three Types of Employee Engagement toolkit, leaders will be able

to determine which type will be most applicable for interacting with their

employees.
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Proposed Solution to Fill the Gap

A series of toolkits will be provided to county employees. Toolkits are a set of

instructional resources including: videos, job aids, short self-paced trainings, and external

resources. The scope of this capstone project will focus on leadership engagement.

Learning Theories, Instructional Principles

The authors will incorporate use of Merrill’s First Principles within the Capstone

in order for it to be effective. Components will be created while considering the following:

● Learning is promoted when learners are engaged in solving real-world problems.

● Learning is promoted when existing knowledge is activated as a foundation for new

knowledge.

● Learning is promoted when new knowledge is demonstrated to the learner.

● Learning is promoted when new knowledge is applied by the learner.

● Learning is promoted when new knowledge is integrated into the learner’s world.
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The authors will also use Gagne’s Nine Events in order to effectively structure instruction

and assessment of learning.

1. Gain attention

2. Tell learners the objective

3. Stimulate recall of prior learning

4. Present stimulus with distinctive features

5. Provide learning guidance

6. Elicit performance

7. Provide Feedback

8. Assess performance

9. Enhance retention and transfer of learning

While all Nine Events might not be utilized, the goal is to incorporate as many as

possible through the online training created.

Media Components

All deliverables will be available online to avoid restrictions in access. If Managers and/or

Supervisors decide on classroom instruction, it would be prudent for them to be sure the setting

provides internet access. Training materials will be available to participants through an online

platform that requires a login. Only employees with access to deliverables will be able to utilize

materials. A digital database of Employee Engagement Strategies is also accessible. This allows

for all Managers and Supervisors to access the same material and create continuity across the

County. Testimonial videos will be created for this project to address the attitudinal components

of Employee Engagement. YouTube or Ted Talk videos about employee engagement and

engagement strategies may also be incorporated in training. Videos are easy to find time to watch
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for employees who may be unable to attend a meeting. They can also be watched at various

speeds as well as being re-watched in whole or parts to aid comprehension.

Anticipated Challenges

A potential challenge the Instructional Designers may face that will make it difficult to

meet deadlines is availability of the SME and Employee Engagement Manager. A bi-weekly

meeting has been set up to maintain focus and integrity of the Capstone Project. Utilizing e-mail

between meetings will offset any immediate challenges or questions about the project.

The beta testing window may be difficult to keep to a timeline as well. Participants will

be volunteer Managers and Supervisors. As their responsibilities are already vast, finding time to

complete Beta testing may pose a challenge. Scheduling an interview and recording of interviews

with successful department leaders is another area of concern. Possibilities of increasing

participation would be to offer incentives for completion and feedback of Capstone Deliverables.

Methods/Procedures

Employee Engagement Survey data from 2018 and 2019 are already available to the

author for analysis. A ‘Coping With COVID Survey’ was implemented for 2020. A meeting with

SME and Employee Engagement has allowed the Instructional Designers to narrow focus on

specific topics and content types for instruction.

The Capstone has been designed with testimonial videos to demonstrate to learners real-

world scenarios and successes from their peers, thus stimulating interest in content. Following

the introduction interviews, topics will be presented to meet the needs of learners experienced

and naive in the form of self-paced training and job aids, objectives will be stated, and

information presented through interactives or presentations. Assessments and reviews of material

presented will conclude each segment.

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Resources

Capstone components will need to be accessed digitally. Internet access is required for

implementation. IT will need to be contacted to determine if any site restrictions are in place that

may block access to Capstone deliverables. If promotion of Capstone will be done, HR will need

to be contacted to determine if promotion can be done through an e-mail or paper brochure to

department Managers and Supervisors.

Timeline

Milestone Date(s) Comments

Initial Meeting January

Consultation with SME and

Employee Engagement Manager.

Consult covered topics such as:

content confirmation, goals of

Capstone, timeline constraints,

accessibility options (will logins be

required), and data collection.

Project Realignment June Miscommunication of project goals

was discussed and new goals were

created. The Pandemic caused a

shift in needs of the client.

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Beta-Testing June-July
Three completed Modules were

administered to a small focus group

for Beta testing and feedback.

Feedback was completed through

Google Forms.

Project Definition July 21 Project Definition document was

created by the Instructional

Designers and approved by the

Employee Engagement Manager.

Project Agreement August 4 The definition was finalized and a

Design Document was planned for

review.

Design Document August 11 The Design Document was

discussed and adjusted according to

client needs.

Final Deliverables Agreement August 27 Both the Project Definition and

Design Document were approved in

their entirety and Instructional

Designers were encouraged to begin

storyboarding.

Storyboards/Drafts September 15 Toolkit StoryBoard was created and

presented to the SME.

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Update Storyboard/Drafts October 13 Storyboard will be updated based on

progress and any updated

information needed to help

instruction flow for the learners.

Functional Prototype October 27 A functional prototype will be

administered to a Beta testing group

approved by SME.

Functional Test Oct 27 - Nov 2 Functionality test will be completed

in order to identify areas of concern.

Feedback from Functional November 3 Feedback will be gathered by beta

Testing testers in order to fix any identified

problems.

Implement Changes Nov 3-15 Issues identified through Beta

testing and Feedback will be

addressed.

Testing Nov 16 - Dec 4 Final round of testing will take

place.

Implement Changes Dec 4-14 Final adjustments will be made to

the toolkit.

Final Delivery Dec 15 Final Capstone Report Due.

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Evaluation/Testing Plan

Level 1—Participant Pre-Survey

A Level 1 questionnaire will be completed by the Employee Engagement Manager for

each deliverable that is submitted for review. This will evaluate deliverable relevance to the

County’s needs as well as inform Instructional Designers of any deficits in the deliverable. A pre

and post-test will be created to assess the level of learning obtained from the deliverable.

Level 2—Performance

During Beta testing of Capstone, Level 1 and Level 2 questions will be asked at

completion of testing to determine relevance and understanding. These will identify deficits,

focus issues, or gaps in instruction.

Level 3—Transfer to the Workplace

A follow-up questionnaire of Level 3 questions will be sent after a designated time to

determine if Capstone content has continued to be relevant and applicable for Managers and

Supervisors.

Levels 4 & 5—Business Impact and Return on Investment

Summative evaluation of the learning solution will be gathered through a variety of surveys.

Follow-up questionnaires of Level 4 questions may be sent after a designated time to determine

if Capstone content has continued to be relevant and applicable for Managers and Supervisors. A

ROI questionnaire may also be created and administered upon SME request.
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References

Eaglebarger, S. (2017). Engaging employees beyond the office freebies. Strategic HR

Review, 16(3), 112–116. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-

com.library2.csumb.edu:2248/docview/1948746123/fulltextPDF/702395CF15DA4667P

Q/1?accountid=10355.

Gerst, R. (2013). Understanding employee engagement and trust: The new math of engagement

surveys. The Journal for Quality and Participation, 35(4), 32-36. Retrieved from

https://search-proquest-com.library2.csumb.edu:2248/docview/1287987921?

accountid=10355

Shuck, B., & Reio, T. G. (2011, December 16). The employee engagement landscape and HRD:

How do we link theory and scholarship to current practice? Retrieved from

https://journals-sagepub-

com.library2.csumb.edu:2248/doi/full/10.1177/1523422311431153.

Sindhar, S. (2018, 07). What an employee engagement survey should look like. Recognition and

Engagement Excellence Essentials, Retrieved from https://search-proquest-

com.library2.csumb.edu:2248/docview/2158004806?accountid=10355

Wiley, J. W. (2013). Using employee opinions about organizational performance to enhance

employee engagement surveys: Model building and validation. People and

Strategy,  36(4), 38-49. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-

com.library2.csumb.edu:2248/docview/1753212806?accountid=10355.