Employee engagement describes the comprehensive involvement of an employee’s head, heart, and hands in their work, not just in performing the job but also in their commitment to the organisation. Recently, it has attained a high level of visibility in management discussions because of its wide-ranging ramifications for organisational success. Indeed, an engaged employee is productive, loyal, creative, and innovative. They significantly contribute to teamwork and often go beyond the typical duties to help achieve the organisation’s broader goals. This concept is fundamental in the military context, where the stakes are high, and contributions by engaged personnel may make a difference in the outcomes of national security missions and operations. In the military organisation of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, employee engagement is paramount in pursuing the stated national defence objectives, maintaining diplomatic relations, and supporting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
As an island nation, Sri Lanka has a greater responsibility on the navy to care about maritime defence. The Navy is not required to guard only the 1,400 km long coastline but also a vast territorial sea extending up to 12 nautical miles from the shore. Beyond that, the Navy oversees the EEZ, which is eight times the land mass of Sri Lanka and a search-and-rescue responsibility zone that is 26 times the land mass. Tofulfil these critical responsibilities, the Navy maintains a large fleet of ships and a staff of nearly 40,000 well-trained personnel. Since much is demanded from the Sri Lanka Navy, employee engagement is crucial for operational success.
Engagement means that specific characteristics singly desirable in employees—loyalty, creativity, willingness to take on challenges, and strong teamwork—are indispensable here. Many personnel have to make personal sacrifices regarding other interests in life, voluntarily retaining themselves in service despite the attendant dangers of the job. These qualities are so vital that the military would not be able to accomplish its mission without them. For instance, heroism and bravery that is awarded by the highest Sri Lankan military medal, known as the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya or, in English, the Supreme Heroism Medal, very nicely demonstrates the highest degree of employee engagement from a military perspective. PWV was Lt. Comdr.
Jude Wijetunga of the Sri Lanka Navy, commanding a Fast Attack Craft in a battle against the Sea Tigers in 1996. Though his craft was severely damaged and his crew incapacitated, he managed to intercept a suicide boat that was targeting a Navy transport vessel. This heroism epitomises the highest degree of commitment, courage, and involvement in the military, where individuals often go far beyond the call of duty in the service of their nation and comrades.
Employee engagement is a widely studied concept within the aspect of management theory. The term “employee engagement” is apt because it brings into light a living thing, in this case, employees, engaging in organisational goals. Employees have to play a vital role in achieving organisational success and effectiveness. Other resources, such as financial investments, would not have much impact without engaged human resources. As a construct, employee engagement was formally described by Kahn, a researcher, as the psychological, emotional, and physical involvement of employees in their work roles. Another view describing employee engagement is the degree of employees’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioural participation in their jobs and organisations.
In the military context, engagement takes on even more critical dimensions. Employee engagement canbe broken down into three components: “Say,” “Stay,” and “Strive.” The “Say” dimension concerns an employee’s readiness to speak positively about one’s organisation, thereby advocating for it to society. In a military context, many military personnel would become great ambassadors who say wonderful things about the armed forces. This helps attract public trust and support for its military personnel.
The “Stay” dimension concerns retention, where the longer an employee is engaged; the longer they are likely to stay with the organisation. In the military, high retention rates are fundamental because years of training and experience are required to develop an effective force. Finally, “Strive” pertains to employees going the extra mile beyond their formal role requirements to help the organisation achieve its objectives. This is reflected in how frontline military personnel deal with unplanned combat situations and go to superhuman extents to ensure that missions are accomplished.
In addition to courage and sacrifice, creativity and innovation are also integral components in the engagement of employees in the military. Resource poverty usually spurs military innovation, especially in the inter-service model, which focuses on the relations between the different armed forces branches. Another vital aspect of employee engagement involves teamwork, especially in the military.Military personnel need to function in teams, from small units of squads up to more giant formations such as platoons. An engaged employee is a better team player; teamwork is vital to achieving organisational objectives. Teams form the basic unit of composition within the military, with each larger unit built on several smaller, closely-knit teams, which ensures that military personnel can work together as needed to accomplish their mission. Most operations and duties in the military are performed by groups of individuals working together in combat or day-to-day operations.
Methodology
The research conducted by Iddagoda and other researchers is a cross-sectional study. The unit of analysis consists of individuals who are officers in the Sri Lanka Navy. The sample size is 108. This study was done in a non-contrived study setting under minimum researcher interference. The construct reliability is ensured through Cronbach alpha andcomposite reliability. Next, convergent validityis ensured through the Average Variance Extracted.Finally, frequency analysis and descriptive analysis were conducted using SPSS software to obtain the level of employee engagement.
Results and discussion
The research conducted by Iddagoda and other researchers into employee engagement within the Sri Lanka Navy revealed that, generally, the level of employee engagement among Navy officers is high, expressed by their attendance rate of 99% and reflecting an outstanding commitment to the job. However, this research disclosed that 12% of the officers intended to leave, while 21% did not feel fully immersed in their careers. This suggests that the state of engagement is good overall, but there is room for further improvement in terms of emotional and cognitive involvement. Perhaps this is a reason for such disengagement, as the demands are very high in military life, especially during wartime. In sum, employee engagement in the Sri Lanka Navy is generally high, with personnel demonstrating cognitive, solid, emotional, and behavioural involvement in work. However, emotional engagement in work and retention of employees in service arerelatively low. Because the Navy is one of the indispensable parts of a nation’s security and sea defence, higher favourableengagement rates might help further enhance the effectiveness of the Navy and its success in operations. Overall, the findings suggest that engaged employees are essential for routine day-to-day functioning and the extraordinary acts of bravery and commitment typical of military service.
Authors
Dr. Anuradha Iddagoda
Dr. Anuradha Iddagoda is a Senior Lecturer in the Management Science Unit, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. She also served as a guest lecturer at the University of Rzeszów, Poland, in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Rear Admiral Rohitha Abeysinghe
Rear Admiral Rohitha Abeysinghe has served in the Navy for more than thirty years and has held many key appointments as an Executive branch officer. He was also appointed the Director General of Training at Navy Headquarters. Currently, he is the Commander of the Northern Naval Area.
