Investigation and evaluation of line leaders' perception and application of performance management interventions used to influence employee engagement

Employee engagement is a complex phenomenon that requires innovative leadership thinking and deployment of solutions at all levels in an organization. Line leaders must understand what employee engagement is as well as factors that enable it or detract from it in the workplace. This qualitative study, using a theoretical framework supported by grounded theory methodology and evaluation research techniques, investigated and evaluated the thoughts, feelings, and perspective of 15 line leaders regarding appropriate performance management interventions that effectively influence positive employee engagement behavior in organizations by addressing the primary research question: "How do line leaders' perception and application of performance management interventions influence employee engagement?" Research findings revealed two core categories as representative of all categories researched in this study: (1) integration with organizational systems, and (2) prominent leadership presence. Refinement of these core categories led to the emergent of one central phenomenon identified as immanent valuing. Immanent valuing is the primary core concept, that tied together all other concepts investigated in this study; and from which the effective PMI model and theory of immanence value emerged. Based on the research findings in this study, best practice recommendations are suggested to HPI practitioners, scholarly researchers, and organizational leaders responsible for managing performance management interventions used to influence employee engagement, as well as thoughts to consider when replicating this study in scholarly research settings.