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Employee Engagement and Motivation: An Introduction

Understand employee engagement and explore what motivates us in the workplace with this business psychology course.

3,853 enrolled on this course

  • Duration

    2 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours
This course is part of the program Engagement and Motivation, which is one of the building blocks that leads to a degree in MSc Business and Organisational Psychology. Find out more.

Learn what affects employee engagement and motivation

What do engaged and motivated employees look like? And what about disengaged and demotivated employees?

Get answers on this course about employee engagement, where you will start by considering existing definitions of engagement and motivation. You will gain insight into the key factors linked to motivation and engagement, and question the causes of employee demotivation and disengagement – whether it is the job itself or individual personality traits.

You will also examine the differences between face-to-face and virtual teams by considering communication and trust.

What topics will you cover?

• The definitions of the concepts of motivation and engagement at work

• The key factors (both internal and external) that lead to employee motivation and engagement

• The role of job design (eg the job characteristics model) in relation to motivation and engagement

• The relationship between personality traits and employee engagement and motivation

• The difference between face-to-face and virtual teams’ motivation and engagement levels, which will allow you to discuss communication and trust

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Identify the definitions of motivation and engagement at work
  • Explore the key factors that are associated with motivation and engagement
  • Evaluate the key role of job design to employee engagement and motivation
  • Assess the role of personality traits in relation to motivation and engagement
  • Describe how motivation and engagement is different between face-to-face and virtual teams by discussing the quality and quantity of communication and trust

Who is the course for?

This course is for anyone looking to gain a better understanding of engagement and motivation in the workplace. It’s suitable for professional development.

The course is also part of the MSc Business and Organisational Psychology, accredited by the Association for Business Psychology.

Who will you learn with?

Lecturer in occupational and business psychology at Coventry University.
Andrew (PhD, CPsychol.) conducts research on motivation and career behaviours, and wellbeing at work.

Who developed the course?

Coventry University

Coventry secured 5 QS Stars for Teaching and Online Learning in the QS World University Ranking 2020 and has received No. 1 in the world for Massive Open Online Courses in MoocLab’s World University Ranking 2021.

  • Established

    1992
  • Location

    Coventry

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

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Advance your career with a degree

Since 2017 you have been able to take a degree on FutureLearn. This free course is a bit like a starter course for a degree — it should give you a flavour of the degree subject but can also be your first step towards a degree qualification.

If you enjoy this course you can apply to join the program it’s part of to start working towards a degree on FutureLearn.

Don’t worry, you can still take the course without doing a full degree!

Do the free course
Join and complete the program
Get academic credit for an online degree from Coventry University
This course is part of the program Engagement and Motivation, which is one of the building blocks that leads to a degree in MSc Business and Organisational Psychology.

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