Application of Transformational Leadership Tools by Managers for Increasing Employee Engagement: The Case of Insurance Company

Insurance belongs to the group of financial services where performance essentially depends on the level of customer service provided by the company's employees. Therefore, employee engagement in insurance companies is a relevant topic to investigate. The problem of increasing the employee engagement level has been examined by many Russian and foreign authors. The goal of the proposed research is to analyze the use of transformational leadership tools by line managers to increase employee engagement. The study is based on the case of a Russian insurance company which is a part of international insurance group. To achieve the goal, the following research objectives were accomplished: review of scientific literature on the topic of employee engagement and transformational leadership; identification of behavioral aspects of the transformational leader; analysis of the transformational leadership tools used by the insurance company executives; assessment of the effectiveness of these tools usage. The research question of this study is as follows: What transformational leadership tools do executives in the insurance company use and how effective is that? The hypothesis tested during the research: inspiring motivation has the greatest impact on the employee engagement level. The necessary data was collected using questionnaire and interviewing. One hundred participants were recruited for answering the questionnaire, and in-depth interviews were conducted face-to-face with three of them. After that the analysis was carried out and the the main results were interpreted. The tested hypothesis was not verified. As an outcome of the objectives set, recommendations were elaborated for further development of transformational leadership skills among the executives in the insurance company.