Employee engagement, culture, and leadership lessons from mid-automation Malaysian companies

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings This study lifts the lid on the interactions between employee engagement, transformational leadership, innovative culture, and workplace digitalization, based on insights from executive management representatives of a wide range of Malaysian companies. On their semi-automation journeys, the results revealed that employee engagement is boosted by the presence of an innovative culture and of transformational leadership individually. Employees accepting workplace digitalization is a complex phenomenon, yet it can drive employee engagement by introducing tools that make the employees’ own role objectives clearer. Both transformational leadership and innovation culture are strategic people assets worthy of a company’s investment of resources. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.