PEOPLE.IDEAS.PERFORMANCE

97 0$1$*,1* (03/2<(( (1*$*(0(17 ,1 ),50 352&(66(6 -RVHI 60(-.$/ Jan Evangelista Purkyně University The Czech Republic 02'(51 75(1'6 $1' (03/2<(( (1*$*(0(17 Modern economies are nowadays perceived as suffering from anemic economic growh, massive layoffs, scarce job openings and worker disillusionment (Philips, 2016). According to D´Aveni (Holbeche, Matthews, 2012) we have been living in a more connected world, where competitive advantage is based on continuous creative destruction, out- manoeuvring competitors and the need for continuous improvement. Due to the fact that barriers to entry have collapsed in lots of sectors , competitors may abruptly spring up from nowhere and thereby endanger business success of other firms. To succeed in this highly competitive environment it is necessary to maximize both the firms´speed, innovation, agility thrrough human resources since people are the main source of production and innovation (Holbeche, Matthews, 2012). However, within any kind of organization, the nature of work itself has been changing very rapidly as a result of accelerating global social and economic development. Many of these changes are focused on engaging employees since more connected employees bring higher productivity and more success for both the individual and the organization. According to Morgan (Morgan, 2014, p. 2) there are following 4 main trends shaping employee´s work: 1HZ %HKDYLRUV – triggered and formed predominantly by social media; 7HFKQRORJLHV – moving towards the cloud collaborative technologies and the internet; 7KH 0LOOHQLDO :RUNIRUFH – bringing new attitudes, employee expectations and ways of working; 0RELOLW\ - enabling employees to work anytime, anywhere and on any device. Therefore, as it stems from the above mentioned, alongside with globalization and mobility work in firms has been shaped and changed by newly emerging technologies and new behaviors of workforce. It is a well known fact that there has been a dramatic shift in our behavior in the past 10 years, triggered mainly by new technologies (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn). As a result of this we are opening up and becoming more collaborative and engaged, which is a trend we are seeing around the world. 7+( '(),1,7,21 2) (03/2<(( (1*$*(0(17 In spite of the fact that huge amount time and energy have been spent on trying to agree on a single definition of engagement, currently there is no universally accepted definition of this term (Bridger, 2014). Lots of experts such as Bridger assert that employee engagement is a motivational state bringing about highly positive and desirable effect (Byrne, 2014). Macey adds that being built on motivation, engagement is interconnected with autonomy and competence (Macey, Schneider, 2009). Further, Friedman confirmes this interconnectedness and states that engagement provides opportunities for employees to