@mastersthesis{Espaillat2017, type = {Bachelor Thesis}, author = {Espaillat, Melissa}, title = {Managing employee engagement in high-growth companies: The case of Red Hat in high-growth companies}, institution = {IBM - International Business Management}, pages = {74}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Purpose This thesis aims to analyze employee engagement in high growth companies with the case of Red Hat. Methodology Primary research involved the gathering of a mix of qualitative data in the open- source IT company Red Hat in the United Kingdom. Both an interview and a focus group methodology was applied. Literature from the research fields of employee engagement was reviewed and integrated into the primary research design. Findings The findings showed that fast-growing companies encounter many challenges in the fields of employee impact and purpose, recruiting and retaining, career development, leadership and management, and organizational culture. Best practices on how to scale culture were worked out. The findings concluded that actionable solutions such as modifying the recruiting process for cultural fit and giving more autonomy to regional leaders and teams, can help cope with the challenges of employee engagement in a fast-paced environment. Limitations and implications for further research One of the main limitations of this study is the lack of literature available to link organizational growth and employee engagement. Contrasting more stable environments with change environments or using a larger sample size may potentially add to this field with further reliable and insightful findings. This issue may be re-investigated in the future as well, as the nature of change environments can affect the findings. Red Hat is a very people-focused company with a flat hierarchy. Thus, investigating this issue in more hierarchical companies could lead to different findings with different challenges and would further complete this research field.}, language = {en} }