Which management skill is essential for ensuring effective employee engagement?

The correct answer highlights the significance of the directing management skill in fostering strong employee engagement. Directing involves guiding and overseeing employees' activities, providing clear communication, and setting motivational goals. This skill facilitates direct interaction with team members, helping to build relationships based on trust and respect. When managers effectively direct their teams, they create an environment where employees feel valued, understood, and motivated to contribute.

Moreover, directing encompasses the ability to inspire and energize employees, ensuring that they understand their roles within the organization and how their contributions align with broader objectives. This alignment is crucial for enhancing engagement, as employees who see the bigger picture are more likely to be invested in their work.

While staffing, planning, and controlling are all important management functions, they do not directly address the interpersonal aspects necessary for fostering engagement. Staffing focuses on recruitment and placement, planning deals with setting objectives and outlining steps to achieve them, and controlling involves monitoring and evaluating performance. In contrast, directing is integral to motivating employees and maintaining the connections that promote a highly engaged workforce.