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Abstract
Empowerment is a simple idea, but often misunderstood or misused by many. "It means granting latitude of action for how the work is done to those who do the work.” (R.E Sibson, Strategic Planning for Human Resources Management). This paper will define, describe and discuss Employee Empowerment used in today’s team based organizations. The paper looks at how this concept affects the company's diverse workforce. I will discuss the potential impact of these practices and the performance.
Employee Empowerment
Employee empowerment can be described as giving employees' accountability and ability to make choices about their work without managerial authorization. Good managers are expected to assist employees to improve job success by supporting, training, leading and giving advice. Employee empowerment can increase employees' motivation, job satisfaction, and loyalty to their companies. The power that managers comprise should now be shared with employees with confidence, assertion, inspiration, and support. Work decisions and the ability to control an individual’s amount of work are now being relied upon at lower-level management positions (Fragoso, 1999). Groups of empowered employees with little or no supervision are now being formed and these groups are being called self-managed teams. These groups can now solve work problems, make choices on schedules and operations, learn to do other employees’ jobs, and are held accountable for the quality of their finished products.
Employee empowerment can be a powerful tool. The leadership style can increase efficiency and effectiveness inside an organization. Empowerment can also increase productivity and allow managers more tim...
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...ht. Hiring the right people and training/developing them into the role of an empowered employee takes time and patience, but the result can be very successful if done correctly. Many companies in very different industries have had great results because of their abilities to motivate and empower their staffs. Although companies may have different ways of going about motivating employees, if they follow their core philosophy to the point, the employees could buy into it as well. As a result, the companies will be more profitable in the end.
References
Fragoso, Heloisa. "An Overview of Employee Empowerment." Business and Economics. May 1999.
Sandbulte, Arend. "Employee Empowerment.” Minnesota Power. June 2001.
"Employee Empowerment and Total Quality Management." Times Square. December 1999.
"Empower the People." Cast-Fab Technologies. May 2000.
Because the production level of the mill was low when the new plant manager arrived, it is no surprise that a quick change in the type of management—to autocratic—quickly pushed all employees to raise production. However, it is likely that the style of leadership has taken its toll on every level of management in the mill, and that is why we’ve seen a drop in production in the last 18 months. Autocratic leadership is a rigid form of management and if any tasks are delegated, they are done so in a very specific way. But, generally, autocratic leaders are not known to delegate tasks effectively and high levels of management are usually the only people with any sort of authority. Empowerment, as discussed in the
Reframing Organizations is based on the belief that this kind of empowerment is critical for individual and organizational success. A relationship with
...second prevalent motivational strategy present in American Express is empowerment. Empowerment is the process of enabling workers to set their own work goals, make decisions, and solve problems within their sphere of responsibility and authority (Griffin, 461). After many years of running a disputed work atmosphere, managers at American Express realized that allowing employees to talk with customers on a more open and personal level, rather than being constantly supervised, made for a much more fruitful outcome.
In social work there are many theories that are very beneficial. I think that empowerment theories are something you must know about. First, I will list some reasons why these theories are special. Then, we will explore the history of it. Thirdly, the key concepts will give us an open insight on what we are really talking about. Fourthly, we will focus on the term critical consciousness. Next is defining the empowerment concepts in a social context. Finally there will be information on the social work empowerment theories more in depth.
Empowerment is another feature of post bureaucracy. It represents organizations awarding power and authority to those lower in the organizational hierarchy (Knights & Willmott, 2007). To some extent empowerment could be beneficial to a organization because empowerment would allow the workers to work...
An example of a company that found success by giving employees autonomy is a start-up company by the name of Bellhops. Bellhops allows employees to make their own schedules, choose the people they would like to work with, and even allows them to turn down a job. Additionally, in part of these liberating policies they have had an increase of employees from 2,000 to 10,000. Therefore, autonomy theory style management has really been a success for the Bellhops company and their employees are very satisfied (INC.).
Delegation is the method of giving decision-making authority to lower-level employees. For the process to be successful, a worker must be able to obtain the resources and cooperation needed for successful completion of the delegated task. Empowerment of the workforce and task delegation is closely interrelated. Empowerment occurs when upper-level employees share power with lower-level employees. This involves providing the training, tools and management support that employees need to accomplish a task. Thus, the employee has both the authority and the means to accomplish the work. Even though authority can be delegated, responsibility cannot; the person who delegates a task is held responsible for its success in the end. Thus the assigned worker is liable for meeting the goals and objectives of the assignment (Camp 2006).
The freedom and ability of employees to make decisions and commitments on their own is known as empowerment. Basically, employee empowerment is the process of giving more power and responsibility to employees. This is an ideal that is becoming more and more popular as time goes on. Empowerment occurs when power is shared between managers and employees. This takes some pressure off management and gives the employees a voice. Empowerment is a strong tool that benefits both the employer as well as employee. It is a win- win situation. The employees feel like they are needed and wanted, while the employers gain satisfaction through their prosperity. When employees are empowered they feel that they play a bigger part in the organization and they understand how their job fits into the organization. Empowered employees are happier, more productive and have a sense of personal and professional balance. Empowerment exercises employees' minds to find alternative and better ways to execute their jobs. It increases their potential for promotions and job satisfaction. This results in perso...
Empowerment is about decision-making and autonomy, personal and professionally. Nancy should have empowered her staff’s nurses with the opportunity to be involved in the organization decision-making process. When nurses can influence and control their nursing practice, their autonomy, confidence, and commitment to the organization increase (Manojlovich, 2007). Organizations that empowered nurses to act and guide their everyday challenges using their professional skills, knowledge, and own judgment, shows positives patient outcomes, and less nurse turnover, burnout, dissatisfaction, stress, and powerlessness among their staff (Rao,
Boone, L.E., Kurtz, D.L. (2011). Improving Performance through Empowerment, Teamwork, and Communication,(13th ed.). In L. Johnson (Ed.), Contemporary Business (pp. 183-185). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
In addition, empowerment is a factor that can motivate others to enhance their work productivity. Human empowerment leads to the job satisfaction. When management gives an employee the opportunity to work based off of their own standards, this amounts to those in the company, resulting in the job productivity increasing. “An example of a way to motivate employees is the management offering them opportunities for promotions and pay rise negotiations. Studies show that majority of individuals prefer professions that they’ll enjoy, while some end up in their profession due to pressure from society.
If the organization succeeds then the employees also succeeds. Employees must see the bigger picture and must feel that they are part of the organization and not just a one man show.
The solution to this problem is to clearly define what empowerment is and how a worker can use it. In the introductory training of an employee or in a shift wide meeting explain that empowerment is the willingness of an employee to take on responsibility or even added responsibility to the team and to the plant as a whole. Explain that empowerment does not give the employee complete autonomy to do whatever they feel like doing or not doing because the same work must be completed during a shift that is normally completed. During the training or the meeting, instill in the employees that all ideas to improve operations such as quality control and safety issues are welcome and wanted because the employee is or will be the expert in the area and we need their
This paper will discuss what empowerment is and how to a person can develop an empowerment mindset. Developing a empowerment mindset will provide an individual with the tools to solve problems, mater skills used for their specific areas of employment, take initiative, and increase the competence of that individual. Developing an empowerment mindset can help in a person career, but it can also enhance your personal relationships.
While much of senior management at large corporations today might claim to want “self-empowered” employees, the opposite would seem to be the rule. Rarely is change initiated from somewhere other than at or from the “top” allowed to significantly alter an organization, unless the higher levels of authority within the organization have envisioned the change or, at a minimum, fully sanctioned the proposal for change. One finding in a recent study surveying 4,300 U.S. companies with 100 or more employees seems to support this perspective as forty percent of hourly employees, versus only sixteen percent of managers, cited a lack of management visibility and support as a major impediment to change. (Zoglio, 1998) Organizational politics, which inevitably makes managers fear losing control more than reaching for success, inevitably lead to the demise of changes originating in other ways within the organization. This move to control people often occurs when these changes are near or at the point of creating significant benefits for the organization.