Empowering Workers

Empowering Workers

As a management major at a university, this author has always been interested in business and people. Luckily, in the real world those two things go hand in hand. Most organizations are always searching to make more money in their business and one of the best ways to do that is to empower workers.

This subject became very interesting. As an employee for various types of companies for the last seven years, this author has had several different types of management styles. She has found that she has gained most of her experience from a company that lets her make decisions and be the owner of her successes and failures. In doing that, responsibility is placed on the employee and they in turn are able to draw upon their knowledge to make decisions

Studying how to empower your employees will make you a better boss. People are an organization's most underutilized resource and in many cases, they are the most expensive as well. In order to fully utilize an employee to perform to their maximum potential managers must learn to empower them. Empowerment is a core concept of the new management model. In the new-generation adaptive organization, delegation is replaced by empowerment and responsibility by ownership. Empowerment and ownership are social aspects of organizing. They are based on efficacy and initiative, and not just on roles and requirements. They belong to people. Empowered employees feel better about their jobs. It gives them meaning; it gives them a little bit more appeal in their day to day work.

Customers want answers instantly. When you call a company, no one honestly wants to waste 30 minutes on hold, or talk to voice-mail, so someone can call you back days later with the response. Empowering your employees allows for this - it allows them to make decisions on the company's behalf. Granted, these decisions may be minor, but they are real hard decisions that offer your customers instant solutions. Customers will feel like they are getting a deal. They will feel excellent about how well your company treated them and that's what great customer service is all about.

In today's corporate environment a manager must work towards engaging organization forcefully enough to achieve its objectives. New knowledge-based enterprises are characterized by flat hierarchical structures and multi-skilled workforce.