Disempowering organizational culture, what does that mean? That is an articulate way of saying how individuals, or organizations, go about destroying organizational culture. The obverse of disempowering organizational culture would be to empower an organizational culture. This paper discusses how individuals can identify symptoms of a disempowering culture, and how you can reverse that using the six values identified by Gershon and Straub (2009). Also contained in this paper are four examples of symptoms that are present at the Police Department that the author currently works for, that are disempowering that organizations culture. An example of those disempowering symptoms are, (a) leaders versus employees mindset, (b) distrust and cynicism, (c) thoughts or feelings not freely expressed for fear of reprisal, and (d) learning and growth opportunities not being actively pursued. Four of the afore mentioned symptoms are presented and discussed as well as the authors position and curative plan defended.
Empowering your Organization
How does an employee or a manager, go about empowering his or her organization in a positive, productive manner? And obversely, how does an employee or a manager, go about disempowering an organization? These are some of the questions that this paper will cover on the road to understanding about empowerment and the symptoms that will warn an organization that it is in fact on the road to dysfunction.
To better understand organizational dysfunction or disempowerment, an employee, manager, or leader must first know what the symptoms of disempowerment of an organization are Gershon & Straub (2009). To better understand that here are the symptoms as described by Gershon and Straub; (1) blaming...
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...ior and developing talent in organizations. Retrieved
http://www.empowermentinstitute.net/index.php/organizational/organizational-empowerment/57-organizational-empowerment
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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
Spector, B. (2013). Implementing organizational change: theory into practice. (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ
In his book, Leading Change, Dr. John P. Kotter communicates why organizations fail or succeed based on ten years of conducting research on more than 100 companies to see what contributed to their successful transformations and what hindered those transformations. “In October 2001 Business Week magazine reported a survey they conducted of 504 enterprises that rated Professor Kotter the number one “leading guru” in America.” The two significant aspects I took from this book were the reasons why change initiatives fail and an eight-stage process to lead the organization through a successful transformation.
The 7 Levels of Change provides a different way of thinking to enhance behaviors and processes. The author demonstrates throughout the book a seven process of change that builds upon the next. He believes that by thinking differently, being creative and stepping out of the norm is the catalyst to solutions and results beyond one’s expectations. Although the author uses the analogy of a new work environment to expound on the level of changes, the fundamentals can be used in both your personal and professional life.
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The promise of change motivates certain people to make immediate changes in their life for the better. When given the opportunity
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.
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This type of culture results in lack of communication, lack of direction towards a common objective/goal and lack of commitment to the To ensure all the employees are competent, they need to develop a system to measure this competency. For example, they can do assessments to gauge competency. Besides that, they should provide compulsory and supplementary training to their employees to add in value and skills. Mentoring systems also can be implemented to ensure sharing of knowledge and experiences. Performance Rewards.
Corporate culture is the shared values and meanings that members hold in common and that are practiced by an organization’s leaders. Corporate culture is a powerful force that affects individuals in very real ways. In this paper I will explain the concept of corporate culture, apply the concept towards my employer, and analyze the validity of this concept. Research As Sackmann's Iceberg model demonstrates, culture is a series of visible and invisible characteristics that influence the behavior of members of organizations. Organizational and corporate cultures are formal and informal. They can be studied by observation, by listening and interacting with people in the culture, by reading what the company says about its own culture, by understanding career path progressions, and by observing stories about the company. As R. Solomon stated, “Corporate culture is related to ethics through the values and leadership styles that the leaders practice; the company model, the rituals and symbols that organizations value, and the way organizational executives and members communicate among themselves and with stakeholders. As a culture, the corporation defines not only jobs and roles; it also sets goals and establishes what counts as success” (Solomon, 1997, p.138). Corporate values are used to define corporate culture and drive operations found in “strong” corporate cultures. Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, and Bonar Group, the engineering firm I work for, all exemplify “strong” cultures. They all have a shared philosophy, they value the importance of people, they all have heroes that symbolize the success of the company, and they celebrate rituals, which provide opportunities for caring and sharing, for developing a spiri...
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...
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.
Thus, to be effective in the empowerment process, empowerment requires that managers and staff members, who play a critical and essential role in the entire empowerment process, must define their empowerment, not assume or guess at their roles. Managers should never permit ambiguity about the power or its exercise. The consequences of its expression (both positive and negative) should also be clearly defined at the outset of the empowered relationship between managers and staff (Rapp, et al., 2006; Porter, 1998). The core of employee empowerment process is: show people what they have to know, teach them how to do it, give them the tools they need, and they will do a job that will meet, and often exceed, expectations. The key words here are "show," "teach" and "give." So if you want empowered employees, you have to prepare them for the job. This means that empowerment is a process of things linked with each other to form empowerment at the end (Gresham,