Contents

Title Page No.

Introduction 1
Empowerment: Meaning & 3
Methods
Benefits of Empowerment 6
Empowerment as a 9
Motivational Strategy

Delegation vs 11
Empowerment
Significance of Trust 15

Participation & it’s 18

Methods
Conclusion 23
Bibliography 24

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Introduction
Employee empowerment is one of those terms that everyone thinks they

understand, but few really do. Ask a dozen different people and you'll get a

dozen different answers to the question, "What is employee empowerment?”

This paper seeks to answer that question in a simplistic way that it can be

understood by a greater number of people. Some writers indicate that

empowerment consists of sharing power and authority. Others say that

empowerment occurs when the organization's processes are set-up to allow for

it. If you keep in mind the secondary dictionary definition of "to give faculties

or abilities to: enable" (Grove, 1971, p.744), with all that this word implies,

then you will be on the right track for the purposes of this paper.

This paper also seeks to answer the question above in such a way that people

who work within organizations can apply the information to enhance employee

empowerment. "Why would we want to enhance employee empowerment?"

The detailed answer is provided in the in the paper under the heading "benefits

of employee empowerment". However, it has been shown that employee

empowerment results in increased employee satisfaction, increased

productivity, and increased customer satisfaction.

"Aren't there some strong objections to the implementation of an empowerment

program which must be overcome if we are to receive these benefits?" The

short answer is yes. Empowerment, if it is to be implemented effectively, calls

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for a culture change for the typical organization. Leaders must learn to be

visionaries who can provide an idea to which employees will want to dedicate

themselves. Supervisors must change their ways of supervising and learn to be

coaches and mentors. All members of the organization must dedicate

themselves to sharing information and to training. Each of these issues will be

addressed in turn.

Since this is an academic paper, I would be remiss if I did not include a section

on the theoretical foundations upon which the concepts of employee

empowerment are built. While there are few theorists who have delved very

deeply into what makes up empowerment, what they have mined is rich.

Taking cues from their ideas, I have tried to put up a detailed report.

Implementation of empowerment programs seems to be the biggest challenge

organizations face. The popular press often writes about "failed" empowerment

efforts. What has become evident to me is that there are some speed bumps on

the road to empowerment; often these so called failures are only rough patches

which will be overcome. However, it is also evident that the implementation

often takes years, especially if the organization has a bureaucratic culture. It

also seems that empowerment implementation efforts are often haphazard. By

providing an easily understood definition of empowerment, some information

about what must take place, an assessment of how empowering a workplace is, I

hope to address unmet needs with this paper.

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Employee Empowerment

Meaning and Features

Employee empowerment is creating a working environment where an employee

is allowed to make his own decisions in specific work-related situations. The

decisions can be big or small, and the size and effect of the decision is up to the

employer. The logic behind employee empowerment is to increase the

employee's responsibility, to build employee morale and to improve the quality

of your employee's work life. Ideally, when an employee feels vested in an

organization, he will be more productive, loyal and more confident.

The common dictionary definition of empowerment, "to give official authority

to: delegate legal power to: commission, authorize" (Grove, 1971, p. 744) is

the one most understood by most people. Bowen and Lawler (1992) indicate,

"We define empowerment as sharing with front-line employees four

organizational ingredients: [the first being] information about the organization's

performance. . . .[another is] knowledge that enables employees to understand

and contribute to organizational performance" (p. 32). The other two

ingredients Bowen and Lawler note are, "rewards based on the organization's

performance [and] power to make decisions that influence organizational

direction and performance." In a later article these authors conclude that,

"research suggests that empowerment exists when companies implement

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practices that distribute power, information, knowledge, and rewards throughout

the organization." (Bowen & Lawler, 1995, p. 73)

The features of employee empowerment are as follows,

Open management - team members participate actively in meetings, diagnose

issues, analyze and identify solutions. Managers believe in their capacity and

have less or no control in processes that involve finding of solutions, decision

making etc.

Team spirit - high morale, enthusiasm

Decentralized control - each team member functions relatively autonomously:

interlinking job descriptions; clarity on individual roles.

Employee empowerment is a process whereby: a culture of empowerment is

developed; information—in the form of a shared vision, clear goals, boundaries

for decision making, and the results of efforts and their impact on the whole—is

shared; competency—in the form of training and experience—is developed;

resources, or the competency to obtain them when needed to be effective in

their jobs, are provided; and support—in the form of mentoring, cultural

support, and encouragement of risk-taking—is provided.

Every employer uses employee empowerment to some extent, though it is often

thought of as delegation. No organization of more than one person can survive

without some employee empowerment. When the owner of a Mail Boxes, etc.

hires someone to work the weekends, that person is empowered. When a

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manager hires an accounting graduate to maintain the departmental ledger, that

person is empowered. When the director of advertising chooses which slogan

should go on the web banner, that person is empowered. In each of these

instances the empowered person has been provided with the training and

experience they need to be effective in their position. Each has the information

to know how their decisions will impact the larger whole. Each has access to

the resources he or she needs to be effective. And the assumption is that each

will be supported in the decisions they make.

Empowerment is a process of becoming, not a task or end result in and of

itself, Just as with continuous improvement, no organization is ever done with

its empowerment implementation; no person is ever "completely empowered".

Empowerment becomes part of the culture of the organization. Empowering

others becomes a transparent act, nobody within the organization notices when

an act of empowerment is exercised. It may be noticeable in the extreme to

outsiders, but, if the implementation effort has been successful, it will be second

nature to those accculturated within the organization.

Benefits of Employee Empowerment

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Employee empowerment has been defined in many ways but generally means

the process of allowing employees to have input and control over their work,

and the ability to openly share suggestions and ideas about their work and the

organization as a whole. Empowered employees are committed, loyal and

conscientious. They are eager to share ideas and can serve as strong

ambassadors for their organizations.

The benefits of Empowerment are,

Employee Retention

By acknowledging each employee's opinion, you create an atmosphere of

respect, honor and contentment. If you respect your subordinates' views, they

will respect yours. Companies noted for this style of leadership attract loyal

employees who stay with them for a long time. There is a higher chance of

losing employees in a centralized, authoritative organization. According to

CNN, McCormick and Company, with a turnover rate of just three percent,

encourages employees at all levels to participate in company decision making.

Improve Productivity - Reduce Costs

John Zink of the PHCC Educational Foundation says that employees have great

ideas about how to improve productivity and reduce costs, but companies need

to know how to ask for these ideas and listen. "Sometimes it takes an employee

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stepping outside of their authority to show the benefits of employee

empowerment an owner," he says. Employees who feel confident that their

input will be valued, listened to and acted upon will be more likely to share

those ideas, benefiting employee and employer.

Better Customer Service

Simon Sinek, a blogger who writes "The Empowered Employee", says that

empowered employees provide exceptional service and he's experienced this

first-hand. "Empowered employees have the power to make decisions without a

supervisor. They are entitled to go off script, bend the rules, do what they see fit

if they believe it is the right thing to do for the customer. More than any other

kind of employee, the empowered employee is able to create a feeling of true

customer service that ultimately yields much greater customer loyalty," he says.

Companies that give employees the freedom to make decisions on the spur of

the moment, that may even sometimes fly in the face of established rules and

protocol, often find that service to internal and external customers is improved.

In addition, empowered employees take pride and ownership in their jobs when

they know that they can exercise independent judgment when necessary.

Embracing Change

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Empowered employees feel free to challenge the status quo, which is critical for

companies in today's fast-changing, technology-driven environment, says Lin

Grensing-Pophal, author of "Human Resource Essentials". Employees and the

companies they work for can become too complacent, doing things the way

they've always done them. Unless employees feel comfortable questioning the

status quo, those companies are likely to stagnant as competitors move swiftly

past them. Establishing an environment when employees feel free to question,

challenge and offer new ideas can help to avoid this problem and benefit

employees and employers in the process.

Empowerment as a Motivational Strategy

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Empowerment occurs when individuals in an organization are given autonomy,

authority, trust, and encouragement to accomplish a task. Empowerment is

designed to unshackle the worker and to make a job the worker's responsibility.

In an attempt to empower and to change some of the old bureaucratic ideas,

managers are promoting corporate

intrapreneurships. Intrapreneurship encourages employees to pursue new ideas

and gives them the authority to promote those ideas. Obviously,

intrapreneurship is not for the timid, because old structures and processes are

turned upside down.

Considerations

Although employee empowerment may appear to be a good thing for an

organization, managers who welcome and choose to usher this movement in

should also bear in mind that not all employees want to be empowered. There

are people who like being led, and they do not welcome new responsibilities.

There are employees who can't be empowered because they are not motivated,

and they will require micromanagement at all times.

Precaution

No two employees are alike. Managers should get to know their employees in

order to make better individual assessments. While some employees may be

more motivated and welcome change, others may not be as accommodating.

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However, that does not mean that those employees are not productive. In these

types of situations, managers may have to find alternative ways to engage these

employees.

Delegation Vs. Empowerment

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One of the most influential books on my thinking right now is “Tribes” but Seth

Godin. Godin does a good job showing the difference between leading and

managing. The ideas that he brings to the table have caused me to think about

leadership. Do I lead? Or do I manage?

The difference between empowering and delegation is the difference between

managing and leading. Central to the idea of managing is the idea of survival,

while central to the idea of leading is movement. Management builds monoliths

and fortresses, while leadership is more or organic and more nomadic.

Delegation seems to have more to do with this idea of management/survival and

empowerment seems to follow more of the idea of leading/movement. At the

heart of delegation is a task that needs to be accomplished. In delegation a

person is found for the task and success is measure on how well the task is

done.

Empowerment is different. At the heart of empowerment is a person. A task is

found for the development of the person. The goal is not necessarily to complete

the task but to develop and empower a person. The measure of success has more

to do with the person, so failure in the task can be a means to develop the

person.

I think many churches are more concerned about management and survival then

it is about leading and movement. As well, leaders of the church often delegate

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tasks to people and it is masked in language of empowerment but in reality the

task takes greater importance than the development of the person. If the task is

completed well then leaders often assume that the person is developing, when

that might not be the case at all.

When a leader empowers another they are in a sense giving the other person

permission to live/create/move. Once again, for the sake of this blog I’m

defining leading has having to do with movement. Part of participating in a

movement involves making mistakes, fighting battles, taking risks, and the

movement grows as the people grow. As people become inspired or begin to

adopt a certain ethos, they seem to be empowered to take that same inspiration

and ethos and apply it to their given context by their giving abilities.

When people are empowered they take on the task of creating. When people are

delegated they take on the task of finishing with no conviction.

To delegate means to choose or elect a person to act as a representative for

another. To empower someone means to give power or authority to someone

else. Do you hear the difference? To delegate something to someone is to only

give them enough leash to act on your behalf-as you would for yourself. to

empower another means you give them enough power and authority to act on

their own behalf.

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This is not good versus bad. There is a proper time for delegation. I can think

of two: when someone is truly new to the ways of leadership and in times of

crisis. When someone is cutting their teeth on leadership then you want to teach

them how to handle responsibility. It is the principle of seeing if they will be

faithful in little so that they might grow in to being faithful with much. In times

of crisis there needs to be an authoritative decision maker and those who are

willing to simply carry out those decisions to meet the critical need of the

moment. But these two scenarios leave a whole lot of opportunity for

empowerment.

In my mind there are three critical aspects to empowerment. To truly empower

someone you must grant them authority, you must give them proper resources,

and you must hold them accountable to organizational values and principles.

They have to have enough authority to make some significant and important

decisions-you have to give power away. They have to have resources that are

truly theirs to steward-people, money and tools. Yet it is not a free for all-there

should be an accountable aspect that helps them stay within the playing field of

organizational boundaries. You tell them the “what” but the “how” is left up to

them. They have to have enough of all three things to truly have the freedom to

fail on their own efforts-and learn.

While there is a proper time for both things I am pushing the action point

towards empowerment. Here are some reasons why:

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• Delegation largely raises up followers-empowerment raises up leaders.

• Delegation is less work for you in the short run-empowerment is more

work for you in the short run.

• Delegation is more work for you in the long run-empowerment is less

work for you in the long run.

• Delegation keeps you in the center of leadership activity-empowerment

places someone else at the center of leadership activity.

• Delegation ensures that you are your own leadership legacy-for good or

for bad. Empowerment ensures that more leaders are your leadership

legacy-which is almost always good.

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Significance of Trust

When we talk of trust in correspondence with employee empowerment, then we

need to understand that trust is the stepping stone of employee empowerment.

The best companies not only understand how important their employees are to

them, but they find innovative ways to demonstrate their support. Amazingly

some businesses don’t get it. I predict many of those same companies will soon

find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

The foundational principle for every leadership level is trust. Techniques are

relatively less important, as compared to trust. When trust is high, we

communicate easily, instantaneously and effortlessly; but when trust is low

communication is exhaustive, time-taking, and ineffective.

The empowering manager must be able to help maintain and establish not only

the technical side of the information, but also an open climate to trust that

results in the information being transferred smoothly to the employees and sub-

ordinates.

A new Maritz® Poll conducted by Maritz Research, a leader in employee

satisfaction research, paints a dire outlook of American workforce attitudes

toward employers. Employees’ trust toward their workplace has taken a severe

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hit, with employees across all industry segments citing a lack of trust in not only

senior leaders, but direct managers and co-workers as well.

According to the poll, few (11 percent) employees strongly agree their

managers show consistency between their words and actions. In addition, only

seven percent of employees strongly agree they trust senior leaders to look out

for their best interest, and only seven percent strongly agree they trust their co-

workers to do so. Approximately one-fifth of respondents disagree that their

company’s leader is completely honest and ethical, and one-quarter of

respondents disagree that they trust management to make the right decisions in

times of uncertainty. While workplace trust has been dwindling since the Enron,

WorldCom, and Tyco scandals of the earlier part of the decade, threats of

layoffs and downsizing have only exacerbated the problem.

“In times like these, trust is an especially critical issue. Companies need their

best people more than ever to be engaged and productive. But, often, this

process starts at the top,” says Rick Garlick, Ph.D., senior director of consulting

and strategic implementation, Hospitality Research Group, Maritz Research.

“You’ve got to maintain credibility with your workforce as a means of getting

them to totally buy in to the mission and vision of your company. Anything less

fosters a disengaged workforce that puts self-interest at the top of its list of

priorities.”
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In cases where management trust was strong, the study found that employees

were significantly more committed to working for their companies. More than

half of respondents (58 percent) with strong trust in their management were

completely satisfied with their job, while only four percent of respondents with

weak trust in management cited they were completely satisfied with their job.

The study also revealed:

• Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of respondents with strong trust in management

would be happy to spend the rest of their career with their present company.

This compares to only seven percent of respondents who have weak trust in

management.

• More than half of those surveyed (51 percent) with strong management trust

would invest money in their company if they could versus only six percent of

those surveyed with weak management trust.

• Only three percent of respondents with weak management trust look forward

to coming to work everyday. For those with strong management trust, 50

percent responded they look forward to coming to work everyday.

Thus, we can easily note the difference that trust in an organization creates.

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Participation and its Methods

Employee participation is the process whereby employees are involved in

decision making processes, rather than simply acting on orders. Employee

participation is part of a process of empowerment in the workplace.

Individual employees are encouraged to take responsibility for quality in terms

of carrying out activities, which meet the requirements of their customers. The

internal customer is someone within the organisation that receives the 'product

of service' provided by their 'supplier' within the organisation. External

customers are buyers and users outside of the organisation. Employee

participation is also part of the move towards human resource development in

modern organisations. Employees are trusted to make decisions for themselves

and the organisation. This is a key motivational tool.

Employee participation is also referred to as employee involvement (EI)

Examples of employee participation include:

i. Project teams or quality circles in which employees work on projects or tasks

with considerable responsibility being delegated to the team.

ii. Suggestion schemes - where employees are given channels whereby they can

suggest new ideas to managers within the organisation. Often they will receive
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rewards for making appropriate suggestions.

iii. Consultation exercises and meetings whereby employees are encouraged to

share ideas.

iv. Delegation of responsibility within the organisation. In modern organisations

ground level employees have to be given considerable responsibility because

they are dealing with customers on a day-to-day basis often in novel situations.

Such employees need to be trusted to make decisions for themselves.

v. Multi-channel decision making processes. In such situations decisions are not

only made in a downward direction, they also result from communications

upwards, sideways, and in many other directions within the organisation.

Importance of Resources

In many organizations access to resources is controlled by

supervisory staff. If employee empowerment is to be

implemented successfully, those controls must be removed and

resources placed under empowered employees' control.

"Resources include items such as funding, access to support

staff, or experts who have knowledge on which the employee

can draw." (Ward, 1996, p. 22) Typically restriction of access

to resources is in place to avoid employee abuse. However, if

information about the costs and effect on the bottom line

procurement of resources has is shared with employees they

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are not likely to abuse them. Caudron (1995) notes, "Once

both employees and managers have received proper training,

the next step is to give employees control of the resources

needed to make improvements. Nothing is more demotivating

or disempowering than being stopped in your tracks because

you either don't know how to proceed or lack the tools

necessary to do a good job." (p. 31).

Bowen and Lawler (1995) describe what happens if insufficient

resources are provided. Relying on people to provide service

improvements without resources is called the human resources

trap. "The HR trap occurs when managers expect their front-

line people to provide better and better service without

simultaneously trying to improve the core service offering

itself, enhance the tangibles, make available state-of-the-art

technology and market research, and so on. It can result in

unreasonable responsibility for damage control placed on the

front-line workers in a poorly designed, inadequately

coordinated service system." (Bowen & Lawler, 1995, p. 82)

Release of control to employees demonstrates management

trust and confidence in their competence. This is very

empowering.

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Management Role

If a manager does not perceive her or his role is to help those she or he

supervises to grow, then any empowerment implementation effort will not be

successful. A change in role perception is called for in this instance when

implementing employee empowerment. The supervisor must see potential in

the employee and work to bring that potential out. The process is best described

as mentoring or coaching and it entails:

• determining the skill level of the employee

• sharing information about the goal to be achieved and why it is important

to the organization as a whole

• providing for employee training as needed

• depending upon the employee's skill level, providing appropriate

supervisory support

• a directing style for those tasks for which the employee has a low skill

level

• coaching for those tasks with which the employee has some skills but is

lacking experience or motivation

• a supporting style for those tasks where the employee knows what to do

but is still lacking confidence in their abilities

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• a delegating style for those tasks where the employee is motivated and

fully capable. (Blanchard, Zigarmi & Zigarmi,1985)

• ensuring that the employee is consistently growing in skill by providing

new responsibilities for which a higher level of supervision is needed

• mentoring the employee such that they absorb both the organizational

culture and the value of empowerment

• removing barriers to empowerment present in the organizational structure

• ensuring that appropriate resources are available for the employee, or

ensuring that the employee has the appropriate skills to obtain needed

resources

• providing support for the continued empowerment of the employee

• and sharing information about the employee's and the organization's

effectiveness.

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Conclusion

Not all performance problems are caused by personal ones, and

many factors affect performance decline. Work-related causes

are the responsibility of the

manager. Performance management requires clear standards

and managers to be trained in interview techniques. It does not

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require managers to be taught counselling or pseudo-

psychological skills.

The EAP model provides managers with a framework for

appropriate work performance intervention. It allows managers

to show concern without getting

involved in employee ‘counselling’ or losing focus on the

performance decline. The primary role of the manager remains

the management of employees and their work performance.

Bibliography

1. Blanchard, K., Zigarmi, P. & Zigarmi, D.

(1985). Leadership and the One Minute Manager:

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 Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership.

New York: William Morrow.

2. Bowen, D.E. & Lawler, E.E. (1995). Empowering service

employees. Sloan Management Review, Summer 1995,

p.73.

3. Caudron, S. (1995). Create an empowering environment.

Personnel Journal, 74-9, p.28.

4. Grove, P.B. (ed.), (1971). Webster's Third New

International Dictionary of the English Language

Unabridged. Springfield, MA: G&C Merriam.

5. Ward, B. (1996). How to empower. Canadian Manager,

21-4, p. 20.

6. Employee counselling and performance management -

Tony Buon

7. Employee Empowerment - Nick Nykodym, Jack L.

Simonetti, Warren R. Nielsen and Barbara Welling, Volume

2, 1994

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