Employee Empowerment and Organisational

Effectiveness

In recent years there has been a considerable

interest in academic and business circles on the topic
of employee empowerment, which has become a
buzzword, and recent management trend in both the
public and private sector (Pitts, 2005). Employees
Empowerment has received a wide recognition as an
important subject in management circles, mainly,
because it is seen as one of the fundamental
elements
of
managerial
and
organizational
effectiveness that increases when power and control
are shared in organization (Ergeneli, et al., 2007).
Empowerment programs have been introduced in a
number of organizations in order to improve
productivity, increase customer satisfaction and
enhance competitive advantage (Hardy and LeibaO'Sullivan,1998). Thus, employees empowerment
has been hailed management technique which can
be applied universally across all organizations as
means of dealing with the needs of modern global
business (Demitriads, 2005).
Most of the empowerment literature reviewed
concludes that an empowered workforce will lead
their organisation to achieving a competitive
advantage, efficiency and above all leads to
organisational effectiveness. In other words, there is
a positive relationship between empowerment and

other organisational outcome variables and to name

one performance is one among the others. Studies
on empowerment have shown that it has a strong
correlation to employee performance in terms of
higher productivity, job satisfaction and reduction in
staff turnover in organisations (Ongori, H, 2007).
The review of the avalibale literature reveals that no
empirical research that i am aware of has been
conducted on the links between empowerment and
organisational effectiveness has been conducted in
Indian context.
In the light of this background, this study would
primarily aim at studying and understanding the link
between employee empowerment and organisational
effectivness in some selected organisations.
Objectives of the Study
This study would be undertaken to investigate the
correlation between empowerment and employee
performance. It will focus on the relationship of the
four (4) independent variables of empowerment
(Spreitzer,
1995)-meaning,
competence,
self
determination
and
impact-with
organisational
effectiveness/ performance.
The objectives of the study would be:
a) To determine the relationship between meaning
and employee performance in Indian Context.
b)

To

determine

the

relationship

between

competence and employee

sample organisations.

performance

in

the

c) To determine the relationship between self

determination and employee performance in the
sample organisations
d) To determine the relationship between Impact and
employee performance in the sample organisations.
e) To determine the overall relationship between
empowerment and employee performance in the
sample organisations.
f) To examine the influence of empowerment on
employee performance in the sample organisations.
The most extensively model used by researchers
across globe is Theoritical Framework on Employees
Empowerment by Spreitzer (1995). The model has
been used in both manufacturing and service
sectors.
hence i inyend to use the same model to investigate
the relationship between employee empowerment
and organisational effectiveness. To measure the
organisationaleffectiveness Denison's Model would
be used. The model consists of seven dimensions
measuring subjective measures of organisational
effectiveness, which includes employee satisfaction,
sales growth, new product development,ROI......and
overall organisational effcetiveness.
Spreitzer(1995) defines employees empowerment as

intrinsic task motivation manifested in a set of four

cognitions (meaning, competence, self determination
and impact) reflecting an individuals orientation to
his or her work role. In summary, they are defined as
follows:
Meaning is the value of work goals or purposes
judged by an individuals perception relative to his or
her own personal mission or expectations .
Self-determination is an individuals sense of
having choice in initiating and regulating actions.
Competence refers to self-efficacy specific to
work; that is, the individuals capability to perform
work activities with necessary skills and knowledge.
Impact is the degree to which a person can
influence strategic, administrative or operating
outcomes at work
Employee Empowerment
Employee empowerment would be measured by a 12 item
scale developed and validated by

Spreitzer (1995). The

scale has 4 subscales: Meaning, Competence, Impact and

Self-Determination each of which has three items. The rating
scale ranged from 1, strongly disagree, to 7, strongly
agree. The measure is composed of four subscales designed
to reflect Thomas and Velthouses (1990) definition of
empowerment. An example item from each subscale is The
work I do is very important to me (meaning); I am

confident about my ability to do my job (competence); I

have significant autonomy in determining how I do my job
(self-determination); and My impact on what happens in my
department is large (impact).