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Doaei 1998
Hoteliers who have given their employees authority have found that the
overall level of monetary adjustments declines. Establishing an empowerment
program is a step-by-step process that includes informational meetings,
training sessions, and follow-up diagnostic meetings. The results of an
empowerment program can be measured in terms of guest satisfaction,
employee satisfaction, and a management assessment that includes the effect
on the bottom line. Employee empowerment is a management strategy that
aims to give employees the tools and resources necessary to make confident
decisions in the workplace without supervision. Empowerment is a long-term,
resource-intensive strategy that involves significant time and financial
investment from the organisations leaders.
Authors Ken Blanchard, John P. Carlos, and Alan Randolph, in their book
Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute, suggest that the three tools
managers should be using to empower their staff are information sharing with
everyone, creating autonomy through boundaries and replacing old hierarchies
with self-managed teams.
Definitions:
1.Empowerment is the process coming to feel and behave as if one is in power
and to feel as if they owned the firm2.
2
By Richard Kathnelson
3
By Bowen and Lawler.
WHAT IS THE NEED OF EMPOWERMENT OF WORKERS?:
Organizations today understand that in a knowledge-driven economy, speed in
taking decisions, efficient methods of functioning and innovative ideas help
them gain an edge over competitors. It is with this view point that
organizations are adopting a strategy of employee empowerment. The
important factors that drive organizations towards employee empowerment
are to:
PROCESS:
Mechanical Approach : According to this view, Empowerment is means
delegating and the power from top to bottom with clear boundaries and
limits and also strict accountability which increases managerial
control(Boula 1994). In this approach, empowerment is a process during
which senior management, has developed a clear vision, and paint
programs and specific tasks to achieve it in organization. Provides
information and resources needed to perform duties for employee and
allows as needed to do practice change and processes improvement. In
summary, this empowerment approach, means decision in a particular
range. (Abdollahi & Nave Ebrahim 2006)
Organic Approach: Organic approach is a view from bottom to up, and
reduce control. Based on this approach, empowerment is defined in terms
of personal beliefs. According to this view, capable individuals are have
common characteristics. Reflects the experiences or beliefs of employees
about their role in the organization, thus, empowerment is not something
which managers carry out to employees instead is mindset of employees
about their role in the organization. However, organization management
can provide a required platform for empowerment of employees. (Spritzer
1995)
Empowerment Process Staff empowerment is a process through which
extends a culture of empowerment. Empowerment process is consisting
three phases:
Information sharing: Allows to employees know their organization status
and to analyse. Information sharing begins with trust in the organization,
and breaking traditional hierarchical thinking and increase employees'
sense of responsibility.
Autonomy working across organizational boundaries: Boundaries
organization is specified through destination (Why do you?), values (what is
your action guide?), imagination (what your imagination of the future?),
objectives (what, when, where, how and why do they?), roles (which are
you?), system and organizational structure (how your work will be
supported?).
Replacement self-bring teams instead hierarchy : Whenever a group of
people with specific responsibilities for work and production processes are
selected, plan and implement, from start to finish, will manage everything,
and divided responsibilities into equal and fair. Self-bring teams advantage
are summarized in provide job satisfaction, change of attitude,
commitment, better communication between employees and managers,
more effective decision-making processes, improvement of operations,
reduce the cost and organization efficiency.
ADVANTAGES:
1. Boosts productivity and reduces costs:
Another expert who has written several blogs once mentioned that empower
employees are those who can provide exceptional services. He is also
experienced in this field and thinks that empower employees do have the
power to make such decisions without taking help from the supervisor. They
also have the right to go and do something else, bend those rules and do what
they can see and fit if they know that it is the correct thing to do for their
customers. Apart from any other feeling, the empower employees will be able
to create the feelings of a true customer service which will yield customer
loyalty. Companies which give their employees the freedom to make such
decisions may end up becoming more successful in the near future.
Empowered employees are always free to change and challenge the status quo
that is considered quite critical for companies that are changing fast and are
driven by environment and technology. Companies and employees are feeling
comfortable about questioning their status quo; these companies will most
probably stay stagnant since companies may swiftly get past them. By
establishing an environment where the employees are feeling free to question,
offer and challenge new ideas may avoid such a problem and help the
employers and employees in the same process.
When you empower your employees, you make them feel like they have been
participating in the organization and helping it grow. They also want to know
what they are contributing towards and if the success of the organization is
growing or not. The employees are hence given the flexibility and the freedom
to help make a change in their working environment. They feel empowered
and deliver work of very high quality. Not just that empower employees also
take a personal ride in their work and do take the responsibility for doing a
good and proper job. As a result of this, the organization will reap such
benefits of employees by delivering higher quality services and products.
5. Collaboration:
6. Communication is boosted:
Employees do not like feeling as if they are the last to get to know when any
important changes have been made inside the organization. In order to
combat that, managers should be willing to work on them and communicate
within the reaches of appropriateness, the staff and keeping them informed
when it comes to environment and jobs. The management has to be receptive
when it comes to input of employees and gives them a better sense of control
over strategic and financial decision. Once the culture takes root, the
employees will become more comfortable and share their ideas with
management and improve the morale of the workplace. In return, the
employees shall become more receptive to any positive coaching from their
managers.
It has been understood over the years that people will leave their bosses and
not the company they are working for. The reason behind this is the managers
who put emphasis and focus on the process and their results. The trait will get
you more than any stifles empowerment. The employees should also not feel
handcuffed when it comes to being afraid of making any bold moves. The more
these employees feel about their actions and have a positive impact on the
organization, the more they will feel connected towards their employees. This
will also begin with management and serve as the voice and face of the
organization. The more free a manager is when it comes to giving important
decisions and tasks, she will focus much less on the operations and strategy
that will have to work on business planning.
When the clients have been given a lot of power, they feel very happy and
satisfied with their position. They become more enthusiastic and feel better.
This happens to be a key area when financial improvements have been realized
from empowering their employees. The clients always communicate with the
attentive and friendly staff, regardless of their enterprise! And the empowered
personnel will take a much more personal approach with their clients and
focus on creative and better ways to solve problems that appear much less tied
to the policy of the company. In turn, the company will feel increased concern
and improve retention and loyalty.
Resilience: Finally we are going to talk about resilience in this post. The way
your employees respond to such changes is the best and key ways to
maintaining morale. When you allow employees and make important
decisions, it will affect the company and the changes shall be much less likely
to be shown as uncaring edicts. If the culture of employee and loyalty has been
established, even when larger changes have been embraced and accepted, the
staff must feel management in all their levels.
Other points: There are several businesses that find enough productivity in
their work as well as overall performance and believe that employees will help
them achieve the organizational goal in the near future. The employee
empowerment activities will also have a positive and good impact on the
quality of work, the satisfaction of employees, its costs and its productivity.
The organization will also provide its employees with flexibility and freedom
and will make a difference and a much higher quality of work from their
employees. Employees in every organization are focusing on the rate of
employment, levels of satisfaction and have often been quite satisfied with the
performance themselves.
DISADVANTAGES:
1. Abusing power:
Most empowered employees tend to abuse their power when they have been
given the power to make decisions the way they want to. But there is a slight
chance and a huge possibility of these employees and them taking advantage
of the empowered for better and even more personal gain. This also means
that the employees may become less responsible for efficient based decisions
they have made. For example, the employee may want to spend some time on
non-work related things such as breaks and committee meetings.
2. Interpersonal relations:
Empowering employees may need you to have a proper training program for
educating employees regarding assertiveness, leadership skills as well as group
dynamics. Even though the training is beneficial, the extra costs as well as time
could be incurred by the business in order to make it happen. Additionally, the
training program will guarantee that the employee empowerment process will
get you positive results.
5. Arrogance:
When employees have been given enough power, their confidence level is
highly increased. Though it could be a great thing to be confident, the sad part
is that too much confidence is not a great thing either. Confidence levels in this
case are far too high up and they also cross the line into becoming arrogant.
People who are arrogant are quite difficult to handle and dont take up the
direction properly which does become insubordinate in the future. When you
are working with such a kind of environment, it could take a toll on all
employees and once again become all dissatisfied with the productivity levels
and job.
One way that all employees empower is that the employees end up sharing
information that is not supposed to be shared with others. The exchange of
ideas which are free and the information which makes the employees feel very
important and appreciated will end up helping and empowering them a lot
too. However there is a lot of information that has been exchanged freely with
people through the company and has a boosted and increased risk when it
comes to security and confidentiality and is leaked to all parties that usually
dont have any access to that kind of information.
LEGAL ASPECTS:
4
Nivedita Giri - "Jndian Women in Development Process and Aspects of Globalization" - Women's Link,
October-December '2000, P. 16.
5
J.M.Hari Singh - "Career Woman and Work Place Ethos" - CBI Bulletin, April 1999, P-46
The government does not seem to have a clear-cut policy as to what should be
the priority legislations relating to women's rights at the workplace and how
they should be implemented. What the government has been doing is ad hoc :
depending on the demands of the public, the ILO recommendations and at
times, depending on what the courts say and sometimes also depending on the
convenience of the government6.
According to Eliane Vogel, four factors are chiefly responsible for
discrimination against women : i) Socio-cultural attitudes and prejudices ii) The
double exploitation of women in the family, iii) The exclusion of women from
productive work as full and equal partners and iv) The exclusion of women
from political and social life7. 4 Women form nearly half of the world's
population, yet their voices are not heard in the corridors of power. They have
been affected by lack of opportunities and facilities arising from the innate
discrimination prevalent in most societies. Lack of awareness is, in fact, one of
the fundamental reasons behind the powerlessness, bias and exploitation that
women face in their work.
6
Asha Bajpai - "Women's Rights at the workplace : Emerging Challenges and Legal interventions". The Indian
Journal of Social Work, Vo/.58, Issue I, January 1997, P 116.
7
Eliane Vogel - "Some suggestions for the Advancement of Working Women" - Published in the Book 'Women
Workers and Society' /LO, Geneva, 1976, PP. I l-13.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
LIST OF BOOKS
1.Applewhite, Phillip B., Organsiational Behaviour, Prentice-Hall, New Delhi,
Englewood Cliffs, 1965, p.77.
2.Aswathappa, Human Resource and Personnel Management, Tata McGraw
Hill, New Delhi, 2002.
3.Aswathappa, Human Resource Management, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi,
2005.
4.Blum, Milton L., Industrial Psychology and Its Social Foundations, Harper &
Row, New York, 1965, p. 77.