Empowerment and

Motivation

Empowerment

Empowerment giving people

authority to do whatever is
necessary to satisfy customers,
and trusting employees to make
the right choices without waiting
for management approval.

A sincere belief and trust in

people.

Examples of
Empowerment

Managing work as individuals or teams

Making traditional managerial
business decisions
Going outside of job descriptions to
help customers
Taking risks for the good of the
organization even at a short-term cost

Management Action
Needed for
Empowerment
1.

2.

Identify and change

organizational conditions that
make people powerless, and
increase peoples confidence
that their efforts to accomplish
something important will be
successful.

Theoretical Basis for

Empowerment

Customer satisfaction is correlated

to employee satisfaction
Employee attitudes correlate
strongly to higher profits
Empowerment leads to improved
motivation and morale, as well as
better quality, productivity, and
speed of decision making

Empowerment and
Quality

Principles of
Empowerment

Empower sincerely and completely

Establish mutual trust
Provide employees with business
information
Ensure that employees are capable
Dont ignore middle management
Change the reward system

Reasons for Failure

Management support and commitment is nonexistent or

not sustained.
Empowerment is used as a manipulative tool to ensure
employees complete tasks and assignments without
giving them any real responsibility or authority.
Managers use empowerment to abdicate responsibility
or task accountability, accepting accolades for
successes and assigning fault to others for failure.
Empowerment is deployed selectively, segmenting the
workforce into those who are empowered and those
who are not.
Empowerment is used as an excuse to not invest in
training or employee development.
Managers fail to provide feedback and do not recognize
achievements.

Successful
Empowerment

Provide education, resources, and

encouragement
Remove restrictive policies/procedures
Foster an atmosphere of trust
Share information freely
Make work valuable
Train managers in hands-off leadership
Train employees in allowed latitude
9

Motivation

Motivation - an individuals
response to a felt need
Views
Extrinsic
Intrinsic

Compensation

Effect on motivation
Merit versus
capability/performance based
plans
Gainsharing

11

Recognition and Rewards

Monetary or non-monetary
Formal or informal
Individual or group

Effective Recognition and

Reward Strategies

Give both individual and team awards

Involve everyone
Tie rewards to quality
Allow peers and customers to
nominate and recognize superior
performance
Publicize extensively
Make recognition fun
13

Work Environment

Quality of working life

Ancillary services

Empowerment and
Theories of Motivation

Job Characteristics Theory

Acquired Needs Theory
Goal-Setting Theory

Hackman-Oldham Model