Employee empowerment why

When deployed properly, this should result in heightened productivity and a better quality of employee work and work life. Employee empowerment varies based on an organization's culture and work design. However, empowerment is based on the concepts of job enlargement and job enrichment. Job enlargement differs from job enrichment in that job enlargement is horizontal expansion and job enrichment is considered vertical.

Employee empowerment also means giving up some of the power traditionally held by management, which means managers also must take on new roles, knowledge, and responsibilities. However, this does not mean that management relinquishes all authority, delegates all decision-making, and allows operations to run without accountability.

It requires a significant investment of time and effort, especially from management, to develop mutual trust, assess and add to individuals' capabilities, and develop clear agreements about roles, responsibilities, risk taking, and boundaries.

Employee empowerment often also calls for restructuring the organization to reduce levels of the hierarchy or to provide a more customer- and process-focused organization. Employee empowerment is often viewed as an inverted triangle of organizational power.

In the traditional view, management is at the top while customers are on the bottom; in an empowered environment, customers are at the top while management is in a support role at the bottom. Employee Empowerment Diagram. Empowerment is such a mechanism that helps to achieve individual goals, team goals and organizational goals through handing over the charge of the job to the jobbers to perform the job with authority to take decision on their own.

So empowerment relates to individual development and the development of organization as well. Empowerment as a process of passing authority and responsibility to lower level employees is introduced in organizations like GE. Employee Empowerment in work setting means giving employees the means, ability, and authority to do something.

Various techniques of empowerment range from participation in decision-making to the use of self-managed or empowered teams. Empowered employees exude increased confidence while performing their jobs. In an age of increasing individualism, empowerment is what young job aspirants look for in organizations. Many organisations follow team structures which have paved the way for empowerment of employees. Empowerment would be all the more necessary to speed up the process of decision-making, make use of environmental opportunities and to serve the customers and society better.

The purpose of empowerment is to free the employees from rigorous control and give them freedom to take responsibility for their own ideas and actions, to release hidden talents which would otherwise remain inaccessible. Empowerment offers a way of treating people with respect and dignity. It is a must for organisations that want to be successful in the competitive world. Empowerment should not be confused with delegation of authority.

Delegation is granting of authority by a superior to a subordinate for a specific purpose such as buying specific materials from a specified vendor. But empowerment has a wider scope because the subordinate is given adequate autonomy or freedom to select the type of materials from the vendor he thinks is the best.

The need for employees empowerment arises because of the following factors:. The impact of downsizing, delayering and decentralising means that the old methods of achieving co-ordination and control are no longer appropriate.

Achieving performance under these circumstances require the employees to accept greater responsibility and authority. Empowerment can be used to satisfy such needs of employees and thus motivate them. Thus, it can be used as a source of managerial talent for the organisation. Most of the work organizations have a number of employees who believe that they are dependent on others and their own efforts have little impact on the performance.

Sense of this powerlessness creates frustration in employees and they start developing a feeling that they cannot perform successfully or make meaningful contributions. In order to overcome this feeling of employees and involving them in their jobs, the idea of empowerment has been introduced. Newstrom and Davis have defined empowerment as follows:.

Organizations with high level of empowerment usually have the following characteristics:. Empowered organizations put emphasis on delegation, decentralization, and diffusion of power and information. Their organizational hierarchy is flat instead of series of levels which command and control the one immediately beneath them. They appoint fewer managers with wider responsibilities. They set unstructured guidelines so that the employees know their decision-making parameters.

Their employee-related core value is employee satisfaction. They invest lot of time and effort to ensure that newly recruited employees are able to handle workplace freedom. Managers in contemporary organisations advocate performance improvement through employee empowerment and decentralization. Individuals feel empowered when they perceive and possess power to adequately cope with events, situations, or people they confront. According to Thomas and Velthouse , an employee feels empowered due to a meaningful job, gaining confidence to perform the task, degree of autonomy in decision-making, and perceives that the job and individual performance have a positive and vital impact on the organisation.

Job autonomy is said to have significant and positive relation to organisational commitment and performance. Employee empowerment is reflected in job satisfaction, enhanced morale and improved performance which is ultimately in long-run interest of the organizations.

Again, it is essential that employees are allowed to participate both at the shop floor and at higher levels. Participation improves communication and cooperation among members which contributes towards team-building. This results in self-directed work teams who work independently to solve problems or perform an assignment.

These self-directed work teams make decisions and then act on those decisions. Empowerment opportunities are more important in case of challenging work, rather than routine, repetitive production and service jobs because they create intrinsic motivation. Re-engineering of jobs is a major intervention of employee empowerment. For an organisation to be effectively empowered, management must adopt high involvement practices where power, knowledge, information and rewards are shared with employees in the lower levels of the organisational hierarchy.

Yukl and Becker have outlined a few facilitators for effective empowerment: informal organisational structure; flexible, participative and learning culture; reward and recognition system; non-routine and challenging jobs; access to resources and funds; degree of autonomy and selection of leader; leader as a role model; and mutual trust.

If managed effectively, leadership can act as an important driver of the empowerment process. Bogler and Somech identified six dimensions of empowerment such as- decision-making, professional growth, status, self-efficacy, autonomy and impact. They found professional growth, status add self-efficacy to be significant predictors of organisational and professional commitment.

According to Bramham , a sense of commitment can be developed in employees through the process of de-layering and empowerment. Arnold, Arad, Rhoades and Drasgow have found that empowering team leaders are giving emphasis to coach, inform, led by example, show concern, and encourage participative decision-making.

Hence, empowered employees report higher job satisfaction, higher level of commitment and fosters innovation and creativity. Commitment has been examined as a determinant of job performance and organisational citizenship behaviour. In fact, the rationale for introducing HR policies is to increase the level of employee commitment so that positive outcomes can ensue. In the same way better career prospects and opportunities for training and education are found to be positively related to commitment.

The management should try to focus more on these attributes to enhance commitment of employees. According to Bower, and Lawler, three types of employee empowerment are possible. It represents a small shift away from the traditional control model. Employees are encouraged to contribute ideas through formal suggestion programs or quality circles.

They can only offer suggestions, the power to accept suggestions and implement those rests with the management. In this type of empowerment, the jobs are redesigned so that employees use a variety of skills. Employees believe their tasks are significant, they have considerable freedom in deciding how to do the work, they get enough feedback about their performance and each handles a whole identified piece of work.

However, despite the heightened level of empowerment that it brings, the job involvement approach does not cover strategic decisions concerning organisational structure, distribution of authority and allocation of rewards. These remain the prerogative of the top management.

Information on all aspects of business performance is shared horizontally across the organisation as well as up and down the structure.

Employees develop extensive skills in team-work, problem-solving and participate in management decisions. High involvement organisations often use profit-sharing and employee stock option plans ESOP to motivate their workforce. They have choice in regard to the tasks, methods, and pace of their work. They care about their work and believe that whatever they do is important. Their job fits their values. They show tremendous capacity to grow in the face of emerging challenges.

Bowen and Lawler have suggested the following five approaches for empowerment in practice:. Elements of empowerment include control over work situation, self-sufficiency or competence, purposefulness, belief system and trust. This is very much essential to understand the situation in which an employee is expected to discharge his duties. The employee must be capable of successfully performing the assigned task.

The employee must have confidence in his performance. He should not accept responsibility for making decisions until they are confident of their abilities. The empowered employee must feel the significance and importance of the task assigned to him. It motivates them to put in their extra effort and take ownership at work. Innovative thinking is a key trait of a good leader. You must encourage your employees to explore their potential and think out of the box.

It unlocks the opportunity for business innovation and growth. Creative thinking boosts problem-solving, a quality that any future leader must have. It improves the overall workflow. It helps in finding alternative solutions to problems and break assumptions. The catch here is that the problem is not lack of creativity but the fact that the ideas are not heard. As managers, you should promote a work environment where employees proactively participate in idea sharing.

Employee engagement and empowerment go hand-in-hand. Empowerment boosts engagement and engaged employees often feel empowered. The very premise of employee engagement is to nurture an environment where employees feel emotionally invested. It promotes a degree of autonomy at work and attaining job satisfaction.

When both empowerment and engagement come together in a workplace, they lay a pathway for profitability and productivity. The fundamental way of working is going through a continuous change. People no longer see their work as a way of earning money. Empowering employees is not a one day process but a perpetual one.

You need to set it motion progressively and not with a giant leap. Employee empowerment is the global buzzword at the moment. Empowering employees can help an organization in many ways. And its impact in improved customer experience notable.

Allocating empowerment to the right individuals can help in improving productivity and cost reduction. However, like every other concept, it has its own limitations. Empowerment can sometimes lead to additional stress and burden among employees.

It can also cause arrogance and abusing of power by some. It is important to find balance while implementing the above mentions points. If you have any more suggestions and inputs, do let us know in the comment section below.

We're excited to hear from you! This article is written by Iftekar Ahmed. When he is not playing guitar or solving puzzles, he is often seen fussing over foods he can't eat because he is on a perennial dieting spree. For any related queries, contact editor vantagecircle. We safeguard your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Book Your Seat. Bookmarks You haven't yet saved any bookmarks. Employee Engagement.

Last Updated on 21 May So what is an empowered organization? Business dictionary probably summed it up in the best way. More Productivity This is one of the direct benefits of employee empowerment. Employee Satisfaction It is a proven fact that we tend to be more satisfied when we make our own decisions. Improved Employee Branding One of how empowering employees can help directly is making a case for employee branding. Flattening the Hierarchy One of the hidden benefits of empowering your employees is flattening your hierarchy.

Career Development Career development is one of the most crucial factors for employees when they consider a job. Customer Handling Good or bad customer experience is largely dependent on one thing, which is what is happening inside an organization.

How can we make employees feel empowered? Build Trust and respect: Foster a culture at work where employees feel respected and trusted. Facilitate Robust Communication : Communication is the most crucial element to spark empowerment. Provide Tools and Resources: If you want to empower your employees, you must also give them the means to grow. Offer Feedback: The role of leadership in employee empowerment is huge.

With frequent and timely feedback you can tap into their performance graph. Timely Rewards and Recognition: Empowerment is a slow process that unfolds eventually. Inspire creative thinking: Innovative thinking is a key trait of a good leader.

Foster Employee engagement: Employee engagement and empowerment go hand-in-hand. Final Words The fundamental way of working is going through a continuous change. Share this article.