Empowering an individual isn’t giving
them the power to do what you think they should do but instead it is giving
them the power to do what they want to do (Developing Management Skills P 443).
In reviewing the text as well as the article Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea by Russ Forrester research
has shown that individuals empowered to do what they want to do are more
satisfied, innovated and produce more desirable results than that of those who
are not empowered. To empower employees to want to want to do their work and
motivate them to complete the task efficiently a manager will have to
relinquish control and let their employees make their own decisions, accomplish
the task and then allow them to receive recognition. In order for this to happen there are a
number of things that must be attained, such as having a stable environment for
the employees to do their work. If the environment is free of unnecessary chaos
and drama then the employees will not be distracted and will be able to remain
on task uninterrupted. Employees will also feel empowered when they can find an
empowered manager to follow. A manager who can lead by example will provide his
or her employees a better sense of how this can be a very effective way to
accomplish tasks.
In our text they identify five core
dimensions of empowerment, as well as how these employees will feel when they are
empowered. The five core dimensions are self-efficacy the feeling that you are capable of
completing the task successfully, self-determination this is the feeling that you
have a choice in your own actions, personal consequence which is the feeling of
being able to make an impact or produce a result based on the choices you have
made, meaning which is the feeling employees will have when they can value the
task they are completing and trust which is the feeling you will have that allows
you to feel confident in your employer that they will treat you fairly. These
will all exist if an individual is empowered. Empowered
individuals are “ more confident, feel more freedom, feel more important, feel
more comfortable in their work and work setting” (Developing Management Skills
P 447), thus everyone wins.
Empowering employees is not a “one size
fits all” solution (Russ Forrester 2002). In this sense an organization will need to
develop a system to empower employees based on their abilities if they want to
efficiently motivate the employees to take on new responsibilities. I feel a
good way would be if an organization practiced in a more family friendly
atmosphere so everyone was able to get to know each other and feel as though
they are apart of an organization that cares about their employees. This would
allow the correct employee to receive the correct task. When it is time for the manager to
delegate the new responsibilities they would have a better idea of who
could handle what tasks, and if no one was able to they could then properly train
the employee chosen to do the job. Employees would feel more confident knowing
their managers believed they could appropriately handle the task at hand.
A lot of the reasons empowerment can fail are because the
employees receiving the power to make decisions are not equipped with the
skills needed in order to make good decisions. Another reason empowerment can
fail is because a lot of organizations are not able to correctly implement the
power in a timely fashion. Some companies will move too quickly while others
will never move at all, but instead “say” they are. If the company moves too
quickly then no one is able to adapt to the sudden change and this can breed a
bit of hostility among those affected directly. Moving too slowly will also
result in discouraged employees that feel they cannot depend on their
organization to give up any of their power to trust the employees to do the job. If a company wants to
successfully empower their employees they need to make sure they are moving at
the right pace determined by their organization.
In conclusion empowering can be easily
attained through setting clear goals for employees to follow. These goals need
to be specific, measurable, aligned, realistic and time bound in order for them
to be successful. Another way to empower employees would be to set up a “small
wins strategy”. This can be accomplished by taking a large task and breaking it
into smaller tasks in order for it to be completed in a building block fashion.
Modeling as stated before is a great way for a manager to empower employees
because they can follow examples of previous success. Supporting employees will
be helpful in providing the emotional support they will need throughout the
processes. A manager could also evoke enthusiasm through a charismatic form of
leadership and create a sense of confidence in order to empower them. Managers
will need to provide employees with all the information and resources
needed in order for the employees to remain empowered and successfully complete the tasks. When all of these have
been completed you should have a more successful organization filled with
empowered employees willing to take on new responsibilities.
Whetten,
D.A., & Cameron K.S. (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Forrester, R. (2000). Empowerment:
Rejuvenating a potent idea. The
Academy of Management Perspectives, 14(3), 67-80.
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/210518384?accountid=27203
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