Problem of Lack of Empowerment in Organization - Research Paper Example

Lack of Empowerment in Government Organization (ABC) June 13th, Table of Contents Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Definition of the Problem 4 Analysis of the Problem of Lack of Empowerment in Organization (ABC) 5 Recommendations 9 Executive Summary Employee empowerment is a fundamental managerial means that can be applied to achieve competitive benefits from human resources in the organization. A comprehensive understanding of the fundamental of empowerment is essential to facilitate its successful implementation. Lack of empowerment brings with it a lot of disadvantages in the organization. Lack of empowerment in organization (ABC) is analyzed in details with the assistance of the survey done by human resource department. In government organizations, there are many issues that arise in the management, operation, administration, and delivery of service to the general public which imposes a lot of controls inherently. Also, due to their non-profit oriented directionalities and the involvement of a large number of stakeholders, there are many rules and regulations to organize and ensure proper functioning and operation of government organizations. These rules and regulations come with a price. Rigidity and inflexibility are inherent in the organizational structure of most government organizations. This research paper’s intent is to analyze the issue of lack of empowerment in government organization (ABC), which is a typical government organization. This is a qualitative paper analyzing secondary research outcomes to come up with the paper findings and documentations. Introduction According to the empirical literature studies, lack of empowerment in an organization is a crucial matter in its growth due to various factors. This problem reflects a lack of ownership by the employees, waste of time and effort internally and externally through the proper communication channels, as well as friction between organizational departments. In an organization, empowerment is a broad perspective of dealing with its culture, leadership, practices and employees. In this paper, lack of empowerment effects on employees and stakeholders of organization ABC is looked at critically. This will entail organizational structure stability, employees’ satisfaction and job security and performance evaluation and reward structure. The report will conclude by trying to recommend solutions and courses of action to treat or work around this problem.  Objective and research question Objective of the paper is to analyze “lack of empowerment’s” effects to Government Organization (ABC). Research question: What are the effects Organization ABC faces for lack of empowerment implementation? This is the guiding principle for this paper ensuring that the paper analyzes the effects of “lack of empowerment” to the organization. Definition of the Problem The problem of “lack of empowerment” within government organization (ABC) was identified through a survey conducted by the Human Resources Department to assess the levels of employees’ satisfaction. The survey showed that many employees felt they were unsupported by their managers, and that they were not given the chance to make decisions, even at very low levels. The results of the survey were analyzed and most of the negative responses were established to be correlated to lack of empowerment. This was Employee Opinion Survey (EOS) thus the results are valid and credible since reflect employees responses. The problem was linked mainly to the organizational structures adopted by the public sector organizations, which can be characterized as centralized, hierarchical through the divisional and departmental structures, bureaucratic, with vertical communication lines. This in turn was reflected in many different forms like wasted time and effort required going through the proper communication channels, as well as friction between organizational departments. The problem of “lack of empowerment” also had drastic impacts on employee performance and satisfaction levels. De-motivated and dissatisfied employees hardly contribute to the success of the organizations and this was also replicated in the means they dealt with their internal and external customers. Ownership of processes and work, which is an inherent elemental pillar of quality management systems and excellence models, was unfamiliar to them. Even managers suffered as they didn’t have the power to reward the overachievers or punish the low performers. Analysis of the Problem of Lack of Empowerment in Organization (ABC) In accordance to report of National Performance Review (NPR), performance deficit in many organizations is attributed to stiff and rigid regulations that stifled innovation and creativity among employees (Fernandez et al, 2011, Pg 10). The research findings were seconded by outcomes of HR department’s Employee Opinion Survey (EOS) that revealed most employees attributed poor performance to Organization ABC rules and regulations. This was evident in Organization (ABC) which, as a government organization, follows not only local and federal laws, but also governance, government audits, and other regulatory authorities. This level of control does not provide the required support to create a culture of innovation and creativity within the organization and provide enough flexibility for the daily operation. One of the direct impacts of this rigidity and inflexibility is the powerlessness of both employees and managers in Organization ABC as pertains to execution of their duties (McKelvey and Holmén, 2006, Pg 56-58). This paper analyzes the problem tackling three different perspective of ABC. These include: Suitability of the organizational structure Employees satisfaction and job security and Performance evaluation and reward structure. Suitability of the organizational structure The issues that arose in Organization (ABC), which were termed as major issues in its delivery of services, included management’s failure to encourage employees to implement new ideas to solve problems, lack of a strong leadership with vision, and lack of recognition and support to high performing employees (Hardina, 2007, Pg 27). In addition, lack of involvement of employees in decision making about issues that directly affect them. The above issues are clear lack of empowerment matters that dwarfs growth in the ABC. The management of Organization (ABC) has not contributed to the improvement of the working environment for employees which has led to very slow development and below anticipated performance in the past years. Performance was unfocused because employees have operated to attain organizational goals which were not clearly specified. This is perceived as the failure of management to communicate the relevant information to employees so that they can focus their effort on attainment of such goals. The EOS also backed up the statement owing to the fact majority of employees responded overwhelmingly citing their dissatisfaction in inclusion of organization matters (Baron, & Armstrong, 2007, Pg 187). Communication is a major factor in achievement of objectives within any organization. The mode of communication in ABC has bureaucratic issues that service delivery, and affects employees confident in executing their duties effectively. The organizational structure also has problems because the mode of communication does not favor smooth flow of information from departments, teams, and/or individuals to others (Wiley, & Kowske, 2012, Pg 213). This was witnessed through the vertical organizational chart that focused more on creating management positions than on focusing on results. This hierarchical bureaucratic structure made the process of presenting work related problems by employees to management who can authorize the appropriate corrective and preventive actions to be taken very hard (Shields, 2007, Pg 43). Time taken to communicate instruction was also noted as a problem since it slows performance pace. Another issue is that managers do not normally welcome ideas of other people from the team to facilitate easy implementation. Rather, they monopolistically implemented ideas that are from specific people while neglecting those from potential contributors to go unattended. Through these measures, Organization (ABC) has failed to perform well in developing new ideas that can help in solving emerging problems in their service provision (Shields, 2007, Pg 12). Even though Empowerment in the service industry is a “risky business”, it is essential for success of the industry. Organization ABC faces challenges of empowering employees with adequate skills and expertises then they seek so called “green pasture” by joining competitor organizations. Risk is a challenge that must be managed in the organization. Empowerment is a tolerance risk that ABC and other organization must continue to exploit so as to retain employees and inspire them to do their best. Satisfying individual needs in an organization is not easy and cannot be met 100% and should not discourage empowerment. Employees’ satisfaction and Job security As discovered by the HR department’s survey, employees’ satisfaction is one of the major areas identified as affected by empowerment issue in the organization. The recruitment and retention of performing employees has not been handled satisfactorily due to some management issues such head count reduction and restructuring. The organization does not empower their employees well enough to motivate their stay and performance at work. Term of employment is an empowerment issue; the survey revealed that permanent staffs of the organization were confident and executes their duties with dedication. However, employees on contract cases differ since anxiety is always looming at the expiry of contacts (Kronberg, 2011, Pg 121). Organization ABC has tried to balance this, however, it has not reached an acceptable level regarding survey’s outcome. Job security boosts employees’ performance and could be considered as empowerment since employees’ existence is secured and they can handle their duties with a lot of confidence Grigoroudis, & Siskos, 2010). Satisfaction of the employees in Organization ABC has been fairly good; however, not yet satisfactory due to job security and recognition. Organization ABC has very stiff and bureaucratic rules on rewarding top performance thus affecting internal competition. Empowering employees in Organization ABC has led to performance boost since employees can invent new ways of executing their tasks. Empowerment definitely boosts employees’ satisfaction and job security since it brings a sense of belonging and appreciation. Performance evaluation and reward structure ABC lacks well structured performance evaluation structure thus leading to senior management getting huge rewards and bonuses that should be distributed evenly to motivate junior hardworking employees. Motivation is an empowerment tool that instill confident in people and boost their performance. Organization ABC lacks proper implementation of performance evaluation and rewarding structure. This is lack of empowerment and affect employees’ efforts in executing their duties to the best of their abilities (Lashley 2001, Pg 12). Empowerment structure should be well laid out in Organization ABC to include al the stakeholder of the company for a better existence. The survey which was carried out showed that the majority of the employees were dissatisfied with performance evaluation and reward scheme of the organization. The EOS survey carried by the HR department gave out results that clearly should be clearly implemented by the organization enhance empowerment. In general, the outcome of the EOS survey showed that lack of empowerment is affecting the performance of employees and by and large organization. Limitations Organization ABC faces a lot of challenges in their attempts to implement empowerments due to various factors involving government policies and internal politicking. Some employees also would take advantage of empowerments to make decisions that does not inline with organization objectives. Recommendations Frequent employees opinions should be done and outcomes implemented as much as possible. In order to improve the performance of organization (ABC), there needs to be an appropriate implementation of change in the organizational structure to include employees in decision making and other issues (Lashley 2001, Pg 12). Another aspect to consider is motivation for employees which is an important venture because it makes them own the work they do and this promotes them to perform and increase their productivity. This will not only promote their motivation to do more but will also increase their job satisfaction and performance levels (Kruse et al, 2008, Pg 19). Finally, recommended that formulation of goal and objectives should be carried in a manner that reflects employees and stakeholders interests. Conclusion Lack of empowerment is a problem faced by Organization ABC due to many factors though the organization still has powers to implement it fully. The level of empowerment is not satisfactory as revealed by EOS. Structural, inclusiveness of employees and performance evaluations are areas majorly faces empowerment challenges. References ARMSTRONG, M., (2010). Armstrongs handbook of reward management practice: Improving performance through reward. London: Kogan Page. BARON, A., & ARMSTRONG, M. (2007). Human capital management achieving added value through people. London, Kogan Page Ltd. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=28483. BEIRNE, M. (2006). Empowerment and innovation: Managers, principles and reflective practice. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. BLASI, J. R., KRUSE, D., MARKOWITZ, H., & NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH. 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Respect: delivering results by giving employees what they really want. San Francisco, Calif, Jossey-Bass. Read More