Empowerment Is an Unrealistic Concept - Coursework Example

The Concept of Empowerment The term empowerment is a construct used in various fields including community development, education, and in organizations among others, and so there is no precise definition of this concept (Potterfield 1999, p.8). The manner in which empowerment is understood and interpreted varies among different perspectives and contexts, but it is generally perceived as a process by which individuals are enabled to have control and act effectively in changing their environments. In order to create change in the organization or in the community at large, empowerment enables individuals to participate in the decision making process and solving complex issues around them. Organizational empowerment can be defined as the organizational efforts used in generating psychological empowerment among employees. Organizational empowerment aims at improving the performance of the organization and engaging employees to enable them increase their productivity. This paper presents an argument against the statement that empowerment is an unrealistic concept. It focuses on the benefits associated with employee empowerment and the importance of empowerment in an organization. At the organizational level, the concept empowerment refers to a practice of sharing information and power with employees to enable them participate in making decisions and solving problems in the organization. Eylon (1998, p.17) posits that work empowerment involves “energizing context specific process that expands feelings of trust and control in oneself and one’s organization”. Empowerment is based on the belief that both the organization and the employees need each other. This concept also expects leaders in an organization to understand that employees are the most valuable asset in the firm (Speegle 2010, p.84). It relates to other concepts such as employee involvement but the only distinguishing feature of empowerment is power sharing (Huq 2010, p.5). Empowerment of employees in an organization involves equipping them with necessary skills, resources and opportunities, and holding them accountable for their actions and this in turn promotes their competence and satisfaction. Baird and Wang (2010 p.577), define employee empowerment as “the delegation of power and responsibility from the management to the employees, particularly the power to make decision”. Ghosh (2013, p.95) simply defines it as the transfer of power from managers to their subordinates. Empowerment enables organizational leaders to develop a more skilled and capable workforce. It also allows the organization to create a more motivated and productive workforce and this makes it to be more competitive. However, empowerment only thrives in organizations where both the management and employees genuinely support it. For instance, if organizational leaders perceive empowerment as a practice that will undermine their power in the organization, empowerment will not be successful in this case. Similarly, if the employees are not interested in participating in the decision-making process and taking more responsibility and accountability, or if they perceive empowerment as a mechanism of their seniors offloading more work to them, this concept is more likely to fail. Leading by empowerment implies developing and engaging employees but not directing them to get particular tasks done. Empowerment is a realistic concept because it is a very powerful tool used in organizations, communities and by individuals to create and foster change. Unlike Taylor’s scientific management that only focuses on the production of the worker, empowerment values the contribution of the contribution of employees in an organization (Duru Ahanotu 1998, p.180). Agreeably, employee empowerment determines the productivity, performance and success of the organization. Empowerment represents a policy decision where employees are encouraged to be active in the decision-making processes in the organization. The main reason behind empowerment of employees in an organization is to be able to recognize the value of employees. For instance, greater employee involvement in decision-making process, especially in making decisions that directly affect their work specialization, increases potential benefits to the organization, clients and other stakeholders. As Follet believes, an organization can only perform better when every member is a participant (Eylon 1998, p.20). In an empowered organization, empowered organization, workers fully participate, take initiatives, and make strategic decisions (Honold 1997, 206). In short, empowerment enables an organization to acknowledge that employees have a lot to offer and that their contribution in the decision making process is very important. It enables employees to make independent decision without consulting their supervisors (Speegle 2010, p.84). In addition, it enables organizations to speed up their operations and produce quality products and services at the same time. Empowerment allows employees to develop a sense of autonomy, which in turn increases their job satisfaction, and it increases their loyalty to the organization hence increased performance (Silva 2009, p.2). Employee empowerment is one factor that helps in increasing the level of motivation of employees. Employee empowerment is very genuine and generally, there are many benefits associated with employee empowerment. Firsty, it promotes greater job satisfaction, motivation and increased productivity at minimal costs, and it increases accountability in an organization (Bailey 2009, 1). More so, employee empowerment fosters creativity and innovation because it allows the employees to have the power to act on their own. Indeed, increased ownership of their work will in turn increase their efficiency. In addition, empowerment minimizes the need of supervision and delegation because it enables employees to be responsible and accountable for their actions. Arguably, when workers are empowered, they become more entrepreneurial and risk takers and this increases the chances to succeed. Employees derive satisfaction from the empowerment and these benefits allow them to perform well and enable the organization to become more competitive, profitable and innovative (Duru Ahanotu 1998, p.181). This implies that the employees who are empowered help an organization to improve their service delivery, increase their productive and gain a competitive edge. Other benefits of empowerment include, it enhances individual’s self-esteem and improves the communication between members of the organization including the managers and employees. More so, empowerment leads to a collective strength of individuals in an organization and a culture of trust and collaboration thereby creating a more enjoyable working environment. Furthermore, empowerment in every organization is real because of the ever dynamic business environment, that is, the consequences of downsizing and decentralization requires new methods of achieving co-ordination (Potterfield 1999, p.7). Increased global competition and changing business environment requires organization to come up with ways to successful and survive, empowerment is one way to achieve this (Greasley et al. 2005, p.358). More so, the organizations today need more cooperation and integration in their operations to be able to meet the needs of their customers and this is only possible through empowerment. In addition, the increasing pace of change in the organization and competitive response and meeting customer demands need flexibility, which can only be achieved via empowerment or organizational members. Nevertheless, with the scarcity of excellent managerial talent, direct supervision of employees is extremely difficult; however, this is not the case when an organization and its employees embrace empowerment because empowerment allows managerial talent to be focused more on the external issues and less on internal problems. By empowering employees, organizations encourage entrepreneurial traits and motivate employees to make decisions, take action and develop the feeling that they can handle different situations on their own. This belief results in self-motivation and a sense of autonomy that allows employees to put extra effort for the organization hence increased productivity. Moreover, empowerment recognizes and discloses the sources of managerial talent and provides effective ground to enable such talent flourish. On the other hand, it is unrealistic to expecting workers to embrace empowerment if they are not aware of the organizations strategies and objectives. Communication is a very important aspect of empowerment of employees in every organization. Effective practice of employee empowerment requires an organization to trust and communication with their employees. This implies that the management has to discuss every aspect of business to the employees openly and honestly including the elements of the strategic plan and financial performance among others. Further, empowerment is an unworkable concept since this practice is not compatible with strong leadership and that it is not an efficient way to control an organization (Honold 1997, 208). Empowering employees in an organization enables employees to become an integral part of the organization and this may trigger egotism and arrogance in these employees. As a result, the supervisors and managers will have hard time delegating duties. In addition, these employees may fail to submit the reports about their work. Secondly, empowerment may be unrealistic considering the aspect of security. With the empowerment of employees in an organization, all share the information including the confidential information about the organization. The leakage of critical data increases cases of insecurity within the organization and this is a major threat to the organization’s success. Moreover, empowerment is an unrealistic concept because embracing it in the organization by every member is not guaranteed. There are some cases where employees are not willing to be empowered. This is because there are satisfied with a routine job and performing their duties as ordered by their supervisors. On the contrary, some managers may be reluctant to embrace empowerment because they like old command and control style of management. That is, they perceive empowerment to involve coaching employees as opposed to just ordering them to perform tasks. The empowerment concept refutes the Taylor’s scientific management theory where employees only followed the orders by managers without sharing their opinion (Duru Ahanotu 1998, p.178), and this is what such managers what because they are against power sharing with their employees. In conclusion, the concept of empowerment has diverse meanings and it is therefore defined based on a given context. Empowerment is used in different disciplines including community development, education and in organization. Therefore, the term empowerment can broadly be defined as the ability of a person to gain understanding and control over personal and other forces. Empowerment of employees in an organization involves providing necessary tools, resources and motivations to employees to allow them increase their productivity. The notion that empowerment is an unrealistic concept is not true because many organizations need to empower their employees as a way of increasing their productive and gaining a competitive edge. The importance of empowerment particularly employee empowerment should be acknowledged and embraced by organizations. Empowerment has various benefits to both the employees and the organization at large. Some of this include; enabling employees to participate in the decision making process, enhancing self-esteem of employees, allowing an organization to increase its performance and productivity and gain a competitive edge, developing a motivated and productive workforce, and creating a more enjoyable workforce among others. on the contrary, the concept of empowerment can be unrealistic in the sense that not every employee would want to be empowered and take control as they may perceive empowerment as a useful strategy used by their seniors to offload their duties unto them. Similarly, the managers may be reluctant to embrace empowerment of employees because they are afraid of sharing their power or position with their subordinates. References Bailey, Timothy L., 2009, Organizational Culture, Macro and Micro Empowerment Dimensions, and Job Satisfaction: An Application of Concurrent Mixed and Multi-Level Methods in the Federal Sector, Universal-Publishers. Duru Ahanotu, N. (1998). Empowerment and production workers: a knowledge based perspective. Empowerment in Organizations, 6(7), pp.177-186. Eylon, D. (1998). Understanding empowerment and resolving its paradox: Lessons from Mary Parker Follett. Journal of Management History, 4(1), pp.16-28. Honold, L. (1997). A review of the literature on employee empowerment. Empowerment in Organizations, 5(4), pp.202-212. Huq, R., 2010, Employee empowerment: the rhetoric and the reality, Axminster, Devon, Triarchy Press. Potterfield, T. A. 1999, The business of employee empowerment: democracy and ideology in the workplace, Westport, Conn, Quorum Books. Silva, S. 2009, Does Empowerment Motivate Employees in the Hospitality Industry ( Sri-Lanka) to Increase Performance, München, GRIN Verlag GmbH. Speegle, M. 2010, Quality concepts for the process industry, Clifton Park, NY, Delmar Cengage Learning. Baird, K. and Wang, H. 2010, "Employee empowerment: extent of adoption and influential factors", Personnel Review, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 574-599. Greasley, K., et al., 2005, "Employee perceptions of empowerment", Employee Relations, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 354-368. Ghosh, A.K. 2013, "Employee Empowerment: A Strategic Tool to obtain Sustainable Competitive Advantage", International Journal of Management, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 95-107. Read More