Employee Empowerment
Employee Empowerment
Employee empowerment refers to the process of equipping workers with more responsibilities regarding their jobs. Essentially, empowerment provides employees with a greater role in decision making. This method represents an excellent strategy for making the employees feel as integral components of an organization. Different organizations or companies employ different tactics in the process of employee empowerment (Armstrong, 2008).
A notable strategy in most companies encompasses the minimization of rigorous supervision. Although supervision is an essential aspect of an organization, it should not serve as deterrence to the performance of employees. Another strategy for employee empowerment involves integrating workers into the decision making process. Through this approach, the employees have a say in organizational operations (Snell, 2012).
Advantages from the Employee’s Perspective
Empowerment results into numerous benefits for the employee. Firstly, employees derive a greater level of satisfaction from their job. Dissatisfaction is a real concern among employees. For instance, high levels of job satisfaction results into minimal stress. In contrast, dissatisfaction can result into stress from the job. Apart from satisfaction, empowerment creates an enabling environment for all employees. In such a working environment, employees have the chance to exploit their potential. Consequently, employees benefit in terms of career or professional development. Additionally, empowerment contributes towards the knowledge base of employees. This is because they can share ideas about different technical or professional issues (Armstrong, 2008).
Advantages from the Supervisor’s Perspective
Employee empowerment also has different beneficial implications upon the supervisor. Firstly, greater responsibility from employees simplifies the work of supervisors. As a result of empowerment, the supervisor does not need to keep monitoring the employees. The supervisor also benefits in terms of improvement in the productivity of employees (Snell, 2012).
Enhancing the productivity of employees is one of the most critical goals for all supervisors within an organization. Since empowerment helps in motivating employees, they work towards delivering the right results. Additionally, empowerment helps in mitigating potential conflicts among employees. All these perspectives highlight the advantages of employee empowerment from the supervisor’s perspective (Armstrong, 2008).
Theories of Management
Employee empowerment is a key indicator of whether a style of management conforms to theory X or Y. There are several theories of management that advocate for employee empowerment while others do not. For instance, employee empowerment is a crucial component of the democratic style of management. In contrast, the autocratic style of management does not have room for employee empowerment (Snell, 2012).
Transformational leadership is anther style of management that encourages the integration of employee empowerment within an organization. According to this theory, empowerment not only enhances the performance of employees but also for the entire organization. Employee empowerment is thus an effective yardstick for establishing whether the management style conforms to theory X or Y (Armstrong, 2008).
Employee Empowerment in Unionized Environments
Employees’ unions have the goal of ensuring suitable working conditions for all employees. Essentially, empowerment is one of the most significant contributors to such environments. Empowerment helps in averting potential exploitation of employees. Employee empowerment also facilitates for the enhancement of human rights at the workplace. Empowerment is thus an essential component of unionized working environments. In essence, employee empowerment is a crucial contributor towards the creation of employee unions in different parts of the world. With sufficient mechanisms for employee empowerment, an organization conforms to the values and principles of employee unions (Snell, 2012).
References
Armstrong, M. (2008). Strategic human resource management, Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page
Snell, S. & Bohlander, G. (2012). Principles of human resource management, Mason,OH: South-Western
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