Employee Empowerment

This document discusses the concept of employee empowerment in detail and explores the managerial and leadership skills required to empower employees. It also highlights the benefits of employee empowerment in contemporary business organizations.

Employee Empowerment
MANAGING AND LEADING PEOPLE
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Employee Empowerment
Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................3
Employee Empowerment...................................................................................................3
Managerial Leadership Skills and Competencies................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................10
Bibliography....................................................................................................................11
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Employee Empowerment
Introduction
Human resource management has become an important part of contemporary business
organizations and human resources working in a company are considered to be the greatest
asset for that company. Contemporary business organizations are heavily relying upon their
human resources in order to achieve organisational goals and objectives and are ensuring that
the human resources are managed in the best possible manner so that their performance levels
can be optimised (Noe, et al., 2017).
An important concept that has emerged in the past decade has been the concept of
empowering the employees in the workplace. Employee empowerment is a concept in human
resource management that allows an organisation to provide its employees with the tools and
resources that are necessary for them to take a confident decision on their own and without
anybody supervising them (Choi, et al., 2016). Employee empowerment has been found to
have a positive impact on employee job attributes, such as motivation levels, job satisfaction,
job and organisational commitment, etc. As a result, modern business organizations are trying
their best to empower their employees and achieve the benefits associated with it. In this
report, we will discuss the concept of employee empowerment in detail and talk about the
managerial and leadership skills and competencies that are required for empowering the
employees.
Employee Empowerment
Employee empowerment has been defined as the process of providing a certain degree of
autonomy and responsibility to the employees for making decisions regarding specific
organisational tasks (Hanaysha & Tahir, 2016). Employee empowerment allows business
decisions to be taken at the lower level of the organisation as the lower level employees have
a unique view of the issues and problems pertaining to a task. Modern business organizations
are trying their best to empower their employees in the workplace as it can have a number of
benefits for the organisation and also on certain employee attributes. Certain benefits of
employee empowerment are discussed below:
First of all, empowering the employees can greatly help a business organisation in increasing
job engagement levels amongst the employees. When an organisation has a workforce that is
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Employee Empowerment
highly engaged in its work, it is able to offer better services to its customers and is also able
to make the business a better place.
Secondly, employee empowerment can be beneficial for a company in improving its
workplace culture and becoming an employer of choice for talented candidates. When an
organisation empower its employees, it can naturally attract talented employees because the
candidates that need to be instructed to do something will obviously go to other companies.
Slowly and steadily, talented employees start to take a notice of the empowerment levels that
an organisation can offer and will be attracted to such a company. Ultimately, having a
talented pool of employees will improve the entire work culture of business organisations as
well (Mitrefinch, 2017).
Thirdly, employee empowerment can have a huge impact on the productivity levels of an
organisation. In a study carried out by Zenger Folkman, it was discovered that only 4% of the
employees were willing enough to make extra efforts where employee empowerment levels
were low. On the other hand, in business organizations where employee empowerment levels
were significantly high, 67% of the employees were willing enough to provide an extra effort
to their organizations in achieving their goals and objectives (Folkman, 2017).
Fourthly, the process of problem solving boosts up to a great level. According to a survey
commissioned by LivePerson, 82% of the responding customers felt that the prime factor for
great customer services was that their problems were getting resolved within no time. When
employees are empowered in the workplace, they can take quick decisions to solve customer
problems when they approach them with their issues. As a result, a company can assure
higher quality customer care services to its customers and also increase the speed of problem
solving by empowering its employees (The Rtiz Carlton, 2015).
Lastly, empowered employees have been found to have greater levels of job satisfaction
because they know that their seniors trust them and are offering them a complete chance to
develop their skills and competencies. Employee empowerment makes the employees feel
more confident at work and can also have a positive impact on their performance levels
(Leonard, 2019).
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Employee Empowerment
Managerial Leadership Skills and Competencies
Managers of leaders of an organisation are the people who are responsible for getting work
done from the other employees. It takes several years for a person to reach a managerial
position and to attain the skills and the competencies that are required to efficiently deal with
human resources and their problems and to keep them motivated at all times. Every manager
or a leader has his or her own way of dealing with their co-workers and juniors and their
behaviour in a workplace is governed by the skills or the competencies that they have
achieved over a period of time. A lot of people have tried to generalise the skills and
competencies that are required to become a leader or a manger but in actual, the skills or
competencies required to become a manager can vary on the basis of the nature of the job of a
person.
Employee empowerment may have its benefits for the employers as well as for the employees
but it takes a lot of careful planning to authorize the employees to take important business
decisions. Further, it is important for the leaders or the managers of business organisations to
possess the skills and competencies that are required to promote empowerment amongst the
employees. Certain skills and competencies that are required to empower the employees are
discussed below:
Emotional Intelligence:
Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability of a person to understand and deal with his or
her own emotions and the emotions of the people around him or her. Emotional intelligence
has gained a lot of important in the business world as business organizations are trying to
provide the best workplace conditions to their employees. Having high emotional intelligence
is one of the most important qualities that all leaders and managers should possess (Maritato,
2014).
Leaders and managers with high emotional intelligence are able to understand the emotions
and demands of their subordinates in a better way, which enables them to provide their
employees with the right work and job conditions. Removing barriers from the work routines
of the employees and dealing with their psychological problems can also be possible when
leaders and managers of a business organisation have high emotional intelligence (McKeown
& Bates, 2013). As a result, the employees feel motivated to work for their leaders and
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Employee Empowerment
managers and feel empowered to take the right decision when their managers and leaders
place their trust in them. On the other hand, if the managers or the leaders of an organisation
are not emotionally intelligent, it might become difficult for them to understand the emotions
of the employees and judge the barriers that prevent the employees from performing their job
duties and responsibilities properly. As a result, the employees experience problems while
performing their job duties and responsibilities and are not able to feel empowered while at
work (Kirsch, 2018).
Openness to New Ideas:
Openness to new ideas is the ability of a manager or a leader to invite his or her employees to
offer an input and to find out innovative solutions to for business problems. Openness is a
personality trait which categorises the degree to which an individual demands new
experiences in his life. Some people have a great demand for new experiences while the
others like to stay in their own comfort zone and are not open to new experiences in their
lives.
In context with the topic, openness to new ideas is one of the most important skill or
competency that a manager or a leader should possess in order to be able to empower his or
her employees. In business organizations where the managers or the leaders are more open to
new ideas and invite their juniors to come up with innovative solutions, the level of employee
empowerment is significantly better. In certain cases, where the managers are not open to
new ideas, leaders or the managers can demotivate their juniors by not listening to their ideas,
which adversely impacts employee empowerment levels (Heathfield, 2019). Further, if a
manager listens to the ideas of his co-workers or juniors and does nothing about them,
employee empowerment still suffers. Therefore, being open to new ideas and inviting the
employees to participate in the decision making process is an important managerial skill that
can help in fostering employee empowerment in the workforce.
Delegation of Authority:
Delegation of authority is a concept that is largely related with employee empowerment. In
simple words, delegation of authority in a business context means to distribute the decision
making power in the lower levels of the organisation. Managers and leaders in the modern
business world, who have the ability to delegate authority amongst their juniors are able to
increase employee empowerment levels. If a manager or a leader is not competent enough to
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delegate a certain degree of authority to the lower levels, he or she is more likely to reverse a
decision taken by a junior, which reduces employee morale and the employees feel less
empowered in such cases. It is also noteworthy here that a manager or a leader should also be
competent enough to judge the calibre of his or her juniors and assess whether they have the
skills or the competencies required to take a business decision on their own (Grossman,
2016). Authority should only be delegated to lower levels if the employees are
knowledgeable enough to make a sound decision. Therefore, the ability of a leader or a
manager to delegate authority amongst his or her followers can have a huge impact on
employee empowerment levels.
Fostering Open Communication:
Even in the modern business world, there are a large number of business organizations that
are still using a top-down communication system. A top-down communication system
promotes flow of information and knowledge from higher level job positions to lower level
job positions and employees working at lower levels do not have much to say in the business
of the organisation (Lister, 2017).
One of the best strategies that can help managers and leaders in fostering an open
communication channel is to leave their office door open. Keeping the door open can
motivate the employees to get in touch with the managers and leaders whenever they feel
like. Implementing an open door policy can do wonders in the workplace and in empowering
the employees (Daisyme, 2017).
Irrespective of how competent or knowledgeable a leader or manager is, without being
competent enough to foster open communication amongst the employees it is almost
impossible to promote employee empowerment in a workplace. Organisational leaders and
managers should possess the skills to promote an open communication channel in the
workplace so that the employees have a defined system to share their thoughts and ideas with
their seniors. Furthermore, even the managers or the leaders have to excel in communication
skills so that they can communicate effectively with the employees. Having good
communication skills assures that the managers and leaders are able to communicate their
expectations to the employees and are able to understand the input that they have to offer to
the business (Heibutzki, 2018).
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Employee Empowerment
Coaching:
Playing the role of a manager or a leader is not an easy task. Managers and leaders of
business organizations are expected to be highly professional in their jobs as they are required
to get work done by managing a large number of staff members. Without being a good coach,
a manager or a leader cannot empower his or her employees to take decisions on their own.
Coaching skills require a manager or a leader of an organisation to be in a constant touch
with their subordinates and to help them in developing their skills and competencies over a
period of time (Crowe Associates Ltd, n.d.).
Leaders and managers of business organizations have to be great coaches in order to foster
empowerment in the workplace. Many people argue that managers and leaders cannot be
coaches in a workplace as they have a certain degree of authority to exercise but the modern
day business world is demanding them to be competent coaches rather than following the
command and control tradition. A manager or a leader who has good coaching skills will
always be able to work by collaborating with the employees rather than controlling them.
Such mangers always talk less and listen to their employees more, which makes the
employees feel that they are being valued (A Lean Journey, 2015). They ask frequent
questions and offer specific feedback to the employees rather than judging them or refraining
them from thinking out of the box. Simply put, good coaching skills in a manager or a leader
allow him or her to delegate more authority to the employees by being nice to them.
Ultimately, a positive workplace environment is fostered by such managers and the
employees themselves feel empowered while working with such managers and leaders.
Recognize, Reward and Encourage:
A lot of leaders and managers complain about the stagnant condition of their employees but
they do little in helping them grow. Many leaders and managers also believe that money and
promotion opportunities are enough to keep the employees motivated and to get them to
advance. Incompetent managers often forget that the best behaviour amongst the employees
can only be promoted by recognising the right behaviour and by rewarding the employees for
behaving in a particular manner (Daum, n.d.). Managers and leaders who are able to
recognize and reward the efforts of their employees are able to achieve high levels of
employee empowerment. Without these competencies, it can become difficult for managers
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Employee Empowerment
or leaders to connect with their employees and to motivate them to take some important
decisions on their own.
Risk Taking and Problem Solving Skills:
Empowering the employees to take business decisions without any supervision can only be
possible if a manager or a leader in an organisation has risk taking skills and competencies.
Employee empowerment can sometimes prove to have a negative effect on the business if an
employee makes a wrong choice or decision. In such a situation, it is important for managers
and leaders to understand the situation of their subordinates and to assist them in correcting
the damage that they might have done (Lotich, 2015). Dealing such a situation with
aggression or humiliating an employee for taking a wrong business decision can not only
have an adverse impact on the morale of that very employee but also on the other employees.
Employees might perceive that they will be punished for making a wrong decision and they
might not feel empowered at all.
If an organisational manager or leader avoids taking risks, he or she would always demand
his or her subordinates to ask for permission before executing a plan in the workplace.
Working under such leaders, the employee would never feel empowered and would always
look for the approval of their leader or the manager before finalising anything (Lotich, 2015).
Therefore, it is important that managers and leaders of modern business organizations are
competent enough to take risks and deal with situations that might occur as a result of
employee empowerment.
Accountability:
Last, but not the least, holding the employees accountable for the job that they are hired for is
a very important managerial competency that can lead to high employee empowerment in a
workplace. It is important for leaders and managers of modern business organizations to be
able to assess the calibre of their subordinates and clearly define and communicate their job
duties and responsibilities to them. Once the employees are aware about their duties and
responsibilities, it is then that a manager or a leader should make them feel accountable for
the work or the tasks assigned to them.
Holding employees accountable for getting things done or achieving a particular target
motivates them to work harder and also increases empowerment amongst them. The
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Employee Empowerment
employees develop a perception that their manager or their leader has placed his or her trust
in them and is expecting them to fulfil a task or an assignment. When an employee is given
accountability by his or her manager or leader, they become less likely to blame others for
failure and put in the best of their efforts to get the work done. Employees who demand
accountability are often found to have a willingness to take ownership for the outcomes of
their actions, behaviour and attitude (Johnson, 2015). Therefore, without a manager or a
leader being competent enough to hold his or her subordinates accountable for the work that
they do, it can become impossible to foster employee empowerment in the modern day
business organizations.
Conclusion
Employee emplowerment is a modern day concept in the field of human resource
management, which can have a lot of benefits for an organisation and for the employees as
well. It can help the employees in developing themselves and performing better while it
allows business organizations to provide a better workplace culture to their employees.
Leaders and managers of modern day business organizations have a huge role to play in the
process of employee empowerment. It is only through their skills and competencies that an
organisation can empower its employees to take their own decisions. Easy-to-go managers
and leaders, who trust their employees, are emotionally intelligent, prefer open and clear cut
communication, etc. are always able to keep their employees happy and make them feel
accountable for their work, which ultimately leads to employee empowerment. On the other
hand, tough managers and leaders, who do not trust their employees and believe that they are
the supreme power in the organisation, are never able to keep their employees motivated and
employees working under them often find it difficult to take decisions without their
permission. Therefore, the skills and competencies discussed above should definitely be
developed by leaders and managers who believe in the concept of employee empowerment.
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