EMPOWERMENT AT WORK

MEANING OF EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT:

Employee empowerment is a strategy and philosophy that enables employees to make decisions about their jobs. Employee empowerment helps employees own their work and take responsibility for their results. Employee empowerment helps employees serve customers at the level of the organization where the customer interface exists. It could also be defined as controlled transfer of authority to make decisions and take actions. Need of employee empowerment Successful implementation of empowerment requires change in corporate culture. RATIONALE OF EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT: 1). An aspect of working smart in the organization to achieve the organizational objectives. 2).Empowerment is the key to motivate the employees according to their need and productivity effectively & efficiently. 3). It enables a person to develop personally and professionally to create a proper balance between them.

INHIBITORS OF EMPOWERMENT:
Resistance from employees and unions Resistance from Management Insecurity Personal Values Ego Management Training Personality Charateristics of Managers Exclusion of Managers Workforce Readiness Organisational Structure and Management Practices

MANAGEMENTS ROLE IN EMPOWERMENT IMPLEMENTING EMPOWERMENT :

Managements Role: In management its role is depend on Commitment
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AND

 Leadership Facilitation
Implementing Empowerment by Development of suggestion systems Considering the Employees Point of View Putting vehicles in place o Brainstorming o Normal Group Technique o Quality Circles o Suggestion Boxes o Walking & Talking

SUGGESTION SYSTEMS-1
Managements Role Establishing Policy Setting up the System Promoting the suggestion system Evaluating and implementing suggestions Rewarding employees Improving the system.. Improving suggestion processing Improving individual suggestions o Problem identification o Research o Idea development

SUGGESTION SYSTEMS-2
Evaluating Suggestions Though employees make suggestions, final analysis is still to be made by manager. Thus,establish a formal rating system for evaluating suggestion systems. Handling Poor Suggestions Listen carefully Express appreciation Carefully explain your position Encourage feedback Look for compromise
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ACHIEVING FULL PARTICIPATION OF EMPLOYEES: Employees full participation can be achieved by doing the following activities
Removing hidden barriers Negative behavior Poor writing skills Fear of rejection Inconvenience Encoraging new Employees Coaching Reluctant Employees Assess Investigate Match Choose Manage

HOW TO RECOGNISE EMPOWERED EMPLOYEES ?

Empowered employees can be recognize by the following activities: Taking initiative by the employees by accept the new job Identifying opportunities in the assigned job Thinking critically that helps in improving good decision making Building harmony among all the employees

EMPOWERMENT
Empowerment includes Avoiding Traps: Defining power as discretions and self-reliance Failing to properly define Empowerment for mangers and supervisors Assuming employees have the skills to be empowered Getting impatient making the transiton from traditional aaproach Beyond Empowerment

Empowerment doesnt includes Turning the company over to the employees Less supervision of employees Doing away with all organization structure Tricking employees into working harder A rehash of: Quality circles Participative management Job enrichment Flattening organizational structures

Empowering workers will not lead to the following :

Result in less work Make anyone's job easier Solve all of the problems at work Eliminate the need for managers and supervisors End all conflicts Make everyone happy

Empowering workers might leads to the following :

Increase employee satisfaction Raise productivity (30% average) Strengthen Commitment To The Job & The Organization Increase Individual Effort Toward Organizational Goals Heighten Employee Motivation Improve Quality

SOME IMPORTANT EMPOWERMENT

ASSUMPTIONS

OF

EMPLOYEES

Workers are not lazy, they really want to make a contribution Workers want more than money Workers have many talents, skills, and ideas that go unused by employers In today's highly competitive global economy, companies can no longer afford to waste their valuable human resources A major challenge is to find ways of better utilizing all of our human resources A better use of human resources (empowerment) requires making major changes in how companies go about their business

IMPORTANT WAYS TO EMPOWER WORKERS

INCREASE RESPONSIBILITY The only way people ever grow is to take on new and more challenging projects DELEGATE AUTHORITY Workers must be given sufficient authority to fulfill the responsibilities assigned them. SET STANDARS OF EXELLENCE Workers want to do well and will strive to meet expectations PROVIDE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Workers must acquire the requisite skills to perform SUPPLY INFORMATION Information is power to act and perform.

JOB ENRICHMENT
Job enrichment aims to redesign jobs to be more intrinsically rewarding. Certain job characteristics help managers to build enrichment into jobs. These characteristics (summarized in Exhibit 1) include: Skill varietyThe various skills needed to perform a given task, where increased skill requirements are associated with increased motivation Task identityThe degree to which employees perceive how their job impacts the overall production of a product or service Task significanceWhether the task is meaningful beyond the task itself AutonomyEmployee discretion over how to perform a task FeedbackInput from peers and supervisors regarding the quality of an employee's work

FURNISH FEEDBACK
No person can correct her/his errors or profit from mistakes without specific and frequent feedback.

INFORMAL TEAMS
Informal teams are generally formed for social purposes. They can help to facilitate employee pursuits of common concerns, such as improving work conditions. More frequently however, these teams form out of a set of common concerns and interests, which may or may not be the same as the organization's. Leaders of these teams generally emerge from the membership and are not appointed by anyone in the organization.

TRUST
Trust is an essential element of all healthy human relationships, including colleagues in the workplace.

GRANT PERMISSION TO FAIL:

It is only when people have permission to fail that they are willing to try new things and take appropriate risks.

RESPECT:
It is a human nature, to be respected you must give respect similarly a manager must give respect if he is to be respected.

EMPOWERMENT REQUIRES CHANGES

Changes in the organizations culture (i.e., how they do things around here). Changes in mindsets (workers take on a self-managing, accountable approach to their work). Changes in the way groups of individuals work together focusing on how tasks are completed as well as the tasks themselves.

EMPOWERMENT INVOLVES SHIFTING STRUCTURE

FROM Pyramids Dependency Departments
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TO Circles Autonomy Project Teams

Work Standards Superimposed Individual Performance Appraised

Self-imposed work standards Individual and group Performance Appraisal

Individual Performance Rewarded

Individual and group Performance Rewarded

Information Hoarded Responsibility Delegated

Information shared Responsibility ,Authority and Accountability Delegated

EMPOWEREMNT INVOLVES CHANGING RELATIONSHIPS

FROM Chiefs and Indians Decision Makers and Doers Brain and Brawns They and us Experts and Learners VIP and UIP TO Valued Employees Co problem solvers Needed Contributors Team Members VIP

IMPLEMENTING EMPOWERMENT CHANGES

As all the aspects of Employees Empowerment have been studied. Now the main point is how it should be implemented in the organization so that itll be beneficial for both . So some points are discussed as under to implement the Empowerment changes are as follows: Begin with a vision Make systemic changes Experiment on a small scale Link to current organization needs, problems, or opportunities Become thoroughly informed regarding similar changes enacted during the past 5 years . Have a plan, collect baseline and end results data, establish criteria for judging success Be prepared for objections Develop supportive coalitions
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Get top management's support Keep top management and other key individuals informed throughout the project