Many years of research has solely been conducted over power and the effects of empowerment. Taking into consideration that there are many factors playing roles in the change of a person or environment, we start to take a glance at a few of the many options. Only a few of the many perspectives, were able to help determine one single question: Do people really change when they gain power?
Through asymmetrical social distance, power constructs changes within the basic dimension of mental representation, which has profound effects on attitudes, behavior and perception(Magee & Smith,2013). A detailed examination over social distance between higher and lower rankings substantiated how higher power individuals have demonstrated a more abstract …show more content…
Conception of human empowerment has been used across various fields such as community psychology, nursing, social work and management over the last two decades(Simonet, Narayan & Nelson, 2015). Traditionally, there are two theoretical perspectives when approaching empowerment: social-structural and psychological(Simonet et al., 2015). When presenting the social-structural perspective, you are essentially bestowing power onto another person, which is simple and easy to grasp. As for psychological empowerment, it is not as complex, but known to be a subjective interpretation of reality necessary to feel a sense of control. There are four separable but mutually reinforcing cognitive beliefs, sharing an active motivational core; meaning, competence, self-determination and impact(Simonet et al., 2015). An easy way of understanding the four cognitive traits of psychological empowerment is to form their definitions into questions to ask yourself. What is the importance of this job to you? To what degree do you believe you can perform the task skillfully? Can you control your own actions and behaviors? Will you influence the strategic, administrative, or operational outcomes of the larger system? Though the research shows that empowerment can be self-taught with plenty of focus and perseverance, it implies that the environment you are in influences whether or not one can gain self-empowerment. If the surroundings of your workplace are filled with negative energies and lack of trust in relations, one may become timid when it comes to sharing plans benefiting the company or in regards to the wants and needs of the individual in the place of work. Safe environments enable individuals to pursue personally meaningful values, goals and ideas without fear of negative outcomes(Simonet et
Through asymmetrical social distance, power constructs changes within the basic dimension of mental representation, which has profound effects on attitudes, behavior and perception(Magee & Smith,2013). A detailed examination over social distance between higher and lower rankings substantiated how higher power individuals have demonstrated a more abstract …show more content…
Conception of human empowerment has been used across various fields such as community psychology, nursing, social work and management over the last two decades(Simonet, Narayan & Nelson, 2015). Traditionally, there are two theoretical perspectives when approaching empowerment: social-structural and psychological(Simonet et al., 2015). When presenting the social-structural perspective, you are essentially bestowing power onto another person, which is simple and easy to grasp. As for psychological empowerment, it is not as complex, but known to be a subjective interpretation of reality necessary to feel a sense of control. There are four separable but mutually reinforcing cognitive beliefs, sharing an active motivational core; meaning, competence, self-determination and impact(Simonet et al., 2015). An easy way of understanding the four cognitive traits of psychological empowerment is to form their definitions into questions to ask yourself. What is the importance of this job to you? To what degree do you believe you can perform the task skillfully? Can you control your own actions and behaviors? Will you influence the strategic, administrative, or operational outcomes of the larger system? Though the research shows that empowerment can be self-taught with plenty of focus and perseverance, it implies that the environment you are in influences whether or not one can gain self-empowerment. If the surroundings of your workplace are filled with negative energies and lack of trust in relations, one may become timid when it comes to sharing plans benefiting the company or in regards to the wants and needs of the individual in the place of work. Safe environments enable individuals to pursue personally meaningful values, goals and ideas without fear of negative outcomes(Simonet et