Power And Empowerment

The power construct of most company’s in the United States is hierarchical. The perception is that the closer one’s position is to that of the CEO, the more power one is afforded. Power is a combination of decision-making authority and company information. In today’s competitive business environment, where growth is dependent upon companies producing quality products and moving them to the market ahead of the competition, decision-making that takes place closer to where the work is performed creates a competitive advantage. As such, those with decision-making power must be willing to cede power to employees outside of the typical hierarchy. Additionally, managers must engage in open and honest bilateral communication with employees to foster …show more content…
From an individual perspective, the power ceded is in the form of decision making centered on how the employee executes tasks assigned. An example of individual empowerment is the use of management by objectives. In Drucker’s (Greenwood, 1981) expansion on management by objectives, the correlation was made between the decentralization of decision making and employee motivation which was proven to result in greater effectiveness when the employee is given the responsibility (empowered) for determining how objectives are achieved. The effectiveness is driven by the employee’s enhanced belief in his/her ability to successfully complete the task given greater autonomy. Furthermore, Spreitzer (1995) expounds on the psychological impact of employee empowerment wherein employees engage in active orientation to the work which Spreitzer hypothesized is positively related to innovative behaviors. Another method of employee empowerment is sharing more detailed information about the company and soliciting feedback. Research (Emerson, 2012) has shown that when employees are kept abreast of such things as the business strategy and company financials employee satisfaction is increased. When employee satisfaction is high, employee turnover and retention risks are …show more content…
Companies that employ union workers are such an environment as union agreements dictate the roles, job descriptions, and tasks of its workers. However, this does not preclude workers from sharing ideas that could lead to increases in productivity with management. Union leadership however has a preference that union workers not share improvement ideas with employers. That is to say, unions believe that employee empowerment (Protecting Jobs, Union Wages and Benefits, n.d.) is best realized when included in a bargaining