The Essence of Empowerment

The Essence of Empowerment

Giving Employees Incentive to Succeed

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the concept of empowerment in the workplace. Because empowerment is becoming more recognized in the business community, it should be laid out for a better understanding of the concept so that management teams can take full advantage of the opportunity. This paper will discuss how managers can empower their employees and in turn motivate them to perform at higher levels. The paper will discuss the concept of empowerment, the need of the concept in an organization, knowing your employees, and the perceived effectiveness of empowerment and participative management. The paper will also cover the opposing thoughts of employee empowerment.

The Essence of Empowerment:

Giving Employees Incentive to Succeed

Introduction

The true definition of empowerment has not yet been determined. Various people have defined this term in the best way they know how. Some define empowerment as giving employees freedom, some say it is more about managers and supervisors guiding employees to show their potential at work. Others see empowerment as a method of increasing the feelings of self-efficacy of the employees to motivate them to work harder.

Empowerment is usually linked with terms and ideas such as: motivation, leadership, group processes, decision-making, and organizational design (Yukl and Becker, 2006). Yukl and Becker (2006) also discuss the importance of empowerment and the benefits that are associated with it. The benefits tend to include increased commitment, better decisions, improved quality, more innovation, and increased job satisfaction.

Empowerment Concept

The idea behind empowerment is allowing employees to feel confident and in control of their environment. Many people know empowerment as delegating decision-making or approval authority to an individual. It is not always about receiving authority over a project from a manager. Most...