Essence of Empowerment
The Essence of Empowerment Empowerment is certainly not a new idea within the business arena. ... The topic I have chosen to investigate is the application of employee empowerment and how to get the most out of this HR "buzzword. ... Employee empowerment, in its most basic definition, is effective delegation. ... " There are obvious methods to achieving the results that the stakeholders of an organization demand through empowerment. Increases in profitability, productivity, creativity, and a shorter time-to-market are all feasible results of empowerment. In fact, "empowerment is an extremely cost-effective means of bringing about desired changes in performance and operational effectiveness. ... Since the utopian result of empowerment is the transference "of decision making and ownership to those individuals [at the lowest possible levels] who have the knowledge and ability to make the most appropriate decision, " these individuals are, therefore, most familiar with their end of the value chain. ... Expectations must be communicated from top levels of management and vice versa for empowerment to work. ... One of the largest impediments to empowerment that must be addressed in the preparation phase of implementation is corporate culture. ... In researching whether empowerment was right for Viking Glass, they discovered that many attempts at its institution had failed. ... (Final)Empowerment is potentially a very rewarding concept to business, but it requires unanimous "buy-in. ... While global change is driving companies to empowerment, and similar philosophies like self- managed team-based arrangements, total quality management, it is important to note that no one philosophy is entirely correct, or incorrect. ... Through thorough preparation, education, communication, and absolute commitment you might be able to develop empowerment techniques, but to truly reap empowerments rewards, you must remember that employee motivation is the product of your reward system.