Understanding Leadership And Empowerment Of The Workplace

In the paradigm of management, empowerment is viewed as losing authority and control over people and resources. Generally, people resent being driven, controlled and being seen as part of company equipment. This breeds apathy in employees towards the organisation’s intents in the market place and destroys accountability.

Capital Power is an independent power producer, based in Edmonton, Alberta, but with operations across North America. It has an aggressive growth strategy with the goal of tripling its

Empowerment is a concept we all have heard at one time or another it is utilized in numerous professions and specialties. Analysis of this concept will further understanding of empowerment for nursing professionals in areas from research, theory development or practice. Exploring the attributes, consequences, implications and model cases of empowerment can assist the nursing professional in utilizing empowerment to its fullest potential. Within the scope of nursing, empowerment can be seen not purely as how it relates to the client, or the nurse but also how it relates to both the client and the nurse (Rodwell 1996). The Walker-Avant method was used to analyze this concept, as it was the most commonly seen in nursing literature (McEwen &

In many ways, empowerment embodies principles effective managers and leaders have practiced for years. Two new driving forces in business, increased diversity and high-speed change, magnify the need for empowerment. Empowering people is now indispensable for effective personal productivity and maximum team success.

Employee empowerment is defined as giving employees a degree of autonomy and responsibility for decision-making. The benefits are

Maslow's hierarchy of needs provides a foundational theory. It states that all employees have some basic needs that must first be satisfied in order to provide the framework for further motivation and empowerment.

According to Hyde (2008), “Culture is determined by how people behave, and the only way to change culture is to change behaviors” (p. 6). A key aspect of changing behavior is enabling (empowering) employees to make decisions and create change within their work scope. By giving employees the power to make changes not only improves their morale, but also benefits the company in which they work by increasing their productivity. According to Marshall, et. Al (2006), “Allowing employees to make decisions increases their job satisfaction and sense of responsibility and translates into improvements in the quality and timeliness with which duties are performed, freeing management for more significant matters” (p. 39). By giving decision making authority to followers, transformation leaders are using what Bass (1991) referred to as psychological empowerment. In other words, empowerment influences follower outcomes.

All the writers take the similar viewpoint that the leaders should have the ability to communicate with employees effectively so that they will be able to guide and inspire subordinates. Capelli et al. point out ‘empowering through communication’ (P.95) and give the example of Indian companies. They believe human capital is the motivation of the business companies. And the other specific ways are ‘creating a sense of mission’ (P.94), ‘Engaging through transparency and accountability’ (P.94), ‘Investing in training’ (P.95). Similarly, Useem states that the leaders should empower employees by giving them more responsibility, also ‘Convey strategic intention’ (P.77) tell them what to do but now how. In contrast, Ladkin & Weber do not discuss empowerment, rather inspiring them through passion. He also states that the communication between employees and customers is important.

The single most important component associated with managing a successful organization, entails the empowerment of employees. People that are empowered are able to make smart decisions without always having to rely on authority, to point them in the right direction. Creating an empowered organization involves interest in the workplace; minimal absence from work, high retention rates; loyal and motivated team members; as well as efficient results and effective communication amongst team members. In the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

In many companies, operational employees also need information to handle tasks and make decisions that were assigned to supervisors. This trend, called empowerment, gives employees more

Empowerment is an issue that is imperative to the change process. We touched on the idea of empowerment while exploring power, and politics in the workplace. Empowerment is important in regards to The Heart Of

Employees of the organization are able feel that leadership is working towards the common goal by playing the role of a servant leader. Furthermore, employees are motivated by this approach as they feel as are contributing to the overall success. Through empowerment of its employees, WFM has built a culture that allows employees to take ownership in the company’s decisions which starts at the top organization and trickles down (Lessons on Leadership: John Mackey, 2015).

Empowerment addresses the power inequality inherent in subordination. Food and Beverage manager Michelle Cook is above Executive chef Ritchie Gravy in formal authority but she is subordinate because Ritchie is in a relational position of power over her. Empowerment, therefore, concerns releasing the shackles placed on floor staffs by kitchen staffs who have power in Café Hip. In this case, as management is empowering the

Empowerment is the best way to promote a good long-lasting employee-customer relationship (Fragoso, 1999). Empowerment can also bring certain benefits to employees of an organization. It makes the employees give more input to company improvements; it promotes higher productivity, and is a good balance between their personal and professional lives. It exercises employees’ minds to find better solutions to problems on the job and increases the employees’ potential for promotions and job satisfaction. It results in personal growth, feelings of confidence and control in themselves and their companies. It makes workers utilize their potentials and it enables them to stand behind their decisions, assume risks, participate and take actions. It is a win-win-win situation: customers benefit from employees, organization benefit from the employees and the customers, and employees benefit from higher confidence and self-esteem (Fragoso, 1999).

Empowerment is an important tool for progression and FWD needs to exercise it often when expecting employees to work together towards a global objective. Empowerment can be defined as providing employees the chance to exercise autonomy in making decisions (Vogt, 1997), which is rarely implemented at FWD.