CHAPTER TWO
2.4 Empowerment
2.4.2 Employee empowerment
Empowerment in the context of organisations can be regarded as the process of enhancing the capacity of individuals or groups to participate in major organisational decisions that affect them. The aim of participative management is to improve staff commitment to change. Fernandez and Moldogaziev (2009:3) observe that two distinct theoretical perspectives can be identified in the discussion of employee empowerment, these being the psychological and theoretical perspectives. They note that employee empowerment, from a managerial perspective is a relational construct that explains how managers share their power and authority with their employees, who are viewed as being powerless. The psychological construct, on the other hand, views employee empowerment as an internal cognitive state with enhanced
feelings of self-efficacy or increased intrinsic task motivation. Fernandez and Moldogaziev (2009:7) view the two perspectives as „complementary pieces of a conceptual puzzle‟ since they only represent qualitatively different phenomena.
Doughty (2009) identifies some of the situations in organizations that can be evidential of lack of employee empowerment and these included circumstances when employees are not treated with respect, are exposed to arbitrary discipline and have their opinions dismissed without the necessary consideration by management. Doughty (2009:2) states that employees in such situations „tend to be resentful, unmotivated and unproductive.‟ A more desirable situation, he notes, would be to have employee empowerment which contributes to a positive organizational culture that fosters mutual trust and respect between employees and management. Employees need to be given the opportunity to implement their ideas for the benefit of the organisation without relieving management of the authority to make strategic decisions. Doughty (2009:15) explains this situation by stating that employee empowerment is not about power but about productivity. He cautions against the type of consultation of employees in the workplace that does not translate into employee ownership and control of the work process but is in the interest of management.
The World Bank (2002) stated that empowerment involves the development of societies in such a way that their capacity to make choices that lead to the attainment of desired actions is enhanced. This idea can also be applied to organisations in that through empowerment, organizational efficiency and fairness have a better chance of being realised since stakeholders have the opportunity to influence decisions that affect their lives. The freedom of choice that organisational members will be accorded will be such that it is exercised within the limits of the organisational rules and regulations. Access to information and participation in decision making are some of the main requisites for the empowerment of individuals in organisations. Mutual trust is also an important element for the success of employee empowerment efforts since individuals are expected to be working for the good of the organization as a whole. Giving employees the responsibility for participating in decisions that determine their future in organizations improves their job satisfaction and self-esteem and helps them to identify with the goals of the organisation that they are a part of. Employee empowerment requires an openness of mind on the part of management which recognizes the value not only of listening to employees but also of approving those of their suggestions that advance the interests of the organisation. It is noteworthy, though, that employee empowerment does not relieve management of the ultimate responsibility for setting the strategic direction of organisations. This makes team-work an important feature of organisations where both management and employees are willing to pool their efforts to improve work performance.
Thomas and Velthouse (cited in Ongori 2009) developed a model which portrayed employee empowerment as being based on four dimensions that intrinsically motivate individuals on the job. The first dimension is meaningfulness which refers to the meaning of a value of a task goal, the second is competence, which is an individual‟s belief in his or her capability to perform tasks effectively, the third is self-determination or autonomy in the execution of work processes, and fourth is the perception of the extent to which an individual can influence work outcomes. The model states that an individual should experience all four dimensions of empowerment in order for an individual to be empowered. It is, therefore, the responsibility of management to create an enabling environment for the existence of empowerment in their organisations.
Ongori (2009) noted that a good leader in an organisation should be able to tap into the thoughts expressed by subordinates and inspire them by developing their strengths through training. He refers to the work by Kirwan (1995) who argued that there are four key ingredients for an organisational empowerment programme to succeed and these are outlined below:
i. management support for employee empowerment
ii. the need for management to take empowerment programmes seriously iii. management appreciation for ideas emanating from employees
iv. setting up a system of team leaders, programme coordinators and evaluation committees to evaluate the progress of empowerment.
Ongori observed that in this era of globalisation, employee empowerment is necessary for the success and survival of organisations as it has a number of benefits. The advantages of empowerment include making employees feel that they are vital to organisational success through their involvement in decision-making as well as enhancing the employee commitment to the organisation and creating a sense of belonging. In addition, employee empowerment can make work more meaningful for employees through their participation in creating their own destiny. Through empowerment, there can be an increase in job satisfaction which contributes to organisational effectiveness and efficiency through more improved work performance.
Heathfield (2010) identifies some principles for employee empowerment which include a demonstration by management that people are valued as human beings, the sharing of leadership vision, mission and strategic plans through assisting employees to experience that they are part of the organisation and sharing the most important goals and direction with employees and allowing them to accomplish them
without management interference. She also outlines some factors that she believes contribute to a failure to effectively empower employees. Among the factors are the paying of lip service to employee empowerment by managers through half-hearted empowerment efforts, management not fully facilitating the mechanisms by which employees make decisions about their jobs and second guessing the decisions of staff who are supposed to have been empowered through constant changing of their decisions, thus undermining their faith in their personal competence.
Employee empowerment is a necessary part of organisational life and the literature indicates the various means of ensuring its existence in institutions through measures that include effective communication, availing development opportunities for individuals, recognizing the worth of staff through appropriate reward systems and seriousness in the consideration of the opinions of employees for improving the implementation of work activities.