Effect of Employee Empowerment on Organisational Effectiveness

7/30/2019 Effect of Employee Empowerment on Organisational Effectiveness

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Executive Summary

Organizational effectiveness is critical to success in any economy. Inorder to achieveincreased and sustainable business results, organizations need to execute strategy and

engage employees. However, our research indicates that most organizations are

struggling to get it right. To understand more about the elements of an effective

organization and the connection to productivity, Right Management conducted a global

study of nearly 29,000 employees from ten major industry sectors in 15 countries in the

Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. To create organizational effectiveness, business

leaders need to focus on aligning and engaging their people, the people management

systems, and the structure and capabilities (including organizational culture) to the

strategy. Our results confirm that this engagement is critical. Put simply, it results in

higher financial performance, higher customer satisfaction, and higher employee

retention. An organization that can sustain such alignment will achieve increased

business results.

Effective implementation of strategy is a key driver of financial performance.

organizations that fail to fully engage their workforce in the business strategy will fail to

produce reliable, sustainable business results. the link between employee engagement

factors and successful strategy execution is vital.

This document provides information and insight into organizational effectiveness and

how you can make it happen. Right Management would like to thank the participants of

this important study. We look forward to continuing to equip you with the essential

insights and best practices you need to excel.


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DEFINITION OF EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT

A managementpracticeof sharinginformation, rewards,

andpowerwithemployeesso that they cantakeinitiativeandmakedecisionstosolveproblemsandimproveserviceandperformance.

Empowerment is based on the idea that giving:

employees skills, resources, authority, opportunity, motivation, as well holding them

responsible and accountable for outcomes of theiractions, will contribute to

theircompetence and satisfaction.

Employee empowerment is creating a working environment where an employee is

allowed to make his own decisions in specific work-related situations. The decisions can

be big or small, and the size and effect of the decision is up to the employer. The logic

behind employee empowerment is to increase the employee's responsibility, to build

employee morale and to improve the quality of your employee's work life. Ideally, when

an employee feels vested in an organization, he will be more productive, loyal and more

confident.
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MEANINIG OF EMPLOYEE EMPOWEREMENT

Empowerment is the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behaves,

take action, and control work and decision making in autonomous ways. It is the state of

feeling self-empowered to take control of one's own destiny.

When thinking about empowerment in human relations terms, try to avoid thinking of it

as something that one individual does for another. This is one of the problems

organizations have experienced with the concept of empowerment. People think

that someone, usually the manager, has to bestow empowerment on the people who

report to him.

Consequently, the reporting staff members wait for the bestowing of empowerment, and

the manager asks why people won't act in empowered ways. This led to a general

unhappiness, mostly undeserved, with the concept of empowerment in many

organizations.

Think of empowerment, instead, as the process of an individual enabling himself to take

action and control work and decision making in autonomous ways. Empowerment comes

from the individual.

The organization has the responsibility to create a work environment which helps foster

the ability and desire of employees to act in empowered ways. The work organization has

the responsibility to remove barriers that limit the ability of staff to act in empowered

ways.


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Empowerment Is Also Known As:

Employee involvement and participative management are often used to mean

empowerment. They are not really interchangeable.

Examples of Empowerment

These are examples of empowerment in action.

The manager of the Human Resources department added weeks to the process ofhiring new employees by requiring his supposedly empowered staff members to

obtain his signature on every document related to the hiring of a new employee. When

the time problem was brought to his attention, he fostered empowerment by telling

employees they no longer needed his signature unless the hire involved extraordinary

circumstances.

Mary took charge of her career by fueling her sense of empowerment when shedeveloped acareer path plan, met with her manager to ask for her assistance to

achieve it, and set goals for its accomplishment in herperformance development

plan.

The company'smanagement styleinvolved sharing the goals, sharing eachemployee's expectations and framework with the employee, and then, getting out of

the way while employees were empowered to set goals, accomplish their objectives,

and determine how to do their jobs.

Empowerment is a desirable management and organizational style that enables

employees to practice autonomy, control their own jobs, and use their skills and abilities

to benefit both their organization and themselves.
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FEATURE OF EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT

Empowerment, which passes on the responsibility and the autonomy of the work to the

employees, can be a major contributor to the successful performance within an

organization. This allows employees to make decisions, solve problems, and be

accountable for the work they do. Such autonomy and ability make decisions create an

empowered environment in which motivation can be nurtured. This is now becoming an

increasingly popular management focus as empowered employees are seen as a major

asset to a business that can place them ahead the competition.

Employee Satisfaction

Designing empowerment into the company culture is not only a smart managementstrategy, it drives up employee satisfaction. Jupiter Networks, a technology company

headquartered in Sunnyvale, California was ranked number six out of 125 in the "Best

Places to Work in Silicon Valley" survey sponsored by the "San Jose/Silicon Valley

Business Journal." Scores were based on employee responses to a 10-topic questionnaire.

One of the factors responsible for the high rating attained by Jupiter is people practices.

Empowering people is part of the high tech firm's cultural mission.

Low Turnover

Delegating power to employees contributes to creating an atmosphere of contentment andhonor. Companies noted for this leadership style attract like minded individuals who take

pride not only in joining the organization but to showing loyalty by remaining on the

team. Credited with granting all employees input into decision making, McCormick and

Company reports a voluntary turnover rate of only 3 percent.


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Management Benefits

Creating an atmosphere of empowerment is a leadership task driven by management.Once employees are fully engaged in decision-making and taking action, management

canprofit. Paul Craig, sales manager of Image Source, an authorized Xerox sales agency

recognizes the benefits. Craig believes that, "Especially in today's knowledge driven

economy, employee empowerment is critical to success. If you want the real benefits of

your employees, you must free them to make decisions. In turn, this frees management to

focus on larger strategic goals and initiatives."

Customer Service Improves

Armed with knowledge and a specific level of authority, employees can solve problemsand better service customers. "When employees are invited to participate in the decisions

surrounding how the work is done, they are more engaged and excited about the

outcome," states Irma Parone, Sr. VP, Florida Regional Manager at Weiser Security

Services, Inc. Parone echoes the Weiser philosophy that empowered employees make it

happen.

Profitability Increases

In his book, "Outstanding!: 47 Ways to Make Your Organization Exceptional," John G.Miller states simply that people come to work to succeed, not to fail. Success strategies,

such as empowering employees to win can impact the bottom line. Gary Kelly, CEO of

Southwest Airlines, a company built on employee trust, believes that SWA employees are

the company's "single greatest strength and most enduring long term competitive

advantage."
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What makes Business Empowerment a success?

Job satisfaction and a sense of meaning in the work you do can be the most powerful

reward the employee can get.

Motivates employees to put more effort to achieve higher wages or performance

bonuses given.

Task-specific knowledge is the best way to identify and solve problems to increase

productivity through better decisions taken by persons on the job rather than the

management.

Encouraging & getting the employees involved to play an active role in their work

place gives them the feeling of responsibility to perform better. (Sense of belonging in

the work place).

Empowerment also points towards a career development path, motivating people to

work harder and perform as managers, even if they are currently not holding managerialpositions.

By delegating authority to run the day to day business to those who are involved in the

task, people become energized and interested to forge ahead.

Minimizing the layers of supervision, reducing costs and creating agility within a

business that is so important in todays fast phased global environment.

When an organization taps on to these benefits from empowerment, the managers must

make sure to reward and recognize the achievements of those who are empowered. This

boost the morale of the work force further while encouraging those who are lagging

behind to seize the opportunities to be empowered.


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Forms of Employee Empowerment

Employee empowerment means giving each worker the support he needs to make key

decisions on his own and to become more productive, motivated team players. Thismanagement technique has been effectively implemented in offices around the world and

has led to vast changes in the way employees communicate with both their bosses and

their coworkers. Employee empowerment can take many forms, including group

communication, self-esteem and contributory resources.

Group Communication

In order for the group to run successfully, communication is key. Communicationbreakdowns often lead to chaos and loss of productivity. Games and exercises in which

employees must hone their communication skills are effective in empowering and

motivating workers. For example, splitting the group into teams and working through a

disaster scenario (e.g., plane crash or stuck on a desert island). Other effective group

communication activities include interactive cooperation games such as Pictionary and

Mad Gab.

Self-Esteem

Some workers have a high self-esteem while others find difficulty in discovering theirvalue within the group. Managers who create an atmosphere of positive reinforcement

using the democratic management technique typically find that getting to know the

strengths and weaknesses of each employee helps them in determining how to raise

employee self-esteem. For example, if the person is shy, the manager can bolster

confidence by assigning the worker to lead a small group session. The manager can thenmove the worker up to larger group sessions as the person feels more able to take on

additional leadership roles.


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Contributory Resources

In order to empower employees to become more productive, knowledgeable and efficientin their contributions to the group at large, it is very important to give them the tools and

resources they need. Establish and maintain a library of training resources to includeDVDs, CDs, and books. Offer to pay for outside software and continuing education

courses. Also provide office supplies that make each employee more empowered and

productive, such as whiteboards and project management software.


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PRE-REQUISITES FOR EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT

Employee empowerment provides people the responsibility and authority to make

decisions. Empowerment frequently results in greater commitment and cooperation;

creative ideas and solutions; and greater ownership from employees.

Creating an empowered workforce is a great to increase organizational effectiveness and

success. Empowerment works they are given the necessary recourses, property trained

and managed. Then only they will be able to successfully perform and make effective

decisions.

Employee empowerment requires the following pre requisites:

1. INVOLVEMENT:

Employees feel more committed to the organization when they are involved in the

decision making process.

2. QUICK DECISION-MAKING:

Employees sometimes need on the spot decisions for the benefit of the organization.

Employees work say in customer service need to be able to quickly respond to customers

need and problems without having constantly go up the chain of command.

3. SOLVING COMPLEX PROBLEMS:

Employees directly involved with a problem can better determine the optimal solution.

For example, a work group can figure out how to re-engineer its work process far better

than employees/managers that do

not directly work on the process/project.


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TYPES OF EMPOWERMENT

The types of empowerment are depicted below:

STRUCTURED EMPOWERMENT:

It includes close control, formal; sets out clear boundaries; clear rules passed on through

training.

FLEXIBLE EMPOWERMENT:

It includes certain boundaries set; expecting employees to use their experience/common

sense to make decision; guidelines rather than rules.

Empowerment Continuum

Empowerment efforts have gained widespread attention for their ability to make

organizations more efficient and productive. A skill is an ability to translate knowledge

into action that results in a desired performance. There are three categories of skill viz.technical skill, human skill and conceptual skill. By giving power it gives responsibility

to employees without extra reward and organizations get a cost saving from de-layering

management.

The empowerment continuum is depicted below:

What are some of the common myths about empowerment?

Everybodys doing it.

Its easy.

Every manager wants empowered employees.

Every employee wants to be empowered.

All the manager needs to do is leave the empowered employees alone.


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Guidelines for effective employee empowerment

Select the right managers.

Choose the right employees.

Provide training.

Offer guidance.

Hold everyone accountable.

Build trust.

Focus on relationships.

Stress organizational values.

Transform mistakes into opportunities.

Reward and recognize.

Share authority instead of giving it up.

Encourage dissent.

Give it time.

Accept increased turnover.

Share information.

Realize that empowerment has its limitations. Watch for mixed messages.

Face your own ambivalence

Involve employees in decision-making.

Be prepared for increased variation.


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Benefit of empowerment

The major benefits are employee empowerments are as under:

1. Having an employee empowerment effort will help an organization by improving

individual self-esteem, self-efficacy, and other behaviors. The investment in the

workforce will yield direct cost saving for the organization- as well as improved morale

of employees.

2. Employee empowerment helps in getting individuals to be more self-reliant. However,

the critical difference is the ability of this process to enable employees to take control of

their responsibilities, better utilizes exiting resources and makes wiser decisions.

Barriers to empowerment

Empowerment can fail for any one of several reasons:

* The manager's fear of losing power.

* Pressure from the manager's boss to be on top of all details.

* Rationalization that employees are not ready.

* Fear of losing control reduces empowerment.

* The feeling that "Only I can make the right decisions".

* Fear of having nothing to do...being redundant or having no purpose.

* Fear of losing face or status.

* Not accepting that subordinates are more knowledgeable or better placed to make somedecisions.

* Lack of support from the organization's culture - demands for more centralized decision

making.

* Preaching the value of making mistakes while still punishing them.


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Top 10 Principles of Employee Empowerment

These are the ten most important principles for managing people in a way that reinforces

employee empowerment, accomplishment, and contribution. These management actions

enable both the people who work with you and the people who report to you to soar.

1. Demonstrate You Value People

Your regard for people shines through in all of your actions and words. Your facial

expression, your body language, and your words express what you are thinking about the

people who report to you. Your goal is to demonstrate your appreciation for each person's

unique value. No matter how an employee is performing on their current task, your value

for the employee as a human being should never falter and always be visible.

2. Share Leadership Vision

Help people feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves and their

individual job. Do this by making sure they know and have access to the organization's

overall mission, vision, and strategic plans.

3. Share Goals and Direction

Share the most important goals and direction for your group. Where possible, either make

progress on goals measurable and observable, or ascertain that you have shared your

picture of a positive outcome with the people responsible for accomplishing the results.

4. Trust People

Trust the intentions of people to do the right thing, make the right decision, and make

choices that, while maybe not exactly what you would decide, still work.


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5. Provide Information for Decision Making

Make certain that you have given people, or made sure that they have access to, all of the

information they need to make thoughtful decisions.

6. Delegate Authority and Impact Opportunities, Not Just More Work

Dont just delegates the drudge work; delegate some of the fun stuff, too. You know,

delegate the important meetings, the committee memberships that influence product

development and decision making, and the projects that people and customers notice. The

employee will grow and develop new skills. Your plate will be less full so you can

concentrate on contribution. Your reporting staff will gratefully shine - and so will you.

7. Provide Frequent Feedback

Provide frequent feedback so that people know how they are doing. Sometimes, the

purpose of feedback is reward and recognition. People deserve your constructive

feedback, too, so they can continue to develop their knowledge and skills.

8. Solve Problems: Don't Pinpoint Problem People

when a problem occurs, ask what is wrong with the work system that caused the people

to fail, not what is wrong with the people. Worst case response to problems? Seek to

identify and punish the guilty. (Thank you, Dr. Deming.)

9. Listen to Learn and Ask Questions to Provide Guidance

Provide a space in which people will communicate by listening to them and asking them

questions. Guide by asking questions, not by telling grown up people what to do. People

generally know the right answers if they have the opportunity to produce them.


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10. Help Employees Feel Rewarded and Recognized for Empowered Behavior

When employees feel under-compensated, under-titled for the responsibilities they take

on, under-noticed, under-praised, and under-appreciated, dont expect results from

employee empowerment.


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MODELS OF EMPLOYEES EMPOWERMENT


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Employee Empowerment Challenges

Employee empowerment has absolutely been one of the key factors that have led to the

explosive growth experienced by many of todays modern industry giants. The

workforces of these universally known companies are comprised of same dynamic

professionals that make up essentially every other modern corporate workforce. The

variable that exists between modern industry giants and perhaps most other firms is the

overall level of employee empowerment.

1.) Challenge and Inspire

Todays modern generation of talent is one that desires to personally contribute at a high

level and to be managed by inspirational leaders who challenge their ability to innovate

and generate results through their own empowered performance. It is a workforce that

requires frequent and open communication and expects a business approach that provides

the individual with a format of empowered decisional freedom. Finally, it requires

meaningful recognition that identifies results on both a team and personal contributions

level.

2.) Stay Informed

Modern managers should take time consider these workforce observations to incorporate

strategies enhancing their current management approach. Would a random survey of your

team reveal that you are perceived more as a leader or a traditional manager? This is

important information to obtain if your goal is to build an empowered team. Business

leaders today consistently take time to personally reflect on their management activities

from a leadership perspective and work to enhance their overall leadership skills as they

continue to grow professionally.


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3.) Stay Personal

Successful business leaders additionally acknowledge that leading teams requires an

investment of time focusing on communication as they work to build an organization that

is agile and empowered. This communication requires focused face time and voice

time that is targeted and data rich. Emails and text messages might fill in the small

communication gaps but fall way short when it comes to inspiring highly empowered and

productive teams. Its a leaders personal connectivity that provides their team members

with the opportunity to openly voice information at a meaningful level that is engaged

and productive.

4.) Created an Empowered Culture

To raise the empowerment bar it is important to build an environment throughout your

organization that genuinely encourages and rewards individuals to make self-directed

decisions independently with the best interest of your customers and the corporation in

mind. As the direct links to customers, your employees own the intimate customer level

relationships necessary to respond to your clients. Empowerment allows your team to

immediately and successfully transact business ahead of your competition. Trust and

training are the keys to facilitating self-directed empowered decisions resulting in

exceptional execution.

5.) Encourage Above and Beyond

Finally, almost every successful business leader will affirm that todays empowered

workforce also requires more consistent recognition compared to teams in the past.

Todays modern workforce performers thrive on recognition and this can be delivered

both inside and outside of the confines of the office. To recognize the next great

accomplishment within your organization, try a hand-written note sent to an employees

home instead of their corporate mailbox. This simple follow up for a job well done


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crosses over the threshold of the workplace and delivers recognition at home which is a

far more personal and appreciative setting.

Every modern business manager possesses the ability to build highly empowered teams

within their own organizations. With commitment and focus, any manager at every level

can work to consistently enhance their personal leadership skills and implement strategies

to enrich internal communication, employee empowerment and team recognition and to

increase efficiency and gain competitive advantages in todays competitive business

environment.


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THE EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT PROCESS:

a) Valuing employees:

This involves appreciating workers by managers or executive members in an

organisation, this will aid in the process of showing that you appreciate and value

them for the work they perform in the organisation and this helps in empowering

workers. This is achieved through the words used in communicating with workers

and also body language and fiscal expressions which should show appreciation to

workers. (Thomas (1990))

b) Sharing visions:

According to Narayan (2002) Employees are also empowered by sharing

information on the companys vision and objectives. This helps the employees to feel

they are part of something big. Therefore the organisation should share the mission

and the strategic plans of the organisation and this helps empowering workers,

therefore communication of organisation goals and strategies plays an important part

in employee empowerment process.

c) Direction and goal sharing with workers:

Sharing goals and directions according to Narayan (2002) is also a way to

empower workers, This involves sharing information with workers on the goals and

also the direction of the organisation, this involves sharing information on observable

and measurable goals and this aids in empowering workers in accomplishing these

goals.

d) Trust:

The organisation should extend trust to their employees whereby they will allow

workers to make their own decisions which may not be in line with the decided way

of performing tasks. This is according to Rapport (1984) and it is a way in which trust

is extended to workers which aids in empowering them.


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e) Provision of decision making information:

This involves the provision of information to employees that will help them make

decisions on their own, this involves making sure that all workers have access to this

information and this will help them to make sound decisions as they perform their

tasks.

f) Involvement of workers in decision making:

This involves including workers in decision making of the organisation, this helps

in empowering workers because they will find a sense of power in the organisation

future and they will have a feeling of worth in the organisation. (Thomas (1990))

g) Feedbacks:

It is important to frequently provide feedback to employees to show how they

have performed in the organisation for a given period, this ensures that the employees

feel a sense of recognition and also helps them develop their skills and knowledge.

(Thomas (1990))

h) Solving problems:

When problems occurs there is a need for the organisation to implement ways in

which to deal with these problems, it is not right to blame the workers and instead of

blaming them there is need to address the problem by asking the workers what

problem is in the work system and not what is wrong with the workers. (Thomas

(1990))

i) Communication:

An organisation should ensure that it listens to its workers and at the same time

provide guidelines to them. The organisation should avoid telling the workers what to

do but should provide guidelines on how to undertake tasks and what should be done

to accomplish organisational goals. (Rapport (1984))


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j) Social reinforcements:

This involves giving encouragement to workers for the purpose of boosting

their self confidence in the work place, this involves giving praise and rewarding

workers for their achievement and this aids in the empowerment process.( Rapport

(1984))

k) Training:

Training and the provision of information is a major way in which an organisation

can empower its workers, this is because information itself is power, and this should

also be accompanied by proper communication channels in the organisation. As

workers receive more training they experience an increase in their skills and

knowledge and this will increase their confidence when undertaking their tasks.


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ORGANIZATION EFFECTIVENESS

The efficiency with which an association is able to meet its objectives. The

main measure of organizational effectiveness for a business will generally be expressed

in terms of how well its net profitability compares with its targetprofitability.

Additional measures might include growth data and the results ofcustomer satisfaction

surveys.

Organizational effectiveness can be described, using the definition for the adjective

"effective" by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, as an organization that produces adesired effect. Likewise, organizational efficiency can be described as an organization

that is productive without waste.

CONTACT

ORGANIZATION CUSTOMER

EMPLOYEE

SERVICES
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HOW TO INCREASE ORGANISATION EFFECTIVNES

Assess organization culture and capabilitiesOur organization assessment tools provide objective insights that can reveal

organizational strengths and opportunities for development. We work with your

leaders to collect and respond to the data, crafting organization improvement strategies

to achieve business results.

Focus on strategic business and talent management issuesOur team works with you to identify the high-leverage opportunities for changeboth

at the individual and the organizational level. We design and implement leadership

development processes and organization effectiveness initiatives that address real-time

business challenges.

Determine the unique leadership capabilities required to drive business initiatives Our team works with you to build a leadership competency model designed around the

unique vision, mission and values of your organization. These competencies support a

talent management architecture focused on identifying and preparing the next

generation of leaders.

Implement strategic changeWe engage affected stakeholders to design and implement change management

strategies, increasing buy-in and accelerating organization transitions.

Increase cross-functional collaborationWe work with your leaders to articulate a shared vision for the organization. Programs

are designed to increase intra-organization communication and break down internal

barriers to collaboration.

Develop capacity for organizational learningWe believe that smart, successful leaders can build on the experiences of others to

become even more successful. Our team designs processes to capture best practices

and to share lessons learned.


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Design applied learning projects to resolve business issues while developing toptalent

We design and facilitate comprehensive applied learning projects to address real-time

business issues, thus utilizing top talent to address business challenges. Team members

focus on personal leadership development/learning opportunities, building leadership

capacity for the organization while addressing immediate business needs.

Measure impact of talent development and organization change initiativesWe work with you to determine key success indicators for your leadership

development and organization effectiveness initiatives. Our assessment partners craft

tools and processes to collect and analyze data around identified metrics.


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Organizations tackle the uncertainties of today's changing world by

drawing out the creative potential of the people who are the

organization.

Empowerment means creating an environment where people are equipped and

encouraged to make decisions in autonomous ways and to feel that they are in control of

the outcomes for which they are responsible. It means opening the door for dissent,

avoiding groupthink and encouraging innovation.

To understand some of the complexities of Organizational Empowerment, we will be

looking at it from the perspectives of leaders, employees, and organizations.

Empowerment involves distributing authority throughout the organization. The

leaders perspective is where it all starts. What does empowerment mean for the

CEO and management?

Empowerment from the Leaders Perspective

Empowering leaders behave in an empowering manner by (1) influencing through

context, (2) creating a culture of inclusion, (3) giving and not taking back control, (4)

providing moral and logistical support, (5) communicating a clear mandate, and (6)

equipping people for success.

Influence through context implies trust in a higher principle or guiding force and belief

in the creative potential of human nature. It is a matter of trusting the process. It is not

"giving power," but creating a context where empowerment is released and nurtured.

Leaders define the context and standards at every level by giving people freedom to act

and innovate, thereby developing leadership and producing proactive employees, giving

them a competitive edge.


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Create a feeling of inclusion to nurture and empower. Develop an atmosphere of

inclusion across all levels, making sure that everyone has a voice and that their voices are

heard. Leaders welcome dissent as a source of objectivity and innovation. New ideas

must be allowed in the decision-making processes to generate solutions superior to those

achieved through the exercise of positional power.

Give up control and do not reclaim it. Expect to go through a phase where managers are

faced with ambiguities and a sense that things are out of control. During this

uncomfortable phase, one is tempted to tighten the controls. Resist the temptation to

tighten control if you want your people to use a proactive approach to problem-solving.

Once responsibility is given, do not try to take it back.

Support employee empowerment. Support of superiors is critical. Fear of reprimand

or sanctionsbecause a decision didn't work outwill kill efforts to empower. This is

not delegating. Delegating is assigning a task to someone. Empowerment is giving

responsibility and the freedom to choose the means of accomplishment. It means the

leader moves from "boss" to "coach." However, the objective must be clearly

understood.

Articulate the common purpose. Do not mistake empowerment for an absence of

direction. The leader needs to create the vision and clarify goals. A lack of clarity about

desired outcomes and role expectations is disempowering. Being accountable for specific

expectations is better than not knowing where you stand. It is critical for the leader to

clearly define the common purpose, goals, and limitations. If not, employees will be

hesitant. Pass the ball and let the associate run with itbut run within the ball field.

Stay inbounds. Responsibility for and commitment to a clearly articulated mission is

essential.

Equip people for success to insure a good chance of success. This involves training,

resources, and information. Too often employees are given responsibility for which they

are not equipped. This entrapment brings the feeling of being set up. Consider setting up

an unallocated resource pool for solving unforeseen problems. Leaders provide their


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people with all the information they need by making information readily available to

people at all levels through more channels.

Empowerment from the Employees Perspective

To experience empowerment, employees need to develop skills in and practice: (1) open

communication, (2) work in teams, (3) critical listening, (4) tolerance of uncertainty, (5)

resilience and courage, and (6) accepting responsibility.

Open communication is a willingness to put our thoughts on the table; to be exposed to

scrutiny; to own up to ones ideas, assumptions, biases and fears; and help others to do

the same. Corporate cultures that promote creativity are characterized by direct

interaction and opennessa climate where ideas are owned and challenged through

honest dialogue. It may not be comfortable but it is a necessary condition of

empowerment. Such openness cannot be coerced.

Willingness and know-how for working in teams is essential. It is not just self-

empowerment. It is a collective change that comes by learning respect for the

contributions of others. Empowerment is not a Win-Lose paradigm where an increase in

the power of one results in a decrease in the power of others. In MMCs Team -Building

course, participants learn to value the uniqueness of the other players. By discovering and

emphasizing the gifts of each individual, the experience of empowerment increases for

everyone on the team.

Gain wisdom to be fully empowered. To move from dependence on superiors for

decisions, one must move beyond data, information, and knowledge to make appropriate

decisions. Data is a collection of categorized numbers. Information is the meaning

extracted from data. Knowledge consists of sets of information put in context, and

wisdom is merging knowledge with universal principles for application to real-life

situations. This requires a higher level of involvement than the old scientific management

paradigm that treated employees like machines. In empowered organizations, employees


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across the board are committed to thinking and acting for success of the organization, as

does top management, but more effectively. Wisdom is the result of thinking about the

future, recognizing trends and anticipating events or outcomes that may affect the

organization and from interactions with customers, suppliers, and others with whom

employees interface directly.

Tolerate uncertainty. Empowerment can be threatening. Expect some employees to

resist empowerment. This is especially true when not only the outcomes, but the means

and ways have always been clearly defined for them by others. Decisions about how to

get things done, when left to the employee, is disquieting for the leader. This uncertainty

is a change from working in an established routine where employees adhere to the rules

and procedures. Under pressure, employees tend to run to the leader seeking resolution

and closure. Leaders who do not understand the dynamics of empowerment, out of

misdirected compassion or because it makes them feel more powerful, often succumb to

these requests by telling them what to do. This is disempowering and reestablishes

dependence. If employees are encouraged to think for themselves, goals and boundaries

need to be clearly defined. This establishes guidelines for use of intuition and thinking

across departments and disciplines for solutions related to their common purpose.

Resilience and courage come from within. The source of confidence is not in others but

in ones own inner strength. Empowerment means to be forward thinking enough to live

with mistakes and failures without being impaired. Those living with self-doubt will be

unlikely to accept the challenge of empowerment because, for them, more responsibility

means more chance of failure, and failure threatens their sense of self-worth.

Empowerment is very personal. Acceptance of higher levels of responsibility is inherent

in an empowering context.

Accept responsibility for outcomes. Empowerment goes beyond delegation, and

encompasses the burden of responsibility. Empowerment must be balanced by

responsibility. They cannot blame upper management, suppliers, other department heads,

or anyone else for failure to produce desired results. This enables them to learn from their


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mistakes. Empowered employees are willing to have their performance measured by

objective written assessments because these are opportunities for feedback and

improvement. Part of responsibility happens when you see inappropriate management

conduct or receive inappropriate direction. It is important to document all incidents and

save them in a safe place.

Empowerment from the Organizations Perspective

Empowerment calls for organizations to (1) be more decentralized, (2) to share more

information, (3) to have in place a system of contingent rewards, (4) to be team-based,

and (5) to align itself with its goals and values.

Decentralization distributes decision-making as close to the action as appropriate. This

means giving employees the authority to make timely decisions. Individual

empowerment cannot occur within a highly centralized system of control because such

systems reserve decision-making power for the few who occupy the center, thus

inhibiting individual initiative. People are not motivated to change when they don't have

authority to do anything with what they have learned.

Information sharing is empowering. Hoarding knowledge and withholding it is a way

to maintain control. Employees need information about the organizations mission and

goals, information needed to meet team objectives, and information about their individual

performance. In empowering organizations, information is no longer the property of

individuals, but now belongs to the entire group. As information is more openly shared,

the organization will begin to function less on the basis of opinion and bias and more on

the basis of facts. Systems must be in place to enable access to both general information

about the organization and also specific information about the performance of their

particular department or team.

Contingent rewards are difficult to design. Empowerment works best when a reward

system distinguishes between employees based on performance. Empowering


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organizations reward employees who make decisions that contribute to the

accomplishment of the organization's purpose and goals. Make sure that what is rewarded

reflects goals of the organization. To automatically punish failure inhibits empowerment.

It is better to reward employees for attempting new ideas, even ones that fail.

Teams develop when individuals move outside themselves and become concerned with

the success of all other members. This means that employees become concerned, not only

with the success of their immediate responsibility, but also with success of the other

members of the team. Then the group becomes a unit where the development of one

member increases the power of the team.

Alignment with the common purpose is a must. To empower people in an unaligned

organization can be counterproductive. If people do not share a common vision, and do

not share common goals, empowering people will increase organizational stress and

make it impossible to maintain coherence and direction. An organizational commitment

to empowerment would be foolish if leaders did not share the same visions and goals.

Empowered organizations must structure processes, goals, people, and reward systems

aligned with each other.

Implementing an empowerment program :

There is a direct relationship between empowerment and organizational vitality. It is

about the probability of change, of keeping up in a changing world. People learn best

when they see a relationship between their life and the concepts being taught. Without

sensing an organizational commitment to fully implement empowerment, these concepts

will be very difficult to implement. Only when people have authorization to dissent with

the leader do new ideas have a chance to appear. Empowerment is the key to

organizational vitality


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Factors Affecting Organizational Success

STRATEGICFACTORS

Market

Product

Technology

Customers

Suppliers

Vision

Value Creation

Strategy

OrganizationalFactors

Strategic

Deployment

Effective

Leadership

Policies

Procedures Processes

Continuous

Improvement

Culture

Problem-

solving

Commitment

Culture

Measures of

Performance

Trust, Honesty,

& Ethical

Behavior

PeopleFactors

Employee

Involvement

Education

Training

Internal

Supplier-Customer

Relations

Motivation

Teamwork

Communicatio

n

Safety

Environmental

Factors

Social

Economic

Competitive

Technology


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Four Core Capacities for Organizational Effectiveness:

Leadership Capacity:

The ability of all organizational leaders to create and sustain the

vision, inspire, model, prioritize, make decisions, provide direction

and innovate, all in an effort to achieve the organizational mission.

Management Capacity:

The ability of a nonprofit organization to ensure the effective and

efficient use of organizational resources.

Technical Capacity:

The ability of a nonprofit organization to implement all of the key

Organizational and programmatic functions.

Adaptive Capacity

The ability a nonprofit organization to monitor, assess, respond to

and create internal and external changes.

In our work with organizations, we apply a systems view of our client that greatly

improve the success of your change initiative. We use a model that employees the

proverbial three-legged stool:

---- PEOPLE --- PROCESS -- TECHNONLOGY

PEOPLE: includes formal structures, informal relationships and organizationalculture.

PROCESS: includes manufacturing and business activities such as Lean thinkingand Six Sigma.

TECHNOLOGY: includes computers, laptops, robots etc.


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UMBRELLA COVERAGE


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RELATION BETWEEN EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT &

ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS:

EMPOWERMENT

IMPACT

TRUST

CHOICE

COMPETENCY

MEANING

EFFECTIVENESS


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INTRODUCTION OF COMPANY

DellComputer Corporation was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell with a very simple

premise: computers should be built and sold directly to customers. By doing this, Dell has

become one of the worlds largest PC maker as well as one of the best well known

brands. Dell now employs more than 76000 people world wide, nine manufacturing

plants and provide 24/7 customer supports. The company ships approximately 140000

custom-made computers per day and has over 2 billion interactions with customers every

year.

Dells Direct model enables them to interact with customers directly, providing them

with fast and reasonable priced products and distribution.

Dell Inc. (Dell) is a global information technology company that offers its customers a

range of solutions and services delivered directly by Dell and through other distribution

channels. Dell is a holding company that conducts its business worldwide through its

subsidiaries. The Company operates in four segments: Large Enterprise, Public, Small

and Medium Business, and Consumer. The Companys Large Enterprise customers

include global and national corporate businesses. Its Public customers, which include

educational institutions, government, health care, and law enforcement agencies, operate

in their own communities. Its SMB segment is focused on helping small and medium-

sized businesses by offering products, services, and solutions. Its Consumer segment is

focused on delivering technology experience of entertainment, mobility, gaming, and

design.

At February 3, 2012, it held a worldwide portfolio of 3,449 patents and had an additional

1,660 patent applications pending. The Company also hold licenses to use numerous

third-party patents. The Company designs, develops, manufactures, markets, sells, and

supports a range of products, solutions, and services. It also provides various customer


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financial services to its Commercial and Consumer customers. During fiscal year ended

February 3, 2012 (fiscal 2012), Dell acquired Compel lent Technologies, Inc.

(Compelling), Secure Works Inc. (Secure Works), Dell Financial Services Canada

Limited and Force10 Networks, Inc. (Force10). In February 2012, the Company acquired

App Assure. In April 2012, the Company acquired Clarity Solutions. In May 2012, it

acquired Sonic WALL, Inc., provider of advanced network security, secure remote

access, email security, backup and recovery, and management and reporting. In

September 2012, the Company acquired Quest Software Inc.

In December 2012, the Company acquired Creodont Technologies.

Enterprise Solutions and Services

The Companys enterprise solutions include servers, networking, and storage products.

Servers and Networking portfolio includes rack, blade, and tower servers for enterprise

customers and value tower servers for small organizations, networks, and remote offices.

During fiscal 2012, it expanded its Power Connect campus networking product offerings

with a suite of Dell Force10 data center networking solutions. It offers a portfolio of

advanced storage solutions, including storage area networks, network-attached storage,

direct-attached storage, and various backup systems. During fiscal 2012, it shifted moreof its portfolio of storage solutions to Dell-owned storage products.

The Companys services include a range of configurable information technology (IT) and

business services, including infrastructure technology, consulting and applications, and

product-related support services. The Company offers a variety of services to its

customers as part of an overall solution. It offers services that are tied to the sale of its

servers, storage, and client offerings. These services include support and extended

warranty services, managed deployment, enterprise installation, and configuration

services. Its outsourcing services include data center and systems management, network

management, life cycle application development and management services, and business

process outsourcing services. It also offers short-term services that address an array of


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client needs, including IT infrastructure, applications, business process, and business

consulting.

The Company will classify its services as Support and Deployment services,

Infrastructure, Cloud, and Security services, and Applications and Business Process

services. Support and deployment services are tied to the sale of its servers, storage,

networking and client offerings, as well as multivendor support services. Infrastructure,

Cloud, and Security services may be performed under multi-year outsourcing

arrangements, subscription services, or short-term consulting contracts. These services

include infrastructure and security managed services, cloud computing, infrastructure

consulting, and security consulting and threat intelligence. Applications services include

such services as application development and maintenance, application migration andmanagement services, package implementation, testing and quality assurance functions,

business intelligence and data warehouse solutions, and application consulting services.

Software and Peripherals

The Company offers Dell-branded printers and displays and a multitude of competitively

priced third-party peripheral products, such as printers, televisions, notebook accessories,

mice, keyboards, networking and wireless products, digital cameras, and other products.It also sells a range of third-party software products, including operating systems,

business and office applications, anti-virus and related security software, entertainment

software, and products in various other categories.

Client Products

The Company offers a variety of mobility and desktop products, including notebooks,

workstations, tablets, smart phones, and desktop personal computers (PCs), to its

Commercial and Consumer customers. Its Latitude, Optiplex, Vostro, and Dell Precision

workstation lines of mobility notebooks and desktop PCs are designed with its

Commercial customers in mind. The Vostro line is designed to customize technology,

services, and expertise to suit the specific needs of small businesses. It also offers the

precision line of mobile and desktop workstations for professional users. During fiscal


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2012, it introduced the Vostro 3000 series notebooks, and the Dell Precision M4600 and

M6600 mobile workstations, and made enhancements to Dell Latitude E-family of

notebooks. For its Consumer customers, it offers the Inspired, XPS, and Alien ware lines

of notebooks and desktop PCs. The Company targets sales of its Alien ware line to

customers seeking advanced multimedia capabilities for gaming. During fiscal 2012, it

introduced desktops and notebooks in each of its consumer brands, including Inspired

and XPS notebooks.

Financial Services

The Company offers or arranges various financing options and services for its

Commercial and Consumer customers in the United States and Canada through Dell

Financial Services (DFS). DFS offers a range of financial services, including originating,

collecting, and servicing customer receivables primarily related to the purchase of Dell

products. DFS offers private label credit financing programs to qualified Consumer and

Commercial customers and offers leases and fixed-term financing primarily to

Commercial customers. Financing through DFS is one of many sources of funding that its

customers may select.

Product Development

The Company focuses on developing technologies. It employ a collaborative approach to

product design and development, in which its engineers, with direct customer input,

design solutions and work with a global network of technology companies to architect

system designs, and integrate technologies into its products. In fiscal 2012, it opened the

Dell Silicon Valley Research and Development Center, bringing the total number of

global research and development centers the Company operated to 12.

Manufacturing and Materials

Third parties manufacture the client products the Company sells under the Dell brand. Its

manufacturing facilities are located in Austin, Texas; Penang, Malaysia; Xiamen, China;

Hortolandia, Brazil; Chennai, India, and Lodz, Poland.


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Officers and Executives

Name AgeOfficer

SinceTitle

Mr. Michael S. Dell 48 1984 Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Stephen J. Felice 55 1999 President & Chief Commercial Officer

Mr. Jeffrey W. Clarke 50 1987Vice Chairman & President-Global

Operations

Mr. Brian T. Gladden 48 2008Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice

President

Dr. Andrew W. Litt - 2011 Chief Medical Officer
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PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

L isten. Learn. Deli ver . That' s what we' re about.

For over 28 years, Dell has empowered communities and people everywhere to use

technology to realize their dreams. Customers trust us to deliver technology solutions that

help them do and achieve more at home, work, school or anywhere in their world.

Dell Products and Services

Dell XPS 12 Convertible Touch Ultrabook

The Dell XPS 12 Convertible Touch Ultrabook works with the new Windows 8

operating system to deliver the latest apps for work and play in an enhanced

touch-based experience all without sacrificing PC functionality. Intel Smart

Connect Technology automatically updates your email, work contacts,..

Dell Vostro laptops and desktops

Created for business with unmanaged IT, Dell Vostro laptops and desktops

deliver professional style, affordable technology for productivity and power,

while offering quick access to IT support and easy to use security solutions.

Collaboration solutions that let you stay on top of work from...
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Dell Personal Pr in ters

Bring versatility and efficiency into your home or office with Dell Personal

Printers. With enhanced capabilities designed to give you more mobility and offer

high speed performance with minimum space requirements, these printers provide

outstanding value and help you simplify how you print. Dell...

Dell Acti ve System

Active system is the newest converged infrastructure offering within the Active

Infrastructure family, and leverages Dell innovations including unified

mangement, converged LAN/SAN fabrics and bladed form factors for the

ultimate converged infrastructure system that can be easily deployed and...

Dell Active I nf rastructure

Dells Active Infrastructure portfolio combines servers, storage, networking and

infrastructure management into an integrated system that provides general
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purpose virtualized resource pools. This system blends intuitive infrastructure

management, an open architecture, and flexible delivery models and a...

Dell XPS One 27" all -in -one Desktop with Touch Screen

Get all you need to work, play and stay connected in a slim, touch-enabled all-in-

one PC. The Dell XPS One 27" all-in-one Desktop with Touch Screen can

amplify your biggest ideas and enables you to multitask quickly and efficiently.This desktop has a 69 cm (27'') edge-to-edge glass display...

XPS 12 Convert ible Touch U ltr a book

The XPS 12 Ultra book works with the new Windows 8 operating system to

deliver the latest apps for work and play in an enhanced touch-based experience

all without sacrificing PC functionality. Intel Smart Connect Technology

automatically updates your email, work contacts, social networks and...
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Dell Precision T1650 Tower Workstation

Entry-level tower workstation designed for demanding workloads. For

demanding professional applications that push beyond a standard desktop, Dells

entry-level tower workstation offers certified performance for professionals

working with 2D and basic 3D models, editing photos, CAD drawings, and...

Dell Precision T5600 Tower Workstation

Powerful and reliable dual socket workstation in a compact chassis. Designed for

space-constrained environments that need substantial compute capability, Dells

powerful and reliable dual-socket workstation is built for designing complex 3D

models, creating film, and video content and performing...

Dell Vostro 470 Min i Tower Desktop

Get ready for success. Be ready for success. The new Vostro 470 is packed with

power and leading-edge technology for todays toughest tasks and tomorrows

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LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Grove, (1971)The common dictionary definition of empowerment, "to giveofficial authority to: delegate legal power to: commission, authorize" is the

one most understood by most people.

2. Gandz (1990) writes, "Empowerment means that management vests decision-making or approval authority in employees where, traditionally, such authority

was a managerial prerogative." However, this is not the definition of what is

usually called employee empowerment. One author notes empowerment is,

"easy to define in its absencealienation, powerless, helplessnessbut

difficult to define positively because it 'takes on a different form in different

people and contexts'"

3. Zimmerman (1990) When most people refer to employee empowerment theymean a great deal more than delegation. It is for this reason that many authors

provide their own definitions. Some of these are vague, and meant to be so.

4. Block(1987) describes empowerment as "a state of mind as well as a result ofposition, policies, and practices." One has to read an entire chapter to

understand what he means when he says. "To feel empowered means severalthings. We feel our survival is in our own hands. . . .We have an underlying

purpose. We commit ourselves to achieving that purpose, now." Other authors

5. Blanchard, Carlos & Randolph, (1996); Blanchard Bowles, (1998) use theirentire book to define empowerment. Still others provide an excellent

perspective of effective empowerment without mentioning the word even once .

6. Freedman, (1998). Other author provided definitions are simplistic on thesurface, but have far greater implications than a first reading would suggest.

7. Caudron (1995) articulates empowerment as, "when employees 'own' theirjobs; when they are able to measure and influence their individual success as

well as the success of their departments and their companies." The casual

reader may think that owning one's job is what the postal workers union seeks

to provide their members. Most would agree, however, that job security is not


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empowerment. Many employees must measure their jobs by submitting

reports. Seeking one's own individual success is what the American dream is

all about. And knowing that one makes a contribution to the success of the

department and the company is a given in all but the largest organizations. It is

only when these ideas are taken together in one package that they approach a

definition of employee empowerment.

8. Ettorre's (1997) definition of empowerment as, "employees havingautonomous decision-making capabilities and acting as partners in the business,

all with an eye to the bottom-line" is more accessible to many readers. While

many employees understand their contribution to the work at hand, how many

know their contribution to the bottom line?

9. BowenandLawler (1992) indicate, "We define empowerment as sharing withfront-line employees four organizational ingredients: [the first being]

information about the organization's performance [another is] knowledge that

enables employees to understand and contribute to organizational

performance". The other two note are, "rewards based on the organization's

performance [and] power to make decisions that influence organizational

direction and performance." In a later article these authors conclude that,

"research suggests that empowerment exists when companies implement

practices that distribute power, information, knowledge, and rewards

throughout the organization. The authors go on to note that, "if any of the four

elements is zero, nothing happens to redistribute that ingredient, and

empowerment will be zero."

10.Spreitzer (1995) indicates, "psychological empowerment is defined as amotivational construct manifested in four cognitions: meaning, competence,

self-determination, and impact. Together these four cognitions reflect an

active, rather than a passive, orientation toward a work role.Spreitzer notes,

"the four dimensions are argued to combine additively to create an overall

construct of psychological empowerment. In other words, the lack of any

single dimension will deflate, though not completely eliminate, the overall

degree of felt empowerment." This additive construct is distinct from Bowen


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&Lawler 's (1995) construct noted above which is multiplicative, indicating that

the absence of any one of their four elements (power, information, knowledge,

and rewards) will completely eliminate empowerment.

Researchers tend to provide definitions of the concept of empowerment

which reflect observed end results or their research into concepts which are

known and are or may be precursors to empowerment. In his 1995 dissertation,

11.Menon indicates, "the empowered state was defined as a cognitive state ofperceived control, perceived competence and goal internalization. . . .The

empirical results supported the view that empowerment is a construct

conceptually distinct from other constructs such as delegation, self-efficacy and

intrinsic task motivation.". In this case the constructs of delegation, self-

efficacy and intrinsic task motivation are known quantities, each with its own

previously tested validity.

12.CongerandKanungo (1988) note in their literature review that, "scholars haveassumed that empowerment is the process by which a leader or manager shares

his or her power with subordinates. Power, in this context, is interpreted as the

possession of formal authority or control over organizational resources.

This manner of treating the notion of empowerment from a management

practice perspective is so common that often employee participation is simply

equated with empowerment." However, they also note, We believe that this

approach has serious flaws." Instead, the authors offer this definition,

"Empowerment is a process of enhancing feelings of self-efficacy among

organizational members through the identification of conditions that foster

powerlessness and through their removal by both formal organizational

practices and informal techniques of providing efficacy information."He

Implied here are new roles for managers and supervisors, that is, removing

conditions that foster powerlessness and providing feedback about

performance, in other words mentoring.

Other researchers have attempted to classify what has been written and

practiced previously, and found it lacking.


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13.QuinnandSpreitzer (1997) provide two such classifications. In the,"mechanistic approach managers and researchers "believed that empowerment

was about delegating decision making within a set of clear boundaries. . . .

Delegate responsibility; and Hold people accountable for results."In the,

"organic approach to empowerment" researchers and managers "believed that it

[empowerment] was about risk taking, growth, and change. . . .Understanding

the needs of the employees; model empowered behavior for the employees;

build teams to encourage cooperative behavior; encourage intelligent risk

taking; and trust people to perform." However, they found these two

approaches lacking; some combination of the two was needed. In the end, they

indicate, "empowerment must be defined in terms of fundamental beliefs and

personal orientations. . . . Empowered people have a sense of self-

determination. . . .Empowered people have a sense of meaning. . . .Empowered

people have a sense of competence. . . . Empowered people have a sense of

impact."

14.Quinn&Spreitzer, (1997) The most comprehensive definition ofempowerment in the literature can be found in ThomasandVelthouse's 1990

article entitled "Cognitive elements of empowerment: An 'interpretive' model

of intrinsic task m

Documents

Effect of Employee Empowerment on Organisational Effectiveness