Employee Empowerment: A Comparative Study among …oaji.net/articles/2015/352-1436090261.pdf · Employee Empowerment: A Comparative Study among Different Theories Alireza Hajian1,

Management and Administrative Sciences Review www.absronline.org/journals e-ISSN: 2308-1368, p-ISSN: 2310-872X Volume: 4, Issue: 1, Pages: 87-100 (January 2015) Academy of Business & Scientific Research

*Corresponding author: Behzad BaniasadiMS MS student in MBA – Isfahan University, Iran E-Mail: [email protected]

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Research Paper

Employee Empowerment: A Comparative Study among Different

Theories

Alireza Hajian1, Mahmoud Khabaz Shirvan2, and Behzad Baniasadi*3

1. Faculty Member, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran 2. Doctor of Business Administration Student- National University of Malaysia (UKM) 3. MS student in MBA – Isfahan University, Iran

In today society, running the affairs depends on organizations. Through their radical functions in the fields of discipline, needs satisfaction, dynamism and social progress, organizations play a vital role in the continuing lifecycle of societies. Obviously, their performance quality is too important. Organizational performance is influenced by their human capital quality aspects (i.e. knowledge, capability, motivation). Thus, empowerment has far distance from organization traditional concept. Today organizations need certain characteristics such as transparency and constant improvement to continue their life and to achieve such characteristics they should empower their human force as their most important resource and competitive advantage. To this end, the author has provided requirements, processes and advantages of empowerment of employees here and looks for studying different empowerment models and showing their weaknesses and strengths. Therefore, it is necessary to address knowledge development, capability and motivation of human forces in order to develop organizational human capital and, consequently, its performance improvement. The author has determined superior empowerment components.

Keywords: Comparative study, empowerment, empowerment models, organizational improvement

INTRODUCTION

The history of the first definition on empowerment backs to 1788 when empowerment was seen as authority designation in organization role which should be assigned to someone (Wilkinson, 2003). Bowen et al (2006) believed that empowerment is front-line employees’ share in four elements: information, knowledge, award and power. Cameron (2008) defines empowerment as the process of giving power to people. Fry (2005) has

defined empowerment as decision making power distribution to people who lack it.

Empowerment roots in psychology, sociology and religion studies backed to past decades and even centuries. Concerning psychology, for instance, Adler (1927) introduced the concept of dominated motivation by emphasis on those individuals who attempt to acquire domination in facing with their

Manag. Adm. Sci. Rev. e-ISSN: 2308-1368, p-ISSN: 2310-872X Volume: 4, Issue: 1, Pages: 87-100

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surrounding world (Whetten & Cameron, 2002). People own power by their knowledge and motivation. Empowerment is to release such power (Blanchard et al, 2008). Empowerment means to help people to improve their self – esteem and overcome their disabilities (Whetten & Cameron, 2002).

Any element in empowerment process management pattern such as developments, aims, strategies and controls help full recognition and development of empowerment (Han, Moon and Yun, 2009). The first step in defining empowerment is to address its boundaries (Konczak, 2000).

Spritzer (1997) asserts that empowerment is a multilateral concept and has different meanings for different people. Such attitude toward empowerment is called as an organic approach.

LITERATURE REVIEW

In the dictionary of Webster, empowerment has been defined as transferring authority or allocating legal power to others. The same term in Oxford dictionary has been defined as “enabling”. Empowerment refers to enabling, which means helping people to improve their self-confidence and through this can overcome their sense of disability and helplessness(Fong & Snape, 2014). Moreover, it means conducting and applying internal motivation in order to do a task. (Smith, 2000).

However, empowerment can be considered as a management style, in which managers and staffs would be invited to be involved in work processes through allowing them interference in decision making process. In fact, it could be in consistence with well-known movements such as “human relations” and “theory of Y McGregor”. Spritzer in his studies in a university in California State has investigated dimensions and also evaluation of psychological empowerment in workplace.

In management, the history of using empowerment terms backs to industrial democracy and involving employees in organizational decision making under such titles as team building, contribution and total quality management and finally empowerment based on most recent changes (Hardy, and O’Sullivan,

1998). Empowerment is not a new concept (Urei Yazdani, 2002). Through Y Theory by McGregor, managers’ attention to individuals’ abilities increased in organization and they concluded that one should bloom employees’ capabilities for organizational splendor (Abtahi and Abbessi, 2007). The important point on employees’ empowerment is the lack of proper and sufficient scientific resources as well as the lack of a trusted paradigm in executing empowerment plans in organizations. Lack of any research in this field has caused that managers avoid entering it (Yari, 2007).

According to Choi (2006), empowerment is a process which improve self – conception (the belief that someone can do certain activities well). By their knowledge and motivation, individuals are the owners of power. Empowerment is to release such power (Blanchard et al, 2002). In contrary to many organizational advantages which van evaluated by a tangible way, measuring individual advantages of empowerment is too difficult. Individual advantages of empowerment are too subjective and complicated (Cook, 1994). Smith (2000) believes that empowerment is to encourage people to more participation in adopting decisions which impact on their activities. In this way, we can give a chance to show that they can generate good ideas and make them into practice (Butts et al, 2009).

Allowing actions toward beyond sharing, dividing and refining the experiences, thinking, observing and dialogues are the main elements of empowerment (Lee, 2001). Empowerment can involve a set of methods and initiatives by which employees’ behavior is changed and they are enables to take and conduct the best decisions respective to organizational conditions (Luo, 2003).

Yoon (2001) believes that in empowerment, the employees not only need authorities but also they should have sufficient training, financial credit and adequate information so that they can be accountable to their decisions. Kim (2002) and Iromason (1997) believe that empowerment is like participative management namely subordinates’ participation in decision making and maximizing their engagement in the organization.

Empowerment plans enable the organization to act in a creative and innovative manner and to


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introduce its business so that it can keep its status in the best conditions. The most important advantages of such plans is that they pave the ground for more understanding and commitment between employees and organization (Butts et al, 2009).

The feeling of empowerment means the condition in which employees can do their jobs by high impetus successfully (Dawling, 1999). In other words, empowerment feeling is based on removing growth barriers, persuading commitment to aims, risk-taking, creativity and innovation and enabling employees to resolve the problems and enhancing their accountability. Briefly, empowerment feeling is to end anything which causes stops in growth, freedom, self – esteem, contribution and cooperation by staff (Aghlmand and Akbari, 2005).

In empowerment process, it is attempted to create an environment where all employees acquire self-esteem, commitment and freedom in accepting the responsibility against growth and development. One should note that empowerment feeling is not something granted by managers to employees; rather, it is a situation in which employees decide and act in the best manner (Lamei, 2003). Overall, there are three general attitudes toward empowerment: relational, motivational and psychological (Robbins, 2002).

In empowerment literature, relational approach is a top – down and mechanical process in which empowerment is realized when high levels of organizational hierarchy share their power with other people in the same organizational hierarchy. In this approach, managers and leaders play different and important roles. These roles include establishing a joint aim, emphasis on employees’ efforts and appreciating them, and focusing on strategies which consider independence in decision making.

This aspect of empowerment means “enabling” by motivation through self – efficacy, enabling is to create necessary conditions to promote people’s motivation in doing their jobs through self – efficacy or reducing their powerless feeling. In contrary to relations approach aims at power making and its strategy is to distribute power in the organization, motivational approach aims at

empowering and its strategy is to foster self – sufficiency (Hall, 2008).

This approach focuses on employees’ perception on empowerment. It is an organic down – top process. Authors believe that empowerment is realized only when it can create psychological moods in employees. In other words, power distribution does not necessarily lead into empowerment since employees may have not such imagine (Perez, 2002).

Influencing factors on employees’ empowerment are studied and categorized in different viewpoints. An attitude with many fans is Spitzer’s insight (Ameri, 2010). He believes that affecting factors on empowerment include:

Environmental Factors: Social Support, Political Support, Respect Feeling

Managerial factors: contribution in decision making and goal setting, transparency in tasks and roles, performance feedback, participation and team working, authority designation, awards (both material and immaterial) Individual factors: job records, education, personality traits like control locus, self-esteem, etc.

Enablers: access to resources and information, specialized and required training (Spritzer, 1996).

According to Richard L. Deft, empowerment can be seen as the outcome of three main items: managers’ interests and attitudes toward contributing the staff in organizational decision making, designating decision making authorities to subordinates and the awards paid to employees for their successes. In fact, contributive management paves the ground for empowerment and deepens it by designation. Based on fostering theory, appreciating subordinates’ proper performance leads into stability and durability of acquired capabilities (Deft, 2002).

TABLE 1, 2 AND 3 HERE

Employees’ Empowerment Models

A model can be seen as an abstraction of reality to organize and simplify our attitude toward the reality of work (Jajarmizadeh, 2995). Therefore, any model has two important sections: rational and mechanical. Rationality is defined as “clarifying the neuter of studied phenomena


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which would lead into definition of model concepts.” On the other hand, mechanism is structure of concepts and relations among them (Cited by Rezaei, 2010).

Kinla’s Empowerment Model

Kinla introduced a six – step model on employees’ empowerment:

(1) Defining and communication the concept of empowerment to organizational members

(2) Goal setting and formulating strategies for employees in all organizational levels in order to develop and foster empowerment as an organizational framework.

(3) Evaluating and modifying employees’ empowerment through measuring the improvement and recognition of organizational members (Kinla, 2004).

(4) Training the employees to play new roles and conducting their functions by ways adapted to organizational aims to expand and foster empowerment.

(5) Adapting organizational structure so that it leads into lean management, bureaucracy reduction and more independence.

(6) Adapting organizational systems (i.e. planning, awards, promotion, training, employing) to support employees’ empowerment.

FIGURE 1 HERE

According to fox (1998) employees’ empowerment is a process by which empowerment culture is developed and ideals, goals, decision making borders and the results of impacts and efforts by employees are shared organization-wide (Kinla, 2004).

Empowerment Model By Mallak And Kurstedt

Mallak and Kurstedt defined empowerment as a wider concept of participative management. By emphasis on culture building and the role of managers in employees’ empowerment, they say that empowerment consists of four aspects. They believe that empowerment is a behavior motivated intrinsically and justifies the deeds by which managers designate authorities to their employees for resolving the problems (Mallak et al, 1996).

Empowerment Model By Noller

Noller (1997) provided a four – aspect model on employees’ empowerment called Webern Ideal model. He says that we talk about empowerment of an individual or a group when they have below characteristics:

• Full decision making authority

• Full accountability on executing any kind of decision

• Full access to decision making related instruments and its execution

• Full responsibility on the outcomes of taken decision

Noller believe that such empowerment model is an ideal situation not observed constantly and its vital element is to emphasize on accepting the responsibilities of conducted actions and taken decision (Noller, 1997).

Empowerment Model By Thomas And Velthouse

Thomas and Velthouse (1990) extended the general model devised by Conger and Kananga (1981) and suggested that empowerment is better to be considered as a multidimensional construct. In their conceptual model on employees’ empowerment, their analyzed four aspects of empowerment: effect, choice, competency and meaning. According to them, this effect means that changes in work are shaped by a certain task. Choice and personal behavior means the individual and competency is to have skills, experiences and capabilities to move forward. According to them, more individual’s belief in the impact of work, choice opportunity, necessary competency and meaning would lead into more employees’ empowerment feeling and there is no empowerment per se without meaning (Thomas and Velthaouse, 2000).

They believe that empowerment reflects the awareness and cognition of an employee about him/her. Also, they believe that empowerment is not just employees’ tasks assessment; rather, it depends on thematic factors such as mutual relations between employees and supervisors, friends and subordinates (Moye and Henkin, 2006).


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Empowerment Model By Robbins, Crino And Fredendal

According to these three authors, although in many studies empowerment is seen as an intrinsic driving force or reaction against an intimate stimulant, in fact, empowerment is to accept a certain plan; new job structure, power transition, assignment, participation in information and contribution in resources. They believe that by emphasizing on spatial and individual factors, one can achieve the best mood of empowerment process. The most fundamental step in this process is to create internal workplace with organizational broad contexture which generates an opportunity to use all empowerment aspects in order to create necessary impetus (Robbins et al, 2002: 420).

FIGURE 2 HERE

Empowerment Model By Mclagan And Nell

McLagan and Nell (1997) provided a multidimensional approach on employees’ empowerment. It consists establishing a system of company’s values, a flexible structure against hierarchical structure, facilitating leadership and the fact that anyone is his own manager. According to them, capable individuals can assign their responsibilities to other organizational levels directly through a product or service which coordinates colleagues for resolving a problem (McLagan et al, 1997).

Empowerment Model By Laverack

Laverack (2003) provided a new approach on empowerment. In this model, the roles of people in clarifying and executing the model are too highlighted. Four steps of executing the model with nine principles of empowerment and seven steps can be shown in below diagram. Laverack believes that pre-assessment observation and discussion can ensure more adaptability of the model with social and cultural requirements and it is necessary to give a clear definition on empowerment so that members can achieve a joint understanding

FIGURE 3 HERE

Empowerment Model By Spritzer

According to Spritzer (1995), in contrary to increasingly tendency by management scientific

resources to empowerment, lack of psychological empowerment in workplace has prevented more researches in workplaces. According to him, empowerment is a constant variable in which employees may experience different degrees (Moye and Henkin, 2006).

By focusing on psychological empowerment, Spritzer looks for developing an empowerment legal network in workplace. His model consists of four elements which measures employees’ conception on meaning, competency, effect and self – determination. He defines meaning as personal feeling on the relationship between labor and personal standards. It happens when job tasks are adapted to personal values, convictions and behaviors. Competency is a person’s belief in his ability to do necessary works. Self – determination is personal conception on the right of choice respective the job which should be conducted. Effect is personal feeling on his influence over the outcomes of a given job (Abtahi & Abbessi, 2007).

In Spritzers’ empowerment model, empowerment is not only a process but also a factor influenced by environmental, efficiency and individual factors and on the other hand can be seen as an affecting facto on organizational effectiveness, efficiency and creativity. In this term, empowerment has an organizational functionality influenced by culture of the society and the ability to promote efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. Spritzer explains his model as below: (Sprtizer, 1995).

Empowerment Model By Gao

As the representative of Governmental Affairs Committee of Senate, GAO (2001) conducted a research on human capital to observe the initiatives led into employees’ empowerment. It targeted five huge organizations in the United States. It published is results in six radical steps for employees’ empowerment (below chart) and believes that respecting employees’ empowerment and involve ling them in in executive affairs can facilitate changes (GAO, 2001).

FIGURE 4 HERE

CONCLUSION

If an organization plans to be successful in future, it should focus on unique talents of its all


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employees and affecting factors in concerting these talents to dynamic performance (Abbaspour, 2005: 280). Today, no organization can survive without capable employees(Fong & Snape, 2014). Empowerment is neither a task nor an end; rather, it is a process. Empowerment is not to grant power to individuals(Zhang, Song, Tsui, & Fu, 2014). People are power owners by their knowledge and impetus and, in fact, empowerment is to release such power. Empowerment would provide people with potential capacities to use human abilities not used fully(Laschinger, Wong, & Grau, 2013).

The reason of high performance and satisfaction is the feeling created in employees namely the right of choice. Capable people feel self – control over results(Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 2013). They believe that they can influence on the environment in which they work or the results they achieve in order to change them. Managers are recommended to improve those job actions which would lead into employees’ job meaning toward their empowerment(Gabriel, Frantz, Levy, & Hilliard, 2014).

It is the organization which should create desired situation for employees and organize proper training courses in order to improve employees’ competency feeling in their jobs and to have employees who are interested in facing with new challenges for more learning rather than fearing failures. Employees have better performance and job gratification when assigned tasks are not compulsory; rather, the tasks are accepted by them voluntarily and they try to perform them precisely and successfully.

Employees’ empowerment plans should be devised so that they can increase the feeling of competency in job (which would lead into employees’ empowerment) and to improve their organizational learning. They should give freedom and independence to their employees so that they can determine how to perform assigned tasks and their velocity. Likewise, managers should give more importance to in-service training and to move toward employees’ empowerment by creating an appropriate structure in HR management system.

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APPENDIX

Table 1: Historical process of empowerment (Abdollahi, 2004)

Decade

Relevant issues of

empowerment

Description

1960s

Sensitivity training Managers were sensitive about their staffs’ need sand intentions

1970s

Staffs cooperation Managers allow their staff s to participate in decision making

1980s

Management of learning quality

Managers had control on group work and team formation

1990s

Staffs empowerment Managers provided conditions for realizing staffs’ potential abilities

Table 2: Empowerment approaches (Mohammadi, 2001)

Approach Creation sour

Nature of approach

Social/structural

Principles of democracy and sociology

Sharing power and decision making responsibility

Psychological

Social psychology and theory of internal

motivation

Considering competency, right of choice,

effectiveness, and significance of staffs

Critical Theory of post-modern and structure-breaking

Identifying the person, who is able to control

structure of official power


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Table 3: Dimensions of human force empowerment in different motivational and cognitive views

(Rezaee Manesh, 2014)

Theorists Dimensions of empowerment

Kangaroo Connengo, 1988 Sense of self -efficiency and self-effectiveness

Thomas and Velthouse, 1990

Sense of effectiveness, have right of choice, sense of competency, sense of meaningfulness

Spritzer, 1995 Effectiveness, right of choice, competency, significance

Mishra, 1992 Sence of competency, right of choice, sense of effectiveness, sense of meaningfulness, sense of trust in others

Figure 1: Employees’ empowerment management paradigm

Empowerment

meaning

Empowerment

strategies

Controls for

empowerment

Roles and tasks

Achievements Empowerment

aims

Definition

&

Evaluation

&

Adapting

organization

Clarifying

the aims

Constant

improve

Training

Adapting

organizational


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Figure 2: Empowerment model by Robbins, Crino and Fredendal

Empowere

d behavior

Personal

differences

Organizationa

l sturcutre

Intrinsic tendency

and attitude

• Opportunity

• Commitment

Psychological

empowerment

Impact

Competency

Willful

meaning

Personal

differences

Internal workplace

Job structure

Power designation

Participation in

resources and

information

HR performance


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Figure 3: Empowerment model by Laverack

Pre-execution

preparation

Evaluating empowerment

principles by polling

Registering the reasons of

evaluation

How to improve status quo

• Participation

• Resource

movement

• Questions

• Relations with

others

• External factor

roles

Feedback and

reassessment

Empowerment

principles

Step 1: preparation

Step 2: evaluation

Step 3: strategic

planning

Step 4: feedback


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Figure 4: Empowerment model by GAO

Commitment

aspects

The aspects of

engagement

by Labor

unions

The aspects

of using staff

groups

Training

aspects

The aspects of

staff

engagement in

planning

Interaction

aspects

• Expressing perspectives

• Organizational changes

• Open communications

• Radical changes in

redesigning

• Job process

• Changes in labor laws

and rules

• Developing new terms of

• Employees with multiple

functions

• Employees with different job

levels

• Learning team performance

• Learning how to develop

labor relations

• Learning how to persuade

• Awareness of organizational

performance

• Assessing the among

organizational performance

progress

• Information exchange

• Resource exchange

Senior management

commitment tools

Engaging labor unions

Using staff groups to

execute organizational

mission

Training employees on

promoting knowledge,

skills and capabilities

Engaging employees in

planning and sharing them

in organizational

performance information

Interaction between senior

managers and front-line

employees

Empowerment

Documents

Employee Empowerment: A Comparative Study among …oaji.net/articles/2015/352-1436090261.pdf · Employee Empowerment: A Comparative Study among Different Theories Alireza Hajian1,