Hr Empowrmnt Report

8/9/2019 Hr Empowrmnt Report

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Empowerment

Introduction

Empowerment has become one of the most salient concepts in modern

management theory and practice. Definitions vary, but collectively empowerment

is defined as the process of providing employees with the necessary guidance and

skills, to enable autonomous decision making (including accountability and the

responsibility) for making these decisions within acceptable parameters, that are

part of an organizational culture.

From a service perspective, empowerment gives employees theauthority to make decisions concerning customer service. True empowerment

means that employees can bend and break rules to do whatever is necessary (within

reason) to take care of the customer. In other words, empowerment is the wisdom

to know what to do, the will to do what needs to be done, and the wherewithal to

do it. It involves the expressions and avenues through which the non-managerial

staff members are conditioned to be able to make certain important company

decisions, with the support and backing of a well planned empowerment program.

Employee empowerment training actually culminates in the whole set-up

becoming an empowerment model.

Employee empowerment can be attempted via dedicated virtual

courses, special employee empowerment workshops by management gurus,

dedicated books and articles and even software packages. There are a myriad of

dedicated magazines that companies can subscribe to and convert effectively to

employee driven decision-making. The basic concept behind the employee

empowerment program is to give power to the individual, which in turn gives the

company happier employees, who feel important. The delegated choice and

participation and subsequently responsibility makes the employees feel like

firsthand representatives of the business.


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Need for Empowerment

y Every person has different reasons for working. The reasons for working

are as individual as the person. But, we all work because we obtainsomething that we need from work. The something we obtain from work

impacts our morale and motivation and the quality of our lives. If we

provide a fair wage to our employees, we can then work on motivational

issues.

y Employee involvement is not the goal nor is it a tool, as practiced in

many organizations. Rather, it is a management and leadership

philosophy about how people are most enabled to contribute to

continuous improvement and the ongoing success of their workorganization. This involvement increases ownership and commitment,

retains your best employees, and fosters an environment in which people

choose to be motivated and contributing.

y Employee empowerment changes the managers' mind-set and leaves

them with more time to engage in broad-based thinking. This intelligent

and productive division of duties between visionary leaders, focusing on

emerging opportunities, and empowered employees, provides for a well-managed enterprise with strong growth potential.

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. It is

not something that can be delegated or somebody can bestow because it comes

from Individual and self direction The basic purpose of empowerment is lost in

majority of organization because employees expect it as a delegation process

instead of a initiating and ongoing process in which an individual enabling himselfto take action and control work and decision making in autonomous ways which

comes from the individual.Organization has the responsibility to remove barriersthat limit the ability of staff to act in empowered ways.


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Importance of Empowerment

y Knowledge workers are not prepared to accept the old command and

control systems. They want such job environment which provides them

opportunities for exercising control over work related decisions.Organizations which fail to provide such opportunities continuously lose

their best employees.

y In order to grow and survive in a competitive era, organizations must

meet the needs of customers more effectively. For this purpose, cross

functional working and close cooperation is required. Empowerment can

provide such cooperation.

y Growing turbulence of environment requires quick response which is not

possible under the old command and control model of organizational

functioning. Empowerment encourages innovation and creativity on the

part of staff.

y Economic liberalization and globalization are leading to downsizing,

delayering and decentralization. In order to achieve coordination and

control in the new economy, staff must exercise much greater

responsibility.

Lack of Empowerment results in-

An empowered employee can adapt to each customer in real time (this is a crucial

area), and carry through their job with less time wasted, less hassle, and less

frustration for the customer.

A totally un-empowered employee is in a troublesome situation due to lack of self-

confidence and frustration, so it results as

y The customer feels undervalued and receives poorer service.

y

The management has time taken up by queries, and is likely to have lessmotivated staff, and poorer sales or performance results.

y The employee feels under-valued and stressed, particularly if there are

problems that they can see but have no power to change.

y Situations where management accuse employees of not doing their job, but

at the same time will not give them the empowerment needed to do it are

very common.


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Effective Empowerment

In the present day competitive world, no progressive organization can

overlook empowerment. Empowered employees are, after all, moreinnovative, creative, and resourceful. They are free from the shackles of

management, so they are happy and motivated at work and willing to take on

new responsibilities. 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 question is not whether to empower or not but question is how to make

empowerment effective. So following are some methods to make

empowerment effective-

yGroup mentoring affords an organization the opportunity to extend its

mentoring efforts and reach more people in a time-efficient manner.

y Corporate team building or planning events are, at best, a short term

boost to employee enthusiasm and positive morale. If they are planned

and executed well, people feel good about themselves and about each

other.

y Management must provide personal attention to each and every

employee so as to secure a long term commitment from employees

y Top management must support the entire empowerment process so as

to make it more effectivey The right employee training, development and education, at the right

time, provides big payoffs for the employer in increased productivity,

knowledge, loyalty, and contribution.

y Prioritize employee recognition and you can ensure a positive,

productive, innovative organizational climate and this will make the

organization successful.

Barriers of Empowerment

Managers need to provide growth and challenge opportunities and goals that

employees can aim for and achieve. Failure to provide a strategic framework, in

which decisions have a compass and success measurements, imperils the

opportunity for empowered behavior. Employees need direction to know how to

practice empowerment.


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If managers fail to provide the information and access to information, training, and

learning opportunities needed for staff to make good decisions, the employee

empowerment efforts will surely fall short of. The organization has the

responsibility to create a work environment that helps foster the ability and desire

of employees to act in empowered ways. Information is the key to successful

employee empowerment.

Here are some key points related to the barriers of empowerment:

y Managers give decision making authority to employee, but do not really

believe in its power.

y Managers dont really understand what employee empowerment means

y Managers fail to establish boundaries for employee empowerment.

y Managers have defined the decision making authority and boundaries with

staff, but then micromanage the work of employees.y Failure to provide a strategic framework, in which decisions have a compass

and success measurements, imperils the opportunity for empowered

behavior.

y When employees feel under-compensated, under-titled for the

responsibilities they take on, under-noticed, under-praised, and under-

appreciated

Suggestion System of Empowerment

Three stages of suggestion system:

1) Encouragement: In the first stage, management should make every effort

to help the workers provide suggestions, no matter how primitive, for the

betterment of the worker's job and the workshop. This will help the

workers look at the way they are doing their jobs.2) Education: In the second stage, management should stress employee

education so that employees can provide better suggestions. In order for

the workers to provide better suggestions, they should be equipped toanalyze problems and the environment. This requires education

3) Efficiency: Only in the third stage, after the workers are both interested

and educated, should management be concerned with the economic

impact of the suggestions.


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Participation

Introduction

Participative management has become a key word in empowerment. Research has

shown that there is a positive link between participation and satisfaction,

motivation and performance. The self-managed work team is a new way of

viewing the relationship of the worker-management-organization. An employee

involvement team, which consists of small groups of employees who work on

solving specific problems related to quality and productivity, represent one way of

participative management. Such teams have proved effective in resolving problems

related to productivity and quality, as well as improved employee morale and jobsatisfaction.

Participative management is a method, which gives employees responsibility,

accountability, and authority over their work. The method provides simple tools for

employees to improve their work performance and positively impact the bottom

line. The process provides an environment to make employee needs known and

creates a vehicle for improved communication between all areas of the

organization.

What differentiates this work is that people's recommendations are actuallyimplemented and acted upon. People solve their own issues and feel empowered

within the process of doing so. Executives and employees learn to redesign their

workplace to be participative and self-managing. This does not mean you do away

with management. People are not asked to do things that they are not capable of

accomplishing. There may be training involved to improve skill sets. This does not

resemble laissez-faire management in any way. Managers and employees look at a

piece of work and ask what roles and responsibilities need to be placed within the

boundaries of the work in order to achieve individual and organization goals. The

idea is to allow as much responsibility, accountability and reasonable authority topeople actually doing the work.


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Skills Required for Participative Management

y

Interest and concern- Some people prefer to be told what to do.y Recognize and enhance talents in others- Some people fear they will lose

power if they build others.

y Recognize and work around weaknesses in others- Some people are soirritated by deficiencies of others that they cant they cant recognize and

work with their strengths.

y Communication- Particularly listening. We often would rather inform than

become informed.

y Conflict resolution- It is easier to create a conflict than to resolve one. It

usually requires forgiving other, something most people dont do well.y Self-control- Getting the best out of others requires controlling our selves.

our habits, anger, self-serving tendencies.

y Negotiation- It can seem difficult to negotiate when we already have the

power to simply decide and act.

y Compromise- We often must compromise short-term personal or

departmental goal to achieve a company goal or help another achieve a

personal goal.

y Teach ability. When the team answer is different than our preconceived

desire we must learn from the team.y Flexibility.We must learn from others and then implement the better

alternatives.

y Correction. The PM process constantly makes it clear that, .I was mistaken.

.I didnt think of everything,. .I wasnt considering anothers viewpoint, Etc.

Most people dont like this process.

Benefits ofParticipative Management

A participative management style offers various benefits at all levels of the

organization. By creating a sense of ownership in the company, participative

management instills a sense of pride and motivates employees to increase

productivity in order to achieve their goals. Employees who participate in the


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decisions of the company feel like they are a part of a team with a common goal,

and find their sense of self-esteem and creative fulfillment heightened.

Here are some key points:

y

Participation helps employees gain a wider view of the organization.

Through training, development opportunities, and information sharing,

employees can acquire the conceptual skills needed to become effective

managers or top executives.

y Participation keeps employees informed of upcoming events so they will be

aware of potential changes.

y Generally, employer and employees doubt the integrity of each other due to

ignorance of each others problems.P

articipation brings the two partiescloser and makes them aware of each others problems.

y Co-operation between managers and employees helps to increase production

and profits of industry

y Employees participation in management helps to reduce industrial disputes

and to improve workers loyalty

Forms ofParticipation

Suggestion scheme: Under this system workers are invited and

encouraged to offer suggestions for improving the working of the

enterprise. A suggestion box is installed. Any worker can write his

suggestions and put it into the box. Periodically all the suggestions are

scrutinized by the suggestion committee. Good suggestions are

implemented and suitable rewards are given.

Works committee: Under the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 every

establishment employing 100 or more workers is required to

constitute a works committee. Such a committee consists of equal no.

of representatives of employers and workers. The main purpose of this


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committee is to provide measures for securing and preserving amity

and good relations between the employer and employees.

Worker Directors: Under this method, one or two representatives of

workers are nominated or elected on the Board of Directors. This is a

fully fledged and highest form of workers participation in

management.

Co-Partnership: In this method, workers are made shareholders in the

company in which they are employed. As partners they can take part

in management of enterprise. They also share the companys profit in

form of dividend.

Barriers ofParticipative Management

y Employers feel that workers are not competent enough to take decisions.

There is no clear evidence to convince managers that participative

management will really lead to higher productivity

y Majority of the lower level employees are not motivated enough to assume

decision making responsibility either directly or through their

representatives

y Workers representatives who participate in management have to perform the

dual role of workers spokesperson and co-managers. Very few

representatives are competent enough to assume the two incompatible roles.

y Generally trade union leaders who represent workers are also active

members of political parties. While participating in management they give

priority to political interests rather than interest of workers

y

Schemes of workers participation have been initiated and sponsored by theGovt. There has been lack of initiative on the part of both employers and

employees.


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Case Study

BMW Group Plant Oxford's 'The New Oxford Way' (NOW)Program: From Culture Clash to Performance Culture

In 2000, the Germany-based BMWGroup (BMW) sold off The RoverGroup

(RoverGroup) that it had acquired in 1994, but it retained its iconic MINI brand.

As part of the changes initiated, BMW shifted production from Long bridge to

Cowley (in Oxford), the plant which had rolled out the originalMini. BMW

wanted to come out with a new MINI. However, the management at the new plantfaced challenges in upgrading the site and processes and in preparing for the

launch of the new vehicle. It also had to face the huge challenge of integrating the

erstwhile Rover and BMW cultures, which differed vastly from each other.

Besides, there was a strong feeling of 'us' and 'them' among the employees.

The massive layoffs that accompanied the production shift from Longbridge to

Cowley complicated matters further. This prompted BMW to launch 'The New

Oxford Way' (NOW) program which was aimed at integrating the erstwhile Rover

and BMW cultures, improving productivity, and decreasing costs by empowering

the workers.

As part of the initiative, huge investments were made to refurbish the Oxford plant

as it prepared to come out with a new generation MINI. A key component of the

NOW was the Working in Groups (WINGS) project that was aimed at increasing

the involvement of the workers by empowering them. The initiative soon started

showing results, leading to better employee morale, reduced costs, and increased

productivity.

In 2002, the production target (100,000 units) was exceeded by 60 percent. BMWwas also credited with handling its production strategy well in keeping with the

high demand for the MINIs in the subsequent years. In 2004, the Oxford plant

rolled out the 500,000th MINI in August 2004, two years ahead of schedule, and in

the following year, production for the year crossed the 200,000 mark. The

company was credited with transforming the culture of the Oxford plant from a

culture marked by confrontation and negativism to that of a performance culture.


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Issues:

Study the production strategy adopted by the BMWGroup pertaining to MINI.

Understand the issues and challenges in job design and team working.

Understand issues and challenges in employee empowerment.

Understand how the culture of the BMWGroup Oxford Plant was changed from

that of confrontation and negativism to a performance culture.

Analyze 'The New Oxford Way' (NOW) program and the 'Working in Groups'

initiative.

Documents

Hr Empowrmnt Report