Lecture 11 Employee Empowerment

8/8/2019 Lecture 11 Employee Empowerment

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Lecture 11

Employee Empowerment


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The growing interest in

empowerment Growing interest in the importance of effective

management of employees particularly in the face ofincreasing international competition (Spritzer 1995;

McDuffie 1995; Conger and Kanungo; Walton 1985;Peters and Waterman 1982; Beer, Spector, Mills andWalton 1984; Schuler and Jackson 1987 ).

Walton (1985) comments on the movement away fromcontrol towards a proactive and strategic commitment

style of management. This has largely been embraced byHuman Resource Management.

Central to the commitment style of management isemployee empowerment.


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Wha

t is empowerment? The term empowerment evokes a wide range of concepts:

redistribution of power and authority; maximising

employees contribution to the success of the firm; fullparticipation of workers in decision making; self-

motivation; synergistic interaction among individuals,

emphasising co-operation; and enabling (Herenkohl,

Judson and Heffner 1999).

Employee empowerment refers to employees being morepro-active and self-sufficient in assisting an organisation to

achieve its goals.


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Working Definition of

empowerment Spreitzer (1995)

Meaning

Competence

Self-determination

Impact


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Antecedents of employee

empowerment Locus of control

Self-esteem

Access to information

Rewards

Trust Job design


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Spreitzer (1995) Assumptions Empowerment is not an enduring personality trait

generalizable across situation, but rather a set of cognitions

shaped by the work environment (Thomas and Velthouse1990).

Empowerment is a continuous variable.

Empowerment is not a global construct generalizable

across different situations, but rather specific to the work

domain.


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Spreitzer (1995)hypot

heses

Hypotheses 1a: The are four distinct dimensions ofpsychological empowerment.

Hypothesis 1b: Each dimension contributes to an overallconstruct of psychological empowerment.

Hypothesis 2 a: Self esteem is positively related topsychological empowerment.

Hypothesis 2b:Locus of control is positively related to

psychological empowerment. Hypothesis 2d: Access to information about the mission of

an organisation is positively related to psychologicalempowerment.


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Spreitzer (1995)hypot

heses

Hypothesis 2f: An individual-performance-based reward

system is positively related to psychological

empowerment. Hypothesis 3a: Psychological empowerment is positively

related to managerial effectiveness.

Hypothesis 3b: Psychological empowerment is positively-

related to innovative behaviours.


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Results Results provide initial support for hypotheses 1a and 1b.

The four factors were significantly correlated with eachother.

Antecedents Both self-esteem and access to informationwere significantly related to empowerment.

Locus of control was not found significantly related toempowerment - measurement limitation.

Information about performance and rewards weresignificantly related to psychological empowerment.

Consequences Relationships were found betweenmanagerial effectiveness and innovative behaviour


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Behavioural effects of

empowerment Empowerment affects both initiation and persistence of

subordinates behaviour.

Empowerment processes may allow leaders to mobiliseorganisational members in the face of organisationalchallenges.

These processes may enable leaders to set higherperformance goals, and may help employees to accept

these goals. Empowerment practices may also be useful in motivating

subordinates to persist despite difficult organisationalobstacles.


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The outcomes of employee

empowerment Employee empowerment is a principle component of

managerial and organisational effectiveness and thecreation of innovative and quality behaviours (Spreitzer

1995).

Experiences in team-building within organisationssuggests that empowerment techniques play a crucial partin group development and maintenance of teams (Kanter1979).

Analyses of power and control within organisations revealthat effectiveness grows with superiors sharing powerand control with employees (Conger and Kanungo 1988).


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Empowermenta

nd performa

nce Kirkman and Rosen (1999) reported positive relationships

between team empowerment and productivity, pro-activity,

customer service, job satisfaction and organisationalcommitment.

Thomas and Tymon (1993) found that empowerment

enhanced job satisfaction at an individual level.

Deci and Ryan (1985) observed that perceived autonomy

produced greater initiative among individuals.

Bateman and Crant (1993) linked empowerment with

greater pro-activity.


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Empowerment management

practices rganisation design selection and training procedures to

ensure technical and linguistic skills.

Organisational culture should emphasise self-determination, collaboration over conflict/competition,

high performance standards, non-discrimination andmeritocracy.

Loosely committed resources at the local level.

Open communication and extensive network-forming.

Leaders should express confidence in subordinates

accompanied by high performance expectations. Theyshould foster opportunities for employees to participate indecision making, improve employee autonomy, and createinspirational and meaningful goals.


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Critica

l Ma

nagement

Theory

Critical management theory examines the questionof the ultimate function of management.

Asserts that the penultimate function ofmanagement is the conversion of labour powerinto actual effort.

Extraction of effort versus resistance of workers.

To secure appropriate forms of behaviour fromworkers, management must control labour.

Control: the power of directing and commanding.


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Underlyingassumptions.

The labour process generates a surplus.

The logic of accumulation forces capital to

constantly revolutionize the production process.

Control of the labour process is imperative as

market mechanisms alone cannot regulate the

labour process.

Social relations between capital and labour can be

antagonistic.


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The n

ature of t

he L

abour Process

The struggle to transform labour power into

actual labour creates the need for capital to

seek some control over the conditions of

work and improve their side of the wage

effort bargain.

Such a situation creates a variety of formsof resistance, accommodation and

cooperation.


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HRMa

criticala

nalysis

Critical management theorists would interpret HRM as atool of managerial control.

HRM assumes that the individual is a malleable resource.

Management utilise a series of hard and soft HRMprograms to extract extra-ordinary contributions fromworkers.

Why use HRM?

The purchase of labour is not purely a market transaction,

but a dynamic and continual process. Given the complexity of the production process: quality

enhancement and innovation; innovative, creative andcooperative behaviours are important .


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Why use HRM? Continued..

Management are having to continually reconstitute

methods of control to maintain the subordination and

productive effort of employees (Friedman 1985; Edwards

1979).

Management have to continuously reinforce and realign

doctrines of control contingent on environmental and

technological evolution (Jermier 1998).

Taylorism (Braverman 1974).

The nature of the production process: Quality enhancement

and innovation.


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HRM:How ca

n itbe used?

HRM a managerial discourse that attempts to foster and

cultivate employee cooperation and minimise resistance.

HRM a management vehicle to shape and configuremalleable HRs in the interests of the firm.

Managerial control to regress opposition and resistance

and achieve strategic goals of the firm.

HRM can be viewed by critical management theorists as

the utilisation of emancipatory rhetoric to cultivate illusory

feelings of unity between management and employees and

the promulgation towards a unitary view of the firm.


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HRM:How can it

be used? Cont.

The institutionalisation of HRM as a positivist andhumanistic doctrine is an immensely powerful tool

to elicit extraordinary contribution from a highlycommitted and motivated workforce.

The colourful and emotive imagery of managerialconcern for employee welfare, development andemotional security, inculcated within thelegitimacy of the unitaristic umbrella are powerfultools to minimise opposition and tighten the reignsof control.


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Unitarism

Unitarism assumes that management is the only credible

source of loyalty within the firm.

Unitarism also seems to ignore the interests of otherimportant stakeholders.

Although HRM advocates the empowerment and

participation of employees, the degree and type of

participation are managerially defined.

Accommodation of multiple loyalties can be problematic

(Horwitz 1988).


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Sewell (1998) ASQ Management rhetoric of empowerment, autonomy, quality

and flexibility may be constructs representing the

tightening of managerial control.

Despite the rhetoric of trust and commitment management

are actually concerned with the realisation of the full

potential of labour.

HRM incorporates a series of HRM functions to mould

employee behaviour with the strategic goals of the firm.

A powerful tool to shape and configure employee

behaviour is that of organisational culture.


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Sewell (1998) ASQ cont. HRM encapsulates the adage how do you

control without controlling?

Panopticon (Foucault (1977)

Panopticon, an illustration of normative and

subversive techniques to establish social

control.


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Organisational culture: critical

analysis. Willmott (1992) Willmott purports that organisational culture aspires to

extend managerial control.

Promoting employee commitment to a monolithicstructure of feeling and thought.

Corporate culturism expects employees to internalise new

values that the firm expects and regards as morally

pertinent (eg. quality).

Employees are expected to devote themselves to the values

of the firm.

Employees are immersed in the logic of the market.


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Willmott (1992) Cont.

The central premise is that employees internalise the

values of the firm and identify themselves in terms of those

values.

Hence, if the employees fall short of these values then they

would feel a sense of shame, anxiety and guilt.

Organisational culturism can be an effective method of

control given asymmetrical information between

management and employees.

Organisational culturism expands practical freedom of

workers within a specified domain.

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Lecture 11 Employee Empowerment