Term Paper on "Empowerment One of the Catch Phrases"

Term Paper 14 pages (5216 words) Sources: 10 Style: Harvard

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Empowerment

One of the catch phrases of contemporary work systems is employee empowerment. (Weissberg, 1999, p. 1-2) Employee empowerment is defined as a concept by which employees and the groups in which they work feel that they have a voice and influence in decisions that are made by those above them. (Weissberg, 1999, p. 18) it is also clear that creating employee empowerment has as much to do with manipulation, i.e. coercion as it does with real empowerment by individuals in the workforce. The standard top down model, at the risk of sounding Machiavellian, is likely still very much in place, cornering the market on real decision making and eventual actions. Though and individual may have a sounding board it is unlikely that all employee suggestions voiced will be given the credence the system employs as a guise to elicit the ideal of employee empowerment, which can surely be adopted as a motivational tactic and even a system standard, but must be looked at in the light of what it is, a psychological system of persuasion to elicit employee motivation. Employee motivation in turn, can elicit outward acts of commitment, regardless of the real nature of commitment. Power is still held in a specific area of the system, regardless of the nature of the institutional values regarding empowerment.

Power is also exercised when a devotes his energies to creating or reinforcing social and political values and institutional practices that limit the scope of the political process to public consideration of only those issues which are comparatively innocuous to a (Bachrach and Baratz, 1970, p. 7)."These authors drew upon a respected sociological idea, the "mobilization of bias," put forth by Schattschneider (1960). The mobilization of bias is the fundamental rationale behind every form of social and political organisation and institution. Organisations present this mobilization in the form of.".. A set of predominant values, beliefs, rituals, and institutional procedures ('rules of the game') that operate systematically and consistently to benefit certain persons and groups at the expense of others" (Bachrach and Baratz, 1970, p. 43)....Lukes (1974, p. 17) points out that the above discussion reinforces classic dimensions related to different forms of power, including influence, coercion, manipulation, authority, and force.... The exercise of power can only be identified where there is conflict over an issue. Therefore, Lukes introduces a perspective that addresses both actual and latent conflict situations and behavioral and structural expressions of power as forms of "significant affecting" the actions of individuals or groups by others. Such expressions may act to even "promote the selective perception and articulation of social problems and conflicts" (Lukes, 1974, p. 45). (Pigg, 2002, p. 107)

Regardless of the good intent of the organisational system the system is seeking a way to coerce individuals into fulfilling he wishes of the system heads. It is not necessarily a negative thing to do, and in the interim voices may be heard and ideas furthered that would never have been thought of before but like all ideals employee empowerment is a system standard employed to motivate.

Creating a system where employees are regarded with a high level of respect is a consistent desire of many leaders, yet its the perception that holds the greatest importance, rather than the reality of the commitment the employee feels for the system. The perception of employee empowerment can make the difference between increased productivity and level outputs as well as between employees seeking to stay at all costs or leave at the least provocation. Keeping employees working for greater lengths of time is especially important with regard to highly skilled work, as well as in a small firm, where the loss of one skilled employee could seriously hinder a system. One type of organisation that works well in this type of situation is a "flat organisation model" where members of the team have real authority to make changes when they are needed. (Sanchez & Heene, 1997, p.21) Flat organisation models have been favored in the most recent past, as those which empower employees to seek excellence in production and create team systems that offer better production and possibly better innovative systems, as hierarchical models tend not to allow those with hands on experience the opportunity to elicit change, possibly in a manner that would increase production, as a result of the skill set of the individual low level members of the team. Yet, it must be remembered that the real decision making will be done at the hands of those in the greatest situation of power, and only some, not all decisions can be delegated to others and the larger the system the truer this maxim becomes.

The preparation of a group of employees to transition from a hierarchical organisational style to a flat organisational style is crucial, and is based on developing a system where the majority of individuals feel as if their voice is equal to that of others who hold similar positions to them. Yet, again it must be noted that a truly flat organisational system is impossible in very large systems. Previous systems of elevated psotioning, i.e. middle and upper management systems are particularly likely to be challenged by a move toward a flat organisational model as if such were truly implemented then their jobs would likely be seen as redundant and they would by perception accept termination or demotion as the likely outcome. In a larger firm it may not be possible to develop a pure flat organisational model as the need to make decisions and implement change may need to be done at a higher level. In this case a quasi-flat system can be initiated but some of the existing structure of management must be maintained to ensure that there is at least one person who is aware of all levels of business activity, as when it is complicated by diverse activities all members of the team may not be fully aware of all aspects of production. (Foss, 2005, p. 162)

To help transition a firm into a flat model of organisation, a management team must make those at the bottom believe that they will have authority to address concerns and make changes without the standard system of informed consent, where decisions go through a chain of management on a suggested basis and are then decided on based on the understanding of the system by management. The employees must believe in the team philosophy to potentially reduce the level of concern they have with seniority issues, by understanding the fact that each employee on the line is able to recognize and implement change through an individual or group effort, if the whole of the group agrees with the need for the change. (Sanchez & Heene, 1997, p. 21) team model may be the best ideological structure, as individuals will feel empowered to help the team by streamlining production through their own inside knowledge of the system, how it works and how it can be tweaked to produce better results. Those who have been traditionally seen as middle management will be eliminated, either through leveling or elimination, and this may be the most difficult of the transition, as such individuals may feel ownership to their previous authority, and have a difficult time with the idea or reality of demotion. Some middle managers may in fact sustain a crisis of loyalty and actually leave based on the fear of change. (Della Rocca, 1992, p. 54) Upper management must still be in place, and again the firm size is the greatest determining factor as to the ability of an organisation to transition to a flat system. If the firm is large the flat system must be altered to offer some middle management so as to allow for multi-factorial production to be integrated. The quasi-system must ensure that there are at least a few individuals who understand the whole of the organisation, in the sense that different aspects of production work together in a streamlined manner. Without such links between core systems the systems may become to independent and create production lags and system breakdown as a result of lack of knowledge of important functions of each as they work together. (Foss, 2005, p. 162)

Those at the lower levels must be prepared by engendering an understanding that they now have the authority to make changes and develop systems that better meet the needs of production. They may need reinforcement and multiple meetings to develop a natural flow in the manner in which they feel comfortable offering suggestions regarding production or organisation. Employees must feel empowered to explore possibilities that can help systems run more effectively especially when such events do not actually occur. (Della Rocca, 1992, p. 54) This is especially true with long-term employees who have been present for more traditional systems that tend to stifle their ability to offer suggestions, and engender a feeling of lack of personal control, which may be relied upon as a crutch to maintain the status quo, rather than to help develop… READ MORE

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