Employee Empowerment

Rozana Huq

Description

Employee empowerment is thought to be both a solution to the problems associated with outdated 'command and control' workplaces and a way to stimulate creativity and innovation in organizations. Valuing people's dignity is at the heart of Dr. Huq's work and this led to her interest in conducting in-depth research into both the academic understanding of employee empowerment and what happens in practice. Divided into clearly defined sections are: a clear navigation of the management literature and explanation of the controversies surrounding employee empowerment.the key concepts that must be addressed and where the problems in interpretation arise.two live case studies (one large organisation with over 2000 employees and one small with 54 employees). an outline of the research methodology and sample questions. direct feedback from boardroom members to frontline operatives about their experiences of empowerment, revealing the pitfalls that may be common to many organisations.an overview of the findings with suggestions on what needs to be considered before implementing an employee empowerment programme. extensive bibliography providing an excellent reference resource. Referring also to the philosophy of Total Quality Management (TQM) and guidelines given by European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), this neat little book is a valuable resource, not only to researchers and academics, but also to practitioners in large and small organisations who are considering an empowerment programme or who want to understand and improve their current policies. Employee empowerment is thought to be both a solution to the problems associated with outdated 'command and control' workplaces and a way to stimulate creativity and innovation in organizations. Valuing people's dignity is at the heart of Dr. Huq's work and this led to her interest in conducting in-depth research into both the academic understanding of employee empowerment and what happens in practice. Divided into clearly defined sections are: a clear navigation of the management literature and explanation of the controversies surrounding employee empowerment.the key concepts that must be addressed and where the problems in interpretation arise.two live case studies (one large organisation with over 2000 employees and one small with 54 employees). an outline of the research methodology and sample questions. direct feedback from boardroom members to frontline operatives about their experiences of empowerment, revealing the pitfalls that may be common to many organisations.an overview of the findings with suggestions on what needs to be considered before implementing an employee empowerment programme. extensive bibliography providing an excellent reference resource. Referring also to the philosophy of Total Quality Management (TQM) and guidelines given by European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), this neat little book is a valuable resource, not only to researchers and academics, but also to practitioners in large and small organisations who are considering an empowerment programme or who want to understand and improve their current policies. Employee empowerment is thought to be both a solution to the problems associated with outdated 'command and control' workplaces and a way to stimulate creativity and innovation in organizations. Valuing people's dignity is at the heart of Dr. Huq's work and this led to her interest in conducting in-depth research into both the academic understanding of employee empowerment and what happens in practice. Divided into clearly defined sections are: a clear navigation of the management literature and explanation of the controversies surrounding employee empowerment.the key concepts that must be addressed and where the problems in interpretation arise.two live case studies (one large organisation with over 2000 employees and one small with 54 employees). an outline of the research methodology and sample questions. direct feedback from boardroom members to frontline operatives about their experiences of empowerment, revealing the pitfalls that may be common to many organisations.an overview of the findings with suggestions on what needs to be considered before implementing an employee empowerment programme. extensive bibliography providing an excellent reference resource. Referring also to the philosophy of Total Quality Management (TQM) and guidelines given by European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), this neat little book is a valuable resource, not only to researchers and academics, but also to practitioners in large and small organisations who are considering an empowerment programme or who want to understand and improve their current policies.

Sujets

• Gestion et management
• Operations research

Informations

• Publié par: Triarchy Press
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781908009401
• Langue: English

Extrait

First edition published in 2010 by: Triarchy Press Station Offices Axminster Devon. EX13 5PF United Kingdom
[phone] [e-mail] www.triarchypress.com
© Rozana Huq 2010.
The right of Rozana Huq to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including photocopying, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover design: Natasha Huq.
Published in this edition 2011.
ISBN: 9781908009401
Triarchy Press is an independent publishing house that looks at how organisations work and how to make them work better. We present challenging perspectives on organisations in short and pithy, but rigorously argued, books.
For more information about Triarchy Press, or to order any of our publications, please visit our website or drop us a line:
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Contents
 
FOREWORD
BY PROFESSOR ADRIAN WILKINSON
PART ONE
SETTING THE SCENE
Employee empowerment in the historical context
Confusion with other management initiatives – vagueness and ambiguity
Problems in implementation
Lack of research
Summary
PART TWO
MANAGEMENT LITERATURE REVIEW
Power-sharing
Participative decision-making
Devolution of responsibility
A people-oriented leadership style
Summary
PART THREE
CASE STUDIES
Similar and Dissimilar aspects of Case Organisations
Background to Case Organisations
Summary
PART FOUR
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN
Qualitative research
Data collection methods
Focus groups and one-to-one interviews
Summary
Large Organisation Sample Questions
Small Organisation Sample Questions
PART FIVE
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
Large Organisation
Small Organisation
Summary
PART SIX
MANAGEMENT’S REFLECTIVE THINKING
Management’s Reflective Thinking
Summary
PART SEVEN
POLICY TO PRACTICE
So what are the pitfalls?
Seven important additional notes for leaders and managers
Summary
PART EIGHT
AUTHOR’S CONCLUDING REMARKS
APPENDIX 1
THE EFQM EXCELLENCE MODEL CRITERIA (pre 2010)
APPENDIX 2
THE EFQM EXCELLENCE MODEL GLOSSARY OF TERMS (pre 2010)
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 
FOREWORD
By Professor Adrian Wilkinson
Rozana Huq has made an important contribution to the subject of employee empowerment with this book. Adding valuable empirical research through investigations of case studies, she illuminates issues and successes surrounding both formal and informal methods of implementing employee empowerment. The book includes insights from employees and managers of small and large enterprises, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects of employee empowerment and providing rich examples of people and situations.
In recent years, the term empowerment has become part of everyday management. Empowerment is regarded as providing a solution to the age-old problem of Taylorised and bureaucratic workplaces where creativity is stifled and workers become alienated (Wilkinson 1998). For its proponents, empowerment is a humanistic device to improve the quality of working life for ordinary employees. For its critics, it is the latest management idea to intensify work and shift responsibility. This book unravels the meaning surrounding empowerment to show what a ‘contested concept’ it is (Travers et al.). There are a number of problems with the existing prescriptive literature on empowerment and there is little detailed discussion of the issues likely to arise when implementing empowerment or the conditions which are necessary for such an approach to be successful.
Rozana argues that employee empowerment is vital for maintaining a competitive edge in national and international marketplaces and contends that ‘sharing of power helps to build dynamism and energy in organisations’. As a cautionary note, Rozana exposes the negative impact on the psychological well-being of workers when an organisation’s employee empowerment rhetoric doesn’t match the management practices. Thus organisations need to be careful before implementing employee empowerment as sometimes organisations can end up worse off than before.
The findings of this empirical research reveal that although employee empowerment is fraught with difficulties, most employees are keen to get on board, particularly as it gives them scope to learn, develop, be creative, make decisions, take responsibility and to enhance their self-esteem and selfconfidence. The importance of these initiatives is in the context of the translation of their properties within the real terrain of the workplace.
Rozana offers practical advice on how to implement and sustain employee empowerment in management practices. This book will be of value not only to academics, but also to practitioners of both small and large enterprises who may wish to implement or improve employee empowerment.
Professor Adrian Wilkinson
Director, Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing,
Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia.
References
Denham Lincoln, N., Travers, C., Ackers, P. & Wilkinson, A. (2002) The meaning of empowerment: the interdisciplinary etymology of a new management concept, International Journal of Management Reviews , 4(3), pp. 271–290.
Wilkinson, A. (1998) Empowerment: theory and practice, Personnel Review , 27(1), pp. 40–56.
Part One
Setting the Scene
Introduction
This book is drawn from some of the key aspects of the greater findings of my PhD Thesis entitled, ‘An Investigation of What Employee Empowerment Means in Theory and in Practice’.
My research was conducted in the United Kingdom and involved two case organisations, one large (over 2,000 employees) and the other small (54 employees). The details of the research methodology and the case organisations can be found in Part Three , Case Studies.
In this section, I provide an insight into the historical context of employee empowerment and outline some of the key problems facing it, such as: confusion with other management initiatives; problems in implementation; lack of research.
Employee empowerment in the historical context
There are several articles and books available on employee empowerment, but very few explain the historical context. Employee empowerment is a relatively new concept in management. However, it has been widely used in other disciplines, such as social work, where empowerment is an important construct for helping individuals improve their personal and working lives. The concept of empowerment in social work comes from the traditional activities of mutual aid and self-help going back to mid-Victorian times (Adams, 1996). The goal of this collective benefit of self-help was to build a healthy community that would help people to have control over their own lives thus also improving participation in the local community.
In management literature, several authors report that employee empowerment came to prominence in the 1980s as a response to rapid economic and technological change.
The term employee empowerment has also been widely associated with initiatives such as (TQM) Total Quality Management and (BPR) Business Process Re-engineering.
The quality movement was also influential during this period. While its principles had been developed by Japanese companies in the late 1950s and 1960s, interest in the West peaked in the 1980s, and there appeared to be a strong message of empowerment (Wilkinson et al, 1992). Under TQM, continuous improvement is undertaken by those involved in a process and this introduces bottom-up issue identification and problem-solving. As a result TQM may empower employees by delegating functions that were previously the preserve of more senior organisational members… (Wilkinson, 1998:43)
A major catalyst for the popularity of employee empowerment has been the need to comply with quality standards and award criteria and, in particular, Total Quality Management (TQM).
TQM stipulates that continuous improvement should be undertaken by all those involved in a process.
Everyone in an organisation from top to bottom, from offices to technical service, from headquarters to local sites must be involved. People are the source of ideas and innovation and their expertise, experience, knowledge and co-operation have to be harnessed to get these ideas implemented. (Oakland, 1989, cited in Wilkinson and Brown, 2003:181)
It also requires a change in management style in order to achieve the aims of TQM:
Quality management implies an open management style, with a devolution of responsibility. The aim is to develop a ‘quality culture’, whereby everyone in the organisation shares a commitment to continuous improvement aimed at customer satisfaction. (Wilkinson and Brown, 2003:184)
Morrell and Wilkinson (2002:120) also note that employee empowerment is associated with ‘the “excellence” movement, where the customer is “king”. In this sense, empowerment should enable organisations to be more immediately responsive to their customers, as decision-making is devolved’.
‘Productivity through people’, ‘…autonomy and entrepreneurship’ summed up the new philosophy which when combined with ‘the customer is king’ provided the context for current empowerment ideas. (Wilkinson, 1998:42)
Thus, employee empowerment is seen ‘in many respects as a rejection of the traditional classical model of management associated with Taylor and Ford where standardised products were made through economies of scale and the division of labour, and workers carried out fragmented and repetitive jobs’ (Wilkinson, 1998:44).
Confusion with other management initiatives – vagueness and ambiguity