Support is needed to help that person in the job
Empowerment represents a fundamental shift for many organizations. The degree and speed of this shift depends on such factors.
Empowerment needs to start at the top
If you wish to develop responsibility, the place you must start is at top organization. It will be very difficult for employees to believe they truly have the power to make their own decisions if they perceive their managers have not changed their own behaviors. As one exasperated employee commented, `Do, you what senior managers say you should or that you see people doing?’
One organization in the catering business has evolved a way of enabling its employees take responsibility. Each manager, starting from the most senior, has a dialogue with direct reports in order to identify.
a) Areas of the job about which the employee would like to take decisions and where they need not refer directly to the boss for approval.
b) Areas of the job about which the employee may need to refer to the manager to sanction a decision
c) No-go areas of corporation policy or producer where employees do not have the power to decide.
The discussion helps clarify expectations and o the managers to agree with his or her team member the degree of improvement they would like and what encouragement or support is need to help that person in the job.
At MG group, managers are encouraged to let go of most of the tasks that they have held traditionally. Until the late 80s the company was very hierarchical. `The only time you saw a manger was when he was firing someone or we were having a problem with production,’ remembers one manger. Communication was top down and there was no opportunity to air grievances. Today, managers are locally based and there is no hierarchical behavior based on status. Two –way communication is commonplace.
Empowering leadership is underpinned by a consistent set of values, and people who live by them setting an example to others. The assumptions and values of empowering leadership are:-
a) Respect for people and valuing the strength of their different contributions.
b) Stress on the importance of open and honest communication
c) Commitment to working co-operatively with others
d) Recognition of the value of personal growth and development
e) The importance of customer satisfaction, working to meet the needs of internal as well as external customers
f) Awareness of improvement as a regular process in which everyone should be actively engaged.