Empowerment: rejuvenating a potent idea

Citation

(2002), "Empowerment: rejuvenating a potent idea", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 6 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2002.26706baf.006

Empowerment: rejuvenating a potent idea

Empowerment: rejuvenating a potent idea

R. Forrester, The Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 14 No. 3, August 2000

Argues that despite the attraction of the concept of high-involvement management, companies have found it difficult to put empowerment into practice. Gives six ways in which organizations can undermine empowerment by disregarding the power shift and choice element implicit in empowerment: mandating a rapid shift to empowerment; over-reliance on a narrow psychological concept; one-size-fits-all empowerment; neglect of the needs of power sharers on the key dimensions of control, achievement, recognition, security and subjective attribution; piecemeal approaches; and distortions of accountability. Offers six strategies that can be employed to enlist the power of employees more effectively: enlarge power, by building knowledge, skills and competence alongside increased discretion; be clear how much you want to extend employees' power, the extent you are prepared to fund it and the appetite within the company for empowerment; differentiate among employees; support power sharers; build closely aligned management systems; and focus on results.

Comment: Offers six ways empowerment can be hindered and six strategies that can be used to overcome these obstacles. As well as being highly readable, the applied nature of this article makes it a must for all practicing managers.