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Employee Empowerment: A Critical Review

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Ethica Tanjeen
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 Dhaka University Journal of Management,
Volume 5, Nos. 1, January- December 2013

Employee Empowerment: A Critical Review

Ethica Tanjeen*

Abstract

Employee empowerment can be defined as fostering a work

environment where an employee can participate in decision making,
problem solving and goal setting process. It involves delegation of
power through which employees can take decisions. This study
attempts to review the literature and the opinions about employee
empowerment. The essence of employee empowerment is increasing
employee's responsibility and improving quality of work. Employee
empowerment develops positive attitude among the employees
towards the organization. This study shows the views, elements,
types, techniques, benefits and the challenges associated with
employee empowerment. This study is based on secondary data. This
study can be a systematic starting point for managers to understand
the concept of empowerment. Reflection of this study can serve as a
learning instrument for organizations to practice employee
empowerment.

Keywords: Employee empowerment, Techniques, Benefits, Challenges.

1. Introduction

In this competitive world, organizations follow all the possible steps to ensure success
and managing the workforce in an efficient manner. The term “Employee
Empowerment” getting more importance in today’s world. Employee empowerment
has received a wide recognition as an important subject in management circles,
mainly, because it is seen as one of the fundamental elements of managerial and
organizational effectiveness that increases when power and control are shared in
organization (Ergeneli, 2007). In recent years, empowerment has been discerned as an
important feature of successful management (Batten, 1995). Kotter (1995) affirmed
that a major step in transforming an organization is to empower employees to act on
the organizational vision. Leaders who empower employees enable them and their
organizations to deal more successfully with market turbulence and unforeseen
demands of the future (Lorsch, 1995). Empowerment is encouraging more people to
participate in decisions that affect their activities (Smith, 2002). Empowerment tends
to be more talked about at the cognitive level than realized in practice.

*Ethica Tanjeen, Lecturer, Department of Management, University of Dhaka

In business, many people refer to empowerment without really understanding its
essential nature (Dobbs, 1993; Randolph, 1995). Besides Quinn and Spreitzer (1999)
mentioned that there is a growing consensus that employee empowerment can be a
source of competitive advantage for contemporary organizations. Therefore; every
organization should give emphasis on empowerment. This study focuses on the
techniques and benefits of employee empowerment.

2. Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to explore the concept of employee empowerment.
The secondary objectives are:

• To identify the views, approaches, elements, types, benefits and techniques of

employee empowerment based on some previous studies.
• To identify the challenges associated with employee empowerment.
• To recommend measures for improving employee empowerment.

3. Methodology

This paper is aimed at searching the existing literatures on employee empowerment.

This study is conducted on the basis of secondary data. The secondary data are
collected from the published books, journals and research papers. Newspaper articles
and the internet sources are also used. But the author has interpreted the data in the
light of the objectives mentioned in earlier section.

4. Literature Review

A highly dedicated and committed workforce is essential for achieving organizational

goals (Locke & Latham, 1990; Pinder, 1998). A satisfied and committed employee is
a valuable asset to the organization. Such an employee is psychologically attached to
his job and is less likely to leave the organization, takes pride in belonging to the
organization (Kuo, Ho, Lin & Lai, 2009) and makes greater contribution for the
success of the organization. Hence, the HR department of an organization needs to
focus on developing employee competencies and influencing employee behavior in
such a way that employees are satisfied as well as organizational goals being
[Link] management practices promotes an organizational climate
that is supportive, respectful and trusting of employees and where individual
contributions are highly recognized, as these are more likely to facilitate
empowerment than only delegation of authority (Eisenberger et al., 1990). According
to Liden & Tewksbury (1995) empowerment is an important construct because it
offers the potential to positively influence outcomes that benefit both individuals and
organizations.

Kim (2002) in his study “Participative Management and Job Satisfaction: Lessons for
Management Leadership” concluded that the participative management practices have
a positive effect on employee’s job satisfaction. It seems this fact encourages Kim to
recommend that “the essential implication is that executive leaders and managers
should become aware of the importance of manager’s use of participative
management, employees’ participation in strategic planning processes, and the role of
effective avenues of communication with supervisors. When agencies implement
leadership development programs or other training for managers and supervisors, they
should consider including participative management and employee empowerment
techniques as key components of the programs”. Sumukadas & Sawhney (2004)
reported that employee involvement programs have resulted in workforce agility
specially the power sharing practices. Holden (2001) emphasized the role of
employee’s involvement and empowerment in improving performance.

According to Tzafrir (2004), employees empowerment comprises of the followings:

(i) an innovative approach in working with people and (ii) a shift of power from the
top management control to lower level management of the organization. Lawler
(1986) further pointed out that to be considered empowering; an organization must
reward desired contributions on the part of employees. These perceptions suggest that
empowerment is interconnected with such organizational factors as values and
working and managing styles and systems.

The literature contains several definitions of employee empowerment. Different

researchers have different perspectives towards defining empowerment. Some of the
most recognized definitions are mentioned below:
Heathfield (2012) defined empowerment as the process of enabling and authorizing
individuals to think, behaves, take action and decision and control work
autonomously. While Vogt and Murrel (1990) explained empowerment as an act of
building, developing and increasing power by working with others, which he terms as
“interactive empowerment” and having the ability to influence one’s own behavior,
which he calls as “self empowerment”. Another researcher Conger and Kanungo
(1988) believed that empowerment is a process of enhancing feelings of self- efficacy
among organizational members through the determination of conditions that foster
powerlessness and through their removal by organizational adjustments. Smith and
Mouly (1998) described employee empowerment as a transfer of power from the
employer to the employees to make quick and quality decision.

Brymer (1991) explained empowerment as a process of decentralizing decision

making in an organization, whereby managers give more discretion and autonomy to
the front line employees. Kinlaw (1995) in his book, “The Practice of Empowerment:
Making The Most of Human Competence” mentioned empowerment as the process of
achieving continuous improvement in organizational performance which is gained
through expanding influence of individuals and teams with competence and authority
in most of their tasks and work dimensions and this fact, by itself, influences the
performance of the organization. According to Nonaka & Takeuchi, (1991),
empowerment is a process of orienting and enabling individuals to think behave and
take action in an autonomous way. It helps the workers to own their work and take
responsibility for their results. Due to technological up-gradation and automation,
organizations are dependent on a high degree of creativity and learning attitude of
employees which will require individual responsibility and risk-taking effort.

Different researchers have tried to define employee empowerment from different

perspectives. Their definitions regarding employee empowerment are not identical
although some common elements are found. These are as follows:
• Firstly, employee empowerment enables individuals to make decision
and to participate in decision making process.
 • Secondly, employee empowerment focuses on the real capability of
individuals.
• Thirdly, it authorizes employee to take their own responsibility for
their works.
• Fourthly, empowerment involves delegation of power through which
employee can take decision.
• Fifthly, empowerment makes the individuals responsible for the
outcome of their decisions.

4.1. Views and Perspectives of Employee Empowerment

The term “Empowerment” was used in different areas before being used in
management. These areas include political and social movements. Potterfield
(1999) examined two views of empowerment:

First view: The first one is proposed by Robbins (2005). According to this view; a
manager intervenes to delegate more of his or her power to employees, to reduce
direct supervision and to provide overall vision. The employees enjoy more
flexible job descriptions. This framework presupposes that the amount of power in
the organization is fixed; hence the management can simply distribute its power
throughout the hierarchy to empower the employees. This way, an organization
could achieve the goals of the employee empowerment creating better business
outcomes, happier and motivated workforce.

Second view: The second view of empowerment is proposed by Thomas and

Velthouse (1990). They defined it in term of cognitive motivational concept. It is
mainly based on the following five tasks related cognitions:
• Choice fullness, the employee’s feelings of choosing what work activity
they ought to put their effort on,
• Meaning, the employees’ determination of the intrinsic value of a
particular work role,
• Competence, self-belief in the employee’s ability to fully perform
specific tasks,
• Self-determination, the employee’s belief that he or she has control
over decisions about work-related activities and behaviors,
• Impact, the employee’s belief that his or her actions can make a
difference in the organization strategies, tactics, and outcomes.

Conger and Kanungo (1988) viewed employee empowerment from two

perspectives:
• The Psychological Perspective: Psychological perspective focuses on
employees’ perception of empowerment and employees’ inner natures.
• The Relational Perspective: Relational perspective focuses on sharing
power and delegation of authority within the organization.
4.2. Types of Employee Empowerment

Suminen (2005) classified employee empowerment into three types. These are
discussed below:

i) Verbal Empowerment: Verbal Empowerment refers to the ability to state

one’s opinion and debate one’s views in different kinds of groups.
Participation in decision-making is also an integral part of verbal
empowerment. It has been reported that increased decision making authority
strengthens employee organizational commitment, autonomy (meaning the
freedom to apply their skills and knowledge) and job satisfaction.

ii) Behavioral Empowerment: Behavioral Empowerment refers to the ability

to work in groups in order to solve problems; to identify problems that need to
be solved; to collect data about work problems and recommend solutions; and
to learn new skills and handle a more challenging job. Other aspects of
behavioral empowerment include reporting and group work.

iii) Outcome Empowerment: Outcome Empowerment includes the ability to

determine the causes of problems and to solve them, as well as the ability to
make improvements and changes to the way the work is done with a view to
increasing the effectiveness of the organization.

4.3. Elements of Employee Empowerment

Fracard (2006) mentioned that employee empowerment contains three elements.

These are as follows:
i) Style: Empowered employees have a working style of self management
and possess a team spirit. Employees make, implement, and are held
accountable for work-related decisions.
ii) Skills: Empowered employees are trained to have effective problem-
solving and communication skills. They challenge inefficient policies and
identify problems.
iii) Staff: Empowered employees are bred in empowering organizations. With
empowering leaders as drivers, immersed in a culture of empowerment and
reinforced by empowering management practices, employees are expected to
grow.

4.4. Techniques of Employee Empowerment

Employees are pivotal to any organization’s success. This success depends mostly on
the performance of employees. So every organization should foster a work
environment which helps the employees to act in empowering ways. Bogler and
Somech (2004) conducted a study on a sample of 983 teachers in Israeli middle and
high schools. They identified six dimensions of empowerment such as: (i) Decision-
making, (ii) Professional growth, (iii) Status, (iv) Self-efficacy, (v) Autonomy and
(vi) Impact. Brower (1995) identified the information that needs to be shared for
successful empowerments are: (i) The financial trends, current situation, and
projections for the organization, (ii) Present and potential changes in markets,
customers, and competition, (iii) Trends in the technology of production and products,
(iv)The cost per unit day by day or hour by hour, if possible, (v) Strategic direction of
the organization and its priorities for the coming year, (vi) Key measures of
performance.

Now a day’s environment is changing rapidly and shows challenging situations to

organizations. In order to be successful and stay competitive in the future, every
organization should look beyond the traditional directive management. Empowerment
in the workplace is an important issue. Many authors and researchers attempted to
identify the techniques of employee empowerment (Table-1). These techniques are
described below:

• Sharing information: Managers at every level share information with their

subordinates. This information can help employees understand what the
organization is trying to accomplish. The types of information to be shared
are: organization’s mission, vision and goals, changing rules and
regulations and new technologies.
• Delegating authority: Delegating authority is another technique of
empowerment. It is the process of transferring authority to their
subordinates. Before delegation, the leader should know the abilities of
their subordinates.
• Rewarding and recognizing performance: Rewarding and recognizing
performance is a great tool to empower employees Leaders and
management can recognize performance through award ceremonies and
appreciation letters.
• Providing feedback: Providing feedback aids employees in improving
weak performance and also highlights employee’s strengths and
capabilities.
• Supportive and encouraging environment: Working in a supportive and
encouraging environment motivates and empowers the employees to take
challenges.
• Trust: Trusting member’s judgment and giving them freedom to exercise it
is another technique of employee empowerment. Building mutual trust can
be attained through honesty and open communication.

4.5. Benefits of Employee Empowerment

Employee empowerment is seen as a motivational technique if designed and

implemented properly in organizations. Thus, employee empowerment will lead to
improvement of performance of the organization through increased levels of
employee’s participation and self- determination (Greasley, 2005). According to
Ziyakashany (2009), empowerment is one of the useful tools for raising the quality of
human resources and increased organizational effectiveness. Empowered employees
have an increased sense of ownership in their organization.

Employee empowerment is a philosophy associated with real benefits for an

organization. These benefits enable an organization to achieve a competitive
advantage. Many businesses that are looking for improving employee productivity
and overall performance believe that employee empowerment will help them achieve
these organizational goals. Based on the literatures and different author’s opinions
about employee empowerment it is found that employee empowerment practices
produce the following results (Table-2):

• A high level of employee satisfaction is a major advantage of employee

empowerment. Increased level of employee satisfaction leads to loyalty.
• Empowered employees are more committed at work and less likely to
experience stress and to think about leaving the organization. The longer the
employee is associated with the company, the more experienced they become,
making them mentors to new employees and indispensable to managerial staff.
• Empowered employees feel a sense of increased responsibility, accountability
and ownership of their work which results in increased productivity.
• When employees are involved in goal setting, they can add value their values,
ideas, knowledge and experiences.
• Empowered employees produce results that affect both revenue and profit.
• Good people that are enabled to make decisions and take independent action
are a competitive force that can transform every aspect of business.
• If employees are empowered and treated as crucial components of the
organization, they gain self-confidence in their abilities which positively
influence the organization.
• Employees with healthy level of self-confidence are more willing to work with
others. These behaviors promote team work.
• Empowered employees take personal pride in their work and responsibility for
doing a good job. As a result, organizations reap the benefits of empowered
employees by delivering high quality products and services.
• Empowerment, which gives employees the power to make decisions, has other
additional benefits: better handling of service breakdowns, enhanced
responsiveness to customer needs.
• Employee empowerment may help to promote innovation. Empowered
employee may see a particular issue in a different way than a manager and be
able to think of a creative clarification.
• Empowered employees also contribute to reducing cost associated with
customer service issues.
• Employee empowerment can help strengthen the relationships between
managers and employees.

5. Findings of the Study

From the above discussions, it is evident that the major employee empowerment
practices are: getting employee involved, providing feedback and sharing information,
delegating authority, providing training, rewarding employees, recognizing and
appreciating employees. These employee empowerment practices produce such result
as: greater job satisfaction, better performance, improve motivation, creativity and
innovation, reduction of cost, loyal and committed workforce, happier and energetic
workforce, reduction of management stress, team spirit and cohesion.

Summing up the literature reviews discussed before, it can be said that employee
empowerment has been introduced in recent years as an influential instrument to
improve performance. It has both positive and negative aspects. There are many
challenges associated with employee empowerment and these challenges are
consistent with a number of previous researches. These are given below:

• Managers don’t really understand what employee empowerment means.

• Managers fail to establish the boundaries for employee empowerment.
• Negligence of employees may have unconstructive consequences towards
organization.
• Sometimes there is a possibility of potential conflict of employees with
their colleagues or superiors
• Mismanagement of employees arises if superiors are not that much
competent to assign powers to employee.
• Employees may experience some pressure in presence of empowerment
• Employees may reluctant to carry out tasks if they are not properly trained.
• In some cases, managers fear losing their own position.
• Employees may avoid reporting about their work and response can be
taken negatively.

6. Recommendations of the Study

At this dynamic and competitive business world, organizations must develop effective
employee empowerment practice. Right efforts on from all areas are required in the
development of employee empowerment. In the light of above discussions, following
initiatives can be taken into account for effective development of employee
empowerment:
• Organization should work to provide innovative and challenging
assignments to the employees, so that employees get motivated and
devoted.
• Employee’s participation should be encouraged so that innovation and
creativity could take place.
• Employee’s beliefs, opinions and viewpoints should be prioritized.
• Organizations should create friendly and amiable environment where the
proper concentration be given to build up a supportive relationship among
employees.
• In every organization, there should be a provision of providing sufficient
training.
• Employees should be more responsible and self-sufficient.
• Creating consciousness for empowerment can make employee
empowerment more acceptable in the society.

7. Conclusion and Suggestions for Future Research

The growth and prospect of any organization is dependent mostly on the manpower,
and this manpower is needed to be empowered. Employees are much more conscious
of their rights now as compared to they were before. Therefore, employers need to
understand the real meaning of the empowerment philosophy and apply this in their
organization to walk with the need of time. The ways and means suggested over here
can be helpful for the managers as well as for the employees to reach to the true goal
of employee empowerment. This study will inspire managers to adapt varieties of
techniques to empower employees. However, the study could have been more perfect
if it is validated using field study. That validation should involve developing
questionnaires and thereby gathering responses from employees.

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 Appendix

Table-1: Techniques of Employee Empowerment from Previous Research

Serial No. Researcher Techniques

1. Kanter (1983) • Information
• Authority
• Enrich by the experience
• clear objectives
• Resources Availability
• Reward
• manager Support
• Self – confidence
2. Scott & Jaffe (1991) • Participating management
• Organizational Structure
• Facilitating Leadership
• Group building
• Staff appreciation
3. Spreitzer (1995) • Information
• Rewarding
• Meaningful job
4. Korukonda • Authority
et al (1996) • Resources Availability
• Responsibility
5. Melhem (2004) • Knowledge
• Skills
• Trust
• Communications
• Motivation
6. Seydjavadin • Personal development
et al (2009) • Job design
• Work teams
• Leadership Style
• Formality and clarity
• Environment
• Decentralization
7. Va'ezi & Sabzikaran • Low formality
(2010) • Decentralization
• Flexible scheduling
8. Gorji (2010) • Delegating the authority
• Encouragement
• Rewarding
• Suggestions system
Table-2: Benefits of Employee Empowerment from Previous Research

Serial No. Contributors Benefits

1. Gronroos, C. (2001) • Quicker and more direct

response to customer needs,
• Quick and more direct
response to dissatisfied
customers in service recovery,
• Employees are more satisfied
with their jobs and feel better
about themselves,
• Employee will treat customers
more enthusiastically,
• Empowered employees can be
a valuable source of new ideas.
2. Altizer (1993); Quinn • Quickly responding to
and Spreitzer (1997) changing environments,
and Spreitzer (1995) • Improving productivity and
quality of work,
• Creating and reinforcing a
positive work culture,
• Encouraging employees to use
their talents and to be creative,
• Solving problems quickly,
• Maintaining pride and morale
among employees,
• Making employees act more
responsibly,
• Creating flexibility and
innovation,
• Facilitating knowledge
sharing,
• Increasing job satisfaction.
3. Regina Anaejionu • Creativity,
(2006) • Job satisfaction
• Better decision making
• Loyalty.
4. Bourke (1998) • Better feeling about
organization from the
perspective of employee
• Enhancing employees’ minds
to find better ways to execute
their jobs and
• Giving employees the feeling
of confidence in themselves
and their organizations
5. Bowen and Lawler • Enabling employees to
(1995) participate in decision making,
• Helping employees to break
out of stagnant mindsets to
take a risk and try something
new.
• Allowing employees to decide
on their own.
6. Ripley and Ripley • Enhance the responsibilities as
(1992) and Spatz well as motivation of
(2000) employees in their routine
work,
• Improve satisfaction level,
quality of services,
• Increase employees’ loyalty
and productivity.
• Give employees a feeling of
self respect
• Reduce employee turnover.
7. Ongori and Shunda • Improve trust,
(2008) • Improve motivation,
• Enhance decision making
• Break the inner boundaries
between management and
employees.
8. Heathfield (2012) • Promote employees autonomy
and control of their own jobs
• Improve employee’s skills and
abilities to benefit both their
organization and themselves.
• Increase happiness among
employees at workplace.
• Create a work environment
which promotes employees
ability and desire to act in
empowered ways
• Remove barriers that limit
employees ability
9. Hardy and Leiba- • Improve productivity,
O'Sullivan (1998) • Increase customer satisfaction
• Enhance competitive
advantage
10. Lashley (1995) • Employee commitment,
• Quality products and services,
• Efficiency,
• Responsiveness,
• Synergy
• Increased competitiveness in
 the global marketplace
11. Kirkman and Rosen • Higher productivity,
(1999) • Proactive and superior
customer service;
• Job satisfaction,
• Organizational commitment,
• Team commitment,
• Individual commitment
12. Mullins and Peacock • Greater sense of job
(1991) satisfaction,
• Motivation,
• Organizational loyalty.
13. Suminen (2005) • Strong sense of self-esteem,
• Successful professional
performance and progress in
their work.

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