Empowering Workers

Running head: EMPOWERING WORKERS

Running head: EMPOWERING WORKERS

Empowering Workers

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As a management major at Ohio University, this author has always been interested in business and people. Luckily, in the real world those two things go hand in hand. Most organizations are always searching to make more money in their business and one of the best ways to do that is to empower workers.

This subject became very interesting. As an employee for various types of companies for the last seven years, this author has had several different types of management styles. She has found that she has gained most of her experience from a company that lets her make decisions and be the owner of her successes and failures. In doing that, responsibility is placed on the employee and they in turn are able to draw upon their knowledge to make decisions

Studying how to empower your employees will make you a better boss. People are an organization's most underutilized resource and in many cases, they are the most expensive as well. In order to fully utilize an employee to perform to their maximum potential managers must learn to empower them. Empowerment is a core concept of the new management model. In the new-generation adaptive organization, delegation is replaced by empowerment and responsibility by ownership. Empowerment and ownership are social aspects of organizing. They are based on efficacy and initiative, and not just on roles and requirements. They belong to people. Empowered employees feel better about their jobs. It gives them meaning; it gives them a little bit more appeal in their day to day work.

Customers want answers instantly. When you call a company, no one honestly wants to waste 30 minutes on hold, or talk to voice-mail, so someone can call you back days later with the response. Empowering your employees allows for this - it allows them to make decisions on the company's behalf. Granted, these decisions may be minor, but they are real hard decisions that offer your customers instant solutions. Customers will feel like they are getting a deal. They will feel excellent about how well your company treated them and that's what great customer service is all about.

In today's corporate environment a manager must work towards engaging organization forcefully enough to achieve its objectives. New knowledge-based enterprises are characterized by flat hierarchical structures and multi-skilled workforce. Managers assume more leadership and coaching tasks and work hard to provide employees with resources and working conditions they need to accomplish the goals they've agreed to. In brief, managers work for their staff, and not the reverse.

Talented and empowered human capital is becoming the prime ingredient of organizational success. A critical feature of successful teams is that they are invested with a significant degree of empowerment, or decision-making authority.

Just as important, employee empowerment changes the managers' mind-set and leaves them with more time to engage in broad-based thinking, visioning, and nurturing. This intelligent and productive division of duties between visionary leaders, focusing on emerging opportunities, and empowered employees, running the business unit day to day provides for a well-managed enterprise with strong growth potential.

Michael Pizzini, Vice President of Green Communications Company, said that great leaders and managers have two common traits. He stated "Great leaders and managers have a desire to employ people with greater skills and knowledge than they themselves possess and they have the ability to develop people into leaders"

(M. Pizzini, personal communication, December 15, 2005). This concept ties in with

empowering employees.

Empowering employees shows managers how to create an atmosphere of responsibility benefiting the employer, the employees, and the managers themselves. Being an effective manager and leader isn't just about the knowledge you have, but your ability to pass that knowledge on in an effective way to let your employees lead.

Empowering workers is very important in an organization because it gives them a sense of ownership and pride in their work and will allow them to become better employees. When employees feel that they are involved in the process they work harder as if it were more their business rather than just being a faceless employee. They will take responsibility for their actions and be more conscientious in making their decisions when executing their tasks.

Each employee is motivated by something different and it is important to understand how to identify each person's priority. Some employees are motivated by money, some by praise, some by promotion, as well as many other ways. By learning how to best motivate employees, you can best learn how to empower them to be most effective.

By understanding how to empower employees, this author believes that organizations will be able to reach a higher potential.

Empowering Workers

Name

Date

As a management major at Ohio University, this author has always been interested in business and people. Luckily, in the real world those two things go hand in hand. Most organizations are always searching to make more money in their business and one of the best ways to do that is to empower workers.

This subject became very interesting. As an employee for various types of companies for the last seven years, this author has had several different types of management styles. She has found that she has gained most of her experience