Forrester’s Empowerment
After reading “Empowerment: Rejuvenating
a potent idea” and Chapter 8 in the textbook, I was not certain they were even
written on the same subject. Then I
realized Forrester’s article is actually a sales pitch. The article attempts to explain what went
wrong with empowerment before, what changes would be necessary to make it
successful today, and present empowerment as an important tool when effectively
applied. The article is sort of a ‘don’t
throw the baby out with the bathwater’ plea.
But even then it is focused differently than the textbook.
Both works acknowledge the difficulty
some managers have with empowering employees.
Giving up control is threatening to most managers. Control is seen as the most significant skill
managers can possess and is a critical part of their evaluation scores. However, to effectively empower subordinates,
managers must give up control, let others make decisions, achieve success, and
be recognized for those successes (Whetten & Cameron, 2016; Forrester,
2000). Many managers feel like
empowering others comes at a direct cost to their evaluation. Whetten and Cameron argue that the manager
sacrifices nothing because through empowerment the manager’s effectiveness is
multiplied and their organizations become much more successful (2016).
Both authors also agree that empowerment
is a skill that does not come natural to most managers. This skill must be taught, developed and
practiced. Having not met with great
success when applied in real organizations, empowerment is simply not common
practice in management today (Whetten & Cameron, 2016; Forrester, 2000). Whetten and Cameron present it as a process that
can be earned and employed within the organization. Forrester presents it as a complex process
that results insignificant organizational change that should be implemented externally
by trained experts.
There are five dimensions of empowerment
according to Whetten and Cameron. If the
manager can help the employees to develop each of these dimensions, the
employees will likely empower themselves.
If any of the five dimensions are not present, empowerment is not
possible. The dimensions are self-efficacy,
self-determination, personal consequence, meaning, and trust. An empowered person is competent, can choose
the necessary action to take…they have choices, believe they have an impact on
the whole…their work is integral to the end product, if they do not perform, the
entire job is affected, empowered people value the result of their work, and
finally empowered people trust that they will be treated fairly and equitably which
gives them a sense of personal security (Whetten & Cameron, 2016).
Whetten and Cameron provide a detailed
process to develop empowerment in employees as well. There are called ‘prescriptions’ and they are
not rocket science. Actually they are
the same concepts I have seen in other courses, they are just called something
different here. Whatever they are called,
they are the things that build positive work environments. Managers can create this environment by providing
clear goals, foster personal mastery over a task or problem, model correct
behaviors (also known as lead by example), provide support/praise/encouragement,
provide emotional arousal (replace negative with positive), and provide
information (as much as possible)(2016).
The text book treats empowerment like an
assisted self-help program for the employees, but the benefits of fostering an
environment that encourages and achieves empowerment extend well beyond individual
workers. Teams, managers, executives,
and the organization can benefit from workers that are empowered. While the process may increase certain types
of power in the empowered employees, it took none from anyone else. The text clearly separates empowerment from
power. I did not get this feeling from
Forrester’s article.
Forrester implies that some employees are
not ready and should be passed over until they are ready. I respectfully disagree. I think some people are more ready than
others, but everyone can benefit from the five dimensions and the prescriptions
of empowerment. As I am sure Forrester
would agree. I oversimplified to make
the point that empowering people is not the same as giving people more
power. In a few places in his article he
speaks of increasing power specifically.
For example, a quote from someone else that he used in his
article to make a point. “Feelings of
self-efficacy come from having real power, they don’t produce it”. The point he was making is “most critical to
the success of the empowerment process is that it result in the increase of
real power in employees” (Forrester, 2000).
I believe I understand what he means.
If you spend all the time and effort to empower an employee and they
still will not make a decision, the time and effort is wasted. Again I disagree. If the employee made personal progress but is
still uncomfortable with decisions, the process did not fail. More time or focused time is what is needed. The process is just that a process; people are
different. I argue the process should be
adjusted versus discarding the employee.
Forrester would most likely agree with that too.
The purpose of the two documents is so
different that it is hard to do a legitimate compare and contrast. I looked so hard to find the differences, I
did not see the similarities. There are
many. Reading the textbook, I am learning
the concept from an expert in the field.
It is presented systematically in a way that enhances my learning. Reading Forrester’s article which clearly
shows me that he is a subject matter expert as well, illustrates the passion
that he has for a concept that CEOs are discounting and discontinuing because
it was poorly executed across the board and therefor produced poor results
across the board. He is trying to
convince CEOs that the benefits are real, but empowerment must be implemented
properly to realize the benefits.
The textbook does a very good job
presenting the concept and emphasizing its importance. I enjoyed Forrester’s article and agree that empowering
employees as described in the textbook is the right approach to
leadership. Empowerment is not about
power at all. It is about employees
achieving their full potential. If that
provides benefit to the organization, and it does, it is a win-win situation
and those do not happen every day.
References:
Forrester, R. (2000). Empowerment:
Rejuvenating a potent idea. The
Academy of Management Executive (1993-2005),14(3), 67-80. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4165660
Whetten, D. A., Cameron, K.
S. (2016), Developing management skills (Ninth edition).
Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN: 978-0-13-312747-8. (student edition)
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