There are a few differences in the
way the book support empowerment and how the article supports empowerment. Each
have the underlying same goal of empowering ones employees, but how they go
about it slightly differs. To reflect some of the concepts of this week I’ll
talk about the emotional side of empowerment, the biases towards different
people side of empowerment, and the resources side of empowerment.
One
aspect that the book brings up is in terms of the emotional side of things. The
book says clearly emotional arousal is a must, to which it defines “emotional
arousal [as a] means [of] replacing negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, or
crabbiness with positive emotions such as excitement, passion, or anticipation.”
(Whetten & Cameron, 2013) This shows that by
having negative emotions associated with the empowering action, that it won’t
be received as enthusiastically, if not negatively. Think of it like sending a
squad of men across “no man's land" and
knowing that if they get killed, so will you. It’s not exactly going to make
them feel all too happy about being empowered to their deaths. Instead positive
emotions should be associated with the action so that they can be received in warming
hands. A person needs to want to be empowered, not have it forced upon them.
One
aspect that the article differs is the way it suggests of differentiating
people and not to treat them universally equally the same. It is said that “managers
will empower employees more effectively if they acknowledge that there are
differences among employees.” (Forrester, 2000) This shows that not
everyone is capable of accepting the same amount of power, they are not ready.
Instead team leaders need to delegate to their subordinates as they are ready
to accept it. Now when they do accept it, they should also be made sure to be
given all the necessary resources as well.
Both
the book and the article articulate how important it is to provide the proper
resources towards those being empowered. The book mentions that “managers
attempting to enhance other people’s empowerment by providing them with needed
resources will ensure that they receive adequate and ongoing training and
development experiences.” (Whetten & Cameron, 2013) This shows that
there is some synergy with what was previously said in the article. When
subordinates receive the training that they require, then can they be ready to
accept empowerment. The article emphasized “skills need to be built,
relationships formed, technology adapted, organizations reshaped, systems
modified.” (Forrester, 2000) This shows that empowerment
isn’t free and that the organization needs to be ready for it at all levels.
I went
over the emotional aspects, the not-everyone-is-the-same aspects, and the
resources aspects of implementing and empowering subordinates. It is important
to realize that these aspects alone will not set up a successful environment
for empowerment, however it does point out some of the minute differences
between two sources of information. By gathering many different aspects and
ideas, can one better grasp the idea of fostering an environment to better
suite an empowered culture.
References
Forrester, R. (2000). Empowerment: Rejuvenating a
potent idea. The Academy of Management Executive, 67-80.
Whetten, D., & Cameron, K. (2013). Developing
Mangement Skills. New Jersey: Pearson.
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