A review of the literature on employee empowerment

Document Information: Title: A review of the literature on employee empowerment Author(s): Linda Honold, (President of Empowerment Systems and is based at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA) Citation: Linda Honold, (1997) "A review of the literature on employee empowerment", Empowerment in Organizations, Vol. 5 Iss: 4, pp.202 - 212 Keywords: Employees, Empowerment, Leadership Article Literature review type: 10.1108/14634449710195471 (Permanent URL) DOI: Publisher: MCB UP Ltd Abstract: Employee empowerment as a term is frequently used in management circles. In practice, however, it is a daunting effort to find an exact definition of it. There are hundreds of articles on the topic. Some attempt their own definition; others expect that the reader already knows what the concept means. What is employee empowerment? What are its roots? What do the various theoretical voices have to say about the concept? An exploration of these questions is the content of this article.

Document details
Title Empowering service excellence: beyond the quick fix. Authors Lashley, C. Book Empowering service excellence: beyond the quick fix. 1997 pp. viii + 208 pp. ISBN 0-304-33169-4 Record Number 19971810037

Abstract

A critical appraisal of employee empowerment as a management technique for service sector organizations is presented. An overview is presented of the nature of empowerment; the reasons why organizations adopt empowerment strategies; the effects empowerment has on employees; and the critical success (and failure) factors that influence organizational empowerment strategies. Illustrative examples are drawn from three service organizations the restaurant chains McDonalds, TGI Fridays, and Harvester, (all ) where empowerment strategies have been a key element in employer-driven organizational development.

Employee Empowerment: An Integrative Psychological Approach

1. vSanjay Menon

Article first published online: 21 DEC 2001 DOI: 10.1111/1464-0597.00052 International Association for Applied Psychology, 2001. Issue

Applied Psychology
Volume 50, Issue 1, pages 153180, January 2001 Additional Information(Show All) How to CiteAuthor InformationPublication History An integrative psychological approach to employee empowerment was developed based on the premise that the psychological experience of power underlies feelings of empowerment. This research extends existing perspectives on empowerment by incorporating the empowering effect of valued goals, such as those provided by transformational leadership. Goal internalisation was identified as a major component of the psychological experience of empowerment, in addition to the two traditional facets of perceptions of control over the work environment and perceptions of self-efficacy or competence. Standard measure development procedures using a sample of employed individuals from Quebec, Canada and subsequent validation with an organisational sample from Ontario, Canada yielded a threefactor scale of psychological empowerment corresponding to these three dimensions. The

implications of defining empowerment as a psychological state and the need for multiple measures of empowerment are also discussed. Une approche psychologique globale de la prise de pouvoir des salaries a ete developpee en partant du principe que lexperience psychologique du pouvoir soutient les sentiments de prise de pouvoir. Cette recherche elargit les perspectives existantes sur la prise de pouvoir en incorporant les effets dobjectifs valorises tels que ceux fournis par le leadership transformationnel. Linternalisation des objectifs a ete identifiee comme element majeur de lexperience psychologique de la prise de pouvoir sajoutant ainsi aux aspects plus traditionnelsque sont la perception de la matrise de lenvironnement de travail, et celle defficacite personnelle ou de competence. Des procedures de mesures standards sur un echantillon de salaries du Quebec, Canada, et la validation ulterieure par un echantillon dorganisation de lOntario, Canada, ont fourni une echelle, a` trois facteurs, de la prise de pouvoir psychologique correspondant a` ces trois dimensions. Les implications dune definition de la prise de pouvoir comme etat psychologique et la necessite de mesures multiples de la prise de pouvoir sont aussi debattues.

Top management leadership, employee empowerment, job satisfaction, and customer satisfaction in TQM organizations: an empirical study

Isaiah O. Ugboro Kofi Obeng

School of Business and Economics, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA Received 1 June 1996. Revised 1 December 1999. Accepted 1 April 2000. Available online 22 May 2001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1084-8568(01)00023-2, How to Cite or Link Using DOI Permissions & Reprints

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Abstract
Top management leadership and employee empowerment are considered two of the most important principles of total quality management (TQM) because of their assumed

relationship with customer satisfaction. As a result, many top management leadership and employee empowerment strategies and practices have been suggested in the management literature. However, few studies have been done to test this assumed relationship and determine which of these strategies and practices may be most effective in bringing about the intended results. This study surveyed organizations that have adopted TQM to determine the relationship between top management leadership, employees' empowerment, job satisfaction, and customers' satisfaction. The results reveal positive correlation between top management leadership, employee empowerment, job satisfaction, and customer satisfaction. Employee empowerment and improved levels of job satisfaction are facilitated by top management leadership and commitment to the TQM goal of customer satisfaction by creating an organizational climate that emphasizes total quality and customer satisfaction. Effective strategies for achieving employee empowerment and job satisfaction, together with top management leadership roles in a TQM environment, are identified and discussed.

Work & Stress: An International Journal of Work, Health & Organisations

Volume 18, Issue 1, 2004

The barrier effect of conflict with superiors in the relationship between employee empowerment and organizational commitment
PreviewView full textDownload full text Full access DOI: 10.1080/02678370410001690466 Onne Janssen *

pages 56-65
Available online: 23 Feb 2007 Alert me

Abstract
The author proposes the idea that conflict with superiors has a barrier effect in the positive relationship between employee empowerment and organizational commitment. Superiors with higher authority rankings set and pursue organizational goals and values to which employees with lower authority rankings are expected to become committed. Conflicts with those superiors may hinder empowered employees to develop or maintain high levels of organizational commitment. A questionnaire survey among 91 secondary school teachers in The Netherlands provides empirical support for this suggestion. The moderator effect of conflict with superiors that was proposed and found in this study suggests that psychological empowerment in the workplace interacts with other employee experiences in its effects on an employee's commitment to the organization.

The impact of employeeempowerment on the quality of a service recovery effort

Mary Ann Hocutt

Samford University, USA Thomas H. Stone Oklahoma State University, USA Available online 19 January 2000. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1084-8568(99)80107-2, How to Cite or Link Using DOI Permissions & Reprints

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Abstract
Predictions from a service recovery model regarding employee and customer responses to empowerment in a restaurant context were examined in two experiments. Empowerment via training and autonomy led to higher service employee satisfaction. Greater customer satisfaction following a service failure was created by higher employee responsiveness and empathy during a service recovery.

Direct all correspondence to: Mary Ann Hocutt, Samford University, College of Business, Birmingham, Alabama 35229, USA

Copyright 1998 Published by Elsevier

Empowering Service Employees

by David E Bowen, Edward E Lawler Business Administration Miscellaneous Papers

Overview Related research

Sloan Management Review (1995) Volume: 36, Issue: 4, Pages: 73-84

ISSN: 0019848X

Available from search.ebscohost.com or Abstract

The production-line approach to service is being challenged by an employee empowerment approach. Despite its growing popularity, many managers are still uncertain about empowerment's impact. The authors describe the returns a company can expect from empowering service employees, which include a number of favorable business results, but new management challenges as well. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR Copyright of Sloan Management Review is the property of Sloan Management Review and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts)

Document details
Title The effects of organizational culture and Leader-Member Exchange on employee empowerment in the hospitality industry. Authors Sparrowe, R. T. Journal Hospitality Research Journal 1995 Vol. 18/19 No. 3/1 pp. 95-109

ISSN 0741-5095 Record Number 19961800709 Abstract

This study provides empirical evidence for the effects of organizational culture (normative beliefs and shared behavioural expectations) and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) on empowerment in the hospitality industry. Data were gathered from 33 work groups (177 employees), representing 30 organizations in the USA. Constructive and aggressivedefensive normative beliefs were found to foster empowerment while controlling for the effects of LMX. The degree of consensus ('crystallization') by which group members share norms and behavioural expectations was found to partially neutralize the effects of LMX on empowerment. The implications for management are discussed.
American Journal of Community Psychology Volume 25, Number 3, 345-369, DOI: 10.1023/A:1024628711026

The Person/Environment Dynamics of Employee Empowerment: An Organizational Culture Analysis

Pennie G. Foster-Fishman and Christopher B. Keys

Abstract
Using an organizational culture framework, this case study examines the critical preconditions necessary for employee empowerment and highlights how the multiple cultures within one public bureaucracy differently impacted their implementation. SERVE, a large human service organization, initiated an employee empowerment program that contradicted and thus collided with many elements of its overall organizational culture. Despite the best intentions of the organizational leaders, upper management support, and opportunities for participatory decision making, the organization could not foster the critical preconditions needed for employee empowerment. Leaders had difficulty expanding the employees' power and promoting member inclusion. Concurrently, most employees rejected these new opportunities for control and distrusted the leader's intentions. Yet, despite the widespread rejection of these empowerment initiatives, most employees described their work lives as empowering. The role the local site subculture played in promoting employee empowerment is examined. We discuss how a localized (vs. system-wide) empowerment endeavor may be a more appropriate and feasible focus for public bureaucracies seeking to initiate greater staff empowerment. Particular attention is paid to the interaction between individuals and their environments, and how this interaction affects the empowerment process.

Journal of Change Management

Volume 4, Issue 4, 2004

The internal brand: successful cultural change and employee empowerment

PreviewView full textDownload full text Full access DOI: 10.1080/1469701042000259631 Jo Causon *

pages 297-307
Available online: 17 Feb 2007

Abstract
In common with many well-established organizations, City & Guilds has had its fair share of challenges but has continually evolved, remaining just as relevant today in training today's workforce as it was 125 years ago. In this article, Jo Causon, former head of group marketing at City & Guilds, takes us through the process of managing the change programme within the organization as it rebrands and repositions itself in the marketplace. She is a firm believer in the brand as a business tool and in empowering all staff to support embedding the organization's values and driving through culture change.

Document details
Title Empowerment: HR strategies for service excellence. Authors Lashley, C.

Editor Lashley, C. Book Empowerment: HR strategies for service excellence 2001 pp. 300 pp. ISBN 0-7506-5244-6 Record Number 20013104711 Abstract

This book shows managers and students the importance of empowerment as part of human resource strategy. It provides a critical perspective to this management technique, identifying key factors that will yield to success. Case studies from companies such as McDonald's, TGI Fridays, and Harvester Restaurants are used to place the analysis of empowerment in a reallife context, illustrating how different forms of empowerment are employed and different working arrangements are practised. The book contains 13 chapters and a subject index.

The Practicality of Employee Empowerment: Supporting a Psychologically Safe Culture

Valadares, Kevin J. PhD

Abstract

In times of workforce shortages and increasing pressures to compete, health care organizations need to advance and ameliorate their resources to ensure organizational success. Other industries have maximized empowerment initiatives as a strategy to retain and develop employees as primary stakeholders of its mission. While the notion of employee empowerment is by itself noble, for it to succeed, health care organizations must promote a culture of psychological safety to ensure a genuine commitment exists to its mission and strategies. Health Care Manager: July/September 2004 - Volume 23 - Issue 3 - pp 220-224 Article