A primary goal of employee empowerment is to give workers a greater voice in decisions about work-related matters.

As Their decision-making authority can range from offering suggestions to exercising veto power over management decisions. Although the range of decisions that employees may be involved in depends on the organization, possible areas include: how obs are to be performed, working conditions, company policies, work hours, peer review, and how supervisors are evaluated. !any experts believe that organizations can improve productivity through employee empowerment. This occurs in one of two main ways. "irst, empowerment can strengthen motivation by providing employees with the opportunity to attain intrinsic rewards from their work, such as a greater sense of accomplishment and a feeling of importance. #n some cases, intrinsic rewards such as ob satisfaction and a sense of purposeful work can be more powerful than extrinsic rewards such as higher wages or bonuses. !otivated employees clearly tend to put forth more effort than those who are less motivated. The second means by which employee empowerment can increase productivity is through better decisions. $specially when decisions re%uire task-specific knowledge, those on the front line can often better identify problems. $mpowering employees to identify problems&combined with higher-level management involvement in coordinating solutions across departmental boundaries within the firm& can enhance the overall decision-making process and increase organizational learning. "or example, Toyota !otor 'ompany empowers some of its employees to identify and help remedy problems occurring during product assembly. An automobile coming off Toyota(s assembly line with a paint defect is seen as an opportunity to delve into the root cause of the defect, as opposed to merely fixing the defect and passing it on to distributors for resale. )olutions resulting from employee involvement tend to have more employee buy-in when it comes to implementation. *ecause such solutions are generated from the front lines, this further enhances the potential for productivity improvements by reducing the attitude that solutions are +passed down from above.+ A number of different human resource management programs are available that grant employee empowerment to some extent. A number of these are discussed in the following sections, including informal participative decision-making programs, ob enrichment, continuous improvement, and self-managed work teams.

INFORMAL PARTICIPATIVE DECISION-MAKING PROGRAMS

#nformal participative decision-making programs involve managers and subordinates making oint decisions on a daily basis. $mployees do not en oy blanket authority to make all work-related decisions, managers decide ust how much decision-making authority employees should have in each instance. The amount of authority varies depending on such situational factors as decision complexity and the importance of employee acceptance of the decision. -hile it may seem obvious, one key to empowerment is choosing under what conditions to empower employees. $mployees

should be empowered in situations where they can make decisions that are as good as, or better than, those made by their managers. .ne possible problem is that the interests of workers may not align with those of the organization. "or example, at one university a department head delegated the task of determining ob performance standards to the faculty. *ecause the faculty believed that it was not in their own best interest to develop challenging standards, the standards they eventually developed were easily attainable. The success of empowerment also often hinges on whether employees want to participate in decision making. )ome employees, for instance, have no desire to make work-related decisions. )uggestions for increasing employee participation levels include work situations where: /. All possible solutions are e%ually effective. "or example, consider employee vacation schedules. #f one solution is as good as another, employee groups can be empowered to work out the scheduling. 0. !anagers do not possess sufficient information or expertise to make a %uality decision without employee input. !anagers should at least consult their employees before a decision is reached to prevent overlooking solutions that may appear obvious to front-line employees, but which may be more evasive for higher-level managers who are unfamiliar with front-line practices. 1. !anagers do not know exactly what information is needed or how to find it. Again, managers should at least consult their employees before a decision is reached to determine whether employees have the information re%uired to make an effective decision. 2. The group(s acceptance of or commitment to effective implementation is crucial and the group is unlikely to accept a manager(s unilateral decision. #f employees( acceptance is crucial, participative decision-making should be used. As alluded to previously, employees tend to accept decisions more willingly if they have had a voice in the decision-making process. .ne caveat is that the participation should be genuine, managers should not ask for employee input simply to give the appearance of participation. $mployees can usually recognize this ploy and, if they do, feelings of distrust will likely develop. 3. $mployees( goals are aligned with those of management. #f employees do not share management(s goals, participative decision-making would be inappropriate, because the two parties would be at odds. )everal studies have examined the effects of informal participative decision-making programs. -hile the results have been mixed and thus cannot be considered definitive, most studies have found that informal participative decision-making programs do, in fact, have a positive impact on productivity.

JOB ENRICHMENT
)ometimes, employees are not motivated because of the way their obs are designed. "or example, consider the ob of an assembly-line worker who does nothing but place a screw in a hole as the product passes by on the production line. )uch a ob provides little

opportunity for workers to gain intrinsic rewards. 4ob enrichment aims to redesign obs to be more intrinsically rewarding. 'ertain ob characteristics help managers to build enrichment into obs. These characteristics 5summarized in $xhibit /6 include:

)kill variety&The various skills needed to perform a given task, where increased skill re%uirements are associated with increased motivation Task identity&The degree to which employees perceive how their ob impacts the overall production of a product or service Task significance&-hether the task is meaningful beyond the task itself Autonomy&$mployee discretion over how to perform a task "eedback&#nput from peers and supervisors regarding the %uality of an employee(s work

Exhibit 1 Job Chara t!ri"ti " That E#ha# ! I#tri#"i Moti$atio#

1% S&i'' Vari!t() Th! *!+r!! to ,hi h a -ob r!./ir!" a $ari!t( o0 *i00!r!#t a ti$iti!" to arr( o/t th! ,or&% A -ob ha" hi+h "&i'' $ari!t( i0 it r!./ir!" a #/1b!r o0 *i00!r!#t "&i''" a#* ta'!#t"% 2% Ta"& I*!#tit() Th! *!+r!! to ,hi h a -ob r!./ir!" o13'!tio# o0 th! ,ho'! a#* i*!#ti0iab'! 3i! ! o0 ,or&% A -ob ha" hi+h ta"& i*!#tit(4 i0 th! ,or&!r *o!" th! -ob 0ro1 th! b!+i##i#+ to !#* ,ith a $i"ib'! o/t o1!% 5% Ta"& Si+#i0i a# !) Th! *!+r!! to ,hi h th! -ob ha" a "/b"ta#tia' i13a t o# th! 'i$!" o0 oth!r 3!o3'!4 ,h!th!r th!"! 3!o3'! ar! i# th! i11!*iat! or+a#i6atio# or i# th! ,or'* at 'ar+!% A -ob ha" a ta"& "i+#i0i a# ! i0 3!o3'! b!#!0it +r!at'( 0ro1 r!"/'t" o0 th! -ob% 7% A/to#o1() Th! *!+r!! to ,hi h th! -ob 3ro$i*!" th! ,or&!r" ,ith a/to#o1(% A -ob ha" hi+h a/to#o1( i0 ,or&!r" ar! +i$!# "/b"ta#tia' 0r!!*o14 i#*!3!#*!# !4 a#* *i" r!tio# i# " h!*/'i#+ th! ,or& a#* *!t!r1i#i#+ th! 3ro !*/r!" to b! /"!* i# arr(i#+ it o/t% 8% Job F!!*ba &) Th! *!+r!! to ,hi h th! -ob 3ro$i*!" th! ,or&!r ,ith &#o,'!*+! o0 r!"/'t"% A -ob ha" hi+h -ob 0!!*ba & i0 arr(i#+ o/t th! ,or& a ti$iti!" r!./ir!* b( th! -ob 3ro$i*!" th! i#*i$i*/a' ,ith *ir! t a#* '!ar i#0or1atio# abo/t th! !00! ti$!#!"" o0 hi" or h!r 3!r0or1a# !% -hen these characteristics are present in a ob, employees tend to be more motivated than when these characteristics are not present. 7owever, there is not a +silver bullet+ for motivating employees through empowerment, there is considerable variation in the degree to which each of these empowerment factors motivates individuals. .n the other hand, it is a mistake to think that because certain individuals do not respond e%ually to such ob designs, overall productivity will not increase as a result of empowerment through proper ob design and enrichment. #n general, productivity tends to increase despite the inherent variation of specific effects.

.nce a ob has been identified as needing enrichment, the organization must redesign it to incorporate these characteristics: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. )ome specific ob enrichment techni%ues include:

'ombining tasks. This involves assigning tasks performed by different workers to a single individual. "or example, in a furniture factory, rather than working on ust one part of the production process, each person could assemble, sand, and stain an entire table or chair. This change would increase skill variety, as well as task identity, as each worker would be responsible for the ob from start to finish. $stablish client relationships. 'lient relationships could be established by putting the worker in touch with customers. "or example, an auto dealership service department could allow its mechanics to discuss service problems directly with customers, rather than going through the service manager. *y establishing client relationships, skill variety is increased because workers have a chance to develop interpersonal skills. #t also provides them with a chance to do a larger part of the ob 5task identity6, to see how their work impacts customers 5task significance6, and to have more decision-making authority 5autonomy6. 8educe direct supervision. -orkers gain autonomy when they are given responsibility for doing things previously done by supervisors. "or instance, clerks could be allowed to check for their own errors or be allowed to order supplies directly.

!any organizations have successfully enriched otherwise dull obs, thereby empowering employees to have greater control over their work and the decisions affecting them. #n addition to increased productivity, empowerment also may lead to improvements in product or service %uality, reduced absenteeism rates, and increased employee retention. #n situations where enriched obs become less automated, however, production may become less efficient. 4ob enrichment would thus be ill-advised in situations where the loss in efficiency cannot be offset by productivity gains stemming from increased motivation. !oreover, employees preferring highly automated, easy obs are likely to oppose ob enrichment efforts.

CONTIN9O9S IMPROVEMENT
'ompanies adopting continuous improvement attempt to build %uality into all phases of product or service design, production, and delivery. .ften referred to as total %uality management, these programs empower workers to trace product or service problems to their root causes and redesign production processes to eliminate them using various problem-solving and statistical techni%ues. #n these situations, empowerment arises from the need to involve employees at nearly all organizational levels in continuous improvement efforts. The use of continuous improvement programs have grown rapidly, built on the successful experiences of numerous companies. 9erox, for example, was able to decrease the number of customer complaints it received by 1: percent after implementing continuous improvement methods, and !otorola reduced the number of defects in its products by :; percent. <roponents of self-managed work teams claim they

succeed because they are customer-focused and promote sound management practices like team-work, continuous learning, and continuous improvement.

SELF-MANAGED :ORK TEAMS

)elf-managed work teams have the authority to manage themselves. 8ather than having managers control their work, self-managed work teams incorporate group norms to regulate activities. They plan, organize, coordinate, and take corrective actions. )ome can hire, fire, and discipline team members with little intervention from higher levels of management. #n short, self-managed work teams are given responsibilities usually held by managers, but control comes from the concertive influence of the team rather than from more formal means. =ot surprisingly, managers( obs are minimized and group norms are maximized when self-managed work teams are used. )elf-managed work teams are not for all organizations, characteristic needed for success include:

Technical skills. 'ross-training, which allows team members to move from ob to ob within the team, is essential. Thus, team members should receive training in the specific skills that will broaden their personal contributions to the overall effort. #nterpersonal skills. Team members must communicate effectively, both one-onone and in groups. 'ooperative decision-making within and among teams demands the skills of group problem solving, influencing others, and resolving conflicts. Team members must learn problem-solving skills that assist in zeroing in on problem areas, gathering facts, analyzing causes, generating alternatives, selecting solutions, and other related facets. Administrative skills. )elf-managed work teams must perform tasks formerly handled by supervisors. The team must learn how to keep records, report procedures, budget, schedule, monitor, and appraise the performance of team members.

8esearch findings concerning self-managing teams have been largely positive. <roponents claim that self-managed work teams are effective because they empower employees to make decisions that affect their day-to-day business lives. Thus, these teams radically change the way that employees value and think about their obs. .ther benefits associated with self-managed teams include greater flexibility to respond to market changes and competitive pressures. 7owever, there are a number of drawbacks. As noted previously, self-managed teams are not for every organization. )ome may be better served by other ways of empowerment, rather than the dramatic empowerment seen with self-managed teams. >rawbacks can include:

8ivalry within and across teams A shortage of time and skills on the team to deal with conventional management concerns like hiring, training, and resolving interpersonal disputes >ifficulty appraising employees in the absence of a traditional management figure

#n addition to these concerns, one of the most difficult issues companies face with selfdirected work teams is deciding how to effectively implement them. A number of obstacles must be overcome. )ometimes, managers are reluctant to relin%uish control and employees are reluctant to accept new responsibilities. To prepare team members f?or self-management, the organization must provide a considerable amount of training. -ithout proper training, teams are likely to become bogged down permanently in midprocess. As the previous discussion suggests, empowerment is not a single event or process, but rather takes a variety of forms. The degree of empowerment ranges from asking employees for input to allowing total discretion. #nformal participative decision-making programs, ob enrichment, continuous improvement, and self-managed work teams are some of the ways that organizations empower employees, giving them more control, but at the same time increasing overall organizational productivity.