Empowerment to the people: creating an atmosphere for growth

Audrey J. Beach

The author Audrey J. Beach is Director of Human Resources at PQ Systems, Inc., Miamisburg, Ohio, USA. Abstract Describes a case study of an organization which has taken steps toward employee empowerment, suggesting that suitable conditions are created by a nontraditional system of management and through employee involvement. Maintains that the right management system will be one which encourages employees to stretch beyond traditional job descriptions. Gives a number of examples of unsatisfactory employee performance/commitment, and relates how, by focussing on the employees value to the company, problems were resolved.

Empowerment in an organization is far more like freeing a canary than like driving a car at least, that is, if we believe that empowerment involves an intrinsic desire to take charge of ones life, rather than a mere transmission of organizational power to individuals through a mechanical process of some sort. If empowerment enables another to act with more authority, the implications for creating the right conditions which will free employees to do this are very real. The conditions are cultural ones, involving trust and an atmosphere where change is perceived not as a threat but as an opportunity, and where individuals have been prepared to make the decisions that will free them from hierarchical authority. How such an atmosphere is developed is, of course, the most critical issue facing those interested in empowerment, since it can be neither mandated nor forced, but instead represents apparently small, day-to-day issues and attitudes rather than overnight transformation. Looking at some of these issues helps to clarify how organizations can indeed empower their employees in ways which will continue to accrue responsibility and respect.

Case study
A case study of an organization which has taken steps toward employee empowerment demonstrates that the conditions are created both by a nontraditional system of management and through committed involvement from employees. The concept of empowerment is similar to the concept of intrinsic motivation. A state of empowerment, in truth, can only come from within an individual. Empowerment, like intrinsic motivation, is an inner urge that drives people to some sort of action. No one can create intrinsic motivation for another. Similarly, no one can cause another to be in an empowered state. Yet those in management can create extrinsic conditions which help lead employees in the direction of attaining empowerment. This question of what these conditions are can best be answered by rst sharing some examples of the kinds of behaviors we observe when employees are genuinely empowered. We see employees on a quest for learning, growing and developing, all without a guarantee of an enticing promotion. We see leadership that is 29

Empowerment in Organizations Volume 4 Number 1 1996 pp. 2933 MCB University Press ISSN 0968-4891

Empowerment to the people: creating an atmosphere for growth

Empowerment in Organizations Volume 4 Number 1 1996 2933

Audrey J. Beach

not dened by titles but instead is practiced at all levels of the organization. We see more employee self-management and less top-down control. We see employees taking a leading and aggressive hand in their own development. We observe openness with one another, a high level of communication, risk taking, and the ability to deal with conict openly. In addition, there seems to be a symptom of trust within our organizations. In our work experiences, most of us want to have a say in decisions which affect us. We want to be recognized for our contributions and we want to make use of our intellects. We want to understand how we t into the whole of the organization and we want to feel part of the groups with which we are working. A management system can support these needs.

Opportunities to stretch
The right management system to support employee self-growth will be one which encourages employees to stretch beyond their traditional job-description boundaries. That is, an employees role will not be dened by a traditional piece of paper, which can limit opportunities, but instead will be inspired to climb over these articial walls. With the right management system, leaders at all levels in the organization do not feel threatened or concerned that others will surpass their own level, but instead they encourage employees to take risks and expand their thinking. Some may see empowerment as only a current, passing fad, or as something that has been tried, but failed. Management has tried to empower others, they say, only to be disappointed that employees did not take hold. You have perhaps heard the comments of the disillusioned: Weve already had teams; We gave them the opportunity to make change; They burned out; They didnt want the responsibility; They dont really want it. Some managers believe that they have tried to include employees in decision making, but instead met resistance. Most likely, if we examined these examples in depth, we would nd that some person (or persons) was trying to force another, or mandate another, to take on something. Perhaps we would nd quality programs with grand 30

missions stating the intention to grant employees the ultimate opportunity to achieve this blissful state of empowerment. We would probably further nd that the existing management systems did not produce conditions where employees truly believed that they could make a difference. Undoubtedly, fear exists within the organization. In most of these examples, we would discover that empowerment was something that people thought they could decree to others. Surely, the management systems in place did not behave in ways which nurtured the environment so that empowerment could blossom. Unfortunately, a successful system of empowerment is not something that can be simply done. It involves an ongoing awareness of employees potential and of the many ways in which the organization can support that potential as it grows. In a software-and-training organization in Dayton, Ohio, managers believe that employees do not want to come to work day after day only to feel miserable by the days end. Company leaders are not interested in monitoring every move an employee makes, feeling instead that everyone has far more benecial things to do. In fact, those in leadership roles can begin by creating internal systems that do not restrict employees. Many organizations systems are constructed with good intentions but in actual practice restrain employees.

Feedback as appraisal
An appropriate performance-appraisal system provides one of the building blocks to developing internal systems that develop intrinsic motivation and empowerment. Such a system depends on effective communication rather than measuring performance, and in this case the system depends on frequent, regular communication about improvements that can be made. Group leaders meet frequently with employees to insure this kind of communication. While objective data can be collected about the system within which an employee is working, those data must drive the improvements which need to be addressed prior to applying a solution or a x. A recent situation in this organization involved a case in which an employee was having

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Audrey J. Beach

difculty performing his role. In a more traditional organization, the chances are that an employee may not even get a chance to discuss this slip in performance with his manager until a scheduled performance review takes place usually in a negative or critical climate. In this case, the manager observed that the employee, whose job requires that he spends a lot of time on the telephone, was instead spending most of his days away from the telephone. Soon, he was frequently arriving late for work. Prior to this time, this employee had not had a tardiness problem. But now his lunch periods were getting longer and longer, and he was spending more time socializing in other employees ofces. The group leader for this employee met with him and expressed to him that he was concerned about him. The manager shared what he had observed and asked the employee how he could help him to get back on track. The leader did not focus on what the employee was doing wrong. Instead, it was clear that the rst message to the employee was that he was valued. In the meeting, the employee shared some very difcult personal times that he was experiencing. He realized that this was having an impact on his work but did not know what to do. The employee was depressed and came close to breaking down in the meeting with the group leader. The manager was supportive, and strongly encouraged him to meet with the human-resources person. Because the suggestion had been offered in a climate of trust and concern, the employee followed up by having such a discussion. The human-resources manager eventually helped him to arrange a meeting with a professional who could help him.

felt trusted and valued. With kind, direct and honest communication, this employee was able to refocus on the positive, not the negative. He took charge of his job and his life. He had been empowered to do so because of the atmosphere engendered in his work environment not because of a particular policy or directive from his company. The same company does not have complex people policies designed to protect the company from employees abuses of a system. For example, the absence policy is a simple one: if you are sick, please stay at home. Essentially, the company trusts that employees will use good judgment. Of course, the employer wants everyone to be at work; when there is abuse, however, it cannot be solved with company-wide policy, but must instead be addressed with the individual employee responsible for the abuse. Most people want to do their best work in an atmosphere which trusts that work. The business indeed needs all employees to be on the job, performing in their roles. However, if an employee is ill, or if someone in his or her immediate family is ill, that employee will undoubtedly not be able to make much of a contribution at work.

Designing systems for people

The company had decided not to design a system to control all employees because of only a few occurrences. What has happened is that employees have taken ownership and made their own decisions. This is an example of self-management. Employees behave in ways which demonstrate that they are to be trusted. In another situation at the same company, an employees father had been ill for an extended period of time. The employee had a need to be out of the ofce in order to help take care of his father and also be available to his mother to help her cope with this situation. The employee missed work for two weeks. The leadership of the company knew how much stress this employee and his family were dealing with, and how difcult the circumstances of the situation were. The employer did not deduct money from his paycheck nor give him pressure about the missed time. Instead a supportive card was sent to the employee and, later, owers of sympathy. Although he had taken far more time than other 31

Focus on employees value

In this case, instead of focussing on what the employee was not doing, the manager reminded him how important his work was to the organization and how much the organization was counting on him as part of its team. With continued coaching and guidance from both inside and outside the company, this employee began to modify his behavior and refocus on his work. Within two months, he was given an opportunity for a special and important assignment overseas. Instead of feeling punished, this employee

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employees, he made it up not only by working additional hours, even though this was not required, but also by the intense loyalty he developed for the company something that is hard to come by in organizations which mistrust employees or control their behavior with rigid policies. Obviously, the payback that the organization receives from this generosity is deepening commitment to its mission and its people. Another employee in the organization also began to develop a serious pattern of regularly missing work. In this situation, the person was absent from work four to ve days per month, without explanation except to call in sick each time. The management worked with her in an effort to get help with her personal situation, since it was clear that the absences were interfering with her contribution to the company. The many doctors sought out by this employee eventually discontinued supporting her absences from work, and it had become clear that the absences could not go on without a clear explanation of how the situation could be improved. Rather than merely tolerating the frequent absences and hoping for the best, the company was honest and direct with this employee in what it could and could not continue to accept. The employee was given a 90-day probationtype program where she was not to miss work unless a serious emergency occurred. This employees behavior created the need for a different system from that which applied to other employees (including the one who had missed so much time during his fathers illness, cited above). The company did not change the primary system for one abuser, but instead dealt with the situation within the framework of concern and a desire to have the employee respond positively. After about 30 days, the employee said that she just could not live within this system and she resigned from the organization. In this case, there had been clear abuse of the guidelines for absence. The company behaved in a way in which the employee was still empowered to make her own decisions, but not to take advantage of the companys concern for her.

Roles, not positions

Another example of a system in the company which nurtures conditions for empowerment is 32

the way in which it denes role responsibilities. Note the use of role. The company uses this language because the word position itself connotes restrictions. The dictionary refers to position as the way in which a person is placed or arranged. This organization has chosen to dene the primary function that the employee has within the organization as a role, which has less rigid boundaries. Written role descriptions help to clarify primary activities and responsibilities without creating a sense of immobility. These role descriptions also aid in determining the economic value of the role. Employees are encouraged, in a variety of ways, to stretch beyond their roles and know that it is safe to do so. Questions which are frequently asked include: where else do employees feel they can make a contribution? What other skills do employees want to develop which will also be helpful in addressing the companys business needs? What other experiences would employees like to have? Leaders in the organization do not see these questions as threats, but instead as opportunities for all employees to be involved in moving the organization into the future. One primary role or career, for example, is that of sales representative. Employees in this role clearly know that they have a set of primary activities and responsibilities which must be performed and are important in contributing to the success of the organization. In fact, employees themselves develop and dene the role. Some employees have certainly crossed over from the written role in order to contribute to other areas where their skills and abilities are of value. As an example, one of the sales representatives also provides software technical support to customers whenever needed. This same employee has, by his own desire and subsequent self-development, become a seminar leader for software-training seminars which the company offers. This same employee moved to Australia for several months and worked in the rms Australian ofce to help develop the sales process in this ofce. He has put his desire to learn and go on learning into action. Yes, the right management coaching, support and systems had to exist for this to happen. Of course, not every employee in this organization is as comfortable stretching beyond his or her role, and they sometimes have to be

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coaxed. This coaxing is ultimately good for both the organization and the employee. The company does not see itself in the role of mandating this stretch by insisting that employees take on more or different responsibilities. Instead, its role is one of educating the employee about the companys operating philosophy. In this way, the employee understands that this is acceptable and even expected (although not written down anywhere). It is part of the culture. One might wonder what such an organization might do with an employee who just refuses to perform anything other than his/her primary activities. By focussing not on what an employee fails to do but rather on what he or she does well, the company encourages all employees to consider the value they can add to other parts of the organization. Of course, the company stands ready to provide proper training to develop whatever skills are required. Employees need to feel that they are not going to be thrown into something in order to fail. If, even after coaching and encouraging, an employee still refuses to stretch by broadening his or her skills, knowledge or responsibilities, the employee will also begin to understand that, realistically, the organization may not have a place for him or her in the future. This is not intended to create fear, but is communicated by the atmosphere in which the worker sees others in the organization taking advantage of opportunities to grow and develop skills, knowledge and understanding. Everyone must be continuously involved in learning and helping the organization move forward for the long-term survival of the organization, and those who are uncomfortable with this unwritten demand frequently decide to leave the organization entirely.

Education: many forms

The company also has an educational policy. Management believes that it is important for the educational policy both to support and encourage continued learning and development for all employees. Tuition reimbursement programs exist in many organizations. In most cases tuition reimbursement is granted if the coursework meets several conditions. One condition is

that the course must usually be directly related to the current work that the employee is performing within the organization. For example, an accounting clerk may be permitted to take an accounting course in order to improve his/her accounting skills. The belief here is that the employee will make a better contribution in his/her accounting role and, hence, to the business. This is typically how the thinking goes regarding educational reimbursement programs. Also, one often nds that a signicant number of signatures for approval are needed prior to the employees enrolling on the course. In this way, management can be sure that the employee has met the necessary criteria up front. In the case-study organization, however, management takes a different approach by believing that both personal and academic growth opportunities are benecial to an employees growth. The company takes a more holistic approach. That is, if a person has a desire to expand his or her knowledge through either a personal or professional learning opportunity, that person will most certainly become a more well-rounded, contributing member of the organization. If the company can create a system within its environment that helps an individual pursue any kind of learning, that employees contribution to the organization will most certainly be fuller and richer. As a result of this approach, it is not unusual for company employees to enroll in cooking classes, woodworking courses, and even parachuting instruction. Most employers are shocked that a company would even think of allowing employees to spend the companys money in such a way! However, this organization believes that employees are inspired and encouraged to pursue learning, especially when barriers are removed. In fact, employees demonstrate the kinds of behaviors associated with empowerment active involvement in their own development and expanded sense of commitment to the organization. With this longer term view, the company knows that betterrounded and less restricted employees will be happier, more dedicated and more productive in their work lives.

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