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TITLE OF THE PROJECT

EMPOWERMENT AND ITS IMPACT ON CAREER

Submitted by
ARJUN RASTOGI
ABHISHEK KUMAR
Class BBA.LLB, Division A,
Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA
Symbiosis International University, PUNE
In
March, 2014
Under the guidance of
Prof. Ankur Jain
---------------------------------------Professor, Human Resource Management and Total Quality
Management
----------------------------------------

CERTIFICATE
The project entitled Empowerment and its impact on career submitted
to the Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA for HRM and TQM as part of
internal assessment is based on my original work carried out under the
guidance of Prof. Ankur Jain from 1st January to 10th March, 2014. The
research work has not been submitted elsewhere for award of any
degree.

The material borrowed from other sources and incorporated in the

thesis has been duly acknowledged.
I understand that I myself could be held responsible and accountable
for plagiarism, if any, detected later on.

Signature of the candidate

Date:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is a great pleasure for me to put on records my appreciation and
gratitude towards Professor Ankur Jain course in charge for HRM and
TQM for her immense support and encouragement all through the
preparation of this report and also for his valuable support and
suggestions for the improvement and editing of this project report.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank all the friends and others
who directly or indirectly helped me in completing my project report.
The library facilities and computer facilities of the University have been
indispensable. For any errors or inadequacies that may remain. In this
work of course, the responsibility is of my own.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.5
Meaning of empowerment..5
Nexus between career and empowerment..............6
Object of the study...........8
4

Research methodology..9
Literature review.10-20
Case study21
Analysis..23
Conclusion25
Recommendations.26
Bibliography.27

INTRODUCTION
MEANING OF EMPOWERMENT
Empowerment is the process of enhancing the capacity of individuals
or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired
actions and outcomes. Central to this process are actions which both
build individual and collective assets, and improve the efficiency and
5

fairness of the organizational and institutional context which govern

the use of these assets. Empowerment is the process of increasing the
assets and capabilities of individuals or groups to make purposive
choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and
outcomes.1
Empowered people have freedom of choice and action. This in turn
enables them to better influence the course of their lives and the
decisions

which

affect

them.2

However,

perceptions

of

being

empowered vary across time, culture and domains of a person's life: in

India, a low caste woman currently feels empowered when she is given
a fair hearing in a public meeting. Both men and women feel
empowered if they are able to engage in decisions on budget
allocations.3
In essence empowerment speaks to self determined change. It implies
bringing together the supply and demand sides of development
changing the environment within which poor people live and helping
them build and capitalize on their own attributes.

1 Data retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ636659.pdf on 24th

March, 2014 at 16:25 HRS
2 Data retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?
articleid=882400 on 24th March, 2014 at 4:45 PM
3 Data retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ636659.pdf on 24th
March, 2014 at 8:16 PM
4 Data retrieved from
http://ec.europa.eu/bepa/pdf/publications_pdf/social_innovation.pdf on 24th
March, 2014 at 9:00 PM
6

Empowerment is a cross-cutting issue. From education and health

care to governance and economic policy, activities which seek to
empower

poor

people

are

expected

to

increase

development

opportunities, enhance development outcomes and improve people's

quality of life.
NEXUS BETWEEN CAREER AND EMPOWERMENT
Career empowerment at its core is about giving the power back to the
employee; to be responsible for their own direction while giving them an
environment where they can flourish. In order to create that environment,
you must put some accountability in place to reward managers for allowing,
even encouraging, internal mobility.
Few empowerment techniques are:

Training and educational opportunities

Personal development plans
Career action centers
Development centers
Mentoring programs
Succession planning
Job assignments/rotation
Outplacement

Employees today want to use their careers as vehicles and a way to

contribute toward considerate and meaningful work. There is no longer
an expectation of job security or a lifetime career with one company. In
fact, it may feel as though there is no safety net in todays work
environment- employees may consider themselves to be self-employed
with regard to career management, responsible for their own career
development.

5 Data retrieved from http://www.cii.co.uk/media/5191599/adrienne_rosen.pdf

on 24th March, 2014 at 2:51 PM
7

Smart leaders and organizations recognize and achieve a balance

between managerial control and Career Empowermentan employees
ability to influence their own career path and pursue their own interests
within the business. Employees need direction to help them best
understand their role in the organization, accomplish objectives, and set
goals for the future. When steps are taken to actively support and
encourage employees to find their own destiny in organizations, the
benefits are real and concrete. This single effect is instrumental in
strengthening leadership pipelines and broadening succession planning
pools.

OBJECTIVE
The main object of this study is to draw a nexus between impacts of
empowerment on ones career. The paper includes the answer to
question such as- What are the benefits of career empowerment to the

6 http://www.hec.edu/Press-room/News/Creating-Value-through-EmployeeEmpowerment-A-Case-Study-by-HEC-Prof.-Charles-Henri-Besseyre-des-Horts
on 24th March, 2014 at 22:08 PM
8

organization, how is the career of the individual affected by way of

empowerment and what are its advantages and disadvantages?

RESEARCH METHODOLGY
We have done a conceptual Re-search in our project in order to maintain
the simplicity and authenticity of the re-search conducted. The topic
allotted was not best suited with the empirical or the survey work. As it
9

needs to understand the basic aim of the project, that what all
objectives do need to be achieved and accordingly the things were
planned and organized.
Our re-search methodology includes the introduction, the objectives of
the re-search conducted, we have also included 25 Literature Reviews of
various famous Indian as well as foreign authors who have worked for
years for their re-search and the project in order to gain and solve the
issue to the problem raised in the objectives, its importance its role and
the significance etc.
Secondary data has been used because though several authentic
websites were available through the medium of Internet source, and by
this medium, we were able to arrive at a conclusion. Few books were
also focused while the re-search study was going on with its smooth
running.
Thus in our re-search methodology we came to the conclusion that,
every possible use of the internet was made with all the best suited
books in order to clear and avoid any kind of ambiguity or complexities
in the project. Authenticated websites and books were made available to
us, in order to accomplish our task and solve the issues to the study.

LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Denis Chnevert, 2010- After going through this article, we have
reached

to

an

understanding

that

for

more

than

decade,
10

researchers have studied the phenomenon of affective commitment

and of its determinants. To our knowledge, no research has studied
the variation of the determinants of affective commitment over time.
The research problematic is based on Rousseaus psychological
contract theory (1995), according to which organizational changes
modify the terms of the employment relationship, and these make it
possible to improve the terms of the work contract, that is to say, the
psychological contract of the employee. In response to these
improvements,

the

employee

adjusts

his

behaviours

and

his

attitudes. As well, these organizational changes make it possible for

structural plateauing and interactional justice to become significantly
linked to commitment in 2002. Otherwise, only content plateauing is
significantly linked to affective commitment in 1999, and 2002.
Thus, career plateauing absorbs the influence of the other HRM
systems, and these are not significantly linked to commitment.
Before setting up mechanisms to empower employees or to improve
the impartiality of processes and interactions within the business,
managers would be well advised to put in place mechanisms to
manage

their

employees

careers.

This

is

because

plateaued

employees, whether this is in their work content or within the

hierarchy, are disengaged from the organization, and efforts applied
to

other

HRM

commitment.
2. Nonaka, I.

practices

and

may

Takeuchi,

be
H.,

without

effect

1991-

They

on

affective

stated

that

Empowerment is a process of orienting and enabling individuals to

think, behave and take action in an autonomous way. It helps the
workers to own their work and take responsibility for their results.
Due to technological up-gradation and automation, organisations are
dependent on a high degree of creativity and learning attitude of

11

employees which will require individual responsibility and risk taking

effort (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1991).
3. Mullins and Peacock, 1991-

They

have

pointed

out

that

empowered employees have a greater sense of job satisfaction,

motivation and organisational loyalty. A satisfied and committed
employee is a valuable asset to the organisation. Such an employee
is psychologically attached to his job and is less likely to leave the
organisation, takes pride in belonging to the organisation and makes
greater contribution for the success of the organisation.
4. Judith A. Chevalier, 2010- In this article authors have examined
the labor market for mutual fund managers. Using data from 19921994, we find that "termination" is more performance-sensitive for
younger managers. We identify possible implicit incentives created by
the

termination-performance

relationship.

The

shape

of

the

termination-performance relationship may give younger managers an

incentive to avoid unsystematic risk. Direct effects of portfolio
composition may also give younger managers an incentive to "herd"
into popular sectors. Consistent with these incentives, we find that
younger managers hold less unsystematic risk and have more
conventional portfolios. Promotion incentives and market responses
to managerial turnover are also studied.7
5. James A. Brickley, 1998- After exploring, this paper provides
evidence

on

previously

unidentified

source

of

managerial

incentives: concerns about post-retirement board service. Both the

likelihood that a retired CEO serves on his own board two years after
departure, as well as the likelihood of serving as an outside director
on

other

boards,

are

positively

and

strongly

related

to

his

performance while CEO. Retention on the CEO's own board depends

7 Data retrieved fromwww.ssrn.com on 24th March, 2014 at 1:08 PM
12

primarily on stock returns, while service on outside boards is better

explained by accounting returns. The evidence also suggests that
firms consider ability in choosing board members.
6. Peter A. Heslin, 2005 - People vary greatly in how successful they
feel in their careers. Besides differences in objective attainments, this
variation reflects different perspectives on what amounts to a
"successful"career.

The

realization

that career success

is

more

multifaceted that traditional corporate signals of pay and upward

progression

has

implications

for

increasing

the

success

you

experience in your career. Initiatives you can take are to discover

your work orientation, find a good fit between yourself and your
work, and develop your adaptability to career changes. The author
offers strategies for enhancing your career adaptability, including
ways to engage in proactive socialization, cultivate the conviction that
you can change, reason more productively about your career,
understand and nurture your network, and find your balance in
your career. Broadening your perspective on career success and
taking related initiatives, such as those suggested in this article,
could ultimately increase your experience of career success.
7. Romana L. Autrey, 2003- We model career concerns in a regime
where a linear incentive contract includes a mix of a publicly
observed performance measure and a second, correlated, private
measure that is not observed by the labor market. Under this "mix"
regime, we find that agent effort and total agency payoff levels are
higher, and the weight on the public measure is lower, than in
regimes

with

either

public-only

or

private-only

performance

measures. Intuitively, public measures create career concerns and

reduce both the need for explicit incentives and the risk premium the
principal must pay to the agent. Private measures enable the
principal to reward the agent more efficiently for the higher levels of
13

effort that arise despite lower explicit incentives. The results suggest
implicit incentives arising from career concerns may help explain
recent empirical evidence of firms using a combination of private and
public performance measures as a basis for rewarding executives.
8. Arnold and John, 2002- In the current context of the workforce, a
protean career has taken root. This is a career orientation in which
the person, not the organization, is in charge, where the persons
core values are driving career decisions, and where the main success
criteria are subjective. There is a general sense that individuals need
to transcend structures and take ownership for their own career
planningplans that may even take them beyond the walls of their
current organization. Such an environment provides much more room
for self-expression and self-direction, and is much more conducive to
individual control than what existed even a few years ago. However,
people must have the self-efficacy to effectively engage in activities
like career decision-making and mapping.
9. Cascio, W. F., 2010- There is no question that career trajectories
have changed in the past decade. As more generations enter the
workforce and the pace of change in business increases, the factors
driving employee engagement are also shifting. Employees today
want to use their careers as vehicles and a way to contribute toward
considerate and meaningful work. There is no longer an expectation
of job security or a lifetime career with one company. In fact, it may
feel as though there is no safety net in todays work environment
employees may consider themselves to be self-employed with regard
to

career

management,

responsible

for

their

own

career

development.
10.
Heski Bar-Isaac, 2011- When we have gone through this
research article, we have reached to an understanding that they have
examined training and recruitment policies in a two period model that

14

nests two forms of production, "routine" work where ability and effort
are substitutes and "creative" work where they are complements.
Alternative

ways

of

improving

average

ability

have

opposite

implications for agents career concerns. While teaching to the top

(training complementary to ability) or identifying star performers
increases agents career concerns, teaching to the bottom has the
opposite effect. The paper also makes more general comments
relating to models of reputation.
11.

Peter Bardsley, (2001)- In an ongoing organization, such as a

large law partnership firm, employees are motivated not only by

current rewards but also by the prospect of promotion, and the
opportunity to influence policy and make the rules in the future. This
leads to a dynamic programming problem in contract design. We
model career design in such a firm as a recursive mechanism design
problem in an overlapping generations environment. Agents entering
the firm may differ in their private characteristics which affect their
costs of effort. We find that under recursive structure, a profitmaximizing principal offers, and promotion-motivated agents accept,
"rat-race" contracts with very low wages and high effort levels. With
wages driven down to zero, promotions become the main instrument
to discriminate among agents in an adverse selection environment.
The optimal adverse selection contract introduces a promotion
barrier, or a "glass ceiling", for the high cost agents. We thus find
that the issues of in efficiently high work levels (the "rat-race") and of
unequal

promotion

rates

(the

"glass

ceiling")

are

intimately

interconnected. We apply this framework to equal opportunity and

gender discrimination in employment.
12.
Bernd Irlenbusch, 2003- When we have gone through this
research

article,

we

have

reached

to

an

understanding

that
15

experimentally

investigate

simple

version

of

Holmstroem's career concerns model in which firms compete for

agents in two consecutive periods. Profits of firms are determined by
agents' unknown ability and the effort they choose. Before making
second-period wage offers firms are informed about first-period
profits. In a different treatment firms additionally learn the abilities of
agents. Theory suggests high first-period equilibrium effort in the
hidden ability treatment but no effort elsewhere. However, we find
that effort is significantly higher in the revealed ability treatment and
therefore

conclude

that

transparency

does

not

weaken,

but

strengthen career concerns incentives.

13.
Luttrell and Quiroz, 2009- This paper presents an overview of the
different definitions of and conceptual approaches to empowerment. It was
produced for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
following publication of an independent evaluation of SDCs application of
empowerment approaches in its development programming. Discussions
around empowerment are commonly limited to activities associated with
economic, social

and

political

empowerment.

Transforming

power

relations does require intervention in these different dimensions and levels,

but this paper takes the debate beyond such a sectoral approach to explore
a number of conceptual issues that have practical implications for the
operationalisation of empowerment. The main issues covered by the paper
include: The recent history of the use of the term empowerment in
development;

Different

definitions

and

conceptual

approaches

to

empowerment; and Various operational implications of these debates,

including whether empowerment is viewed as a process or an outcome;
how power operates; strategies for inclusion; and implications of working
on empowerment with partners.

14.

Gunz & Gunz, 1994- This paper states that employees with

strong organisational commitment are emotionally attached to the

organisation and have a greater desire to contribute meaningfully to
16

the organisation. Individual commitment and commitment to work

groups improves team performance, pro-social behaviour and group
cohesion, and enhances individual job performance and satisfaction.
15.
Sahoo, Behera and Tripathy, 2008- Career empowerment
initiatives based on industrial democracy and the principle of
participative management reflects a positive link between employee
participation and job satisfaction, motivation and performance,
individual

commitment

and

organisational

achievement.

The

importance of individual commitment to the bottom line of the

organisation is highly essential for improved performance, improved
production, higher employee loyalty, increased satisfaction, high
quality of product and services, and customer satisfaction. In this
paper emphasis is given to systematic review of the previous
research works on career empowerment and workplace commitment
and has advanced some models to give clarity on workplace
commitment through employee empowerment, commitment and
outcomes, strategic empowerment and degree of commitment, and
antecedents and outcomes of individual commitment. This paper
hopefully contributes to the ongoing discussion of what constitutes
empowerment and its impact on individual commitment.
16.
Sturges, Guest, Conway & Mac Kenzie Davey, 2002- This
study concludes with the final saying that the outcomes of employee
commitment

can

be

summarized

as

better

performance,

less

absenteeism, high productivity and companys enhanced image and

market share. Employees who receive formal career management
help from their employers reported higher levels of individual
commitment.
17.
Kuo, Ho, Lin & Lai, 2009- A satisfied and committed employee
is a valuable asset to the organisation. Such an employee is
psychologically attached to his job and is less likely to leave the

17

organisation, takes pride in belonging to the organisation and makes

greater contribution for the success of the organisation. Hence, the
HR department of an organisation needs to focus on developing
employee competencies and influencing employee behaviour in such
a way that employees are satisfied as well as organisational goals
being accomplished. Steps should be taken to develop his knowledge
by way of interactions with the industry experts.
18.
Charles-Henri Besseyre, 2013- Employees

today

need

direction to help them understand their role, accomplish objectives,

and set goals for the future. And yet, too much direction can be just
as detrimental as too little and organizations risk losing key talent
and high-potential employees as a result. Smart leaders and
organizations recognize that there must be a balance between
managerial control and Career Empowerment an employees ability
to influence their own career path and pursue their own interests
within the business.
19.
Spreitzer, 2007- This paper discusses the importance of
feedback

in

effective

empowerment

mechanism.

Obtaining

employees feedback through upward performance appraisal may also

prove to be an effective empowerment mechanism. Providing
feedback to an individual is relevant to improve his/her performance
and competence. Employees at lower levels of an organisational
hierarchy

can

be

empowered

if

they

are

granted

access

to

opportunity, information, support and resources.

20.
Dewettinck & Buyens, 2006- This paper studies the impact of
empowerment on the employees and their career. Empowerment
must initiate from the top and top management of an empowering
organisation must be open-minded, trust building, and maintain
transparency which are highly essential for effective empowerment.
Employee centered leadership is crucial for sustaining continuous

18

improvement of empowerment in organisations. An employee feels

empowered due to a meaningful job, gaining confidence to perform
the task, degree of autonomy in decision making, and perceives that
the job and individual performance have a positive and vital impact
on the organisation. Job autonomy is considered as significantly and
positively related to organisational commitment and performance.
Employee empowerment reflects a positive link between employee
participation and job satisfaction, motivation and performance,
individual commitment and corporate achievement. However big
organizations do not encourage this activity.
21.
Nijhof, Jong & Beukhof, 1998- An organisation must provide
opportunities for employee participation both at the shop floor and at
higher levels. Participation improves communication and cooperation
among members which contributes towards team-building. It refers
to a work team consisting of a group of individuals who work
independently to solve problems or perform an assignment. It will
further help him strengthen his goals. There is complete absence of
any leader who is suppose to take any initiative and develop this
practise.
22.
Kahn, W.A., 1992 - This study indicates Organizations and
leaders who make the time for career empowerment, will benefit
from it. Finding funding is not nearly as important as investing in
time and relationships. As an employee, the people you are exposed
to, the individuals you interact with such as your mentors and
coaches, the people who give you interesting work, give you counsel
these experiences and relationships are what help create and
manage your career. All of those things have infinitely more power to
support career development and career empowerment than simply
throwing money at the problem.

19

23.

London, M. 1993- There is a general sense that individuals

need to transcend structures and take ownership for their own career
planningplans that may even take them beyond the walls of their
current organization. Such an environment provides much more room
for self-expression and self-direction, and is much more conducive to
individual control than what existed even a few years ago. However,
people must have the self-efficacy to effectively engage in activities
like career decision-making and mapping.
24.
Mathieu & Zajac- 1990 At the end of the day, the responsibility
for a career path is on the individual. But the culture in which we
exist and work influences how confident and how willing people are to
take on that responsibility. Career empowerment at its core is about
giving the power back to the employee; to be responsible for their
own direction while giving them an environment where they can
flourish. In order to create that environment, you must put some
accountability in place to reward managers for allowing, even
encouraging, internal mobility.
25.
Bushe, R.G., Havlovic, J.S. and Koetzer, G. 1996- This paper
shows

the

relationship

between

Career

Empowerment

and

engagement, where greater empowerment is tied to higher levels of

employee engagement. Additionally, there are links between Career
Empowerment and the regrettable loss of high performers, where the
absence of suitable Career Empowerment strategies increases the
likelihood of a high performer to exit an organization. In response, we
have determined what types of Career Empowerment strategies are
used most, and which are most effective at empowering and
engaging employee populations in the workforce.
26.

20

CASE STUDY
HCL Technologies since the Global 2008-2009 Crisis: Creating
Value

through

Employee

Empowerment,

is

HEC

Professor

Charles-Henri Besseyre des Horts most emblematic case study so far

in his research for the Human Capital and Performance Chair. In this
study, he shows how management's focus on employee culture as a
competitive differentiator has led to a remarkable turnaround in HCLs
market share and mind share, over a period starting from 2005 till
date.
HCLs transformation journey began in 2005 with the definition and
implementation of the Employees First, Customers Second (EFCS)
model,

new

radical

management

philosophy

driven

by

the

charismatic Vineet Nayar. Charles-Henri Besseyre des Horts describes

21

the key tenets of the Employees First philosophy - which became a

core value for HCL - and also explains how EFCS approach has led to
the implementation of a number of systems and processes.
This

concept

of

EFCS

in

turn

led

to

the

notion

of

ideapreneurship: "the culture of grass-roots, business-driven,

customer-focused innovation, in which each employee has the
license to ideate. It encourages employees to become idea-led
entrepreneurs, who think of new ideas and also drive them to
fruition". Charles-Henri Besseyre des Horts explained tha : "It was
during the tough times of 2008-2009 when HCL was able to
outperform its peers in the IT industry, led by the right kind of
employee empowerment. A noticeable pattern started to emerge in
employee behavior, right at the grassroots level. This was being driven
by HCLs Employees First values, which collectively empower and
encourage individual employees to come up with innovative solutions
to operational and customer challenges. Today, HCL employees are
ideapreneurs working in an entrepreneurial environment.
Charles-Henri Besseyre des Horts concluded that "Vineets groundbreaking vision seeded the idea that value creation does not occur in
the managerial ranks but mostly through employees who are in daily
contact with the customers." Vineet Nayar stepped down from his
position on January 17th 2013, and many challenges await his
successor, Anant Gupta, who will have "to keep the momentum of the
ideapreneurship model in order to deal with some critical issues such
as the general slowdown of business opportunities, the global
economic crisis, and growing competition in India and abroad."

22

ANALYSIS
As by going through the Literature review and the re-search material, we
can directly come to the conclusion that the objectives of the re-search
project was accomplished as the main objective of the re-search study is to
examine the impact of empowerment on career, its role, its importance, its
advantages and disadvantages, and its relatedness to the organization or
the company. If we have a look on our objectives of the project, we can
understand that Literature review has almost clear all our issues raised for
the re-search conducted. What all can be the consequences and the effect
of the study which were not known.

23

The main focus was on the re-search of the authors, and their opinions and
wordings for the re-search conducted and do they have in their mind about
the topic and the organization.
The following empowerment methods were found to have the strongest
relationship to engagement:
Internal and external networking opportunities.
Stretch assignments.
Professional development.
Internal job postings.
Empowerment has a very positive impact on ones career.
Organizations and leaders that specifically address and incorporate
these techniques will find themselves better positioned to achieve
Career Empowerment success. An underlying theme within these
approaches is giving employees adequate exposure to and information
about opportunities.

. In order to leverage employee skill sets and

increase empowerment and engagement, organizations and leaders

need to ensure that they are sharing information openly and
frequently. Independently, effective communication has been identified
as an underlying factor associated with employee engagement.
Empowered employees who are given the organizational support and
resources they need to create their own career paths are more likely to
experience: higher levels of engagement, increased opportunities to
assume a variety of roles across the organization effectively, and the
ability to develop their own skill sets.

24

Perhaps most importantly, employees who are given career autonomy

are more inclined to remain with their current organization. We are of
the opinion that there is absence of a leader in an organization who
can take the initiative to empower the employees so that they can
prosper and develop.

CONCLUSIONS
We are operating in an environment today in which employees are
beginning to feel more responsible for their own career development. There
is no longer an assumption of job security or lifetime of employment with
one

organization,

although

such

path

may

be

possible.

Career

Empowerment strategies are an array of career development tools that

organizations might implement to improve an employees ability to control
25

their own career development, and pursue their own interests within their
organization.
Importantly,

people

recognize

and

understand

the

idea

of

Career

Empowerment. Not only do they believe that a Career Empowerment

approach will bring benefits to the organizations, they also support such
relationships through their observations about the loss of high performers
in the organization. Some of the greatest challenges facing Career
Empowerment have low-cost, low-risk solutionsbut they strongly rely on
leadership

support.

empowerment

and

We

have

employee

noted

engagement

meaningful
levels,

link

where

between
the

more

empowered employees feel, the higher their level of engagement.

Considering the value the predicted rewards of implementing Career
Empowerment strategies would be to an organization, it is apparent that
companies that have not yet implemented a Career Empowerment
approach have an opportunity to benefit from it. Organizations are
suffering regrettable lossesmost notably among the middle tiers of
employeesand that such losses may be the result of lack of career
advancement opportunities and challenging work.

RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Many organizations are missing an opportunity to positively influence
their whole workforce with Career Empowerment. A key challenge is
that leaders are not prioritizing helping employees determine their
career paths so much that they are even disregarding simple,
inexpensive, and effective methods like job rotations to do so. If

26

leader

support

is

not

provided,

implementation

of

Career

Empowerment is unlikely.
2. Leaders need to encourage Career Empowerment initiatives by the
allocation of necessary time and resources.
3. Bigger companies should be well positioned to make these changes
and offer an array of attractive Career Empowerment strategies by
virtue of their size and structure, as they typically have formalized
job categories and a hierarchy that can facilitate the presentation of
information about internal opportunities.
4. Organizations and leaders need to do a better job of communicating
to employees about all of the career development options available to
them.
5. Organizations need to reassess their career development and
empowerment approaches to ensure they are set up to attract,
develop, and retain an engaged workforce across all job levels.
6. Organizations need to smartly prioritize what development methods
are vitalat the real risk of losing key talent. For support staff, of
great importance are stretch assignments, professional development,
job rotations, and manager training designed to assist in employee
development, as well as career advancement opportunities. For
professionals, internal job postings, professional development, and
short term assignments in other areas stand out. Managers and
executives value professional development and self-assessment tools.

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