Chapter 8

Empowerment
and
Participation

Nature of
Empowerment
and Participation
Powerlessness causes
low self-esteem
- low selfefficacy
- impostor phenomenon

Empowermen
t
- Is any process that
provides greater
autonomy to factors
affecting job
performance.

5 board approaches to
Empowerment
1. Helping employees
achieve
job mastery
2. Allowing more
control
3. Providing successful
role models
4. Using social
reinforcement and
5. Giving emotional
persuasion

Process of
Empowerment
Remove conditions
of powerlessness
-Changes
- Leadership
- Reward system
- Job
Enhance job-related
self-efficacy
-Job mastery
- Control and
accountability
- Role models
- Reinforcement
- Support

Perception
empowerment
-Competence
- Autonomy
- Job meaning
- Sense of
impact

Effectivenes
s

Satisfactio
n

Participation
- Is mental and
emotional involvement of
people in group situations
that encourages them to
contribute to group goals
and share responsibility
for them.

Three Important Ideas

in Participation
1. Involvement- a person who
participates is ego-involved rather
than
task-involved
2.
Motivation
to contributepeople are empowered to
release their own resources of
initiative and creativity towards
the
objective of
the organization
3. Acceptance
of responsibility
people become self-involved in an
organization, committed to it and
want to see it work successfully.

Forces Affecting Greater Use

of Participation
Research
results
Productivityimprovement
pressures
Utilization of
workforce
diversity
Employee
desires for
meaning
Employees
desire and
expectations

Ethnical
arguments

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Benefits of
Participation
Brings higher output and
higher quality of output.
Tends to improve
motivation
Establishes better
communication

The Participative
Process
Outcomes
Situation

Participati
ve
Programs

Involvem
ent
-Mental
Emotional

- Organizatio
n:
Higher
output
Better
quality
Creativity
Innovation
-Employees:
Acceptance
Self-efficacy
Less stress
Satisfaction

The Impact on
Managerial Power
Leader-member exchange- a
sharing process between
managers and employees
two views of powerparticipation may increase
the power of both managers
and their employees

Two Views of Power and

Influence
Autocratic View
Power
Is a fixed amount
Comes from the
authority
structure
Is applied by
management
Flows downward

Participative View
Power
Is a variable
amount

Comes from people

through both official
and unofficial channels
Is applied by shared
ideas and activities in
group
Flows in all
direction

PREREQUISITES FOR
PARTICIPATION
1. Adequate time to participate
2. Potential benefits greater
than
costs
3. Relevance
to employee
interests
4. Adequate employee abilities
to deal with the subject
5. Mutual ability to communicate
6. No feeling of threat to either
party
7. Restriction to the area of job
freedom

Total are of Job

freedom

Participation Exists along Continuum

Area authority applied by

manager

Joins

Consult
s
Tells

Sell
s

Amount of
Participation Low

Descriptio
n of
typical
action

Withdraw
s

Manager Manager
makes & presents
announcesdecision
decisions subject to
changes;
seeks ideas;
sells
decisions

Area of employee participation in

decision making
Medium
Manager
seeks
ideas
before
deciding

Manager
asks
group for
recomme
nded
action
before
deciding

Manager
decides
with
group;
one
person
One vote

Hig
h
Manager
asks
group to
decide

RESONANCE STEMS FROM

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE WHICH
DRAWS UPON:

1. Personal competencies
self-awareness and selfmanagement
2. Social competencies
social awareness and
relationship management

CONTINGENCY
1. Emotional
Intelligence- to be
aware of and FACTORS
understand ones
own feelings, to realize why one
is feeling that way and to
manage ones emotions
effectively
2. Differing Employee Needs for
Participation
underparticipatio
- overparticipation
n

Amount of participation allowed by

a manager

Products of Relationship
between an Employees
Desired Participation and a
Managers Use of it

High

Over
participation

Appropriate
participation

Low

Appropriate
participation

Under
participation

High

Low

Amount of participation desired by

an employee

3. RESPONSIBILITIES OF
EMPLOYEES
AND
Expectations
for employees:
-Be fully responsible
for their actions an
MANAGER

consequences
-Operate within the relevant
organizational policies
-Be contributing team members
-Respect and seek to use the
perspectives of others
-Be dependable and ethical in their
empowered actions
-Demonstrate responsible self-leadershi

3. RESPONSIBILITIES OF
EMPLOYEES AND
MANAGER
Expectations for
managers:
-Identifying the issues to be
addressed
-Specifying the level of
involvement desired
-Providing relevant information
and training
-Allocating fair rewards

PROGRAMS FOR
PARTICIPATION
Participative
Managementwhen a company uses either a
very significant approach with
widespread application or a
sufficient number of programs
to develop a sense of
empowerment among its
employees

Selective Types of
Participative Programs
Participative
Programs

Suggestio
n
Programs

Quality
circles

Total
quality
manageme
nt

SelfEmployee
managing ownership
teams
plans

Suggestion Programs
- are formal plans to invite
individual employees to
recommend work
improvements.

Quality Emphasis
Quality Circles
- Voluntary groups that
receive training in statistical
techniques and problemsolving skills and then meet to
produce ideas for improving
productivity and working
conditions

Self-Managing Teams
- Are natural work groups
that are given a large degree
of decision-making
autonomy; they are
expected to control their
behavior and results

Employee Ownership
Plans
- Emerges when employees
provide the capital to
purchase control of an
existing operation.
- Buy the company you work
for

Important
considerations in
Participation
Limitations of Participation
Managerial Concerns about
Participation

Forces Affecting the Lesser Use of

Participation
Theory X beliefs by
managers
Lack of support from
higher levels
Managerial fear of lost
Power
Status
Control
Lack of adequate training
for
Managers
Employees
Problems encounter in
early stages
Substantial efforts
needed to implement

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The most powerful CEOs expand the

power of those around them.
Michael Porter, Jay Lorsch, and Nitin Nohria