The Essence of Empowerment
Empowerment is certainly not a new idea within the business arena. In fact, its concept has been around since the 1960's when American car manufactures suddenly realized that they were losing their butts to the
Japanese producers. An extensive and extremely well-funded investigation for answers to the recurrent question, how do I get more out of my employees while simultaneously lowering my costs, did produce some implementable and constructive results. The topic I have chosen to investigate is the application of employee empowerment and how to get the most out of this HR "buzzword."
Within my scope of discussions are topics which include effective implementation, the role of the organization, and incentives to achieve and sustain actuation.
Employee empowerment, in its most basic definition, is effective delegation. The new twist that upper management has been trying desperately to achieve, is to involve the lowest level of employees in the decision-making process while making them responsible for the results of their decisions. There have been many documented examples of anxiety, mistrust and complacency in employees when this wave of "new-and-improved, successful management strategies" have been suddenly thrown upon them. Change of any kind will usually inspire resistance, especially when you are talking about extracting power from management to place in the hands of "subordinates."
There are obvious methods to achieving the results that the stakeholders of an organization demand through empowerment. Increases in profitability, productivity, creativity, and a shorter time-to-market are all feasible results of empowerment. In fact, "empowerment is an extremely cost-effective means of bringing about desired changes in performance and operational effectiveness."
It takes only a stout devotion of the entire organization, from the top levels downward. That's all. There are, however, key factors to its success.
One of the most important key elements to take into account is the need for extensive organizational preparation to achieve effective implementation.
By preparation, I mean an organizational-wide commitment to preparing both management and its staff for the changes...
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...n to the company.
While global change is driving companies to empowerment, and similar philosophies like self- managed team-based arrangements, total quality management, it is important to note that no one philosophy is entirely correct, or incorrect. By combining the best of what these philosophies have to offer and adjusting, to the best of your ability, you corporate culture to facilitate them, you are able to reap the rewards of currently suggested management ideologies. To expect them to work over night is ludicrous, however. These things do take time, because remember, you dealing with human beings here who don't like change. Be patient, persevere; it will be worth the effort.
In sum, through cooperation, perseverance, and much patience, you might be able to develop an empowered atmosphere at your company. Change dictates that old philosophies are no longer valid. Through thorough preparation, education, communication, and absolute commitment you might be able to develop empowerment techniques, but to truly reap empowerment's rewards, you must remember that employee motivation is the product of your reward system.
Ideas of community, social progress, and culture are an ever-evolving social work issue. How do we as social workers choose to approach needs of groups and communities at the macro level? In order to grasp an understanding of true helping systems it is important for one to have a range of knowledge to justly participate within the formal helping structures an models that comprise of the social work field. In attempt to create our identity as active justice based social workers it is essential for one to conceptualize the framework of intersectionality. According to Kirsten-Ashmen, “Intersectionality involves the idea that people are complex and can belong to multiple, overlapping diverse groups “The intersectional perspective acknowledge the breath of the human experience, instead of conceptualizing social relationships and identities separately in terms of either race or class or gender or age or sexual orientation”; rather an intersectional approach focuses on the “interactional affects” of belonging to multiple groups (p. 48).” In order to remain committed to intersectionality I will apply theories and models to a progressing community in the city of Boston. A critical analysis of the strengths and weakness within each theory related to the specific community will be discussed. I will expose the intersecting layers, allowing for identity development through the lens of the macro social worker. I will begin by discussing my experience through the research process with my team members. After giving a detailed description of the project we can further explore the empowerment theory and systems theory to better explain the development of Dudley Street. The two theories are able to give an understanding of Roxbury’s forward progre...
The American society in the 1950’s saw tremendous increases in population and affluence. This addition, termed the Baby Boom, expanded the middle class and introduced new ideas of prosperity to the United States. With new conventions, such as bank loans and credit lines, the spirit of American commercialism thrived. The following decade, however, brought about many changes in the nation’s social, political, economic and philosophical way of life. With the push for social programs and greater equality for the disenfranchised, the progressive movement in America thrived.
Our society today is extremely different than it was a hundred years ago. People don’t just dress differently; they act differently and see things from new perspectives. Life will never go back to the way it used to be. But how did our culture change so much? What happened in our past that brought society to this point? The answer lies in the 1960s. Various aspects in pop culture during this time period caused American society to become what it is today.
In the ever-changing field of international development, buzzwords play an important role in framing the current agendas that are of interest to the international communities. These buzzwords, which can be globally circulating ideas for change or methods of practice, can be adopted for several reasons. It can be thought that framing the issue in this way may resonate more with potential supporters and more effectively help in the pursuit of the goals. Or it can be a password for potential funding, or a way of bringing together a diverse set of practitioners and beneficiaries and make it easier to build networks and partnerships with other international organizations (Cornwall & Eade
When this paper was started I did not believe that the fifties was a decade of any real importance. It is being forgotten as the generations get older. Learning about the decade where rebellion took over the society was one of the best things I could have done to enhance my mind.
The concept analysis of autonomy will be analyzed according to the Walker and Avant method of concept analysis. Walker and Avant (2005) present a strategy for analyzing concepts in a comprehensive manner to present new theories and a common definition for different concepts. The current as well as historical meaning is an important aspect to analyze the concept of autonomy, as one must understand how one simple four syllable word grew into such a powerful concept. Definitive attributes drawn from the concept mapped for future use as well as case study as outlined by Walker and Avant (2005). The necessary attributes are then plugged into model, borderline, related and contrary cases so that full concept involvement and understanding is determined. Antecedents as well as consequences of the concept are also discussed for positive and negative connotations can clarify the meaning of the concept of autonomy. Finally the empirical referents of actual phenomena can be realized as Walker and Avant (2005) strive to explain and simplify the concept analysis.
The 1950s were a time of peace and increasing wealth. Following World War II, Americans wanted a perfect, quiet, middle-class life living in the suburbs. Due to the Cold War and fear of communism, Americans were concerned that if they stood out, they might be labeled as a communist, so instead, they followed the norm.
extremes of a manager having no desire to give up his control over his employees and
Feminist Theory and Empowerment Theory In the feminist theory, the strand of relational-cultural theory likens to the empowerment theory because the core tenet of relational-cultural theory focuses on the growth of people through the connections, the desire for connections with others, and the relationships that foster growth also enable mutual empowerment on both sides (Jordan and Hartling, 2002). The relational-cultural theory’s was originally created to understand and explore the complex psychological development of women, but in the process of understanding the development and growth of women, the relational-cultural theory also found a better understanding of male development and growth. Thus, while the relational-cultural theory is a strand of feminist theory, it can apply to men as well.
Take the time to step back and help your employees, the people that really make a
Culture is defined as a configuration of learned behaviors and results of behavior whose component elements are shared and transmitted by the members of a particular society(Linton, R. 1945). American culture is obviously typical culture model widely transmitted internationally in the contemporary era. Thanks to aborigines in American Continent and the large number of migrants from worldwide, American culture presents the characteristics of diversity and tolerance which deeply affected and shaped by native American culture, European culture and African culture. Culture itself is an abstract concept embodied by language, architecture, poems, rituals, music, arts and religions. In this
Where is the line drawn between empowerment and objectification? Do women want to be viewed as objects rather than equals? According to Cameron Diaz.Female sexuality in media continues to be a heated and divided debate between people with conventional and progressive views. The media and various female artists have forced us to repeatedly question whether pushing boundaries is liberating or insulting. Those with traditional values believe that objectifying women sets a negative example for the youth of today. While modern audiences believe that women should choose to empower themselves by pushing the envelope and promote the youth to follow their own path in life. Women in the music industry today are empowering themselves, rather than being objectified, through their music by encouraging individuality and embracing their sexuality.
“Modern democratic society has made Fashion into a sort of cross subsidising organism, destined to establish an automatic equilibrium between the demand for singularity and the right for all to have it.” Roland Barthes, Dandyism and Fashion
Empowerment is a simple idea, but often misunderstood or misused by many. "It means granting latitude of action for how the work is done to those who do the work.” (R.E Sibson, Strategic Planning for Human Resources Management). This paper will define, describe and discuss Employee Empowerment used in today’s team based organizations. The paper looks at how this concept affects the company's diverse workforce. I will discuss the potential impact of these practices and the performance.
Creativity, literature and varied ethnicities throughout the 20th century made a huge impact on what defined “American culture.” America emerged as the dominant global power as the war ravaged through the world at the start of the 1900s. Following the war was a time of peace, which is also known as the “Roarin’ Twenties.” During this period, art and culture flourished, new artists and art forms emerged and new economic practices developed. After an era of peace, the nation fell into a Great Depression and all business growth fell to wayside. In the 30’s and 40’s, another world war broke out and demoralized the citizens of America. Although victorious, the US needed to rebuild in order to thrive once more. America was, and still is, known as