Empowerment & Participation

Adamson University Human Behavior in Organization

Professor Melvin Vitug Moraga

Thoughts to Ponder

Learning Objectives

Explain the nature of empowerment

and its prerequisites

Illustrate participative process

Evaluate the benefits of participation

Examine the benefits of participation

Rationale

Most organizations have employees who are

dependent on others and that their own efforts

will have little impact on performance

The feeling of powerlessness contributes to the

experience of low self-efficacy

Low self-efficacy is the feeling of people that they cannot successfully perform

their jobs or make meaningful contributions

Causes of Low Self-Efficacy

major organizational

changes

authoritarian leader

ineffective reward

system

lack of job variety

EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES

Feelings of low self-efficacy can be raised by:

EMPOWERMENT is any process

that provides greater autonomy

to employees through the

sharing of relevant information

and the provision of control over

factors affecting job performance

5 Broad Approaches to Empowerment

1. Helping employees achieve mastery

2. Allowing more control

3. Providing successful role models

4. Using social reinforcement and persuasion

5. Giving emotional support

Remove

Conditions of

powerlessness

Changes

Leadership

Reward System

Job

Perception of empowerment Competence Autonomy Job Meaning

Sense of impact

EFFECTIVENESS

SATISFACTION Enhance job-related self efficacy

• Job mastery • Control & accountability • Role models • Reinforcement

• Support

Process of Empowerment

What Does Participation Mean?

The mental and emotional

involvement of people in

group situations that

encourages them to

contribute to group and

share responsibility for them

3 Elements:

I

C

R

:

nvolvement

ontribution

esponsibility

3 Important Ideas of Participation

Involvement

Contribution

Responsibility

Participation means

meaningful (ego)

involvement rather

than mere muscular

activity

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3 Important Ideas of Participation

Involvement

Contribution

Responsibility

• People are empowered

to release their own

resources of initiative

and creativity toward

the organization’s

objectives.

12

3 Important Ideas of Participation

Involvement

Contribution

Responsibility

Participation

encourages

people to accept

responsibility in

their group’s

activities

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Forces Affecting Greater Use of PARTICIPATION

Research results

Productivity Improvement

Pressures

Utilization of workplace

diversity

Employee desires for

meaning

Employees desire &

expectation

Ethical Arguments

P

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P

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I

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N

How Participation Works The Participative Process

Participative

Programs

Involvement

Mental

Emotional

OUTCOMES

*Organization:

Higher output

Better quality

Creativity

Innovation

*Employees:

Acceptance

Self efficacy

Less stress

Satisfaction

Situation

Impact of Managerial Power

• Leader-member exchange

- participation is a sharing process between managers and

employees

- built upon leader-member exchange model of leadership

- leader selectively delegates, informs, consults…

subordinate contributes to task performance

• Two views of power

- increases power of both managers and their employees

Impact of Managerial Power

Autocratic View

Power

Participative View

Power

Is fixed amount Is variable amount

Comes from the authority structure Comes from people through both official

and official channels

Is applied by management Is applied by shared ideas and activities in

group

Flows downward Flows all directions

Prerequisites for Effective 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

Contingency Factors Influence the Success of Participative Programs

Emotional Intelligence

Needs Responsibilities

Contingency Factors

1 Leader’s Emotional Intelligence

Combination of abilities - to be aware of and understand

one’s own feelings, to realize why one is feeling that way,

and to manage one’s emotions effectively

It uses leader’s empathy, compassion, optimism, humor,

integrity, caring, and persuasiveness to build the kind of

relationship with employees …

Contingency Factors 2 Differing Employee Needs for Participation

Some employees desire more participation than others

Educated and higher-level workers often seek more

participation…

The difference between an employee’s desire and

actual participation gives measures of the potential

effectiveness of participation…

• “participatively deprived” - underparticipation

• “participatively saturated” - overparticipation

NOTE: Participation is not something that should be applied equally

to everyone. Rather it should match each person’s needs

Contingency Factors 3 Responsibilities of Employees and Managers

the degree to which all employees recognize that the

opportunities provided are accompanied by a set of

responsibilities

Be fully responsible for their actions and their consequences

Operate within the relevant organizational policies

Be contributing team members

Respect and seek to use the perspective of others

Be dependable and ethical in their empowered actions

Demonstrate responsible self-leadership

Identifying the issues to be addressed

Specifying the level of involvement desired

Providing relevant information and training

Allocating fair rewards

Exp

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Benefits of Participation

Participation brings higher output and a better

quality of output

Participation tends to improve motivation because

employees feel more accepted and involved

Participation establishes better communication as

a people mutually discuss work problems.

The benefits may be slow… When one company adopted participative

management, it predicted 10 years would be needed to achieve the full effect.

Programs for Participation

Some organizations give their managers some

discretion to choose which program to use; other

organizations mandate a particular approach

throughout the company

Participative management is used when a company

uses either an approach with widespread application

or a sufficient number of programs

SELECTIVE TYPES OF

PARTICIPATIVE PROGRAMS

SUGGESTION PROGRAMS

QUALITY CIRCLES

TOTAL QUALITY

MANAGEMENT

SELF-MANAGING

TEAMS

EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP

PLANS

Selected Types of Participative Programs

Suggestion Programs – are formal plans to invite

individual employees to

recommend work improvements

(e.g. cost savings)

- limited to individual initiative

instead of group problem solving

Quality Emphasis: Quality Circles and TQM

Quality Circles - voluntary groups that

receive training in statistical techniques

and problem solving skills to improve

productivity and working conditions

meet regularly and generate solutions

Key to Successful Quality Circles

Use them for measurable, short tem problems

Obtain continuous support from management

Apply the group’s skills to problems

Train supervisors in facilitating skills

Quality Emphasis: Quality Circles and TQM

An approach which gets employee

involved in the process of searching for

continuous improvements

Employees are provided with extensive

training in problem solving, group

decision making, and statistical method

Self-Managing Teams

natural work groups that are

given a large degree of

decision-making autonomy

Employee Ownership Plans

employees provides the

capital to purchase control

of an existing operation

Limitations of Participation

Theory X belief

Lack of support from higher

levels

Managerial fear of lost –

power, status, control

Lack of adequate training for

managers and employees

Problems encountered in

early stages

Substantial efforts needed to

implement

D

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Managerial Concerns about Participation

Difficulty of some managers to adjust to their new roles in a high involvement system

Lack of preparation either managers or employees

Shift manager’s role from judge and critic to partners with employees

Essence of servant leadership places the needs of others above one’s own self

Managerial Concerns about Participation

They listen actively

They treat others with respect

They seek to engage in dialogue and often

paraphrase to ensure understanding

They affirm the worth and contributions of each

participant

They are willing to admit mistakes and ask for help

Servant Leader’s Key Behaviors

Summary:

Many employees want to become empowered

so they can play a meaningful role in the

organization

Participation is an important vehicle for

empowering employees

Participation is a sharing process that may

increase the power of both employees and the

manager

When prerequisites are met, it can provide a

variety of benefits for both employees and

employers

Summary:

A number of participative programs can be

effective, and vary in degree to which they meet

the criteria for full involvement

Managers need to redefine themselves as

stewards of resources and seek to fulfill servant

leadership role that helps to grow and develop