Strategicperformanceempowermentmodel
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Strategic performanceempowerment model
Gary D. Geroy
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
Phillip C. Wright
University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Joan Anderson
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
Introduction
Empowerment has become one of the most salient concepts in modernmanagement theory and practice. Definitions vary, but for the purposes of thispaper, empowerment is defined as: the process of providing employees with thenecessary guidance and skills, to enable autonomous decision making(including accountability and the responsibility) for making these decisionswithin acceptable parameters, that are part of an organizational culture.Similarly, Vogt (1997), defined empowerment as the act of giving people theopportunity to make workplace decisions by expanding their autonomy indecision making. Empowerment also has been described as the breaking downof traditional hierarchical structures, as in an empowered organization, the linepersonnel closest to a problem, are given the authority to solve the problem(Blanchard, 1997). The concept has spanned cultures and industrial sectors.Morales (1997), for example, has quoted a fellow Mexican, Freddie Lopez, assuggesting that empowerment is “training employees to offer each other trust,support, education, ideas, respect and motivation with the aim of developingeach person’s skills”. Lopez also commented that empowerment must be aprocess and a long-term commitment that is incorporated into a company’sgrowth strategy, so as to motivate and to breed loyalty among workers. Indeed,employees who have autonomous decision making capabilities, can act asbusiness partners, keeping watch on profitability (Ettorre, 1997).From a service perspective, empowerment gives employees the authority tomake decisions concerning customer service. True empowerment means thatemployees can bend and break rules to do whatever is necessary (within reason)to take care of the customer (Tschohl, 1997). In other words, empowerment isthe “wisdom to know what to do, the will to do what needs to be done, and thewherewithal to do it” (Troyer, 1997, 27).This paper will outline many of the problems and the myths that surroundempowerment. Then, through the use of a Strategic PerformanceEmpowerment Model, we will discuss pragmatic methods that will helpmanagers to make this key concept part of their own corporate reality.
Empowerment in Organizations,Vol. 6 No. 2, 1998, pp. 57-65.© MCBUniversity Press, 0265-671X
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Current issues
Vogt (1997), in his paper, “Transfer of Power” discusses two, often overlooked,factors: (1) empowerment has boundaries, and (2) empowerment requires skills,including decision making, problem solving and the ability to gather and to usedata. As to boundaries, Blanchard (1997) talks of creating autonomy throughboundaries, as a key to successful empowerment. The problem is that manymanagers fear losing control when they give up some decision making power toanother employee (Vogt, 1997). Trust is a critical component of empowerment,therefore, in that we must trust the people we empower (Mountford, 1997). Butthe trust has limits; systems and policies still need to be developed that protectboth the employee and the manager. A hotel employee might be allowed (evenencouraged) to spend $200 to make a guest’s stay memorable, but $1,000probably would be excessive. Employees need to be given boundaries withinwhich to innovate.Mountford also discusses accountability – a measurement system thatmonitors employees who make decisions about productivity, quality and profit.Ward, (1996), claims that accountability is the key to successfully empoweringemployees. Three conditions, however, must be met. First, managers mustassess the capabilities of employees to perform a particular task. Second,managers must lead in a manner that gives employees these capabilities andthird, managers and employees must understand completely the structure inwhich tasks are to be carried out. It is not enough, then, to state: “We are anempowered organization”. Managers need to change the way they manage.They need to overcome fears to perceived loss of control, concerns aboutemployee competence and doubts as to whether or not employees possess thenecessary skills. Perhaps the managers’ main fear, however, is how their jobsmight change. Indeed, many feel they may become redundant (Perry, 1997).Another, much different, issue is that managers do not know if empowermenthas any effect on profitability. The concept remains difficult to quantify. Ettorre(1997), for example, suggests that for empowerment to be measurable, theremust be a direct relationship to the organization’s strategic goals andaccountabilityat every level in the hierarchy, calling for a kind of courage,honesty and strategic tracking foreign to most managers.The list of concerns and fears that impede the application of empoweringmanagement techniques continues:(1)Consultant Thomas McCoy (President of T. J. McCoy and Associates)suggests that many managers are afraid of allowing employees to takeaction, because they don’t feel that employees understand theramifications of their decisions on the organization’s costs and profits.(2)Tschohl (1997) writes that some managers don’t trust the customer. Theyfeel that by empowering employees to bend the rules, customers willtake unfair advantage. They don’t trust the ability of front lineemployees to make decisions.
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(3)Employees too, may fear empowerment, especially when they makedecisions, as they are taking risks that could lead to reprimand or firing.Jordan (1997), however, found that in an achievement-orientedenvironment, when employees are empowered to do what is right, guidedby their knowledge of organizational values and their own personalbeliefs, they generally will make the right decisions.Thus, Crouch (1997) indicates that although many innovative managers arebeginning to dislike the word “empowerment”, fundamental concepts behindthe idea are critical to organizational success. Even so, autonomy cannot begiven without perimeters, or chaos will result until an appropriate framework isput in place. The truly professional manager, therefore, knows that in order tohave power, one must give up power (Champy, 1997). Despite the reticencetoadopt empowerment strategies, companies in which staff are empoweredconsistently outperform their competitors, as employees begin to accept moreand more responsibility. It has also been found, for example, that managers whodon’t promote personal development, tend to lose the best employees to moreforward thinking companies (Brown, 1997).
The strategic performance empowerment model
How then, do employees become empowered? What are the attributes of anempowered employee? What characteristics must employees possess in order tobe truly “empowered”? These questions have lead to the development of amodel designed to optimize employee potential. Within the strategicperformance empowerment model, three key variables (1. coaching ormentoring; 2. peer and supervisor modeling; 3. career path development andstrategies), must be present to provide employees with the guidance and theskills necessary to become empowered employees (see Figure 1).
1.Coaching
Cleary (1995), defined coaching as an informal, planned, ongoing process forinteracting with employees. The goals of coaching are to improve jobperformance by increasing employees’ capability for managing their ownperformance. A coach has been defined as someone who cares about humandignity and spiritual growth (Jones, 1995), while simultaneously adding valueto an organization by helping the staff learn, grow and develop (Phillips, 1995).To be effective, coaching must cut across hierarchies and functionalboundaries, e.g., managers coach subordinates, and peers coach peers (Peters,1996), so that all employees become more adaptive to change. It is through theprocess of learning that change takes place (Phillips, 1995). The coach, however,is not a teacher, but a partner who introduces others to challenges, options andalternative behaviors (Witherspoon, 1996).Witherspoon pulls coaching even further away from the teachingenvironment by suggesting that the focus of coaching should be less onteaching new techniques, than on being a helper. He defines coaching as a
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Strategic Performance Empowerment Model
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