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The process which enables one to gain power,authority and influence over others,institutions or

society. Empowerment is probably the totality of the following or similar capabilities:-


• Having decision-making power of one's own
• Having access to information and resources for taking proper decision
• Having a range of options from which you can make choices (not just yes/no, either/or.)
• Ability to exercise assertiveness in collective decision making
• Having positive thinking on the ability to make change
• Ability to learn skills for improving one's personal or group power.
• Ability to change others’ perceptions by democratic means.
• Involving in the growth process and changes that is never ending and self-initiated
• Increasing one's positive self-image and overcoming stigma
• Increasing ones ability in discreet thinking to sort out right and wrong
In short, the empowerment is the process that allows one to gain the knowledge, skill-sets and
attitude needed to cope up with the changing world and the circumstances in which one lives.
One account of the history of workplace empowerment in the United States recalls the clash of
management styles in railroad construction in the American West in the mid-19th century, where
"traditional" hierarchical East-Coast models of control encountered individualistic pioneer
workers, strongly supplemented by methods of efficiency-oriented "worker responsibility"
brought to the scene by Chinese laborers. In this case, empowerment at the level of work teams
or brigades achieved a notable (but short-lived) demonstrated superiority[1].
Empowerment in the workplace is regarded by critics as more a pseudo-empowerment exercise,
the idea of which is to change the attitudes of workers, so as to make them work harder rather
than giving them any real power, and Wilkinson (1998) refers to this as "attitudinal shaping".
However, recent research suggests that the opportunity to exercise personal discretion/choice
(and complete meaningful work) is an important element contributing to employee engagement
and well-being. There is evidence [2] that initiative and motivation are increased when people
have a more positive attributional style. This influences self-belief, resilience when faced with
set-backs, and the ability to visualise oneself overcoming problems. The implication is that
'empowerment' suits some more than others, and should be positioned in the broader and wider
context of an 'enabling' work environment.

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