Jordan Shteiwi

12/1/18
Man. 1107

End OF Term Wrap Up: Empowerment and Teamwork

I would have to say my favorite chapter world be empowering and motivating employees. I
use this in my everyday work environment being a manager. The importance if this concept is
sometimes overlooked but is essential for productivity. Empowerment refers to the employee's
feeling of being effective, in control and influential. Empowerment is an amalgam of four
related feelings. Autonomy carries a sense of freedom in making choices about how to work
and results in the feeling that the person is responsible for her choices. Confidence is the
personal feeling of having the ability to perform the job satisfactorily. Meaningfulness is the
employee's feeling that the duties of the job are valuable. Finally, impact is the feeling that
tasks produce intended results.

Empowerment improves employee commitment, creativity, productivity, satisfaction and

motivation. Effective motivation comes from within the individual. Traditional rewards such as
monetary compensation are not the best motivators. Appreciation, meaningful work, a happy
and flexible work environment and a feeling of personal achievement are powerful motivators.
Empowerment is a factor that enables better performance through these mechanisms.
I’m sure you've heard the saying "everyone has an opinion" and you know it's true. This is
because people are natural problem-solvers. We like to figure things out and determine the
way things are done -- especially when we are the ones doing the work.

When you give people the opportunity to express their opinions and provide input about
the work process, you create buy-in and ownership of the work. When people feel ownership of
their work, they are more likely to own the problems that occur and take on the daily task of
finding solutions much more enthusiastically.

In order for people to provide meaningful input into the design of the work process
however, they must first clearly understand the desired outcome and the parameters within
which they must work to achieve it. Once this is understood, people must then be given latitude
to determine how they are going to achieve it. Recognizing this natural drive to be an integral
part of the solution is a critical first step to motivating people to do their best.

A couple of examples of businesses necessity to empower employees include Disney and

Google. Disney are world renowned for their guest experience, with ‘cast members’ working to
ensure every touch point is magical. One way they empower their staff is through a simple
demonstration of genuine care.

They make sure they thank their staff, they listen to them for unique opportunities to take
action or provide reasoned responses and they share positive customer stories. People
naturally want to be successful and being rewarded in even the simplest ways encourages and
reinforces these positive attributes. You could take this further and create a reward scheme
such as extra days off, financial bonuses or special event tickets.

Google; A world leader for innovation, it is no surprise that Google go to great lengths to
provide a creative and inclusive work environment. Google Cafes encourage individuals to
interact with people from other departments, promoting shared ideas for both work and play.
Google Moderator is a management tool that allows people companywide to get involved in
meetings by asking questions, voting up questions and generally being involved in new ideas.
They also allow engineers to spend 20% of their working week on projects that interest them
personally. This is a great way of encouraging employees to explore them own ideas and bring
new services and products to the company.

Now, how you empower your staff will depend on your employees, business and the needs
of your customers. However, it is important that your staff feel responsible for your customer’s
experience and the positive image of your organization. Giving them the power to take action
to achieve this will turn them into your greatest brand ambassadors who want everyone to love
your brand like they do. One thing to remember for me, is when your combine these tools
together and use them in a productive way you and your team can accomplish a lot of great
things, and that’s why this was my favorite section.