Republic of the Philippines

MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE

Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

MAJOR IN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
1st SEMESTER, S.Y. 2021 – 2022
MID-TERM COVERAGE

Module in
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

MODULE NO.: 07

NAME OF STUDENT: ___________________________________________________

YEAR / SECTION: ______________________________________________________
DATE RECEIVED: ______________________________________________________

INSTRUCTOR: ELEINE T. ALVAREZ

NOTE: Please be cautious in following the given instructions in each activity. Correspondingly, observe
punctuality in accomplishing this module. God bless and happy learning! – INSTRUCTOR
 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

I. OVERVIEW
This module focus is to develop the learner’s skills in understanding, analyzing,
evaluating and applying the concepts, underlying principles, and processes about
Employee empowerment.

II. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this learning module, the learner is expected to:
a. Demonstrate understanding of employee empowerment.
b. Articulate the roles of managers and employees stipulated to achieve goals and
objectives of an organization
c. Make employee empowerment effective in an organization amidst the barriers.

III. GUIDE QUESTIONS

1.What does empowerment mean?
2. How does empowerment affect each employee?
3. How does employee empowerment affects the organization?

IV. LESSON PROPER

EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT: DEFINITION, BENEFITS, AND FACTORS

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

Hitting a wall is one of the worst feelings in the world, especially at work. Employees can
tell when they have the potential to do more but lack the authority or resources to make
it happen ー or a voice to ask for them. Working in this state is extremely frustrating, and
it leads to demoralization, reduced productivity, and disengagement. In fact, a study of
more than 7,000 employees showed that those who felt disempowered were rated at the
24th percentile of engagement while those with a high level of empowerment came in at
the 79th percentile.

Thankfully, with the right approach and tools, any organization can empower its
employees. This article discusses the benefits of employee empowerment and explains
how to start implementing best practices and embed employee empowerment into your
company culture.

Employee empowerment is defined as the ways in which organizations provide their

employees with a certain degree of autonomy and control in their day-to-day activities.
This can include having a voice in process improvement, helping to create and manage
new systems and tactics, and running smaller departments with less oversight from
higher-level management.

A key principle of employee empowerment is providing employees the means for making
important decisions and helping ensure those decisions are correct. When deployed
properly, this should result in heightened productivity and a better quality of employee
work and work life.

WHAT IS EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT?

Empowerment is the process of giving employees in the organization the power, authority,
responsibility, resources, freedom to take decisions and solve work related problems. In
order to take such initiatives and decisions, they are given adequate authority and
resources.

This allocation of authority is not based on the concept of “delegation” based relationship.
In empowerment it is a “trust-based relationship”, which is established between
management and employees. It is a continuous process.

The empowered employee becomes “self-directed” and “self-controlled”. Empowerment

focuses on employees to make use of their full potential. On the other hand,
empowerment means giving up control on employees and letting every employee make
decisions, set goals, accomplish results and receive rewards. It means making a person
able to manage by himself. It is a process for helping right person at the right levels to
makes the right decision for the right reasons.

Empowerment is the process of shifting authority and responsibility to other in the

organizational setting. Empowerment takes place when higher management transfers the
power, authority, and responsibility to lower-level employees. Shifting of authority and
responsibility to the workers is made to take over the charge of the work they do.

The concept of shifting of power, authority is very simple in the sense that the person who
has been doing some job for years together develops thorough idea, knowledge,
competence over the job and keeps everything under his grip. Now, if such person is
given overall charge of the work he does, with adequate authority and responsibility he
can take decision on his own for accomplishment of the job.

He performs quality work and at the same time he gets motivated and develops a sense
of commitment and a ‘feeling to reciprocate in consideration of the power shifted.’ It

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

generally occurs that most human beings desire recognition, power, status, authority, and
responsibility and when they achieve, they exert drives to utilize their full energy, abilities,
and competencies to excel their performance.

Such people prepare their mind set to achieve, to perform, to win, to succeed and to strive
their best to go ahead in that direction as projected. Empowerment is such a mechanism
that helps to achieve individual goals, team goals and organizational goals through
handing over the charge of the job to the jobbers to perform the job with authority to take
decision on their own.

So, empowerment relates to individual development and the development of organization

as well. Empowerment as a process of passing authority and responsibility to lower-level
employees is introduced in organizations like GE. Medical Systems, Tata Information
System, Asea Brown Broveri and others.

EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT – CONCEPT

Employee Empowerment in work setting means giving employees the means, ability, and
authority to do something. It involves efforts to take full advantage of organization’s
human resources by giving everyone more information and control over how they perform
their jobs. Various techniques of empowerment range from participation in decision-
making to the use of self-managed or empowered teams.

Employees’ empowerment is the process of sharing power with employees, thereby

enhancing their confidence in their ability to perform their jobs, and their belief that they
are influential contributors to the organization.

It has been observed that imparting power to employees enhances their feeling of self-
efficiency and a sense of ‘owning’ a job. Empowered employees exude increased
confidence while performing their jobs. It is the feeling of ‘ownership and control’ over
their jobs which motivates employees to maximize their contribution in making the
organization successful. In an age of increasing individualism, empowerment is what
young job aspirants look for in organizations.

Many organizations follow team structures which have paved the way for empowerment
of employees. Empowerment would be all the more necessary to speed up the process
of decision-making, make use of environmental opportunities and to serve the customers
and society better.

The purpose of empowerment is to free the employees from rigorous control and give
them freedom to take responsibility for their own ideas and actions, to release hidden
talents which would otherwise remain inaccessible. Empowerment offers a way of treating
people with respect and dignity. It is a must for organizations that want to be successful
in the competitive world.

Empowerment should not be confused with delegation of authority. Delegation is granting

of authority by a superior to a subordinate for a specific purpose such as buying specific
materials from a specified vendor. But empowerment has a wider scope because the
subordinate is given adequate autonomy or freedom to select the type of materials from
the vendor, he thinks is the best.

When someone is empowered, they have the ability to accomplish something ー and they
know it, giving them the confidence needed to succeed. Employee empowerment refers
to the manner in which companies provide their employees with anything and everything
they need to succeed. This involves far more than simple resource allocation, however.
Companies that are interested in empowering employees should act on the following:

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

• Give employees a voice by regularly soliciting and acting on their feedback.

• Provide opportunities for employees to grow through more autonomy, additional
responsibilities, or even an entirely new role.
• Recognize employees frequently to increase their engagement and confidence in
their own abilities.
• And, of course, provide employees with the tools, training, and authority they need
to excel.

A company’s leaders, HR professionals, and fellow employees all play key roles in
establishing a supportive, empowered environment. All parties need to establish mutual
trust, feel comfortable taking risks, and establish clear expectations and guidelines.
Without this collaboration, truly empowering employees is impossible.

HOW DOES EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT WORK?

People are your most valuable asset. All operational aspects – from technology to product
innovation and customer service – depend on staff to make them happen. Implement
employee engagement and see the flow-on effects on employee motivation and
engagement rates.

Empowered employees will add value to customers and ultimately make a difference to
company profits.

One study on employee empowerment set out to establish how leadership in a company
affected the job performance of its employees. The results of the study showed
that employee empowerment led to increased creativity and trust. In other words, staff
were more likely to trust and have faith in employers who they perceived as empowering.
This was due to an increased sense of autonomy and control, as well as an increased
alignment with corporate and individual values, goals, and expectations.

However, another study from the Havard Business Review found that empowering
leadership demands regular communication so that employees feel supported, rather
than just left to their own devices.

Employee empowerment varies based on an organization's culture and work design.

However, empowerment is based on the concepts of job enlargement and job enrichment.
Job enlargement differs from job enrichment in that job enlargement is horizontal
expansion and job enrichment is considered vertical.

• Job enlargement: Changing the scope of the job to include a greater portion of
the horizontal process.
o Example: A bank teller not only handles deposits and disbursement, but
also distributes traveler's checks and sells certificates of deposit.
• Job enrichment: Increasing the depth of the job to include responsibilities that
have traditionally been carried out at higher levels of the organization.
o Example: The teller also has the authority to help a client fill out a loan
application, and to determine whether or not to approve the loan.

As these examples show, employee empowerment requires:

• Training in the skills necessary to carry out the additional responsibilities
• Access to information on which decisions can be made
• Initiative and confidence on the part of the employee to take on greater
responsibility

Employee empowerment also means giving up some of the power traditionally held by
management, which means managers also must take on new roles, knowledge, and

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

responsibilities. However, this does not mean that management relinquishes all authority,
delegates all decision-making, and allows operations to run without accountability. It
requires a significant investment of time and effort, especially from management, to
develop mutual trust, assess and add to individuals' capabilities, and develop clear
agreements about roles, responsibilities, risk taking, and boundaries.

WHAT DOES AN EMPOWERED ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE LOOK LIKE?

Employee empowerment often also calls for restructuring the organization to reduce
levels of the hierarchy or to provide a more customer- and process-focused organization.
Employee empowerment is often viewed as an inverted triangle of organizational power.
In the traditional view, management is at the top while customers are on the bottom; in
an empowered environment, customers are at the top while management is in a support
role at the bottom.

Employee Empowerment Diagram

THE BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT

Employee empowerment can instill greater trust in leadership, encourage employee

motivation, lead to greater creativity, and improve employee retention ー all of which
ultimately results in a better bottom line.

Motivated Employees
Empowering employees through greater autonomy has been directly linked to increased
employee motivation. Experts agree that employees who have more control over how,
when, and where they do their job will work harder and find their work more
engaging. And given the chance to show off what they can do, employees will put their
best foot forward and feel more satisfied at the end of the day.

Greater Trust In Leadership

A meta-analysis published in Harvard Business Review states that leaders who
empower their employees are more likely to be trusted by their subordinates compared
to leaders who do not empower their employees. This is not to say that empowering
employees involves pushing work onto underlings that managers don’t feel like doing
themselves. Leaders who empower their employees act as coaches, pushing their
employees to do their best work and supporting them along the way. Empowered
employees felt that their leaders would not take advantage of their hard work ー instead,
they would recognize and celebrate their wins.

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

Improved Creativity
In the same Harvard meta-analysis, leaders who were perceived as empowering had
direct reports who were more likely to be rated by their colleagues as being highly
creative. Unsurprisingly, subordinates who allowed their employees to think for
themselves and collaborate across teams generated more novel ideas. Not only that,
direct reports who felt empowered were more likely to volunteer for extra assignments
and support their organizations outside of their day-to-day job function. Psychologists
suspected that empowered individuals were more committed to meaningful goals, and
used their creativity to achieve them.

Enhanced Employer Brand and Employee Retention

Increased rates of employee retention are another positive benefit of employee
empowerment. Workers that feel encouraged to grow professionally and personally tend
to stick around with the same employer. In fact, one LinkedIn survey found that 93 percent
of employees would stay longer with an organization that invested in their careers.
These same employees are also more likely to advocate for your employer brand within
their social networks. And positive word-of-mouth marketing translates into you becoming
an employer of choice within your industry.

A Stronger Bottom Line

Ultimately, increased performance and productivity have the biggest impact where it really
counts: company profits. Quite simply, businesses that promote employee empowerment
outperform the competition.

Furthermore, disengaged employees cost businesses between $960 billion and $1.2
trillion every year in productivity. And that represents a massive hit to company profits.
Investing in employee empowerment offers a win-win for both employees and
organizations. Staff feel motivated and engaged, are more creative and better at
generating ideas, and find greater meaning in their work. And businesses stand to benefit
from enhanced job performance, increased productivity, and smarter collaboration. Plus,
embracing employee empowerment helps you retain top talent and become an employer
of choice.

At the end of the day, companies that promote employee empowerment are simply
performing better than those that don’t. Businesses with highly motivated workers are 21
percent more profitable. On the other hand, disengaged employees in the U.S. cost
businesses a staggering $450 to $550 billion each year.

4 STEPS FOR EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES IN THE WORKPLACE

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

There are tremendous benefits to empowering employees, but ingraining it in a

company’s culture takes a considerable level of focus. Start implementing best practices
throughout your organization by following these four steps.

1. Show Employees That Their Feedback Matters

Many companies distribute annual engagement surveys, but very few actually take
the time to read employee comments, let alone act on them. Survey fatigue is a
direct result of leadership not taking immediate action on feedback. And even if
they do act on the results of an annual survey, chances are that any response will
take place too late to make a difference, as it takes months to move through stages
of the annual survey cycle from deployment to analysis to response.

Encouraging employees to frequently provide honest feedback and actively

changing your organization to fit their needs empowers employees by giving them
a real voice in how the organization functions. In Achievers’ Engagement and
Retention Report, 90 percent of workers said that they are more likely to stay at a
company that takes and acts on feedback. HR and engagement leaders agree
ー 64 percent say an always-on feedback tool is essential to an engagement
listening program. However, only 20 percent use such a tool.

The timing and manner in which a company collects feedback has a direct impact
on the results they will receive. Consider using an always on, employee-driven
feedback tool ー such as a workplace chatbot ー so that employees can give
feedback at the moments that matter most to them. You can combine this type of
feedback channel with pulse surveys — another strategic complement to a
modern-day employee engagement strategy. They are typically a limited series of
questions (5-20) sent on a quarterly basis to track engagement levels and
understand what’s driving engagement over time.

Ensure you choose a platform that empowers managers to take action as well.
Using an employee feedback platform can immediately show leaders what drives
their employees’ engagement via dashboards and heat maps that indicate exactly
where managers can make the greatest impact. With these real-time insights that
provide guidance for any situation, managers can take positive action by engaging
in a post-pulse survey listening session where they and their team can collectively
plan and take responsibility for the response to feedback.

Feedback reveals how to effectively empower your workforce

Companies need to tailor their empowerment strategy to individual
employees and their organizational culture. Take the time to determine
what employee empowerment methods work best for your team members.
And empower employees to provide feedback to managers and senior
leadership from the start of their time with the company, so they get into the
habit and any early issues can be identified and addressed. Facilitating
open, honest conversations between employees and leaders by using the
right engagement solution is a key way to empower all team members and
increase trust.

2. Recognize to Empower
Recognition goes a long way. Employees who are recognized for exceptional work
feel more empowered to do their best, and recognition has been directly linked to
higher empowerment. In addition, Brandon Hall Group’s Culture of Recognition
Pulse Survey found that organizations with a high rate of employee recognition
have more than double the employee engagement, and employees who work for
a business that consistently recognizes its employees are 79 percent more likely

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

to give their employer a high brand rating. Recognition improves motivation as

well: 90 percent of employees say receiving recognition motivates them to work
harder.

To empower employees through recognition, give them words of support,

encouragement, and praise. Acknowledge their accomplishments so they know
you’re invested in their success and trust them. Recognition from all levels ー from
peers, to managers, to the C-suite ー is critical for establishing an empowering
culture at your organization.

Recognizing behaviors that are in line with company values incentivizes

employees to keep doing them, empowering them with the confidence they need
to live your values. 92 percent of workers agree that they are more likely to take a
specific action again in the future if they are recognized for doing it the first time.
Using a recognition platform can foster an environment of empowerment, and
make it easy for employees to feel good about taking positive risks. Besides
improving individual performance, employee recognition platforms have been
shown to improve NPS scores and raise stock prices.

3. Provide Opportunities for Professional Growth — And the Necessary Support

Professional growth and employee empowerment are highly interconnected. 87
percent of millennials say that development is important in a job, and as millennials
make up over a third of the workforce, it’s in your best interest to meet their needs.
But the need to focus on professional development is not limited by generation, as
40 percent of employees who receive poor training will leave their job within 5
years.

All companies must then invest in learning and development. Urging employees to
share their knowledge, take on new responsibilities, and attend industry
conferences or events gives them the power to learn and improve their skills. And
empowering employees to take ownership of their own projects and sharpen their
critical thinking ensures that they’ll be ready for new opportunities. When
employees are exposed to these opportunities, they feel like a valued member of
the workplace community.

Fostering professional growth also demands that HR establishes a clear path for
career advancement at their company. Even if employees feel empowered, it can
be discouraging to work towards an ill-defined or unattainable goal. Promoting
employees in-house shows that growth and success has tangible rewards at your
organization, so all your team members can feel confident that they too can find a
long-term home with your company.

Companies also need to ensure there are plenty of coaching, mentoring, and
training programs available to employees who want to achieve their goals.
Mentoring and coaching more junior employees can boost morale and offer them
a concrete sense of direction, but consider establishing other types of mentor
relationships as well. A new hire may have just as much to teach an experienced
manager as the manager has to teach the new hire. Don’t neglect psychological
safety, either, or employees won’t get much out of the relationship.

4. Make Empowerment Part of Your Organization’s Culture and Vision

Revamping your company culture to focus on empowering employees is no easy
feat; it takes time and dedicated effort. Listening to and recognizing employees is
a great start, but you need to practice them daily to spark company-wide change.
According to Dr. Natalie Baumgartner, Chief Workforce Scientist at Achievers,

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

“employees who feel ‘heard’ by leaders are 4.6 times more likely to feel
empowered to do their best work,” and leaders must “find ways to recognize
everyday behaviors that align with company culture and goals.” To create a culture
of empowerment, leadership must realize its role to support employees, not the
reverse.

All levels of your company need to feel empowered, including HR, managers,
higher-level leadership, and employees, as every team member should be set up
for success. To ensure no one is left out of your empowerment initiatives, think of
ways for existing employees to guide new employees through orientation, set up
mentoring circles or idea exchanges, and brainstorm new and exciting ways for
employees to engage with other departments.

Empowering employees produces a culture of continuity that can handle any

changes thrown the organization’s way 一 even a global pandemic.

5 WAYS TO EMPOWER EMPLOYEES TO DO THEIR BEST WORK

1. Challenge Your Employees (Within Reason)
To avoid employees becoming bored or stagnant with their duties or roles, set
goals. This helps to push them past their comfort zone and realize their potential.
The goal is to set the bar high, but not too high—the goals should be attainable,
yet still challenging to reach.

To set goals that empower your employees, keep these seven tips in mind:
• Align goals with company objectives.
• Allow employees to identify their own job-specific goals.
• Use the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic, Time-based) rule.
• Make them attainable.
• Keep goals between employees consistent.
• Reward those who achieve their goals.
• Work closely with those who miss the mark.
All of these tips allow you to use goals as a way to empower employees. They’ll just
need a little guidance along the way.

2. Define Opportunities For Upward Mobility

No employee wants to be stuck in a dead-end job. If your staff feels there is no
opportunity to advance in your company, they’ll seek opportunities to do so
elsewhere. Be transparent and communicative about how staff members can earn
more money, take on a bigger role, or advance in leadership.

“Even in the best-case scenario where managers are holding regular performance
reviews with their employee, employees often don’t understand how to move either
horizontally or vertically in an organization,” according to Louis Efron from Forbes.
He continues, “But, for any employee that is worth retaining, a manager must make
clear to them how and where they can move forward on their career path.”

In many cases, there may not be a clear trajectory for an employee within a
company. In this case, uncover employees’ strengths, desires, and interests to see
how they can take a larger role within the organization. When they know there’s
room for growth, they’re empowered to get to that next level.

3. Encourage Open Communication

Do you have an open-door policy in your office? Do your staff members know that
they can talk to you or other managers when they have questions, ideas or

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

concerns? It’s important that your staff members feel their input matters instead of
a dividing line between management and lower-level employees.

"When employees feel they can communicate freely with their leaders and each
other, they’re more likely to feel valued, satisfied and motivated at work,” according
to experts from The Office Club. “Finding a boss who eagerly listens to questions
or concerns is harder than you think, so make your company and leadership style
stand out with effective communication.

To encourage open communication, give employees the opportunity to share

feedback on big, company-wide projects. Don’t forget to include every team
whenever possible and use monthly meetings to remind employees about where
they fit within the greater scheme of things. When they see how their work is having
an impact, they’re empowered to do more.

4. Offer Praise and Recognize Strengths

While employees should be intrinsically motivated to do a good job, there still
needs to be an aspect of humanity involved in the workplace. In short, workers
need frequent feedback and praise. They want to know their efforts are
appreciated and that their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.

You may think you don’t have the budget for this, but praise and recognition doesn’t
necessarily mean monetary rewards. There are countless ways to recognize your
employees for a job well done, including:
• Regular verbal praise
• “Shout outs” (flyers, cards or emails)
• Activity-based rewards
• Small gift cards for coffee, food or other items
• Half-day at work

Be specific in your praise, this will help employees identify what it is they bring to the
table; when they realize they’re good at something, they’re empowered to do more of
it because they know they can make a difference.

5. Promote Vacation Time and Work-Life Balance

Even the most dedicated employee gets burnt out if he or she doesn’t have a work-
life balance. Happy employees are both career-oriented, and dedicated to their life
outside of the office. When you let them have time for the things that are important
to them, they’ll have more focus and energy during the time they spend at work.

“Your employees will actually be more productive and better at their jobs if they
are well-rested and rejuvenated,” says Peter Daisyme, of Business.com. He
continues, “You don’t have to mandate full weeks off at a time, but you should
foster an environment where a long weekend here and there is not only
tolerated but actively supported.”

When you’re sympathetic to their needs and circumstances, they’ll be more willing
to work hard. You show appreciation to employees and in turn, empower them to
do the same.

Empower employees to work harder and, in turn, you will see improvements across
the entire company including retention—it's a win-win for everyone.

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

EMPOWER EMPLOYEES WITH AN INTRANET

And when it comes to empowering employees with the right workplace tools, there is
nothing more potent than the intranet. Under one virtual roof are all the tools’ staff could
need. Here are some great intranet features available to support employee empowerment
in your business.

Knowledge Management
Use the intranet to capture and share organizational know-how. Support a learning culture
and empower employees by capturing, storing, and transferring knowledge in one central
hub.

News And Information

The intranet’s newsfeed keeps employees updated with company news and industry
trends. Push notifications and tagging employees ensure essential updates are not
overlooked.

Additionally, workers can share information and data safely and securely with the
intranet’s document management system. This means all staff have ready access to
information when they need it.

Cross-Team Collaboration
Employee collaboration is a whole lot easier with the intranet. Private project spaces
support joint working regardless of time and location. Embed Office 365 or Google
Workspace apps directly in your intranet so staff can work on documents in real-time.

Simplified Communications
As the go-to platform, the intranet simplifies communications. The intranet’s IM is a fast
and responsive tool for resolving queries and keeping everyone up to date. Dedicated
project-based # channels, public and private chats, and personalized notifications are a
game-changer for employee empowerment.

Social Intranet Features

Your intranet comes with a ton of social intranet features to support employee
empowerment. Here’s a selection of just a few of those available.
• Employee profiles connect people and knowledge, and mean workers can reach
out directly to internal knowledge experts.
• Team or project activity walls present a modern, social feel, perfect for engaging
staff.
• Company blogs can be either management or staff-led. Either way, employee
comments, likes, and shares support multi-level conversations across the
business.
• Forums capture staff feedback and can be used to share insights and problem-
solve on a variety of organizational issues.
• Quizzes support professional development and help to promote a learning culture.
• Surveys are the perfect tool for gathering staff feedback. Or you can use them to
harness employees’ insights and improve decision-making.

BARRIERS TO EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES THAT RESULTS TO OUTRAGEOUS

EMPOWERMENT

Barrier # 1. Incongruent Organization Culture:

Empowerment succeeds when the culture of the organization is open and
receptive to change. An organization’s culture is largely created through the
philosophies of senior managers and their leadership traits and behaviors. If the
philosophy of the senior management is authoritarian in nature, it will impede

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

empowerment of employees. In such a scenario, authority tends to centralize at

the top and employees do not get involved in decision-making at lower levels.
Unless this type of organizational culture is changed, empowerment will be neither
possible nor effective.

Barrier # 2. Rigid Control Systems:

Many organizations design control systems on the premise that ‘people cannot be
relied upon even for minor matters. Such control systems reduce employees to
nothing but cogs-in-the-wheel. This leads to creation of a monotonous work
environment in which employees with initiative are forced to stifle their leadership
qualities, curb emergence of creative ideas, and to conform to the diktats of the
organization. Empowerment cannot be ushered in or become effective unless such
rigid systems are done away with.

Barrier # 3. Inadequate Delegation of Authority:

In many organizations, superiors hesitate to delegate authority to their
subordinates for a variety of reasons. They include superiors’ love for authority,
lack of confidence in the abilities of subordinates, fear of exposure, criticism for the
faulty working of subordinates, etc. This results in the concentration of authority in
the hands of a few individuals at the top, thereby depriving lower-level employees
of the much-needed authority. Unless this situation is changed, employees will not
feel empowered.

A recent Achievers' survey has revealed what HR and engagement leaders believe to be
the biggest opportunities and challenges in workplace engagement. The data shows that
despite targeted efforts by organizations to improve overall employee experience, leaders
believe employees remain distrustful of management and feel unheard.

Companies feel they are succeeding in areas like supporting better work-life balance,
communicating the mission of the organization and offering collaborative work
environments for employees. What organizations feel they are failing at, however, is
establishing trust with employees, offering clarity around work expectations and creating
a culture of mutual feedback.

HOW TO MAKE EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT EFFECTIVE?

In the present-day competitive environment in which more emphasis is being put on the
intrinsic motivational factors, and empowerment is one of the important factors, no
progressive organization can overlook the importance of empowerment for its
effectiveness.

The question is not whether to empower or not but the question is how to make
empowerment more effective. There are four factors in a job which are intrinsically
motivating. These are impact, competence, meaningfulness, and choice. When an
employee feels that the completion of task will make a difference, such a task has impact
on his performance.

When the employee has the ability, skills, and knowledge to perform a task, he feels the
sense of competence. When the employee feels that the task assigned to him is
worthwhile, he develops a sense of meaningfulness in the job. When the employee feels
that he has freedom to make decisions and initiate actions, he experiences the sense of
choice.

Empowerment can be undertaken on individual basis or on group basis. However, recent

emphasis is on groups and empowered teams are created in organizations. One of the
most popular empowered teams is quality circle.

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

Empowerment of Women
Women constitute half of the world population, but a majority of them world over are
engaged in the informal work sector. In large parts of the world, they are confined to
home, looking after family, kitchen and low-paid occupations. In politics, administration
and management, and professions like engineering medical, legal, etc., their participation
is still limited.

This is not because women are inferior to men in terms of knowledge, initiative and energy
to do higher level jobs. Cultural and social stigmas, customs and traditions have confined
them to home and low-level jobs. Wherever women get an opportunity, they show
excellence in diverse fields. In recent years, education and constitutional guarantee of
equal opportunity have helped women in many countries to come up on the front in
industry and other professions where they have excelled. A Fortune 500 study (2008)
found that big corporations with more women directors had significantly higher financial
returns, including 53% higher return on equity, 24% higher return on sales and 67% higher
return on invested capital.

Empowerment of women for higher administrative and managerial jobs require change in
the attitudes of men holding senior positions, attitude of women themselves towards their
capacity and ability to do jobs involving higher responsibility, and suitable working and
service conditions for women which may reduce the conflicts in office. Organizations
should provide training for new skills and higher managerial assignments to women,
encourage them to participate in decision-marking and reward them for showing
excellence without discrimination.

Openness To New Ideas

When a work group manager is open and inviting about new ideas and opinions from
team members, empowerment was significantly better. Often when employees come
forward with new ideas the thing that people often hear from their manager is either, “If I
wanted your opinion, I would have asked for it,” or “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I will take that under
consideration.” The first response is simply expressing, “we don’t want or value your
opinion.” The second is when managers that pretend to care and listen but never do
anything with your idea. Both behaviors discourage empowerment. People will sometimes
have excellent ideas and other times will have stupid ideas. Either way, taking the time to
respectfully listen sends the message that people are valued and respected. Being open
and inviting ideas from others will increase empowerment in your team.

Developing Others
If your employees never have good ideas, it’s possible that they lack knowledge, skills,
expertise or experience. These people need to develop new skills. There is a very strong
correlation between the emphasis a team has on development and high empowerment.
Developing team members sends a message that employees are valued and the
organization is willing to invest in them as people.

Supportive And Trusted Manager

The skills of a manager to gain the respect and support of the team members was another
critical factor. If employees trusted their manager and felt the manager “had their back”
and would support them, employees were more likely to feel empowered. We also found
that when managers were effective in two-way communication and willing to make
changes, these skills generated greater empowerment. Empowerment requires extra
effort and energy from employees. When there is a low level of trust in a team leader,
employees resist empowerment.

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

Recognition, Rewards and Encouragement

Those things that are rewarded are repeated. Empowerment requires team members to
make some effort and take some risks. Those leaders who recognize and encourage
employees when they see extra effort or risk taking get more of that behavior in the future.
Leaders who were effective at showing appreciation had higher empowerment scores.
Some teams are a recognition desert. I have often asked groups who among them
recognize team members too often or show too much appreciation? Most people
managers don’t recognize and reward others often enough.

Positive Work Environment

When the work environment was positive, where people felt valued and respected,
empowerment was higher. When the work environment was full of conflict, where
everything was a crisis and there was lots of finger pointing or blaming empowerment
was much lower. Most everyone can identify a negative work environment versus a
positive environment. Leaders need to bring a positive attitude to work and a desire to
create a great working environment.

Giving Team Members Authority

When a team member has the authority to make a decision, they feel more empowerment.
If they make a decision that gets reversed by their manager, the empowerment dissipates.
Leaders need to make sure that employees are skilled and knowledgeable enough to
make a good decision before they are given authority. The more control people have over
their work and how it is done, the higher their sense of empowerment.
Empowerment impacts the engagement of the team, but it also impacts productivity. A
study from Zenger Folkman found that only 4% of employees are willing to give extra
effort when empowerment is low but 67% as willing when empowerment is high. The
discretionary effort of employees (willingness of employees to give extra effort) has a
significant impact on productivity. As a leader, the other major benefit of having a highly
empowered team is that you get to work with a group of satisfied people who are willing
work hard. It’s the best of all outcomes. Who wouldn’t want to strive for this goal?

EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT – IMPORTANCE

Importance of employee empowerment can be ascertained from the following:
• Employee empowerment improves quality of goods produced by employees.
• In changing scenario, workers need acceptance of changes in Operation,
methods, techniques, quality of products and this is possible if organizations
practice employee empowerment.
• It brings congenial and conducive atmosphere in the organization to achieve
organizational goals.
• A culture of openness and trust is developed which establishes healthy relations
between supervisors and employees.
• It helps to create motivated and committed work force in organization.
• It satiates the need of workers for recognition, status, challenging work,
responsibility (that means workers’ esteem need is satisfied through
empowerment).

V. EVALUATION

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 Republic of the Philippines
MAILA ROSARIO COLLEGE
Diversion Road, San Gabriel Village, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
Contact No. (078) 377 – 249

TASK
ACTIVITY 1 Restricted Essay: In 300 words, explain the importance of
employee empowerment and how to apply it amidst the barriers
to achieve total quality management.
RUBRIC
Validity of Answer 7pts
Content Structure (spelling, grammar, punctuations) 1pts
Related Examples 2pts
TOTAL: 10pts

https://forms.gle/aRfFKDyg2D5m6Q9b6

VI. REFERENCE/S
❖ What is Employee Empowerment? Job Involvement & Culture | ASQ
❖ What Is Employee Empowerment?- The Secret to a Motivated Workforce
(factorialhr.com)
❖ Employee Empowerment: Definition, Benefits, and Factors | Engage Blog
(achievers.com)
❖ Employee Empowerment: Definition, Benefits, Empower Staff Today
(myhubintranet.com)
❖ Employee Empowerment: Meaning, Concept, Need, Benefits and Barriers
(economicsdiscussion.net)
❖ The 6 Key Secrets To Increasing Empowerment In Your Team (forbes.com)
❖ How to Empower Employees and Build Trust | The Engage Blog (achievers.com)
❖ 5 Ways to Empower Employees to Do Their Best Work - Engage Blog (achievers.com)
❖ Knowledge Sharing Made Easy: Make The Most Of Your Knowledge (myhubintranet.com)

COMPILED BY: CHECKED BY:

ELEINE T. ALVAREZ ____________________

BA Instructor BSBA Dean

General Education Coordinator

APPROVED BY:

ROMEO M. PASCUA, Ph.D.

Vice-President of Academic Affairs

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