Changing organizational perspective and employee empowerment strategies

DINESH PANT
FAR WESTERN UNIVERSITY

Abstract
An organizational perspective is the way a company defines the roles and personnel
who are required and accountable for specific processes within the company's body.
This includes growth and expansion plans, as well as the resources needed to achieve
those goals. Different organizations use various types of practices to carry out their
operations. They are the mechanistic perspective, the organic perspective, the
organizational as a system perspective, the cultural perspective, and the learning
perspective. Employee empowerment refers to how businesses provide their
employees with everything they need to succeed. Employee empowerment is a culture.
It requires more trust, clear communication, and strategic delegation. Employee
empowerment encompasses self-determination, meaningfulness, competence, and a
sense of impact. Similarly, there are various barriers to employee empowerment.
Some of them are an incompatible organizational culture, a rigid control system, and
insufficient delegation of authority.
Changing organizational perspective

An organization's resilience can be defined as its inherent ability to maintain or

recover a steady state, allowing it to resume normal operations following a disruptive
event or in the presence of continuous stress (Hosseini, Barker, Jose, & Marquez,
2016). An organizational perspective is the way an organization defines the roles and
personnel that are required and accountable for specific processes within the
organization's body. This would include job descriptions, skills, and educational
requirements for various positions. This also includes plans for growth and expansion,
as well as the resources required to achieve those objectives.

Types of changing organizational perspectives

Different theorists have introduced their thinking and promoted or advocated various
ideas for establishing and operating the organizations over a long period of time.
From the very beginning of the emergence of the concept of an organization to date,
varieties of thinking and assumptions are propounded. Similarly, there are different
types of practices followed by different organizations for operating their activities.
Therefore, perspectives’ thinking about organization has been changing as below:
1. Organization as a machine/ mechanistic perspective

Traditional theorist and practitioners used to take organization as a machine.

According to the mechanistic perspective, an organization is a body like a machine.
Therefore, it should be established and operated like a machine. The mechanistic
perspective only focuses on increasing effectiveness and economic gain. But it
ignores the effect of environmental changes and the human aspect at work. It
promotes in implementation of rigid rules and regulation system.

2. Organic perspectives

The organic perspective views an organization as, an organic body. The organization
establishes its systems per human need and behavior. Environmental changes and
development are analyzed plans are formulated to adapt to the environment.

3. Organization as a system

According to the system perspective, the organization is a system. A system is a total

of different interrelated and inters dependent parts like inputs, processes, output, and
feedback. Environment influences organization systems. According to the system
perspective, organizations should define their input, process, output and feedback
properly. The effect of environmental changes and development should carefully be
analyzed and consulted in practice. Various types of organizations have their own
type of input, process, output and feedback.

4. Cultural perspective

Culture refers to norms, values, beliefs, traditions, practices etc. that are common for
groups, communities, organizations, etc. culture defines the function to be done and
not to be done. It specifies the limitations of the organization’s plans, procedures,
rules, and practices.

5. Organization as learning/learning perspective

Learning perspective takes organization as a learning unit. According to the learning

perspective, organizations should continuously be updated. Learning from past
experience is the motto of learning perspective. Knowledge can be acquired by
research and development, study, experience, interactions and information, etc.
Learning helps to update ideas, techniques and procedures for performing activities.
Employee empowerment strategies

Employee empowerment is a management philosophy that emphasizes the importance

of empowering employees to make and act on their own decisions. Micromanagement
is the polar opposite of employee empowerment (Bamboohr, n.d.). When someone is
empowered, they know they have the ability to accomplish something and have the
confidence to do so. As a result, employee empowerment refers to how companies
provide their employees with anything and everything they require to succeed.

Areas of employee empowerment

Employee empowerment is a culture. It requires more trust, clear communication, and

strategic delegation. The empowered employee becomes “self-directed” and “self-
controlled”. Empowerment focuses on employees to make use of their full potential.
Some of the areas of employee empowerment are:

1. Self-determination

Employees who are empowered have a strong sense of self-determination because

they believe they have freedom, independence, and discretion over their work
activities. They have control over the tasks, methods, and pace of their work.

2. Meaningfulness

Employees who are empowered see meaning in their work. They are invested in their
work and believe that whatever they do is significant. Their job corresponds to their
values.

3. Competence

Employees who are empowered are confident in their abilities to do their jobs well.
They demonstrate a tremendous capacity for growth in the face of new challenges.

4. Feeling of impact

Empowered employees see themselves as active participants in the organization and

believe they have sway over important strategic, administrative, and operational
decisions.
Issues of employee empowerment

1. Incongruent Organizational Culture

Empowerment is successful when the organizational culture is open and receptive to

change. The philosophies of senior managers, as well as their leadership traits and
behaviors, shape the culture of an organization. Employee empowerment will be
hampered if senior management's philosophy is authoritarian in nature. In such a
situation, authority tends to concentrate at the top, and employees at lower levels are
not involved in decision-making. Empowerment will be impossible and ineffective
unless this type of organizational culture is changed.

2. Rigid Control System

Many organizations design control systems with the assumption that "people cannot
be relied on even for minor matters." Employees are reduced to nothing more than
cogs in the wheel by such control systems. This results in the creation of a
monotonous work environment in which employees with initiative are forced to stifle
their leadership qualities, stifle the emergence of creative ideas, and conform to the
organization's diktats. Empowerment cannot be introduced or implemented unless
such rigid systems are abolished.

3. Inadequate Delegation of Authority

For a variety of reasons, superiors in many organizations are hesitant to delegate

authority to their subordinates. They include superiors' love of authority, lack of
confidence in subordinates' abilities, fear of exposure, criticism for subordinates'
faulty performance, and so on. As a result, authority is concentrated in the hands of a
few individuals at the top, depriving lower-level employees of much-needed
authority. Employees will not feel empowered unless this situation is changed.
References
Bamboohr. (n.d.). Employee empowerment. Retrieved 08 02, 2022, from
https://www.bamboohr.com/hr-glossary/employee-empowerment/
Economics discussion. (n.d.). Employee empowerment. Retrieved 08 02, 2022, from
https://www.economicsdiscussion.net/human-resource-management/employee
-empowerment/31827
Gyankovandar. (n.d.). Changing perspectives of organization| change in an
organization. Retrieved 08 03, 2022, from
https://www.gyankovandar.com/2021/06/Changing-Perspectives-of-
Organization.html
Hosseini, S., Barker, K., Jose, E., & Marquez, R. (2016). A review of definitions and
measures of system resilience. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 145,
47-61. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2015.08.006
Oragnizational perspective. (n.d.). Retrieved 08 03, 2022, from Alleydog.com:
https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition-cit.php?
term=Organizational+Perspective