Employee Empowerment and Its Effect on Organizational Performance

Employee empowerment is frequently used by business academicians and managers on business activities. It refers to employees being more proactive and self-sufficient in assisting an organization to achieve its goals. The term became prominent as part of the total quality management, although its roots are in issues raised earlier under the heading ―employee involvement‖ or employee participation. The purpose is not only to ensure that effective decisions are made by the right employees but to provide a mechanism by which responsibility for those decisions is vested in individuals and teams. The right to share authority and to codetermine important decisions is accompanied by responsibility to exercise this power for the legitimate benefit of multiple stakeholders. Responsible decision-making requires that employees have access to managerial level knowledge and information about the enterprise, as well as to opportunities to learn new skills that will enable them to interpret and use the information. Such information may, however, involve technical, economic, or interpersonal and organizational aspects of the firm that many employees will be unprepared by their previous education, training, and work experience to understand and make use of. A democratic workplace will need to provide for the ongoing education and training of employees not only in relation to their immediate work tasks but also for their broader role in participating in the management of complex enterprises