The article entitled “Empowerment: Rejuvenating a
potent idea” by Russ Forrester (2000) discusses somewhat the birth of
empowerment dating all the way back to 1960s with a term that was known as
“participative management”. The term Empowerment came into its own right along
the 1980s. It took the combination of participation and involvement, however,
there is a distinction between suggestion, job, and business involvement.
Empowerment known in this article is “a more exacting involvement that implies
the freedom and ability to make decisions and commitments, not to just suggest
them or be a part of making them” (Foster, 2000). Empowerment means “providing
freedom for people to do successfully what they want to do, rather them to do
what you want them to do” (Whetten, & Cameron 2011).
To empower means to be enable, to give an individual
(employee) a sense of ownership and confidence in what they are doing (Whetten
& Cameron 2011). I have been put in this position many of times because in
the military structure Commanders and senior leaders alike just do not have the
time to accomplish all the tasks that are appointed to them. The article stated
that there are four components of high involvement which are sharing
information, developing knowledge, rewarding performance, and distributing
power (Foster, 2000). Whetten & Cameron sync a few of the 9 principles of
empowerment that can relate to Foster’s article. Which are providing support
and providing information to name a couple. Information is a crucial part of
empowering because it is needed to be on the same page with your superior who
is assigning or tasking you with such power and authority. If you were to cause
a negative result in your decision making then it will allow for your superior
to feel that same embarrassment or set back because he or she was the one who
assigned you to accomplish that specific duty or task.
In today’s workplace or at least in my organization, “It is
about giving people clear goals to strive for, but also holding them
responsible for achieving these goals. Reallocating power by delegating
authority goes together with responsibility for outcomes placed with
individuals and teams” (Dierendonck, v., D, & Dijkstra, M. T. M. 2012) when
I was given tasks to accomplish I used those as goal setting opportunities
especially with the magnitude that each specific task held. Like when I was the
officer in charge to qualify 442 soldiers in weapons qualification for a drill
weekend. I was empowered to run the range and the results of the range weekend
to get all soldiers weapons qualified. Giving me the responsibility of getting
it done was a goal for me to set during the drill weekend. Just like Whetten
& Cameron discussed by setting “SMART” goals by being; Specific,
Measurable, Aligned, Realistic, and Time bound to be successful when given an
empowerment role.
Although the article was brief, I was able to grasp the
development of empowerment of how it worked in the past and it eventually
bringing itself to become implemented as a leadership trait.
References:
Dierendonck, v., D, & Dijkstra, M. T. M. (2012). The
role of the follower in the relationship between empowering leadership and
empowerment: A longitudinal investigation. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 42, E1-E20. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2012.01022.x
Forrester, Russ. (2000). Empowerment: Rejuvenating a Potent
Idea. The Academy of Management Executive (1993-2005), 14(3),
67–80. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4165660
Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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