Empowering Employees through Effective Delegation - Case Study Example

Executive Summary This report looks at examining the manner in which lack of empowerment among the employees has resulted in additional role being taken by Brain and the manner it has affected his social life. Lack of empowerment among the employees has resulted in the fact that Brian has to work even while having a day off and has raised doubts over his leadership skills as even small matters have to be discussed with him. This is backed by the fact lack of empowerment will make it difficult to find employees who can take useful decisions in the future and creates doubt on the long term productivity of employees. This is backed by different theories and models which will help to understand the importance of empowering employees and will bring about a change in the working style thereby improving overall effectiveness in decision making. This report also shows the future steps with regard to empowerment which has to be taken by Brian and the manner it will help to contribute positively to his leadership skills and ensure that employees will be able to take better decisions. This will also improve the overall effectiveness and will provide an opportunity through which the organization will be able to take better decisions and make leaders for the future that can occupy respectable position in the future and provide an opportunity where a change will be witnessed in the working culture. The overall change will ensure that the organization is able to take better decisions and will increase th likelihood of succeeding in the future. Table of Contents Introduction 3 Information about the case 3 Factors leading to the inability of the employees to take decision 4 Aspect of Brian’s leadership which is ineffective 5 Role of empowerment in the present situation 6 Change in leadership style that Brian should undergo 7 Steps to ensure better empowerment among employees 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction Empowerment is an important aspect of decision making as it looks towards passing on additional responsibility and authority to the employees to take decisions. This is done with the objective of shaping the skills of employees and ensuring that small and petty issues are solved by the lower level managers or employees so that other executives can concentrate on important issues. This report aims at examining the manner in which lack of empowerment among employees has created additional burden on Brian and also raised doubts regarding the leadership skills of Brian. This is followed by highlighting the leadership aspect of Brain which was ineffective, the change which Brian has to undertake for increasing empowerment, role of empowerment in the organization, and the different steps which is required to ensure better empowerment among the employees. The over analysis will thereby help to formulate steps through which a change will be witnessed in the working culture and will provide an opportunity through which better decisions can be taken in the future. Information about the case The case highlights the lack of empowerment among employees which has increased the work burden on Brian. Lack of empowerment has increased the work load as Brian who has already dealt with a similar problem the production unit before has been entrusted with the responsibility of taking the same decision again which could have been easily taken by other employees. This has affected his mental peace as Brian as a result also has to work even on holidays as lack of empowerment has affected the style of working and has increased the work load on him. Factors leading to the inability of the employees to take decision The inability of the employees to take decision highlights the lack of empowerment which has affected the decisions making ability of the employee. Some of the factors which can be associated with the lack of inability of the employees to take decision are as follows Lack of employee empowerment: Brian doesn’t look towards employee empowerment within the organization which has thereby restricted the employees to take decisions (Buahene, 2013). The lack of employee empowerment has restricted the employees to take decision and has increased the burden on Brian as Brian has to take all the decision relating to even petty issues or issues which has been previously been dealt with. Lack of job enlargement: The situation also shows that the organization lacks job enlargement as employees are expected to do whatever they have been entrusted with and are not expected to carry additional responsibility (Buahene, 2013). This has thereby affected the decision making as employees are expected to continue with the same work and the lack of job enlargement has restricted them to carry additional role of decision making. Lack of job enrichment: The situation also shows that the organization lacks job enrichment as the job has been designed in such a manner that the areas to work are fixed and doesn’t looks to include things in a vertical direction (Buahene, 2013). This has thereby affected the decision making as employees are expected to continue with the same work and the lack of job enlargement has restricted them to carry additional role of decision making. Lack of delegation: The situation also highlights a lack of delegation of authority and responsibility among the employees. This has restricted the employees to take decisions on matter which has been dealt before and requires similar solution. Since, employees are not provided with the power to take decision it has thereby affected the overall style of working with regard to decision making and has increased the burden of decision making on Brian. Aspect of Brian’s leadership which is ineffective Brian has been successful as a leader and has been able to deal with different issues and challenges in the best manner. Despite the different leadership skills demonstrated by Brian an aspect of leadership which has been missing are Employee Empowerment: Brain hasn’t looked towards empowering employees with the additional role of taking decisions related to issues which are petty or have been dealt before. The lack of leadership skills with regard to empowering employees based on their skills and experience is an area of leadership which is missing for Brian. Delegation: Brian leadership skills also show a lack of delegation of responsibility among the employees. This is as area which could have ensured that decisions could have been taken by the employees and would have helped Brian to concentrate on other important issues Employee Accountability: Brian leadership traits also show lack of employee accountability. Increasing employee accountability could have helped Brian as it would have passed on the responsibility to employees and would have held them responsible for the different work carried by them (Buahene, 2013). This is an aspect which is completely ignored by Brian Support for employees: Brian leadership qualities also lacks with the aspect of supporting employees. Brian by ensuring that employees are better supported could have transformed the style of working and brought about a change in working culture which would have ensured that decisions could have been taken by the employees (Buahene, 2013). Self directing the employees: Brian leadership qualities also lacks with the aspect of self directing the employees (Buahene, 2013). Brian could have passed on extra onus to the employees and ensure that they deal with small issues so that the leadership skills of the employees also gets shaped up and provides to search for employees who can carry out responsibility in the future. Role of empowerment in the present situation Empowerment is an important aspect as empowering employees by passing on the additional responsibility and authority will help to reduce the burden on Brian. This will lead towards a situation where employees will be able to take decisions related to small and petty issues. Empowering employees would also mean that employees will be held responsible for their acts and will thereby act as a point through which control can also be exercised (Richards, 2013). This will help to reduce the burden on Brian and will ensure that decisions are taken by employees as well. The importance of employee empowerment is very important at this aspect as it will require that the employee is able to carry out more responsibility. Empowering employees will require that the employees are provided with additional resources so that they are able to deal with the requirements of the job. This has to be matched by the fact that employees are to be held accountable for their roles within the organization. While looking to empower employees the management has to further support the employees in the decisions taken by them and provide them the liberty to be self directed. This will thereby bring about a change and will ensure better employees are able to take better decisions. Employee empowerment is thereby an important aspect at the present situation and will help to bring about a change in the working culture. This will thereby improve the effectiveness in decision making and will ensure that smaller issues are being dealt by the employees thereby providing additional time to Brian to carry out additional role and responsibilities that the job requires. Change in leadership style that Brian should undergo To ensure maximum effectiveness Brian will have to undergo changes in the leadership style so that better decisions can be taken. This will require the following change in the leadership style of Brian Delegation: Brian has to look towards delegating work to the employees so that they are able to carry out the different function in the most effective manner. Brian based on the knowledge and experience that the different employees have has to look towards delegating and passing on additional responsibility to the employees so that they are able to carry out the work in an effective manner (Kokemuller, 2013). Empowering Employees: Brian has to empower employees by passing on additional role and responsibilities along with the resources to carry out the different activities. Kanter’s theory of empowerment also states that while empowering employees it is important to ensure that information, support, resources and the opportunity to work and learn is developed (Larkin, Cierpial, Stack, Morrison & Griffith, 2008). This will bring a change in the work culture and will transform the working style to ensure better productivity within the organization Theory X & Theory Y: Brian has to make use of theory Y which states that Brian has to remain optimistic and ensure that the work can be accomplished through the efforts of the employees. This would mean shifting from Theory X to Theory Y which ensures more belief on the employees (Kokemuller, 2013). This will make it easy for the management to pass on additional responsibilities and will thereby ensure that the employees will be able to carry out the different responsibilities. Steps to ensure better empowerment among employees Brian has to look forward at empowering employees so that the employees are able to deliver superior performance and will require ensuring that the following steps are implemented Have clarity in goals so that employees and others are able to understand their role within the organization (Huhman, 2013). This has to be matched by the fact that the goals should be properly communicated and the employees should know the manner and direction based on which they will have to perform Look at ensuring that the employees are empowered with additional responsibility and authority to carry out the different function (Huhman, 2013). This will look at providing the employees with the required resources so that they are able to bring a transformation in their style of working Delegating work to employees based on the experience and knowledge that the employee possesses (Huhman, 2013). This will help to bring a change in the working culture as employees will know that they are expected to deliver performance on a stated level and will ensure better operations Ensuring flexibility so that employees don’t face risk of losing job in case the decision goes wrong. In fact the management has to aim at ensuring that employees take initiative and discuss the matter and come up with better solutions which will help to increase the effectiveness in the use of assets. Ensure continuous monitoring and making changes when required so that empowering employees provides the best return and based on it better chances of growth can be achieved. Conclusion The report thereby highlights the manner in which Brian needs to look at empowering employees through the use of different tools and techniques so that they are provided with responsibility and authority to carry out the different functions. This has to be matched by finding and devising new ways through which better productivity will be achieved and the organization will be able to pass on additional responsibility and responsibility to the employees. References Buahene, A. 2013. Empowering Employees through Effective Delegation. Retrieved on September 15, 2013 from http://www.ngenperformance.com/blog/leadership-2/empowering-employees-through-effective-delegation Kokemuller, N. 2013. The Concept of Empowerment in Leadership. . Retrieved on September 15, 2013 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/concept-empowerment-leadership-15371.html Huhman, H. 2013. 9 ways to empower employees to be a leader. Retrieved on September 15, 2013 from http://smartblogs.com/leadership/2013/06/07/9-ways-to-empower-employees-to-be-leaders/ Larkin, M., Cierpial, C., Stack, J., Morrison, V., Griffith, C. 2008. Empowerment Theory in Action: The Wisdom of Collaborative Governance"OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. 13 (2) Richards, L. 2013. What are the benefits of employee empowerment? Retrieved on September 15, 2013 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-employee-empowerment-1177.html Read More