Motivation and Empowerment Paper

Components of Empowerment

Components of Empowerment

Empowerment is a word that has been used in several occasions and on several instances to refer to a number of things. In literal terms, it refers to the act of giving someone the power to do a certain thing. When used in the context of businesses or institutions, it refers to the systems put in place by an organization by the managerial team to see to it that the employees are empowered in order to do their works more efficiently and effectively which will ultimately lead to the acquisition and amassing of large amounts of profit within the company. It means therefore that the employees are given the power to do the job that they were initially hired for.

There are several components of empowerment, these include the following: Authority within the span of control, responsibility, accountability, knowledge and tools. To begin with, in order to empower a specific employee, there tools, software, materials, systems and equipment necessary for the performance of that duty should be available. For example, If one is a computer engineer in a given company, then there should be the necessary equipment and software available for them to do their work effectively and in good time.

The second component is the availability of the knowledge required. If an individual possesses enough amount of knowledge required for a given skill, then it is highly likely that they will do the said job in a good manner. Knowledge can be obtained either from within the work area or through continuous evaluations. Managers can attain this by providing a suitable environment for skills acquisition or by providing opportunities for further learning and evaluation while at work or on occasions that the employees are on leave. Further training and skills acquisition can take place in tandem with the duration or employment or one can take a study leave to acquire this perhaps at a different location.

The third component of empowerment is accountability. If all the employees understand appropriate accountability, they get to understand all that they are accountable for and what follows if the said objectives are not met. This means that following failure to achieve one’s objectives, the managers should discuss with the individual employee what led to such an occurrence and come up with an amicable solution to prevent a recurrence of this. This also means that in instances of disagreements, the employee shouldn’t be yelled at or fired but their level of accountability for this should be assessed and addressed effectively.

The fourth component is responsibility. Employees should be empowered to be responsible for all their actions. If this happens then they are sure about what their objectives are and all that the need to do within their workplace. All job responsibilities should be clearly understood and documented for the knowledge of both the manager and the employee.

The final component of empowerment is authority. Authority in this case is defined as having just the appropriate amount of authority within the span of one’s control. If an employee is given the correct amount of authority at his or her level, then he can easily achieve the objectives for which they are responsible. It also means that they can control and manipulate all within their ability to achieve the best within their job description, thus improving the outcomes of the company or institution.