How managers and superiors can empower employees
Introduction
The two topics chosen for this report are those effect associated with increasing diversity of the workforce in organizations and how this affect communication, management and working condition. The second topic is how managers or supervisors of organization can empower their subordinates.
The topics chosen for this report are very essential to the growth of any business organization and their ability to manage their workforce in enhancing productivity. The increasing size of organizational workforce will mean that organizations will need to expand its middle level management team to be able to supervise this growing workforce. Also, proper management and ways to motivate them will become a challenge as the numbers of employees continue to grow. The management office space, coordination of individual contribution to productivity, and the resolving of conflicts through arbitrational procedure will become factors that will be looked into for proper management.
It is pertinent to state that when organization’s workforce increases there will be diversity. Effective management and coordination of these workers functions and assigned tasks must be present in order to ensure productivity. Furthermore, the functions of every staff should be explicitly spelt out to prevent workers working at cross-purposes and usurping of each other functions. This will lead to duplications of offices and wastages of time, resources and manpower.
The second topic is asking the question if managers or supervisors can empower their subordinates or employees working under them. The answer to this question is yes. Through delegation of functions, which is a very important principle in management, superiors can assign tasks to their subordinates which delivery of such tasks will be expected to come with positive results. Hence, for these subordinates to be very effective in delegated tasks it is germane that the expected results and functions to getting these results are clearly made known to the staff. Also, the right tool and authority in executing this task must be provided.
Effect of increased diversity in workforce and management communication
The management of a growing workforce with wide diversity needs to be guided with proper coordinating and directing of resources to enhance their productivity. As aforementioned, a diversity growing workforce will affect the management pattern, communication and how work is carried out.
Communication is very germane in workplace to address and make clarification of official duties, assignment, internal memo and passing information within and outside the organization. An organization that has a good communication network will allow information to flow freely from top cadre to bottom cider of the organization. There is the need that managers properly understand how the members of the diverse workforce perceive communication, and what stand to offend or impede their good communication. According to Mayhew & Media (2013) some employees are not too pleased and conversant using memoranda and some perceive meetings as time wasters, etc. Such perceptions and behavior may affect the smooth communication process. Identifying those employees in the workforce who are eager to quickly get information of everything happening in the organization, should be carried along. Failing to do this may cause them to be lost their sense of belonging. To maintain employer- employee relationship, effective communication with employees is very crucial.
Managing workforce with different background and cultural orientation is very challenging. However, the management of organizations should ensure that all workers are treated fairly, and discipline and reward are carried out without bias. According to Blake and Mouton managerial Grid (1964) is a model that is useful in assessing how manager or a leader set his/ her priority on how to relate with his subordinates in order to get the work executed. Consequently, the managerial grid is useful in enabling a leader achieve high productivity, through people in the organization by exhibiting the right relationship to getting the work done and catering for the workers welfare through well-established relationship with the members of the organization.
Existing difference between leadership and management is that while leadership has to do with the acts of directing and motivating members of an organization towards attaining the organization’s set objectives and goals management is the coordination of available resources through adequate planning in order to get set objectives attained through members of the workforce. Whereas, leadership entails involving oneself by giving good example on how and why the job or task should be done, management involves getting people and resources to attain set objectives easily.
In contemporary competitive global environment has made health and social care organization maintaining a competitive advantage puts a premium on having a committed and competent workforce. The communication of adequate information to subordinates by a superior would enable them perform better in their tasks they are assigned to carry out. Human Resource Management managers has the role to play as effective partners in helping their organizations successfully achieve their goals, need to have a clear understanding of exactly what are the organization’s strategies, and then they must ensure that their own efforts are consistent with providing support for strategies that are implemented in the organization. In the view Sims (2002, p. 40) argues that modern practices of HR functions should form strategic partner with expertise knowledge to enable managers to formulate corporate and business strategies as well as other strategies adopted in the organization. Hence, the expertise of the health and social care leader and his drive towards attainment of the organizational objectives and goals are easily reached when there is good communication between the top management level staff and their low bottom level workers.
The organization with high diversity of workforce should operate a motivational scheme that is managed without discrimination against any workers affiliation political, or their religious beliefs. Managers of corporate organizations are equipped with the authority to inspire and motivate workers’ high outputs. Management of organizations can maximize the contribution of workers in the health and social care sector through proper performing their managerial functions. Therefore, managerial functions include: adequate planning, organizing of resources within the organization, directing on how best to execute tasks, coordinating and synchronizing resources, adequate budgeting, and establishing proper control system for the organization where they lead.
Human Resource Management process, there is an increasing emphasis on the personal needs of the organization and its workforce. Sims (2002, p. 4), Thus, how effectively an organization’s workers make contribution to the success attainments of its goals will depend to a larger extent on the ability of these employees. Therefore, the associated practice of human resource management are embedded within the environment of the environment, where every employee stands a chance to grow and develop their skills on the job.
Furthermore, Rowden (1999) has submitted that HR professionals to have the mastery of global skills to keep their organization in contemporary competitive markets. Hence, they should have knowledge of doing business within environments that are beyond their original area of competence. Thinking outside the box is seen as a valuable tool for competition. HR Professionals should also be masters of the business environment where they operate. It becomes expedient that they need to understand the importance of financial reports, business goals, and consumer and investor roles in the organization. Hussey (2005), “Also they must have the business acumen necessary to understand and support the business function. This will make Human Resource professionals and indispensable part of a team assigned the task of charting a business’s future”.
Therefore, it is seen that for the Human Resource managers and experts should have knowledge of financial skills and extensive visioning and thinking, in order for them to expand their scope of operation. In addition, analytical skill and to be informed with the ever changing technological development and better utilization of modern information technology packages is very germane. This will make them be equipped to put the organization in a good position to compete effectively with their rivals.
How manager or supervisor can empower an employee
There are virtually two ways in which a superior can empower his/her subordinates. This can be through delegation of functions/ power or through promotion to higher job responsibility which makes the worker get the authority and power that goes along with the new position gotten.
Delegation of function is a management principle that is very useful for the attainment of the organization’s objectives and long term goals and for the increase of productivity. The manager or supervisor cannot on his own execute different tasks at the same time. He/ she will break down from the burden of the tasks; this is where delegation of power and functions becomes very germane in human resource management and general management of organizations. Empowerment is a social function that entails the raising of the social status of an individual, in an organization to raise the status of a worker is to assign them with new roles. The delegation of power or function is a way of empowering subordinates and making them gain experience for greater tasks in future. According to Kuokkanen and Leino-Kilpi (2008), the empowerment concept is based in social action of individuals within a community, or organization as in the case of this study, which is associated with interest and with attempts to heighten the level of oppressing other group.
Managers at different levels can empower their subordinates. It doesn’t really mean that only the top Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) that can carry out the function. However, the level of empowerment is limited to the powers that the supervisor or manager has. For instance, a supervisor cannot delegate duties or empower his subordinates above the level of functions that he is authorized to perform within the scope of his position. Hence, managers and leaders should be self-disciplined and take responsibilities seriously by ensuring the manner in which they delegate functions or empower subordinates do not put them on the firing line (Alvesson, 225, p. 134). Irresponsibility in this regards will affect the organization’s productivity and may lead to wastages of resources.
Promoting workers in organization is a reward function that empowers workers by the management for them to be able to carry out higher responsibility. The promotion of staff must be done without bias and fairness. The theory underlining the effective promotion of staff is the Peter Principle. This theory argues that promoting staff in organization to the next level could lead to lower performance when they are not competent to perform better in their new position, compared to where they are coming from. In this view, Peter & Hull (1969) say the theory also explained that when workers are demoted, this is not a correction measure to enable them to get empowered to higher positions. Organizations human resource units or department have the tasks of rewarding employees via promotion and through other empowerment incentives like recognition of achievements.. Hence, this function has being an effective wage of rewarding hard and efficient workers. According to Tortorici (2006), however, the Peter’s principle postulates that promotion in organization of employees to higher positions could be carried out sometimes with errors, especially when these employees are comfortable with their previous positions and would not be motivated with the new promotion. It is seen that demotions are sometimes not commonly carried out by employers. This observed mistake during promotion doesn’t mean that right decisions were not taking before the process was carried out, but the behavior and experience of the worker was not properly taken into cognizance. In addition, sometimes employees are changed from their previous positions, and they won’t regard the promotion which ought to be an empowerment exercise, but seen as a way of victimizing them. As a result the theory of promotion of workers does not see that all promotions are done with errors. However, it is pertinent to state that when workers are promoted on merit and they are well assessed to know that this will go a long way in motivating them, hence the organization would have successfully empowered the worker. This will usually be of great benefit to the organization as there will be increase in the productivity of the worker and effective attainment of set targets. Therefore, a managers’ or superiors’ decision to promote their employee who won’t perform better this is seen erroneous reasoning. Sometimes, it may be an effort of the management to make workers put in more efforts to advance and advancement of their careers, and assigning higher responsibilities and roles. In this view, Koch & Nafziger (2007, p. 3) the decision to promote workers and enable them to rise on the job and develop their career is an optimal one. Hence, the empowered employee will have the means to earn more and have the power to take greater tasks and responsibilities.
Apart from the fact that the promotion function of a Human Resource professional sometimes could carry out wrong decisions in promoting employees, whereby they may not be able to perform effectively in the new higher position. However, this does not completely make ineffective the theoretical application of promotion. Example of this is when the HR functions do not only have to do with promoting workers. They carry out such functions as staff recruitment, motivational schemes, new workers inductions, staff welfare program, punishment of erring staff and rewarding productive staff, among others. The theory behind should practices gives explanation to what causes the advancement and growth of an organization, whereby it goes a long way to influence the rate of an organization’s productivity. The fact that some promotions are base don’t errors doesn’t make all of them infested with errors. But, the promotion task and the empowerment process should be clearly defined to match with the organization’s need and the growth project at hand.
Another way of empowering employees by their superior and managers is through training of staff. When employees are trained to acquire more skills this will empower them to develop their careers and be in position to contribute for the advancement of the organization. Training of staff can be conducted by impacting new ways of effectively conducting their work. Hence, workers’ empowerment can be traced to getting to know different ways of performing tasks and better enlightenment on efficient utilization of resources and working tools. Delivering empowerment to staff via training can be gotten via on the job training schemes or off the job training programs, like seminars, workshop and other interactive meetings with experts and professionals.
In all these, the transferring of power to subordinate should match their job function and the role they are expected to perform within the organization. There should be a balance between assigned task and authority or power to carry out such task. Normally authority is the right to act without exhibiting force, while power is compelling or coercing others to obey. Hence, the proper terminology should be superior can delegate authority to their low level workers or subordinates for them to effectively carry out their task. The logical arithmetical summation of this is seen, where much power in excess of job function will lead to arbitrary tendencies and abuse of such power. Also, less power and higher job function or task will lead to frustration in worker; where the worker won’t be able to operate effectively in the assigned task. Therefore, power or authority should be equal and proportionate to the assigned task.
Conclusion
The report has shown that human resource managers have the challenges of managing workers from different cultural background is very high. However, the proper harnessing, and coordination of their differences and diversity in work places will to a long way in making the organization to effectively attain its objects and long term goals. Where the number of members in a workforce continues to increase, there is a high tendency that there difference in the way they will behave and how they would react differently to issues will be very pronounced. Hence, identifying these different behavioral patterns and adequately finding the right approach to communicate and relate to the workers will make management more effective. Training also plays a prominent role in developing workers’ careers in order to empower them.
Another issue discussed above has to do with managers or supervisors given power to their low level workers. This question raise is that if this is possible. The in-depth analysis and enumeration above have shown that power (or authority to act) can be given to subordinates in form of delegation of functions or the rewarding of workers through promotion. It is argued that there must be a balance between the level of power assigned to workers and the level of functions they are expected to execute. This will prevent abuse of power or frustrations when the power is not enough.
It is also argued that promotions in organizations should be based on merits and that ability to perform at higher level should be the basis of empowering a worker via promotion.
References
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Hussey, D. (1995). “Human Resources: Strategic Audit” In International Review of Strategic Management, 6: 157-195.
Koch, Alexander, K. & Nafziger, Julia. (2007). “Job Assignment under Moral Hazard: The Peter Principle Revisited” IZA Discussion Paper Series No. 2973 August ftp://repec.iza.org/RePEc/Discussionpaper/dp2973.pdf (20/02/08)
Kuokkanen, L. and Leino-Kilpi, H. (2008). “Power and Empowerment in Nursing: Three Theoretical Approaches”, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 31(1): 235-241.
Mayhew, R. & Media, D. (2013). “Communication & Diversity in the Workplace” Chron, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/communication-diversity-workplace-11389.html (Retrieved 7-2-14).
Rowden, R.W (1999). “Potential Roles of the Human Resource Management Professional in the Strategic Planning Process” in SAM Advanced Management Journal. 64 (3):22.
Sims, Ronald R. (2002). Organisational Success Through Effective Human Resources Management West Port, CT: Quorum Books. Pp. 1-5, 8, 9, 20, 23.
Tortorici, (2006). “Can we turn back the rising tide of incompetence?” The Conference Board at http://www.conference-board.org/utlities/press (Retrieved 22/01/2007)
