Management and Empowerment
Empowerment and motivation are closely related concepts. This is principally because they both seek to achieve efficient and effective working of an organization. Additionally, both empowerment and motivation are tools which an organization can use to increase the productivity of its workers. Empowerment can be viewed as one of the ways of motivating employees. This paper will highlight a comparison of the two while highlighting some of their similarities and differences. It will also define the components of empowerment as well as analyze the implications of empowerment and delegation in a criminal justice organization. The article will then conclude by analyzing the role of trust in personnel issues.
As previously stated, the common thread running through both empowerment and motivation is that they are both ways of enabling an organization to pursue a set goal. In most cases, such a goal usually entails the attainment of increased productivity in an organization. The two concepts may also be applied by an organization which is facing a high employee turnover rate and seeks to reverse this trend. Indeed, it is widely accepted in management circles that a high employee turnover rate is one of the symptoms for an underlying problem in the organization. More often than not, it turns out that the problem is that the employees lack motivation or are poorly motivated. They thus seek other employment opportunities elsewhere where they will feel motivated as they undertake their duties. Empowerment in a management context can be defined as the process of increasing the capacity of all or some of the organization’s employees to make choices and to consequently transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes. Thus, the cardinal ideas encapsulated in empowerment are the actions that build both the individual and also benefit the organization. On the other hand, motivation has simply been defined as that which makes a particular person behave in a particular way. Motivation may either be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation arises from within an individual while extrinsic motivation is caused by the factors outside the control of the individual. While intrinsic motivation solely resides within an individual employee, an organization can play a significant role in providing extrinsic motivation for its employees. All organizations desire to have highly motivated employees as this will translate to increased productivity as well set the organization firmly on the path of achieving its organizational goals. Thus, while their definitions may point to slight differences between the two, it is clear that both motivation and empowerment arguably have the same goal. This is to ensure the organization operates at its optimum level. It is a case of the end justifying the means, provided the organization is operating at its optimum level, the method used becomes immaterial.
Delegating tasks and responsibility is one of the key ways in which empowerment is achieved. This is because delegation presents the employee with an opportunity to acquire new skills as well as assume a greater degree of responsibility. It goes without question that an employee who acquires a new set of skills that he or she did not previously have will feel empowered as they will be in a position to undertake more difficult tasks as well as play greater responsibilities in the organization. Empowered employees will also be more confident in their decision making abilities. Such confidence is crucial for effective delegation in the organization. Additionally, delegation may serve the indirect but beneficial purpose of motivating (Peter, 2008) an employee. In a sense, delegation kills two birds with one with stone in that while it empowers, it also has the potential of motivating.
Today empowerment is a key componentof organizational management. In this section, two important stages of delegation will be discussed. These includedefining the type of activity to delegate and selecting candidates for empowerment. Effective delegation requires sound managerial and leadership skills. These include goal setting, motivation, coaching and feedback. However the main prerequisite for effective delegation by a manager is sufficient knowledge of the subordinates he wishes to delegate to(Latham, 2007).If delegation is done properly, then the end result will be more empowered employees but where handled poorly, it may yield negative results both for the manager and the subordinate to whom he delegates. Effective delegation requires that delegated responsibility is also accompanied with the necessary authority to successfully undertake a task.
There are certain inherent risks that accompany delegation. Among them is the fact that a manager may become too dependent on subordinates abilities and thus overburden him with tasks. There is also a risk of the manager feeling intimidated by a subordinate who does the delegated work exceedingly well as some managers may view it as a threat to their positions. Such mangers may in turn resort to frustrating the subordinates and the end result will be the disempowering rather than the empowering of employees (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007).
Where delegation is done properly, it promotes unity of the employees at different levels in the organization and also leads to the empowerment of the lower cadre employees.Empowermentin turn can be an invaluablemeans for learning and development of staff.It can help in identifyingand properly utilizing the various talents of employees. It also helps in reducing the employee turnover rate in an organization. In addition, empowerment of subordinates frees the manager’s time allowing him to focus on improving other aspects of the organization.
There are equally certain tasks which should not be delegated (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007). Such tasks include those associated with the traditions of the company. For example, awards, promotions, recognition characters, congratulations. Crisis management and tasks which have a political dimension should also not be delegated as this may require a strict following of the organization’s policy (Peter, 2008) and it is only the managers who may understand the intricacies of such delicate tasks.
Having broadly discussed empowerment and delegation, this section of the article seeks to narrow down discussion to focus on the implications of empowerment and delegation in a criminal justice organization. It is important to keep in mind the fact that the main aim of the criminal justice organizations is to promote the attainment of justice. Consequently, empowerment and delegation in a criminal justice organization must be viewed in this light. There are numerous benefits which accrue from empowerment and delegation in a criminal justice organization. Among them is the fact that more personnel will acquire skills necessary in handling matters that are brought before them. In addition, delegation will enhance the service delivery of the criminal justice organization as it will provide a large pool of the organization’s members who can ably and readily attend to various needs of persons seeking the services of such an organization. Nevertheless, empowerment and delegation in a criminal justice organization may also be fraught with a number of risks. Chief among them is the fact that some of the employees may misuse the power or responsibilities delegated to them. Being a criminal justice organization, this may be a highly sensitive matter as it may ultimately lead to an injustice being occasioned on the person seeking the services of the organization.
Additionally, in some criminal justice organizations such as the police force, such things as information are crucial for them to effectively discharge their mandate. Consequently, where the wrong officers are empowered, they may misuse such information and the risk that this runs is that it may eventually lead to loss of lives in the community due to criminal activities. However, despite these risks, this article takes the position that the net effect of empowerment and delegation in a criminal justice organization can only be positive and not negative. All that the organization has to do is to carefully plan and implement both processes while ensuring that there are enough checks and balances so as to minimize any risks that may accompany empowerment and delegation.
Research has shown that there is a direct association between risk levels associated withthe decision to trust andits effectiveness and impact( Shovel, 2008). Where there is a low risk level of trust, there are likely to be positive results. This consequentlyleads to the establishment of a high level of confidence. The vice versa is also true, where there is a high risk level of trust, there are likely to be negative results. This will consequently lead to low levels of confidence of employees in each other and this will negatively affect the organization. In conclusion, it is incumbent upon all organizations to ensure that they foster a culture of trust within the organization. This would be the ideal working climate to achieve desirable results for the organization.
References
Hellriegel, D & Slocum, J.W. (2007). Organizational Behaviour. USA: South Western Cengage Learning.
Latham, G.P. (2007). Work motivation: history, theory, research and practice. SAGE Publication
Peter, S. (2008). Effective Employee Management. Oxford Blackwell. Counsel Press.
Shovel, M. (2008). Step to Success Lead Others effectively; How to motivate and inspire at work. London: A& C Black Publisher Ltd.
