The success of a company depends on some of the manager’s actions, and these include the means they use to lead and self-empowerment and that of others. Employees are usually inspired by great leaders towards high levels of achievement. Managers do this though showing the employees how their work contributes to worthwhile ends. I have interviewed the Businet global manager, Mr. John, who works in a telecommunication company. The interview is about how he leads and empowers employees to get a better understanding of the practical implications and challenges of implementing empowerment in the workplace. The conduction of the interview has enabled me to address some concepts.
Interview process
Me: Good Afternoon, Mr.John?
Mr. John: Afternoon too
Me: your company has attained high levels of success in the last few years. I want to ask a few questions regarding employee self-empowerment in the workplace.
Mr. John: It will be my pleasure to give answers.
Me: Team motivation is essential in a company; how do you achieve this?
Mr. John: There are three broad ways I do motivate my employees, and they include the following. First, it is through encouraging workplace comradeship. This is achieved by focusing on team bonding exercises, which may include starting each day with a brief staff meeting or organizing a soccer match once a month.
Secondly, encouraging open communication with my staff by creating accessible lines of communication. I also encourage writing questions down during staff meetings for open discussions.
Lastly, I create an agile working environment where I encourage my staff members to take risks and be innovative, they may make mistakes, but at least they will learn something
Me: How do you deal with staff who are not achieving expectations?
Mr. John; The
The most common way is through providing explicit opinions and then jointly develop an action strategy that supports meeting expectations in the future.
Me: What’s your management style?
Mr. John: my management style is dynamic since I adapt to the project at hand, and the goals of the company while staying factual to specific fundamental values encompassing respect intellectual honesty and competence.
Analyze the manager’s answers and assess the extent or degree to which this manager successfully uses empowerment. Incorporate what you’ve learned in this week’s readings.
The various ways that the manager uses to empower his employees are some of the ways to empower, as discussed in the week’s readings.
Motivation is an essential action in a company to gain success. The ways that the manager has listed to motivate employees, such as open communication and to allow innovation is in accordance with the readings. Open communication between the employees and the managers is essential for the success of the company. It ensures that each person is on the same page about the goals, anticipations, and directions. Moreover, open communication can resolve issues before they snowball into major problems. Innovation is what every company requires. The employees have different skills and abilities, and given a chance to utilize them; they can develop innovative ideas in the company. Through innovation, companies can penetrate markets faster and better connect to developing markets, which can lead to more significant opportunities, especially in wealthy nations.
To acquire the company’s goals, it is essential to divide duties to employees and determine the employees’ extent of achieving success in a particular assignment. Different employees have different capabilities, and therefore some may fail to achieve the expected. This may result from a lack of a proper plan for handling a particular duty by the employee. As the manager has pointed out, which is in accordance with the reading, providing explicit opinions, and then jointly developing an action strategy that supports meeting expectations in the future is essential. This ensures that there are specific procedures to be followed in various duties to avoid employee’s confusion. Moreover, the methods that managers use to control a company act as an empowerment tool to the employees. As the manager has pointed out, his management style is dynamic depending on the goals, and in achieving these goals, he maintains respect and honesty. Respecting and being honest with the workers are the essential qualities required for the managers to empowering employees.
What are some actions and approaches you might consider, and why?
In addition to what the manager said, I would do direct follow-ups to staff members who had concerns
or issues earlier rather than refer them to someone else, this way your staff will know that you are keen
on their matters and won’t be ashamed to come to you for help again. I would also encourage staff
members to work on ventures to convey results as hastily and efficiently as possible. A
fast-paced working atmosphere is enjoyable to work in and inspires employees. They will naturally be
more engaged in ventures that fulfill this psychological longing for gratification.
A good manager should always remain positive and encouraged to be at work each day, and your staff
will follow the lead. Employees won’t try to please someone who is seemingly unpleasable, so being
Fervent about the effort being done in your company is crucial. Despite our best efforts, we all make
Mistakes. As a manager, understanding that your employees are humans, not robots, is vital in keeping
them motivated. Any employee afraid to admit to her manager when they are wrong is not going
to be comfortable in her position. On the other hand, if that same employee is sure that her manager will
show sympathy to the situation, she will be happy to get her work done, knowing that someone is there
to support her is she needs it.
What empowerment actions or approaches discussed by the manager would trigger your view of “not a chance I’d try this!” and why?
Innovation is essential for empowerment, however, according to some of the studies are done; indicate that
about 70% of new ideas and products fail. There are various reasons why innovative projects fail, which is not only related to the idea itself but also the implementation of the idea. An employee has to be aware of his or her weaknesses and take appropriate measures. Since if innovation is confronted continuously with hurdles, each innovation euro invested is a waste. The manager has stated that he encourages his staff members to take risks and be innovative, they may make mistakes, but at least they learn from that. This is a risk that I wouldn’t take on each employee. I would measure the potential of the innovative idea before implementing it to avoid mistakes. Some of these mistakes may incur high financial losses in the company.
Add one additional analysis about empowerment sourced from your interview, experience, or reputable resources.
What are some of the disadvantages of empowerment?
In many cases, empowered employees tend to abuse their powers given in decision making. This may
make employees less responsible for an efficient based decision-making process. For instance, they may
spend office hours doing non-work related activities. Employee empowerment may cost the company
extra money. This is due to the need for proper training programs for educating employees on
assertiveness, group dynamics, and life skills. Having been given enough power, employees’ level of
confidence is highly increased, which leads to arrogance.
Conclusion
Empower of the employees by the managers is essential for the company to attain its goals. This empowerment can be through motivation, development of workable strategic plans, and having some qualities such as respect and honesty. Empowerment has its advantages and disadvantages, and therefore, the managers have to be careful to eliminate the disadvantages and concentrate on attaining the advantages.