Achieving empowerment using the Empowerment Strategy Grid

• Published in: Leadership & organization development journal Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 64 - 73
• Main Authors: Johnson, Robin D., Thurston, Elizabeth K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford MCB UP Ltd 01.04.1997; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Employee empowerment; Employees; Empowerment; Group dynamics; Human resource management; Leadership; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Multinational corporations; Multinationals; Organizational change; Self directed work teams; Studies; Total quality; Workers; Workforce; Multinationals; Group dynamics; Human resource management; Organizational change; Empowerment
• ISSN: 0143-7739; 1472-5347
• DOI: 10.1108/01437739710168427

To survive in an increasingly competitive environment, companies today are searching for innovative ways to enhance the creative potential of their workforce. Like total quality management (TQM) and re-engineering, empowerment has become a 1990s mantra. Yet empowerment in practice is more than just a current buzzword: it is a significant leadership challenge. To confront this challenge, we have developed the Empowerment Strategy Grid, an assessment tool which can help companies avoid the implementation pitfalls associated with group differences, variations in the definition and degree of empowerment across an organization, and human-resource interventions which unintentionally disempower. Comprehensively describes the Empowerment Strategy Grid and its practical application in facilitating a leading US multinational's transition to empowered work teams and potential achievement of empowerment benefits. Also presents implications for companies managing similar change.