In need of a 125 response/discussion to EACH of the following forum posts. There are (4) different Forum posts. Agreement/disagreement/and/or continuing the discussion. Original forums discussion/topic post is as follows:
Forum Post 1
Hello Class,
What is employee empowerment?
Employee empowerment is allowing employees within a company a certain degree of independence and accountability for decision-making concerning their specific job or role within the business/company. “This permits decisions to be made at the lower levels of the organization where employees may have a unique view of the issues and problems facing the organization at a certain level”. In turn empowered employees’ job performance is improved and employees are happier, they have more responsibility and say, so they feel valued and respected. (Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 2013). Employees are working together to problem-solve, gathering data and compromising on improving the work processes (McCubbrey, 2009). Instead of micro-managing the employees individually, employees will work together to make decisions on team projects with little to no involvement from higher management. Trusting in your employee’s choices will empower them.
What kinds of information can companies provide employees to help them share decision-making responsibility?
Companies can offer on the job training and provide classes that can essentially encourage employees to take on more responsibility in decision making, and more authority. This will increase job satisfaction for employees, and may also be beneficial in helping prepare employees for upcoming obstacles and or challenges.
Companies can empower their employees by encouraging employees to take action to correct basic problems on their own at each level. The benefits of having employees that understand the basic inner workings of the business keep the production process running more efficiently (Skripak, S, 2016).
Are there risks related to empowerment?
As with anything else, there is always a chance you may run into some negatives related to employee empowerment. One risk you may run into is laziness since the employees know they are in control with minimal oversight projects that could get delayed. You also do not what your employees to think they have too much power as they could start taking bigger risks that may potentially have negative outcomes. Basically I think you have to go into this hoping for the best, you want your employees to have good work ethics, and be trustworthy. With proper training, I feel the positives will out weight the negatives (Employee Empowerment, 2013).
Were the employees in the video empowered? Explain.
In my opinion, the employees in the video did not have any type of empowerment aside from the main boss. The customer was continually sent to the next higher level of management to have their matter taken care of. If any lower area of management did have the power it was clearly not apparent to them. Perhaps the higher levels of management could explain what they are and are not authorized to handle.
References
Employee Empowerment. (2013). Retrieved from http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/ama…
Fernandez, S., & Moldogaziev, T. (January 1, 2013). Using Employee Empowerment to Encourage Innovative Behavior in the Public Sector. Using Employee Empowerment to Encourage Innovative Behavior in the Public Sector.,23(1), 155-187. doi:10.1093/jopart/mus008
McCubbrey, D. J. (2009). Business Fundamentals.
Skripak, S., Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. University Libraries, & Open Textbook Library. (2016). Fundamentals of business. Retrieved from https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx…
Forum post 2
Employee empowerment is given for an employee to gain trust and knowledge in making wise decisions without a higher authority being present. Allowing empowerment to employees in making the right decisions becomes beneficial for a company due to prompt solving resolutions, all the while encouraging employees to go above and beyond the duties. Which, in turn makes a more positive and productive workplace due to feeling needed.
Information companies can provide for employees to help share the decision making responsibilities could be hands on training, suggestion boxes, meetings, flow charts and informing head leaders on up bringing ideas that could lead to a successful and beneficial use of employee empowerment.
Risk related to empowerment are employees ego could cause issues in delegating task. The companies security could be at risk do to information being shared, its creativity and innovation (Prachi J, 2018). Employees not utilizing the right resources given or better yet taking advantage of it. Every employee starts from the bottom and gains a degree towards becoming an empowered asset.
In the video, the employees where not empowered, If given the proper resources on what could be have been approved and what could not be approved by employees. This situations is common especially in a retail store. The process of the return could have been done in five mins due to customers unsatisfactory in regards to a scratched product, but depending on how long he purchased the TV he would have not been able to return it or get a refund. For instance, walmarts electronic return policy is usually 15 days of purchase and target is usually 30days.
Reference:
Prachi, J. (2018). Employee empowerment- good or bad management study guide retrieved February 16, 2020 from:http://managementstudyguide.com//portal/aboutus.com
Forum post 3
Hello Class,
In every business, you have your core values and your mission statement. For example, why you started your company and what your company stands for. When you hire employees, you have a guidelines of how you want them to conduct themselves as being an employee of your company. Chick flea, employees always say my pleasure when your done ordering or when they give you your food.
Employee empowerment is trusting your employees with the skills they have and the skills you instilled in them to represent the company. Whether it’s customer service or management, you expect them to know the job inside and out. So when problems arise, they can handle it without going to the CEO or highest level of your team every time. When you first come to the company, there should be a training system in place. As time goes on, whether it is monthly or quarterly training, employees should be advancing there skills. Offering incentives or getting them certified to hold a higher position can be employee empowerment. Companies can do seminars and give employees the authority to help with decision-making skills. Also, in your meetings, giving them the floor to speak, be heard, and understood as well as being able to bring new ideas to the front line. There is always a risk with empowerment. But you have hired individuals who will respect their positions as well as the company. You want your employees to believe in your company and its vision.
In the video, the employees were not empowered. The customer had to go through everybody when it could have stopped at the first person. There should have been a policy in place for any refund. If the sale person had to decide on the partial refund, he should have had to make a phone to get approval if a policy isn’t in place.
Forum Post 4
1. Employee empowerment is trusting employees with day to day decisions in running the business. It gives the employees the chance to feel like their opinion matters and that they have a voice in the company. By allowing them to make decisions that can affect the business, employees can feel like they are valued more and could provide a higher productivity level and have more job satisfaction.
2. Companies can provide employees with sales data to help them with decision making. They could also provide them with customer service information.
3. The risks associated with empowerment could be employees taking advantage of the policies. An employee could become arrogant and over confident if clear guidelines are not set in place. An employee with little or no experience could end up making the wrong decision and hurt the company.
4. The employees in the video were not empowered. With each employee that the customer went to, their answer was basically I am not qualified to make that decision, I need to send you to the next higher employee. When the customer reached that next employee he got the same answer. He ended up spending the whole day trying to get money back from the T.V. when it could have all been handled by the first employee if he was trained and trusted to issue refunds. Stores like Walmart and Target often empower their employees to make return or exchange decisions and it makes the process very smooth and easy. If they had to go through a store manager for each return it would be a nightmare.
