After reading through the document “Empowerment:
Rejuvenating a potent idea” by Russ Forrester, my first thoughts were how well
that article complemented the reading from the book. While not necessarily in the exact order of
the book and some ideas are stressed more than others, I’m not sure there are
too many differences. There are a couple
of ideas that are not present in the text that will be discussed and in general
Forrester tends to care a little more about the middle management that is
surrendering some of their power, however there is no doubt the 2 are
complimentary. I think the easiest way
to tackle this is to list the 6 ideas according to Forrester and then compare
that idea to an idea from Whetten and Cameron so that is what I have done.
Forrester’s 6 ideas are: above all, enlarge power; be sure
of what you want to do, differentiate among employees, support power sharers,
building fitting systems, and focus on results (Forrester, 2000). First, above all enlarge power. What Forrester was saying here is that an
organization should focus on increasing the power base that all employees have
through increasing their knowledge/skills, access to resources, and opportunity
to build new relationships (like with the customer for example) (Forrester
2000). This is clearly in alignment with
several ideas from Whetten and Cameron such as providing resources, providing
information, connecting to outcomes, arouse positive emotions, provide support,
and foster personal mastery experiences (Whetten & Cameron 2011). Skipping a couple comes supporting the power
sharers. Here Forrester states that
companies should not just give but grow power.
Additionally, there is a discussion that is almost identical to the
personal mastery discussion from the book.
Both clearly state that you should start with small tasks to build
confidence, distribute power from the top down (when actually distributing it),
and to give employees the chance to flew their new muscles in a consequence
free environment prior to setting them loose (Forrester 2000). Next up is building fitting systems. What this means is that the employers have to
understand that most of the organization is interrelated so by changing the
status of the power distribution you are going to set the entire organization
off balance unless there is a healthy organization to support it. While not necessarily discussed in the text,
ideas from Table 1 in the article are definitely discussed. These ideas include management culture (model
successful behaviors), budget and resource allocation (provide resources),
employee development (providing information, support, and personal mastery
experiences), and performance management (connect to outcomes, articulate clear
visions and goals) (Forrest 2000)(Whetten & Cameron 2011). Finally, Forrester states that an
organization should focus on results – a clear parallel to Whetten and Cameron’s
statement of connecting to outcomes.
Two ideas aren’t really discussed in the text. The first
idea is to be sure of what you want to do.
Here, Forrester is trying to say that too many managers and companies
give lip service when talking about empowerment (Forrester 2000). In order for it to be successful, managers
must truly be willing to give employees more power. If there is one that is not specifically
discussed by Whetten, it would be this one – the only real point discussing the
person giving up the power is that they should model successful behaviors. Next up is to differentiate among employees. According to Forrester, people are too
different to share the power to everyone equally. Instead, managers must treat everyone as separate
individuals who receive power based on their individuality (Forrester
2000). Again, there isn’t much
comparison from the text.
In quick summary, Whetten and Cameron concentrate more on
what immediate supervisors can do to support the empowerment of their
personnel. Forrester on the other hand
seems to concentrate more on upper management who have to support both the
employees gaining power and the management that is surrendering some. With that being said, both complement each
other and neither are contradictory of each other – both contain great ideas to
keep in mind when attempting to delegate.
Forrester,
R. (2000). Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea. The Academy of
Management Executive, 14(3), 67-80. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4165660?uid=3739600&uid=2134&uid=370836281&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=3739256&uid=60&uid=370836271&sid=21102112182171
Whetten,
D., & Cameron, K. (2011). Developing management skills. (Eighth
ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.
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