Paste your essay in here… Empowering Employees for Success
Ivy Lee
Intro to Business
Professor Stafford
College of The Desert
Fall, 2018
Introduction
Maintaining a successful business will always be an ongoing challenge. This is especially true in today’s time where there is clearly a more existent competitive environment. Organizations all around may be trying to do exactly what you are doing, so you always need to be on top of your toes, trying to figure out exactly what can put you on top of other competitors. Truthfully, most times, we depend a lot on the people who are in the front-lines of the business, the ones we personally shape to do the best that they can for our business – our employees! Some managers may forget that in order to keep a good business running, they first must start with the happiness of their employees. Although in some cases, people can hire just anyone and demand that they do all that they say, sometimes it’s just not enough. In this new age, people expect respect and will be so much more willing to put in their hard work and best efforts if you give them the respect they so desire. In many cases, it’s believed that empowering our employees can result in magnificent outcomes, not only for the business, but also for the employees – which truthfully, in turn can cycle back to improving business. Empowering employees, when done right, can be noticeably rewarding for a business.
What Empowering Employees Means, and How You Can Implement It
A general fear that employers have when contemplating empowering their employees is that they may lose all their power in the process. This doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, when done correctly, it can even gain the employer respect, and they may be held in high regard with their staff. Empowering employees is not just handing all deciding power to them, it actually can come in many forms. Empowering can really start as small as giving feedback, commending hard work, or even listening and acting on the issues they have with the workplace. Of course there are some more significant forms, such as allowing a person or group to work on a business project together and be allowed to come up with their own ideas to be implemented. Employers could also allow the workforce to use allocated company money on customers depending on the type of organization, such as sending them flowers after a good deal or giving them tickets for being a valued business partner. There are plenty of other ways that the head could appoint power to people, it’s really about giving the right powers to the right people. They should always remember not to lose themselves in having too much freedom or power sometimes it doesn’t hurt to remind them of the company’s vision. It’s important when the ideals and visions resonate with an employer’s personnel.
Employee Responsibility
As leaders begin delegating power to employees, employees will start feeling like they have a sense of responsibility and loyalty to the business. Proven by Wagner and Harter, “increased levels of employee satisfaction lead to higher levels of loyalty…” (Saylor Foundation, n.d. p. 2). Because they feel so loyal, employees will feel dedicated to making the business prosper. They will have a sense of motivation to make the company better as it will seem that the way the company is presented also represents themselves. According to two separate researches done by Schlesigner and Heskett in 1991 and Geralis and Terziovski in 2003, both studied and compared how the workforce improved when employees were given the powers to make decisions and find their own ways to control problems. (Abbasi, Khan, Rashid. 2011). Clearly, employees should be given the options to control some of the problems they run into. It can be damaging to a business and a worker’s pride if every time they come across an issue, they must report to a manager and ask what the solution is if they already know exactly what should be done. If an employee is given the option to come up with their own solutions to simple to fix problems it can make the business run a little more smoothly, as well as give the customer quick satisfaction.
Increased Employee Performance
Employees because empowered, may feel a higher sense of duty to make others in the workforce follow corporate rules and standards. As always, it’s important that the entirety of a workforce is compliant with the businesses code of conduct and mission statement. If even just a couple people break the rules, it may lead to others following and that will look incredibly bad for your business. It’s been noticed that in organizations where employees are empowered, there is a decreased amount of employee vs. company conflict. (Elnaga, Imran, 2014). Employees are more willing to get along with rules and other employees when they are made a part of the important factors. Also, because the job itself feels like a group effort, when there are decreases in sales, the employees may all have a sense of urgency to try and find the quickest solution or contingency plan. In a study by Elnaga and Imran, they found that “empowerment… is one of the most effective ways of helping employees to utilize their creative abilities to improve their performance within the organization…” (Elnaga, Imran, 2014, p. 24). It should be widely understood that sometimes the ideas that can save a business from downfall may lie in an employee who is too afraid to speak up because of extreme overbearing management. Workers should feel welcomed to provide insight to any changes they believe will benefit the company. Employees should be able to feel free to provide and come up with quick solutions to problems that the higher ups can’t figure out.
Increased Job Satisfaction
Elnaga and Imran find that autonomy is considered one of the three essential elements for empowering, “empowering… means giving them the autonomy they need to do their job… trusting employees to get their work done is fundamental for creating positive work environments.” (Elnaga, Imran, 2014, p. 17). Any employee who is happy with their job I believe, will do anything in their power to make the business the best it can be. An increase in job satisfaction will show exponential changes in a workplace. In an employee satisfaction survey conducted by Toyota, it was found that over 70% responded that they were satisfied with company life and feeling that their job was rewarding. (Elnaga, Imran, 2014). They also have the power to introduce their friends and family to the business because of how proud they are of the company and the part they play in it, therefore helping build more reputation for future customers. In a study done about the relationship between employee satisfaction and business outcomes by Harter, Hayes, and Schmidt, they concluded that “employee satisfaction and engagement are related to meaningful business outcomes at a magnitude that is important to many organizations and that these correlations generalize across companies.” (Harter, Hayes, Schmidt, 2002, p. 276). Empowering the workforce will make employees feel more engaged, and important in the decision making process, as well as feeling like they can have a sense of identity rooted in the company.
Increased Customer Satisfaction
Something to think about is that there may be an increase in customer satisfaction because of empowered employees. According to HCL Technologies, “empowerment philosophy resulted in revenues tripling and customer satisfaction increasing by 73%” (Saylor Foundation, n.d. p. 1). Customers may feel that they are in a more enhanced knowledgeable environment thus creating trust between themselves and the employees. For situations where employees are encouraged to think on their feet or come up with easy to fix solutions for their customers, customers may see this as a good aspect towards the company. It’s important to make your employees feel confident in the work that they are doing. So by allowing them this, they are given the power and trust to resolve problems in a timely manner without the need to consult somebody every step of the way. A study by Abbasi, Khan, And Rashid concluded in, results stating that “…there is a positive correlation between service quality and customer satisfaction.” (Abbasi, Khan, Rashid, 2011, p. 55). More informed employees have a higher chance of pleasing a customer with their needs – leading to customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is a major factor in running a successful business because most of us know that our main and most important source of business comes from returning customers. It’s also a means of having a good reputation. If all problems can be solved quickly and professionally within a timely manner, it’s a smart way to advertise, as your customers will most likely begin spreading fast word on what a fantastic experience they had with your company.
Becoming Cost Effective
Empowering employees may have the potential to be cost effective in the long run. First thing is that empowering certain employees can benefit the business by employee retaining. Employers often forget that the cost of losing an employee can be damaging. Companies can spend weeks to months, as well as spend valuable money on screenings and advertisings just to find someone who could take months to learn what a veteran employee would have already known. “Employees are the repository of knowledge, skills and abilities that can’t be imitated by the competitors… high job satisfaction and organizational commitment will avoid turnover” (Elnaga, Imran, 2014, p. 14, 22). Employees most likely to stay in a business where they feel respected and feel that their voices are heard. The more experience a veteran employee has, the easier it will be to optimize the workplace. According to The Gallop Organization, businesses with increasingly empowered and engaged employees have 27% higher profits. (Wagner, Harter, 2006.) This can be highly due to the fact that these employees feel welcome to sharing their own ideas of cost cutting and are sharing these ideas with other team mates, encouraging them to make the business more efficient.
Conclusion
When we empower employees, we are giving them a voice. Essentially, we are giving them the feeling that they do in fact matter to the business and they are not just a pawn that is replaceable. In doing so, your business can elevate and prove to be more successful with loyal employees who truly want the best for your business. It may be true that businesses can run on a “do this” “do that” basis, however being surrounded by employees who feel free to tell you how they feel
References
Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), 268-279. doi:10.1037//0021-9010.87.2.268
Abbasi, M. M., Khan, M. M., & Rashid, K. (2011). Employee Empowerment, Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Pakistani Banks. IUP Journal of Bank Management, 10(4), 47–60.
The Saylor Foundation. (n.d.). The Benefits of Empowering Employees [PDF File]. Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/saylordotorg-resources/wwwresources/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/BUS208-5.2-The-Benefits-of-Empowering-Employees-FINAL.pdf
Elnaga, A. A., & Imran, A. (2014). The Impact of Employee Empowerment on Job Satisfaction Theoretical Study. American Journal of Research Communication, 2(1), 13-26. Retrieved from Xhttp://www.usa-journals.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Elnaga_Vol-21.pdfX