Topic > Employee Empowerment - 976

Employee Empowerment Within the flat organization model, employee empowerment becomes a pillar. Just because the traditional model isn't in place, that doesn't mean management doesn't exist. Employee empowerment is a critical tool that can be used to create a better environment while amplifying employee support. "People are the most important resource. Technologies, products and structures can be copied by competitors. No one, however, can match a company full of highly charged and motivated people who care about us." (Kotelnikov, 2007). Employee empowerment emphasizes some important points: personal responsibility, injection of new ideas and open lines of communication. “Empowerment is the oil that lubricates the learning exercise. Talented and competent human capital is becoming the main ingredient of organizational success.” (Kotelnikov, 2007). Assigning personal responsibility to each employee also ensures that employees take responsibility for their actions. Personal responsibility also breeds interpersonal discipline. While holding each individual employee accountable, employees will begin to police themselves and take into consideration any shortcomings of their colleagues. “People want and need to feel like 'insiders', to be aware of everything that's going on. There is nothing more demoralizing for a staff member than being kept in the dark about their job and what they do. happens in the company." (Kotelnikov, 2007). The above statement is not just about personal responsibility, but supports the idea of ​​better communication not only from management but within the employees themselves. Kotelnikov goes on to highlight how empowerment is the oil that lubricates the learning exercise. "Talented and gifted human capital is becoming the primary ingredient of organizational success. A key characteristic of successful teams, especially in knowledge-based businesses, is that they are vested with a significant degree of empowerment, or decision-making authority." Basically, with the introduction of empowerment and personal responsibility, successful teams and companies are created within the flat organization model. With empowerment and personal responsibility in action, people in the workplace will feel more comfortable speaking up and making their voices heard. At this point, new, fresh ideas will begin to flow in, which will help create successful process improvements and new policies and procedures. As stated before, people want and need to feel like “insiders.” Giving empowered employees the opportunity to have their thoughts and ideas taken into account can go a long way. New and innovative ideas can arise simply by letting voices be heard.