Empowerment and employee empowerment begin to speak to the importance of the healthy, functioning “parts” within the team, and the role of the individuals within a team.In other words, empowerment and employee empowerment, by definition, serves as the starting point for effective teams, whether in “face to face” settings or virtual teams.
What is Empowerment and Employee Empowerment
Empowerment, and more specifically employee empowerment (EE), is an important component of disciplined teams, shared leadership, and virtual teams. Katzenbach & Smith state that “a team is more than the sum of its parts.” Empowerment and EE begin to speak to the importance of the healthy, functioning “parts” within the team, and the role of the individuals within a team. In other words, empowerment and EE, by definition, serves as the starting point for effective teams, whether within “face to face” settings or virtual teams. A common dictionary definition of empowerment is “to give power or authority to; authorize, esp. by legal or official means.” However, in the context of organizations and teams, employee empowerment gives a more in depth description of how individual roles relate to teams. Hence, examining EE will be beneficial. Definitions of EE include:
- W. A. Randolph defines EE as “recognizing and releasing into the organization the power that people have in their wealth of useful knowledge and internal motivation.”
- Offerman defines it as incorporating “strategies ranging from increasing worker participation in decisions surrounding their immediate job tasks up to and including full self-management both of job content and job contexts.”
- Blanchard, Carlos and Randolph define EE as “releasing the knowledge, experience, and motivational power that is already in people but is being severely underutilized.”
From these definitions, we begin to see the foundations for an individual’s role in highly effective teams. For example, as empowerment becomes a reality with an organization or a team, individuals are empowered to see “how each individual can best contribute to the team’s goal.” Moreover, as far as shared leadership, each individual is bringing unique perspectives, knowledge and capabilities to the team.
Employee Empowerment and High Performing Teams
Organizational culture is vital if EE is going to be fostered within it, especially in the context of virtual teams. Blanchard et al. state that “real empowerment has at its core a sense of ownership and it starts with the belief system of top management.” Hence, the question for any organization seeking to nurture EE is, will EE become a norm, value and philosophy of the organizational culture? Moreover, will EE via virtual teams have a important place in the organization.
- Organizational design is also an important factor in terms of EE. If an organization is to nurture EE, then it must provide the framework for it to flourish. Network designs for example within organizations seek to promote EE practices as it promotes “empowerment to act,” personnel not focused on managers but all employees, cooperative relationships, and team goals. Virtual teams that sometimes function across geographic distance or multiple organizations will have to consider organizational design that can nurture high performing teams.
- Organizational boundaries are also factors related to EE and high performing teams. Boundaries help newly empowered employees understand what their new, empowered roles are. In other words, according to Blanchard et al., boundaries of empowerment help “guide action and encourage people to take responsible action.” In the virtual world, while boundaries may exist for individuals and teams, the scope of those boundaries is much greater. Some would even they use the term “boundaryless.” Nemiro, Beyerlein, Bradley, & Beyerlien note in relation to virtual teams how crossing formal organizational boundaries has created new possibilities, new solutions, opportunities for knowledge and technology transfer, and opportunities for joint ventures and strategic alliances for organizations.
- As far as teams and teamwork, Blanchard et al. note the importance of teams as it specifically relates to EE in that they provide direction to develop the talent people acquire and have. Virtual teams open new possibilities for teamwork within organizational contexts and across different organizations, fostering strategic alliances and joint ventures, and where greater team collaboration is possible.
- Trusts also a key issue in relation to EE and teams. Blanchard, Carlos, and Randolph discuss trust in reference to releasing the power within an individual. In doing so, they state how management must ensure individuals that they will be trusted within the empowerment process Luthans would add that this comes in the form of letting employees develop skills. Trust also comes from information sharing of vital and key information that equips employees to be informed to make important organizational decisions. Ultimately, it is “trust” that is also a critical aspect of effective teams, according to Katzenbach & Smith. Moreover, when trust is built within a team, it is a positive outcome, as in the case of the shared leadership model. Finally, for virtual teams, trust will be a key factor for teams to function effectively. Challenges arise, especially related to working across cultures and diversity.
