Debate #2: Employee Empowerment is the Only Way The selected passage
discusses the idea of teaching people to lead themselves in the work place, or
empowering employees to make decisions that will affect the running of the
organisation, and ultimately, their careers. The passage asserts that
organisations function best when the top management holds paramount
decision-making power because it focuses this power to the only body truly
capable of making educated, goal-achieving decisions. This view stands open to
much criticism. The article states that a specific organisational body must be
given ultimate decision-making power so that important decisions cannot be
passed off to others. Organising the decision-making process can prevent this
problem. The process could be structured so that each department was held
responsible for a part, which would involve regular departmental decision making
sessions. Each department would then have an employee representative who could
bring ideas to an inter-departmental decision-making panel. Decision-making
would then involve a network that spanned from each department to all levels of
an organisation. The process would be more complex, but would provide objective
and systematic decision-making, involving more departments and considering more
individual opinions. This would involve more time and energy, but the outcome
decisions would ultimately be better. The passage states that some subordinates
would not be comfortable with decision-making responsibility, and have poor
problem solving capacity. This is pessimistic logic and serves a classic example
of the cliché of seeing a half-filled glass as being half-empty. Focus should be
place on those employees who have excellent problem solving skills, would be
comfortable, and have the potential to be excellent decision-makers. These are
the employees who would logically move to positions of higher authority, and
giving them more control and decision-making power will prepare them for this
role. The author states that problem-solving through multidisciplinary, cross-organisational
teams uses time and creates confusion.
Time and confusion are necessary precursors to effective teamwork. Good
rational decision making involves objectively filtering all of the possibilities
and pertinent information, to choose the best possibility. Employees are the
most useful information source for organizational decision-making. They can
answer questions and can give you more information in a shorter time than any
other resource. They are the best sources of new ideas, and can offer detailed
information, on every corner and crack of an organisation, which cannot be found
in any operating manual. Undoubtedly, this process will involve more time and
confusion, but nothing of value comes without effort; work is a pre-requisite of
good decision-making. The article asserts that all workers do not share the
organisation's goals and are not motivated. This may be true, but dedication to
a cause is a personal attribute that cannot be attained through specific
education or experience. Being incumbent of the highest positions of management
does not assure the adoption of the companies values and motivation to pursue
them.
Top management positions require motivation to achieve, but this
motivation may be directed to achieving personal, rather than organisational
goals. The passage assumes that employee empowerment will increase the
possibility of employees running away with the store, or using this power in a
self-serving fashion with disregard to the organisation's goals. This is a
possibility, but there is also the possibility of top management running with
the store. Selfishness and self-serving decisions are characteristics of people
from all walks of life, and are not lost merely through education and
experience. Allowing the top management to hold ultimate power places them in an
obvious position to make decisions, consciously or unconsciously that will serve
their point of view. Surprisingly, the role of top management should be to
manage, and the most important resource they must manage is the people that work
at all levels of an organisation. Their role should not be to rule, but to lead.
They must be objective and understand that they cannot solely provide the best
decisions on aspects that are not in their realm of expertise. Managers should
motivate employees provide useful information and opinions in organisational
decision-making. They should facilitate and co-ordinate interaction between
departments, which creates more unity throughout the organisation. Managers
should also understand that employees form the foundation of any organisation,
and that all of them have unique strengths that can help in achieving the
companies goals. In return, employees will feel useful and are placed in a
position to self-actualise or attain one's potential. Management must lead in
this win-win' situation, which will cause temporary confusion and hard work, but
ultimately, a comprehensive-organisational team capable of making better
decisions.
Bibliography
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