STATUS OF EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

The concept of empowerment advocates for employees' power to make decision and take control of their own goals. An empowering organization emphasizes on autonomy, flexibility, recognition, trust, and support network. The authors attempted to investigate the opinion of the middle-level managers, working in Bangalore, from IT, FMCG, Retail, and Banking sectors, about the status of the employee empowerment. Three major factors of employee empowerment were proposed for investigation: ‘role clarity', ‘recognition', and, ‘organizational culture'. It was revealed that, the respondents felt most empowered, when they were bestowed upon with trust; they were allowed to have flexibility at work, and, when they were assured that they would receive mangement support, when needed. Also, for certain issues, under each factor, managers differed significantly in assigning importance level. For example, respondents differed in assigning the importance of flexibility vis-à-vis autonomy; ‘performance recognition' vis-à-vis ‘reward for performance'; and, ‘encouragement' vis-à-vis ‘management support' and ‘trust'.