| Empowering Others |
Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts.
Tara’s post:
Empowering employees can take on various characteristics. Employees that have the knowledge and support to make individual decisions feel empowered. Bueren et al. (2020) explained empowerment is a result of providing access to organizational information at all levels of the company and by sharing information employees establish competence that impacts their efficacy. An organizational culture that supports empowering employees can increase performance and motivation. Warrick (2016, Section 6.5, “Other Motivation Theories”, para. 5) explained that organizations that build trust with employees to make decisions create a culture that supports empowerment and thus improves satisfaction and motivation. A supportive culture is just one aspect that enables empowerment, employees will still need leader support and the knowledge to make decisions. Empowerment can be a tool used by leaders to develop and grow their followers. As transformational leaders seek to inspire and motivate followers, knowledge transfer and instilling authority will help employees prepare for growth.
There can be different strategies in how leaders develop empowerment. Folkman (2017) discussed that leaders can create empowerment by being open to new ideas, developing employees, being supportive, recognizing and rewarding achievements, an atmosphere that supports empowerment, and delegating authority. One aspect that I try to constantly use is being open to new ideas. When team members initiate a new idea, I support and guide them on initiating and accomplishing their plan. This has created an environment where team members are provided empowerment to initiate change and improvement. By being open to new ideas, employees will feel trusted and supported about bringing thoughts and opinions forward. This leadership strategy will also strengthen the trust between followers and leaders, which will support empowerment. Teams that feel secure in making decisions will encourage employees to take initiative and work toward achieving organizational objectives.
References
Beuren, I., Santos, V., & Bernd, D. (2020). Effects of the Management Control System on Empowerment and Organizational Resilience. Brazilian Business Review (Portuguese Edition), 17(2), 211–232. http://dx.doi.org/10.15728/bbr.2020.17.2.5 (Links to an external site.)
Folkman, J. (2017, March 2). The 6 key secrets to increasing empowerment in your team. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joefolkman/2017/03/02/the-6-key-secrets-to-increasing-empowermentin-your-team/#10381b1177a6 (Links to an external site.)
Warrick, D.D. (2016). Leadership: A high impact approach
Derek’s post:
Leadership is about inspiring and encouraging but I believe that followers has a role in the success of leadership greater even than the ability to inspire from the leader. This is where encouragement becomes technique and an art. A good leader will find the motivation that already exists and manipulate that to achieve increased investment into the team objective. Leaders do not need to provide motivation, people already have reasons for things. They just need to expose what is important, find a correlating method to reward and then enact a plan to get the most out of the employee. If the employee is not interested and does not get motivated, there is a chance that the person simply does not fit and should be viewed as an obstacle to team inclusion.
Transformational and transactional motivation both essentially provide something for the individual that motivates them to accomplish what leadership is asking. Transactional is a swap of accomplishment and reward. The motivating factors are easily set and described and often will be documented and included in contracts or agreements. This can be anything from time off, bonuses, privileges during break or whatever is used for the transaction. The concern in this arena is that once point X is reached, the worker no longer has a need or desire (motivation) to complete further. Transformational is offered in responsibilities, titles, and inclusion. Being a part of the whole is important to some and motivates them to stand out and be recognized. The recognition and support is reward for the transformed who motivate themselves through a desire to achieve a continuous goal. Being better, achieving more, and being noticed are often at the top of their lists of desires. Leadership can provide this but must be careful to ensure that the intentions continue to be for the the betterment of the organization, not the individual.
Required Resources
Text
Read the following chapters from Leadership: A high impact approach :
· Chapter 6: Leadership and Motivation
· Chapter 9: Leading Change
Recommended Resources
Article
Yun, S., Cox, J., & Sims, H. P., Jr. (2006). The forgotten follower: A contingency model of leadership and follower self-leadership. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21(4), 374-388. Retrieved from the ProQuest database.
Multimedia
INTELECOM (Producer). Contingency theory (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from http://searchcenter.intelecomonline.net:80/playClipDirect.aspx?id=4870EEC7664070BB9915C7C9656B6ED52F514680433C867266498D8F1CBAE88DE16BD42E3D16FAAAFFFE