The Power of Employee Empowerment in Influencing Organizational Success: A Literature Review

Abstract

engagement, power sharing, and information sharing to denote the idea of employee freedom, control over the work, sharing of ideas, suggestions and participation in decision making process.  Due to turbulent business environment, employee empowerment has become a powerful management tool for influencing organizational success (improved productivity, employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction).  However, employee empowerment projects often fail due to lack of credibility of management, fear to lose jobs, or lack of willingness on the side of employees to take responsibility for own actions.  Kanter's theory of structural empowerment provides that, employee empowerment requires change of structure from hierarchical to a more flexible, dynamic and responsive structure in order to cope with changing business environment. This paper seeks to establish the relationship between employee empowerment and organizational success. Review of related literature indicates that employee empowerment has a significant positive relationship with organizational success. Thus, investing in employee empowerment through training, effective communication and information sharing and the use of incentives are ways to boost employee morale; hence improve productivity, employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction.  Top management should embrace employee empowerment in order to overcome resistance to change and set ethical standards that guide decision making process in complex business environment.