Discuss the use of employee empowerment and self-managed work teams in relation to how leaders shape an innovative organizational culture.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Through empowerment, a manager gives employees a share in the management of an operation. They are granted the freedom to make some decisions or to act more independently.  Most empowered employees sense a greater respect by management for their role and contribution and react favorably to such leadership. Empowerment should be contrasted with mere participation, which allows for employee input but does not necessarily give employees greater authority.

To create self-managed work teams, management must reduce direct supervision. Typically, this change also permits reduction in the number of first-level managers required. The work teams must take over a major part of the management of their own operation and must work together. They must also accept responsibility for results. This process is not without its complications, but it has been highly successful in many settings.

Both of these actions will support and reinforce an entrepreneur's vision of the company culture. The entrepreneur can create an innovative cultural environment by setting aside his or her ego and opening up to the ideas of others, supporting experimentation through the elimination of unnecessary penalties for failure, and looking for and tapping into the unique gifts of all employees. Like empowerment and work teams, creating an organizational culture that fosters innovation tends to draw employees into the work of the company and often provides a boost to commitment and employee morale.