Empowerment and Successful Management of an Organizational Change: The Case of a Bank Acquisition

Abstract

The motivational benefits of employee empowerment in facilitating organizational change and promoting organizational effectiveness are widely recognized. But often it is not appropriate for an organization to utilize a participative, collaborative, or consultative change‐management strategy. We examined the effects of a small empowerment during the radical and directively‐managed transformation of 52 recently‐acquired branches of a large regional bank. Our findings indicate that even when used in conjunction with an autocratic change‐management strategy, significant benefits can be derived from seemingly minor opportunities for employee empowerment.