Empowerment Management Research Articles

Control and isolation in the management of empowerment

Attempts to reanalyze the concept of empowerment as it relates to management. Tracing the origins and nature of management, outlines a case for viewing empowerment as part of a larger system of management control innovations, or cocktails of control. Does not seek to debunk or dismiss empowerment as simply founded on control, and so unworthy of serious analysis. Instead, using the concept of governance, attempts to analyze how managers use the rhetoric of empowerment to secure control. From here analyzes the limits to managerial control, founded on empowerment. Offers observations and conclusions for future research on empowerment.

Whither democracy? Lost debates in management empowerment

Attempts to recontextualize the study of empowerment in management by (re)tracing the linkages between the concepts of participation, democracy and empowerment. Reforging the linkages between these concepts, proceeds to analyze the various conceptions to show the often neglected complexity of this area of debate, a debate seemingly lost in much of the management literature. Attempts to analyze the extent to which this loss of academic debate is mirrored by a loss of debate and representation in the workplace.

Performance pledges–power to the consumer or a quagmire in public service legitimation?

One of the latest initiatives in Hong Kong's public sector reform is the launch of “performance pledges” in 1992, which have essentially been modelled on citizen's charters in the United Kingdom. While the stated aims of performance pledges, citizen's charters, or similar initiatives, are to raise the standard of public services and to make such services answer better to the needs of ordinary people, hence “empowering” the public service consumers, this latest consumerist trend in public management has more far-reaching implications, both in terms of the organization as well as the legitimation of public service provision. This article examines such implications, with specific reference to the Hong Kong situation, and argues that the outcome of the development seems to point to the empowerment of public managers rather than the consumers as the official rhetoric would imply.

“A whole can of worms!”

Originates from a management development programme which was run for a statutory water authority over a period of two‐and‐a‐half years, which sought to facilitate a change in management style away from a directing and controlling paradigm towards a supportive and trust‐based paradigm. A significant requirement of the programme, as specified by senior management, was the empowerment of middle management. However, the implications of this were not fully appreciated by senior management until late in the programme when issues of control came back into prominence. Eventually, the programme was curtailed and middle managers were consequently disillusioned rather than empowered. Offers insights into the nature of the dynamics of the change process and draws attention to the phenomenon of senior management resistance to change. Suggests, however, a more pervasive ambivalence in change management in general and “empowerment” in particular. This has significant implications for the regulation and limitation of learning.

Managing people in China's foreign trade corporations: some evidence of change

Within the state sector the Foreign Trade Corporation (FTCs) have been at the forefront of changes arising out of China's lsquo;open door’ policy. The FTCs have had to cope with deregulation, changes in scope and increased internal competition. Such pressures have brought about changes in personnel and management practices and have led to an interest in Western HRM. Recent evidence about such changes has been drawn from eighteen projects undertaken by the FTCs and reported within a major UN-funded management development programme. The research confirms increased emphasis in the FTCs on strategic awareness, individuality and flexibility; in two areas, however, namely workers' representation and empowerment of line managers, there was no evidence of significant change in Chinese practices. These developments in the FTCs, while far from being widespread throughout China's state-owned enterprises, may well be a pointer to emerging personnel management practice.

Leadership and Empowerment: A Social Exchange Perspective

This paper proposes that the receipt of negotiating latitude and support for self-worth from superiors empowers subordinates by increasing their perceptions of control. Subordinates reciprocate by performing in accordance with supervisory preferences. Additionally, superiors who utilize empowering leadership practices are predicted to be viewed as fair by subordinates. The results from the analysis of data collected from 92 superior-subordinate dyads support these hypotheses. The implications of empowerment for management are discussed.

Staff Nurses?? and Nurse Managers?? Perceptions of Job-Related Empowerment and Managerial Self-Efficacy

Although much has been written about the importance of empowerment in nursing, few theoretical frameworks provide guidance for nurse administrators in their attempts to create empowered nursing work environments. The authors describe a study testing Kanter's Theory of Structural Power in Organizations in a nursing setting. They argue that the findings provide evidence of the usefulness of this model for increasing perceptions of job-related empowerment of both staff nurses and managers. Specific empowerment strategies derived from Kanter's theory are described.

School-Based Management, Decentralization, and Citizen Control–A Perspective

School-based management and teacher-parent empowerment have both currency and emotional ring. The terms have become a kind of rallying cry. But each term lacks definition and bad things can happen when things only sound good.

SECTION 6: Industrial Relations & Participation

Self‐governance in NHS hospitals, management empowerment, self‐directed teams, quality practices at Disneyland.

Principal's Perceptions of Site-Based Management and Teacher Empowerment

Presented here are the results of a survey designed to assess principals' attitudes about teacher autonomy.

Penicillin prophylaxis in children with sickle cell disease in Brent.

To assess compliance with oral penicillin prophylaxis in children with sickle cell disease and identify possible reasons for poor compliance. Closed questionnaires given to parents of children with sickle cell disease and general practitioners in Brent. Urine samples from 23 children were tested for penicillin. Paediatric haematology clinic, Central Middlesex Hospital, and general practices in Brent. 50 children (aged less than or equal to 16) attending clinic with sickle cell disease over six months (33 HbSS, 12 HbSC, five HbS beta thalassaemia). 30 general practitioners: 15 with the greatest number of patients with sickle cell disease on the Brent register; 15 selected randomly from family practitioner committee's list. Reported compliance with and awareness of importance of penicillin prophylaxis. Results of urine tests for penicillin. 31 parents claimed that their children received penicillin every day and 19 that they received it most days (greater than or equal to 5 days a week). Penicillin was detected in only 10 of 23 urine samples tested. Parents and doctors seemed not to appreciate the importance of treatment: only eight parents were aware of the risk of death if penicillin were discontinued, and 16 doctors were unaware that regular penicillin prophylaxis prevents pneumococcal septicaemia and death in these children. Education for families with children with sickle cell disease must be improved. Specialised information and training are needed for doctors working in areas with a high prevalence of the disorder.

Neighborhood Empowerment and Urban Management in the 1980S

A variety of forms of neighborhood empowerment have continued to evolve during the 1970s and 1980s. At the most basic level, neighborhood organizations have shown the capability to articulate successfully community interests to both the private and public sectors. Furthermore, these organizations have also shown the capacity to administer neighborhood services and have begun to take on more comprehensive policy making functions. Recent experiences indicate that these efforts have enhanced neighborhood participation, improved the delivery of neighborhood services, and helped resolve conflicts. While the current urban fiscal crisis provides some political opportunities for extending these neighborhood efforts, neighborhood groups will have to avoid vigilantly the economic and political entrapments present in the current situation.

The management of the Social Media at the Iberoamerican’s mass media

In this study we analyze how the social networks are being managed in 22 local digital media of 12 regions of Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Venezuela. Through 22 semi-structured interviews made to their manager, which allow us to appreciate how, at present, the Social Media are seen like resources that help to increase the media capacities around communication and informative channels in spite of the little short development that exist, until now, about new professional profiles dedicated to the social networks management and initial state of empowerment of social media within the media.