Yönetim ve Ekonomi (Jan 2006)
Büyük Ölçekli İşletmelerde İnsan Kaynakları Yöneticilerinin Güçlendirilmiş Bir İş Çevresi Yaratmaya Ne Kadar İstekli ve Hazır Olduklarının Tespitine İlişkin Bir Araştırma(A Research For Assesesıng How Much Human Resource Managers In Bıg Busıness Enterprıses Aspire And Are Ready To Create An Empowered Workıng Envıronment)
Abstract
Today, organizations are demanding more from their employees than ever before. Higher customer expectations, increased globalization, more sophisticated technology- these are Just a few of the changing conditions at working life. In today’s working environment the traditional command and control hierarchies of the past are increasingly less appropriate. Instead, employees must learn to take initiative, to be creative and to accept responsibility for their actions. They need to be “empowered”. Empowerment is a complex concept. It tends to mean different things to different people. There are two different perspectives that often come into play when executives think about empowerment. One of them is that empowerment is about delegation and accountability. The other group of executives believe that empowerment is about risk taking, growth and change. In this article, we try to analyze these two different perspectives of executives and the meaning of empowerment.Despite feelings that empowerment can give an organization a competitive advantage, and despite the fact that many managers agree that empowerment is desirable, companies often run into problems with implementation. To remain competitive, organizations are abandoning the traditional hierarchical command-and-control management style in favor of establishing a work environment that advocates employee empowerment at all levels. To establish this new environment entails encouraging employee responsibility, accountability, self-management, trust and recognition; it requires leaders who are willing to let go of their role as bosses and take on roles as coaches and facilitators. Achieving this change is not easy. Some deeply ingrained obstacles and beliefs about leadership, management, employeees and modern organizations must be confronted and challenged. The empowering work environment requires a set of values and beliefs that must be embraced and practiced by all levels of management. This research tests managers’ readiness to accept an empowering work environment by evaluating the degree to which managers hold these values and beliefs.
