Forrester’s
Empowerment
Empowerment. According to Merriam-Webster, the definition
of empower[ment] 
is to give power to (someone) or to
give official authority or legal power to (someone). (Merriam-Webster, n.d.)
is to give power to (someone) or to
give official authority or legal power to (someone). (Merriam-Webster, n.d.)
According
to Russ Forrester, “Empowerment is a tantalizing notion that seems to offer
organizations the promise of more focused, energetic, and creative work for
employees.” (Forrester, 2000)
My
personal experiences with empowerment are mixed. While in the Army, I had to dole out
empowerment gingerly. While employed
with Northrop Grumman, I had to empower each and every one of my subordinates
and as a Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Instructor, I must be very
selective of who I empower. With this
said, I believe that empowerment is very situational.
I was
very amused with Forrester’s comment that “Empowerment is the stepchild of a
grand heritage. Its most venerable ancestor
is Kurt Lewin’s notion of action research, which departed from the earlier
practices by involving the subjects of change efforts in understanding and
making decisions about hope-for changes.
The idea that workers might contribute to governing their own situations
gained popularity with McGregor’s specification of Theory X and Theory Y
beliefs about human nature and their impact on how work needs to get done.”
(Forrester, 2000)
Comparatively
speaking, empowerment can either cause disaster or success. I have been on both sides. Empowering a young Soldier resulted in
disaster and empowering seasoned Soldiers resulted in success. I believe that maturity plays a big part in
empowerment.
Empowerment
does not necessarily create leaders. We
should be very careful when we empower our employees.
References
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Empowerment.
Retrieved on April 23, 2016 from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empower
Forrester, R. (2000). Empowerment:
Rejuvenating a potent idea. [Academy of Management Executive]. Retrieved on
April 23, 2016 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4165660?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
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