Empowerment in organizations involves:

Question

Accepted Answer

Granting employees greater autonomy, responsibility, and authority to make decisions about their work. Employee empowerment involves granting workers greater autonomy, decision-making authority, and control over their work processes. It is based on the premise that employees closest to the work often have the best knowledge about how to improve it, and that providing authority and resources increases motivation, performance, and innovation.

"Concentrating decision-making authority at the top of the..." describes centralization, the opposite of empowerment. "Reducing the number of managers to cut organizational costs" describes downsizing, which may or may not involve empowerment. "Implementing stricter controls and monitoring of employee..." describes a control-oriented approach antithetical to empowerment.

Gretchen Spreitzer identified four psychological dimensions of empowerment: meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact. All four must be present for employees to feel truly empowered. Research shows empowerment is associated with higher job satisfaction, organizational commitment, creativity, and performance. However, it requires supporting conditions including adequate training, access to information, clear boundaries, and a culture of trust.

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