DB9 - USING EMPOWERED EMPLOYEES TO HELP MANAGE A CHANGING WORK ENVIRONMENT A key
ID: 369217 • Letter: D
Question
DB9 - USING EMPOWERED EMPLOYEES TO HELP MANAGE A CHANGING WORK ENVIRONMENT
A key aspect in managing the workforce is to be aware of how employees can contribute toward organizational change and decisions. HR professionals recognize that while managers may act as role models for employees, employees who are empowered can exert a significant influence over other employees in the workplace. Those employees within the organization who seem respected and highly influential are termed influencers. A growing trend in workforce management is to recognize the power of these empowered employees and use them to make new organizational decisions, processes, and plans more acceptable to employees.
One major way of getting these “informal influencers” on board is by using participative management to make them a part of the organizational decision-making process. Before this can be done, however, companies must first identify which of their employees are held in high esteem by their co-workers. A variety of companies, including giants such as Procter & Gamble and Cisco Systems, use surveys, analysis of internal e-mail and social media interaction data, and other methods to construct “influence ranks” of employees. They then invite these top influencers to join in on management meetings or participate in special training and advancement programs. When changes or new programs are announced and the influencers are naturally sought out to hear concerns and give advice, they can help co-workers better handle and/or buy into the transition. This nonhierarchal structure and an emphasis on encouraging employees to work out problems on their own has been highly successful for Google, known for its more participative management structure.
Discussion Questions
1.
Is it a good idea for businesses to try to use informal influencers to more smoothly implement business decisions and reduce employee resistance?
2.
How would you feel if you were recognized as an influencer in your company and invited to management meetings and training programs as a result? How would you respond?
3.
Describe some ways that Cisco, Procter & Gamble, and Google have used empowered employees as major contributors toward organizational change and decision making.
1.
Is it a good idea for businesses to try to use informal influencers to more smoothly implement business decisions and reduce employee resistance?
2.
How would you feel if you were recognized as an influencer in your company and invited to management meetings and training programs as a result? How would you respond?
3.
Describe some ways that Cisco, Procter & Gamble, and Google have used empowered employees as major contributors toward organizational change and decision making.
Explanation / Answer
Answers:
1. Yes,it is a good udea to use informal influencers in businessess to reduce employee resustance to change.when a change is to be made in a company ,when most employees resist the change .Informal influencers have influence over other rmployees and are held with high esteem by their co-workers.So if a change is communicated through informal influencers rather than management ,the employees tend to accept the change easily because they have high respect for that influencers and they believe that their decision would be correct and would provide benefits for them.These informal influencers will have a good relationship with other employees so that when a change is clearly communicated with other employees in their terms of understanding employees will not resist the change.So these informal influencers have the skill to influence others with their ideas
2.I would feel honoured and proud to attend the management meetings and training programs.I would feel more responsible for the company and will be more committed to company.If i am empowered as an influencer then i would suggest more ideas for improvement of the company that would benefit employees as well as the management.Employee empowerment brings employee engagement and commitment towards his job and company.When a employee is engaged to the work then he gains job satisfaction which ultimately leads to growth of the company.So i would also work enthusiastically for the betterment of the company as an empowered employee or influencer.
3.They followed nonhierarchical structure of management.This structure led all the employees to be treated equally and empowered in the company with their own ideas.
They encouraged the employees to work out problems on their own so that their skills can be improved
They also recognize each talent of the employee and encourage them to implement their talent and skills in their work
They also reward the employees for their contribution by giving employee of the year award.
They followed participative management structure .ie Every employees ideas and concerns are considered and are implemented in decision making and change in organization
They encourage people to interact with other teams and exchange ideas
Employees are encouraged to email any of their company leaders
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