B: Employee Empowerment

Employee empowerment is when management gives employees a certain amount of independence and responsibility for decision-making in the business. This enables employees to make decisions on behalf of the business without needing to get permission from management.

A number of methods are used within businesses by managers to encourage and implement employee empowerment in the workplace. These include:

• Investment in training: Ensure that employees have the skills to make decisions on behalf of the business.
• Rewards: Offer financial and non-financial rewards to encourage employees to take on more responsibility. 
• Trusting employees: Create a culture of trust where management believes in the abilities and skills of staff.
• Control mechanism: Management must be able to monitor empowered staff to ensure that mistakes are identified and corrected quickly.

The benefits of empowering employees include:

• Decision-making: Employees have the skills and knowledge needed to make decisions on behalf of the business. This can lead to faster and better decision-making.
• Employee Motivation: Empowered employees are motivated because they feel that they have an important role in the business. This can lead to increased productivity.
• Management Time: Empowered employees require less supervision as they are trusted to make decisions.
• Better Customer Service: Employees are encouraged to solve consumer issues quickly and effectively. This can lead to improved customer loyalty.

The risks from empowering employees, however, include:

• Employee Training: If empowerment is introduced without adequate training, employees may make mistakes that could end up damaging the firm's reputation and increase business costs.
• Managerial Control: Some managers may be unhappy with giving power and responsibility to employees. This could lead to industrial relations conflict between management and staff.
• Lower Motivation: Some employees may not want the extra responsibility associated with empowerment. It can increase employee stress and lead to lower motivation.
• Less Managerial Supervision: Less supervision from management may encourage some empowered employees to take unnecessary business risks. This can lead to poor decision-making and cost the business money.

In my opinion, I believe that employee empowerment is a great way to motivate employees and make them feel as if they belong within the business. Employees who are empowered feel trusted and motivated enough that it could potentially lead to an increase in productivity. They are enabled to make decisions on behalf of the business without needing to get permission from management.

However, it is of the manager to make sure that they don't overpower the employees within the business, especially ones who could make terrible decisions, costing the life of the business. It should be a gradual introduction and not immediately introduced to the business.