Strayer University Empowering Your Employees Peer Response

Empowering employees sounds like an easy step, but there are often challenges that leaders must overcome. Considering your change initiative for Assignment 2, answer the following questions:

• Why is it important to empower employees and what role does it play in your change initiative?
• What steps can you take as a leader to empower your employees through the change process?
• What are some obstacles you will have to overcome to realize this empowerment?
• What role does learning play in your change initiative?
• When empowering employees, what are the roles of personal vision, skill mastery, and intrinsic motivation?
• 1. Chioma Ogamba COLLAPSEDear Professor and classmates,Almost more than half of the term is done! I am looking forward to the rest of the term. Employees play a significant part in the running of an organization. Notably, they understand the business dynamics and play unique roles to ensure that the firm achieves its objectives. Furthermore, they deal with the clients and directly influence a person’s purchasing decision. Moreover, they leave a lasting impression on consumers. The decision by the latter to buy from the organization again depends on how the workers treat them and handle their concerns. Since the employees will play a significant part in championing their change initiative, they need to be motivated to undertake their assigned roles.Importance of Empowering Employees in this Initiative            Empowering workers increases their motivation. They understand that the organization’s leaders believe in them and are ready to help them sharpen their skills. Thus, the employees are more likely to perform better when they realize that people believe in them (Lee, Willis, and Tian, 2; Kumar & Kumar, 59; Lee & Rashcke, 162). In this case, empowering workers will help them learn the different aspects of the proposed changes. They will feel like part of this process and dedicate their time, energy, and skills to ensure that the vision is achieved. Empowering employees also results in greater creativity and the generation of many beneficial ideas. Notably, the workers will start looking at solutions to a problem rather than focus on the challenge. They will also be more proactive during the process. Instead of waiting for their seniors to tell them what to do, they will assess the environment and handle each situation as it comes. Overall, empowering employees can significantly boost productivity and ensure that the changes are implemented fast.Steps to Empower Employees            Change is often difficult due to the uncertainties it brings. Thus, the organization should alley these fears to ensure that employees are motivated (By, 1). As a leader, I will address this situation by training the workers. Specifically, I will explain the benefits they will accrue from the new system. I will also address all questions they have. The employees will be eager to work once they learn to sharpen their skills by using the system. Those whom customers will vote as providing the best services will also be given bonuses. This move is aimed at ensuring that all individuals focus on implementing the new system.Obstacles to Overcome            Employee resistance is one of the most significant challenges I will have to overcome. Notably, the introduction of a new system raises fear among individuals (Furxhi, 31). Some believe that the measures to be introduced will be too complicated to follow, while others are afraid of their jobs. Hence, many might not be open to the change. However, this challenge can be solved through training. Furthermore, unexpected financial challenges might arise during the implementation phase. Proper budgeting can address the situation.The Role of Learning            Learning helps all stakeholders understand the dynamics of this project. The employees know about the new system and how it will be used to promote personalized customer service. I will also understand their concerns and find ways o address them. Thus, learning is crucial in this process.Roles of Personal Vision, Skill Mastery, and Intrinsic Motivation            Personal vision is important as it shows the direction I want to take to address the organization’s challenge. Hence, I cannot deviate from it. Skill mastery ensures that the project is undertaken professionally, while intrinsic motivation promotes proactivity among all individuals. Overall, these aspects are crucial for the successful completion of the project.Best regards,Chioma OgambaReferences
  1. Allan Lee, Sara Willis, and Amy Wei Tian. 2018. When Empowering Employees Works and When it Does not. org/2018/03/when-empowering-employees-works-and-when-it-doesnt”>https://hbr.org/2018/03/when-empowering-employees-…
  2. P. Jaya Kumar & A Ananda Kumar. 2017. Employee Empowerment-An Empirical Study. Global Journal of Management and Business Research: Administration and Management, 17(4), 59-64. https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume17/5-Employee-Empowerment.pdf.
  3. Michael T. Lee & Robyn L. Raschke. 2016. Understanding employee motivation and organizational performance: Arguments for a set-theoretic approach. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 1(3), 162-169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2016.01.004
  4. Rune Todnem By. 2020. Organizational Change and Leadership: Out of the Quagmire. Journal of Change Management, 20(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2020.1716459
  5. Furxhi. 2021. Employee’s Resistance and Organizational Change Factors. European Journal of Business and Management Research, 6(2), 30-32.
• 2. Joel White COLLAPSEDr. Bodam and fellow Students,
  • Why is it important to empower employees and what role does it play in your change initiative?
  • The biggest reasons for empowering our employees to implement change is that managers do not or should not have the time to micromanage their teams and we need a diverse team of individuals to tap into their potential and strengths that one leader cannot possess. Once they are given the opportunity, there will be a much larger buy-in from the guiding coalition who led this change initiative.
  • What steps can you take as a leader to empower your employees through the change process?
  • By creating the guiding coalition, I can nominate individuals to own specific parts of the change process and allow them access to experts of their planning and execution phases. As a leader, I can communicate and work with peers to gain support as it will take a team effort across multiple roles and functions.
  • What are some obstacles you will have to overcome to realize this empowerment?
  • In many organizations, structure exists in an organization to provide a clear set of roles and responsibilities (1). However, this structure does not allow flexibility, and many times we hear “that’s not my job” or “that’s not what I get paid to do”. We have to remove these structural barriers to allowing our employees to have broader authority in cross-functional teams. We must eliminate the norms and remove these structural obstacles.
  • What role does learning play in your change initiative?
  • Common traps when implementing change is failure to identify what new behaviors, skills, or attitudes are needed and failure to spend adequate time or money to implement the required training even if we did identify our needs (1). We cannot assume that all of our team members have received the proper training to execute or drive change or manage conflict resolution when it occurs. We need to identify the lead members / the guiding coalition, assess their strengths and weaknesses, and conduct internal or external training prior to communication or implementing our vision.
  • When empowering employees, what are the roles of personal vision, skill mastery, and intrinsic motivation?
  • Personal vision provides the “What’s in it for me” answer to the question for each of our team members. They have seen leadership and transformational visions come and go. Is there going to be a financial or non-financial incentive for them to buy in to this change initiative? Skill mastery allows our team members to grow professionally and gain a new skill set that will allow them to move up in the organization or join another cross-functional team.Intrinsic motivation identifies 3 different modes: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose (2). Autonomy is the need to self-direct, Mastery drives someone to get better at a task or master a skill as previously discussed, and Purpose is the ability to connect to a larger cause. Purpose is the highest form of motivation and as leaders, we need to ensure that our change initiative hits this point when implementing.Joel WhiteReferences:
  1. John Kotter. 2012. Leading Change. Harvard Business Review Press.
  2. Skip Prichard. 2016. 3 Forces of Intrinsic Motivation. https://www.skipprichard.com/3-forces-of-intrinsic-motivation/