ABSTRACT
Fundamental to the argument that modern organizations should move to empowering employees is that the results make sense in commercial terms. Empowerment is not being exclusively advocated because it helps make work more appealing and beneficial to employees; such arguments would carry little weight outside an ethical, or employee led, agenda. The key justification is that improved employee performance results in improved organizational performance. Improvements in quality, customer care, repeat business, turnover and profits are at the heart of the interest in empowerment. Empowerment is said to involve a ‘win-win’ situation where both the employee and the organization benefit from the approach (Rosenthal et al., 1998). By allowing more employee involvement and participation, 191employees gain greater job satisfaction and are thereby more committed to the organization's goals, and the organization consequently gains.
