ABSTRACT
The preceding chapters have identified variations in managerial intentions for empowerment and variations in the form that initiatives claiming to be empowering can take. It has also been stated that the study of empowerment needs to recognize the distinction between the objective changes to working arrangements and the subjective experiences of those who are empowered. Even those writing from a more normative perspective make this distinction (Johnson and Redmond, 1998), though do not provide any framework for analysing the nature of the changes, and how these are to build to empowerment. Bowen and Lawler (1992) do provide some insights into possible variations in the 154degree of empowerment, and the match between these and the organizational context. Their model has particular relevance to a discussion about the contextual influences on approaches to empowerment and these are discussed further in Chapter 12, however they do provide an interesting model for comparing empowered organizations and production line organizations. Although somewhat simplistic in creating two dichotomous types of service organization, this model is a useful one because it does provide the basis for Table 8.1 that suggests a five-dimensional model for analysing the objective changes to working arrangements. In other words, it assists in comparing these dimensions between a ‘production-line’ service organization and the aspirations for an empowering organization. The Bowen and Lawler model can be criticized because it fails to recognize that empowerment can be generated even in ‘production line’ organizations. They fail to deal with empowerment as a psychological state, however, their model is useful as a tool for analysing initiatives the claim to be empowering because it enables us to study the changes introduced and comment on their likelihood of generating feelings of competence, meaningfulness, choice and impact on the ‘empowered’.
