ABSTRACT
Clearly, there is high consensus in the management literature that employee empowerment is necessary for the survival and success of organisations. It is a management response to an increasingly complex and competitive external environment. ‘Empowerment is critically important in enabling … businesses and organisations to survive in this ever-expanding national and international marketplace’ (Ripley and Ripley, 1993: 29). In a similar vein, Belasco (1989: 12) states: ‘If we are to deal with the serious competitive problems facing our nation, we must change the way we do business. The only way to accomplish this needed change is to empower people to execute change … The future of our country depends on our ability to become masters of empowerment.’ Thus, it is extremely important that organisations seeking to move in that direction should ensure their conceptualisations of ‘employee empowerment’ at least deliver on these issues.
