Chapter
18
Leading and Empowering
Self and Others
“Great leaders often inspire their followers to high
levels of achievement by showing them how their work
contributes to worthwhile ends.”
~ Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, Leaders
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–1
Chapter Objectives
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Identify the skills and characteristics of effective leaders and
develop these skills.
Provide leadership to others, even when you’re not an official
leader.
Adopt a mindset that allows employees to take responsibility
for their work, as opposed to controlling their every move.
Reduce any fears you have about mistakes made by your
empowered subordinates.
Empower yourself when an organisation or manager does not
empower you.
Motivate others to take risks, to do what they think best.
Give responsibility of doing a task to another while ensuring
quality of work.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–2
What is Leadership?
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A process of social influence to move individuals
and groups toward goal achievement.
Sharing a vision and engaging followers in that
vision.
The ability to move an organisation to a higher level
of performance by transforming vision into
significant actions.
A relationship, as opposed to the property of an
individual.
An observable, learnable set of practices and
skills.
An integration of theory, process and practice.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–3
Characteristics of Effective
Leaders
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Challenge the process
Inspire a shared vision
Enable others to act
Model the way
Encourage the heart
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–4
Self-Leadership
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Happens when individuals act on their own to
achieve the organisational mission, vision, purpose,
values and goals.
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Occurs when you challenge yourself to muster the
self-direction and self-motivation you need to
perform a task or achieve a goal.
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Helps create an ideal organisation.
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Results in more productive employees because
they have more control and decision-making power.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–5
What is Empowerment?
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Empowerment is the process by which a leader or
manager shares his or her power with
subordinates.
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Shortened product life cycles and constant focus on
change have created a need for the knowledge
worker.
– Knowledge workers are employees who need and use
information to perform their work.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–6
Why is Empowerment Important?
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Empowerment has been embraced due to its ability to
provide motivation.
• Through empowerment, organisations are able to
support the motivating potential inherent in satisfying
higher-level needs.
• When workers are empowered, they are involved in
decision making, asked to suggest new services and
processes, and encouraged to solve problems
creatively and effectively.
• An organisation that empowers its employees may be
better able to attract and retain highly skilled and
trained professionals, thus maintaining its
competitive edge.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–7
Benefits of Empowerment
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Empowerment reinforces member participation and
growth, commitment to quality, and a more open,
honest environment.
• With empowerment, people have a greater sense of
achievement, improved confidence and self-esteem,
and a sense of belonging.
• Empowerment speeds up reaction times and
decision making and provides speed and flexibility,
allowing quicker responses to customers.
• Empowered employees are more likely to offer
ideas, exercise creativity and develop innovative
processes and products than those who are not
empowered.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–8
Benefits of Empowerment (cont)
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With empowerment, employees are more
responsible, which leads to greater loyalty,
trust and quality.
• Empowerment reduces operational costs
by eliminating unnecessary layers of
management, staff, quality control and
checking operations.
• Empowerment reduces turnover and aids in
retention.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–9
Disadvantages or Costs
of Empowerment
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Empowerment results in greater costs in
selection and hiring.
• Empowerment can result in lower and
inconsistent delivery.
• Empowerment typically comes with
boundaries.
• Some individuals cannot handle or do not
want the responsibility of empowerment.
• Some managers avoid empowerment due to
fear of change and the unknown.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–10
To Empower or Not to Empower?
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Suggestion involvement
– The organisation makes a small shift from the
production line or control model.
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Job involvement
– Employees are given greater freedom in their job
and tasks.
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High involvement
– Employees have much greater voice and discretion
over their work environment.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–11
Empowerment Considerations
Contingency
Production Line vs Empowerment
Approach
Basic business
strategy
Efficient high volume vs customised
differentiated
Tie to the customer
Transaction vs relationship
Technology
Routine vs nonroutine
Business
environment
Predictable vs dynamic
Type of people
McGregor’s Theory X managers vs
Theory Y managers
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–12
Guidelines for Implementing and
Improving Empowerment
1. Walk the talk.
2. Set high performance standards.
3. Empowerment must be recognised in the
structure of the organisation.
4. Change old habits.
5. Start small.
6. Build trust.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–13
Implementing Empowerment
Four ingredients of empowerment must be present in an
environment for effective employee involvement:
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Information about the organisation and its
performance.
• Rewards based on the organisation’s performance.
• Knowledge that enables employees to understand
and contribute to organisational performance.
• Power to make decisions that influence
organisational direction and performance.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–14
Social Structural Characteristics
of an Empowering Environment
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Low role ambiguity
Wide span of control
Sociopolitical support
Access to information
Access to resources
Participative unit climate
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–15
Five Stages to
Implementing Empowerment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Investigation
Preparation
Implementation
Transition
Maturation
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–16
Initiating Self-Empowerment
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Create a vision of preferred achievements
for yourself and your group.
Understand your need for dependency—
and let go of your need.
Identify and manage your allies and
adversaries, and network and politic where
appropriate.
Develop risk-taking strategies.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–17
Empowerment through
Effective Delegation
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Delegation involves assigning work—
and the authority and responsibility for the
work—to others.
• Healthy environments are characterised
by delegation.
• Delegation involves transferring authority,
responsibility and accountability to others,
typically subordinates.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–18
Benefits of Delegation
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Delegation enables staff to handle specific tasks
that are routine.
Transferring responsibility to staff aids in their
development and increases staff readiness for
promotions.
Delegation increases the delegatees’ level of job
satisfaction.
Delegation can lead to better decision making.
Delegation allows for the growth and development
of the manager who is delegating.
Delegation demonstrates a manager’s trust in his or
her employees.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–19
Activities Included in Delegation
1. The assignment of responsibility.
2. The transferring of authority.
3. Establishing accountability.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–20
A Process for Effective
Delegation
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Create a work environment that has mutual support,
mutual trust, and clear lines of communication.
Decide what to delegate.
Assess and select capable individuals.
Delegate in stages, allowing employees to work more
and more on their own without constant supervision.
Establish controls.
Provide help and coaching as needed/requested.
Provide feedback.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–21
Summary
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Effective leaders are needed to help individuals
and organisations succeed and achieve their full
potential.
• Leaders establish a vision and, through their actions
and behaviours, inspire others to embrace and
achieve that vision.
• Effective leaders use empowerment to increase
employee participation, creativity, and motivation in
order to remain viable and competitive.
• An understanding of empowerment will allow you to
increase job satisfaction while effectively achieving
organisational goals.
Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations
Slides by Caroline Juszczak
18–22