工作授权

nullnullResearch theme: Empowerment at workARBS1 Dr Robert McMurray Robert.mcmurray@durham.ac.ukThe idea: Empowering your workforce is good for workers, managers and owners (right?)The idea: Empowering your workforce is good for workers, managers and owners (right?)Learning Outcomes Recap our understand of power Understood what we mean by empowerment Appreciate why& how empowerment might be pursed Consider the downsides to empower Reflect on how workers who feel disempowered might resist managerial attempts at controlTypes of powerTypes of power(recap)Dimensions of power (Lukes, 1974)Dimensions of power (Lukes, 1974)Focuses on making decisions over which there is a conflict of interest A has power to get B to do something that B would not otherwise do e.g. A manager gets an employee to complete a particular task. Considers how action is prevented when there is a potential conflict of interest A prevents B from realizing that B has a problem e.g. Information about an organizations activities is withheld from employees, thus preventing them from instigating conflict. The power to unobtrusively produce ‘reality’ through socialization A educates and persuades B to accept their role in the order of things e.g. Management control decisions over employee because this is accepted as normal practice and therefore not questioned. 1 Dimensional View of Power Overt Power2 Dimensional View of Power Covert Power3 Dimensional View of Power Latent PowerSource: Fulop, L. and Linstead, S. (1999) Management: A Critical Text, Melbourne: MacMillan*nullnullWhat is power 1st Dimension Direct observable force 2nd Dimension Agenda setting & non-decision (unobserved) 3rd Dimension Shape thoughts & beliefs(unrealised) Location of power Unitary Top down paternalism, consensus assumed, conflict irrational Pluralist Power widely distributed, conflict natural, consensus sought Radical Unequal dispersion, structurally reinforced, conflict prelude to changeCan organisations give power?Can organisations give power?Can others be empowered in their work?Empowerment - backgroundEmpowerment - background60+ years of interest Synonyms / related initiatives: participation, affirmative action, autonomy, employee involvement, democratic leadership Empowerment assumed to: Enhance productivity, worker welfare, satisfaction 70% of organisations adopt some form of empowerment policy (Maynard et al, 2012) Definition of empowerment (Maynard et al, 2012: 1234)Definition of empowerment (Maynard et al, 2012: 1234)Structural empowerment: Transition of authority from upper management to employees (by changing nature of jobs, team designs, policies, procedures) so that power, decision making and control of resources are share Psychological empowerment: individuals or teams perceiving they are in control of their work. Individuals need to believe they can perform their work on their own – links to motivational processes. Empowerment as facilitativeEmpowerment as facilitativeManagers / workers only innovate, change and succeed if given right tools - if given 'power' to act. Autonomy valued by employees (positive experiences) Enhance reputation of organisation / employer Move beyond strict surveillance and control Suggest trust in employee Factors in empowerment Fulop & Linstead (2004) citing Kanter (1977b,1983) Factors in empowerment Fulop & Linstead (2004) citing Kanter (1977b,1983) Lines of supply (bring in resources - finance, people, equipment, expertise.... And to use and distribute them) Lines of information (in the know: formal and informal) Lines of support (mentoring, non-standard decisions, discretion, wider backing) Factors in empowermentFactors in empowermentRight organisational structures to allow discretion (e.g. Not rigid bureaucracy) Right training to undertake and achieve tasks (e.g. Process of continual development) Right level and type of power to act Right to risk and failDifficulties in achieving empowermentDifficulties in achieving empowermentProblematic assumptionsProblematic assumptionsAssumes unity of purpose/goals Assumes clear and steady goals (rather than, complicated, unclear or shifting ends) Worker opportunismResistance to empoweringResistance to empowering‘We worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies in recent years that are still struggling to implement empowerment and other employee centered designs. In part, this difficulty emerges from fierce management resistance to such initiatives’. (Maynard et al 2012:1273) Power dynamics in certain sectors or professions also an issue. Economic downturn increased emphasis on direct controlEmpowerment and controlEmpowerment and controlnull‘The managerial literature is full of inflated empowerment rhetoric and exhortations to create self-managing teams so that no boss is required’ (Thompson & McHugh (2009:217)Empowerment as exclusionEmpowerment as exclusionGender Only those 'in the club' empowered Reinforce existing inequalities (only mentor and facilitate those like 'us') - minorities, marginal and women in organisations all show to suffer (see Fulop and Linstead 2004:192-4) In this sense part of a systemically unequal exercise of power 2nd dimension of power Maintain unitary preferenceEmpowerment as controlEmpowerment as controlDecentralise power and resources only to those felt to comply with preferred behaviours and rewards Empowerment as a method intensifying work: goals become a personal responsibility rather than collective one. Link autonomy of action to individual pay and sanction (but beware, next point...) Blame those nominally empowered for failure to achieve goals (even if not given required resources e.g. Empowered in name only) Empty rhetoric – management prerogative and control largely intact1st, 2nd or 3rd dimension of power?For & against devolved empowermentFor & against devolved empowermentDevolve responsibilityDevolve penalties/problemsWorkers think like managers Increasingly share organisation values Up-skilling worker Improved experience of work Workers brought into new initiatives. Increased enthusiasm Managerial responsibilities without the rewards Group think Rewarded for skills? If not gain skills and leave? No evidence of increased voice or choice for employees in decisions in long run Autonomy declines or limited by wider organizational rules. Enthusiasm short-lived in face of limitsWhat you if are disempowered?剥夺权力What you if are disempowered?剥夺权力Work as control and surveillancenullCall Centre Call Centre The archetypal surveillance based organisational form Compare employ performances against Targets / norms Past performance Each other The Job (car-go Insurer Australia) The Job (car-go Insurer Australia) Customer Service Operative Highly formalised Few opportunities to deviate from computerised scripts Tick box & form field filling Computer calculated insurance prices Essentially mediator between customer and a database 70% of the time taking calls 80 calls a day on average VisibilityVisibilityPerformance of each team member posted on team’s emails and intranet home page Allows all to do daily/weekly/monthly comparisons How workers say they experience this… null‘I feel like a tape recorder. I could be a tape recorder’ CSOSurveillance overly coercive Constant peer comparison frustratingExperienced as an instrument of domination But also protection against complaint, error, disatisfactionManagement Trainees: internalise values, intensification of work; no guarantee of promotionnull How you feel about surveillance and control depends on which side of the employer /employee fault line you stand ‘If you are the employer it is almost always good because it serves your interests by ensuring you get what you think you rightfully deserve: the full an undivided efforts of your workforce’ (Sewell et al. 2011:3) null ‘if you are the employee, however, it is almost always bad because you consider it to militate against your interests by intensifying you work, reducing autonomy, increasing stress, and undermining solidarity by pitting worker against worker’ (Sewell et al. 2011:3) Sewell et al.’s research questionSewell et al.’s research questionDo employees see workplace surveillance as an impartial tool used by managers to promote individual and organizational effectiveness or is it an instrument of oppression that subordinates the interests of employees to those of their employers?http://hum.sagepub.com/content/65/2/189.full.pdf+htmlnullMarks organisational members as either supervisor who wishes to maximise the visibility of subordinates and thus effort subordinates who wishes to avoid the gaze, thereby minimising subjugation. nullTalking about management initiatives积极性 in this way we begin to identify their purpose as ‘the rationalisation of employee behaviour in such a way that managers can compel强迫 employees into doing things that would otherwise not do’ Lukes & first dimension of power!(Sewell et al. 2011:4) null‘at the individual level, we often find surveillance onerous and offensive while, at the collective level, we often see surveillance as an essential means of maintaining things like fairness and social cohesion’ (p20)Power to resistPower to resist(recap from lecture 4)What is ResistanceWhat is ResistancePower does not flow effortlessly – it is contested both in terms of it attempts to influence others and in its legitimacy Resistance is a reactive process where people embedded in power relations actively oppose initiatives enacted by others Resistance is a form of influence that challenges power and authority. Oppositional resistance – direct e.g. rejection & refusal Frictional resistance – can’t challenge or stop something but slows it down & diverts it e.g. misbehaviour Source: Clegg, S.R., Kornberger, M. and Pitsis, T. (2005) Managing and Organizations, London: Sage‘Where there’s power there’s resistance’ (Foucault 1980)*Forms of resistance (many the opposite to the ideal of empowerment effects)Forms of resistance (many the opposite to the ideal of empowerment effects) Isolating oneself from the organization Withdrawing one’s ‘heart and mind’ from the job Appearing to be doing what the organization wants without any real commitment Withdrawing ‘discretionary labour’ based on professional knowledge Using unique or specialist knowledge to resist Working to rule - applying formal rules over-rigidly in order to disrupt organizational functioning Individual taking a moral stand on an issue Communicating dissent Disclosing organizational wrongdoing either internally or externally Deliberate, pre-meditated and organized acts designed to disrupt organizational functioning Misbehavior Ad-hoc transgression DistancingOccupational DiscretionWhistle blowingDeliberate TransgressionSource: S. Linstead, L. Fulop and S. Lilley (2009) Management and Organization: A Critical Text, Palgrave*null Taking on different roles or positions depending on the context Tactically deciding how to present oneself E.g. Using performance appraisal systems to present a positive view of self and organization Deliberately not playing one’s expected gender role Symbolic resistance such as the manipulation of dress-codes or personalizing work-stations Organized action for removal of gender discrimination Refusal do something based on the idea that it violates natural rights E.g. human rights, animal welfare, environmentalism Gendered ResistanceNatural RightsSource: S. Linstead, L. Fulop and S. Lilley (2009) Management and Organization: A Critical Text, PalgraveRole Switching*Recalcitrant workers…Recalcitrant workers…Open, overt organised versus inconspicuous, subjective, subtle and unorganised (Edwards et al 1995; Kondo 1990; Jermier et al 1994). Svejkism – resistance unfolds under conditions where traditional avenues are blocked or marginalized (Fleming & Sewell 2002). Scrimshanking (shirking) & flannelling (contempt)– ‘ways of undermining or dissolving organizational power relationships in practical ways’ (Fleming & Sewell 2002).*Active disengagement…Active disengagement… ‘Covert & sedious acts carried out in the silent spaces of everyday life’ Fleming & Sewell 2002: 860). ‘Self is detached from the normative prescriptions of managerialism through irony and cynicism’ (ibid). Not withdrawal – ‘reengagement with another register of organizational life’ (ibid). Some forms of resistance may involve collusion & consent, compliance. Resistance as a safety valve (Casey 1995). *QuestionsQuestions How do you manage resistance? Can resistance be managed? Is the management of resistance a central process in the management of people and the political environment? How do empowerment, control and resistance relate? *nullOf course, management, systems, rules and customers may all combine to give a feeling of disempowerment at work We can resist…. But there may be costs!WARNING – strong graphic language of the type often used in workplacesConcluding thoughtsConcluding thoughtsYou need to look at empowerment at workYou need to look at empowerment at workTypes of issue: What power or autonomy do individuals have? How do they become empowered (given or taken)? How ‘really’ is any empowerment? Is it just management rhetoric? What are the limits of an individual's autonomy? To what extent are people disempowered at / by work? How? Why? What is the effect? Do they resist control? What forms of resistance and why? What are the implications for the individual & organisation? What might the structure of the assignment look like?What might the structure of the assignment look like?Part 1 (2000 words) Introduction (100words) What the paper is about, why is it interesting, aim of interview, what order is it presented in Theory (400) What are your key concepts on the topic How do you define the topic Key ideas from academic articles / texts books Questions it raises for you research Method [only bit written in past tense] (400words) Interview type (structured, semi-structured, open) Where conducted, for how long, using what equipment Approach to analysis Supporting references to justify above Analysis (800) Background of interviewee & role Key themes / issues 1 & links to theory Key themes / issues … & links to theory Key themes / issues … & links to theory Key themes / issues … & links to theory Conclusion (300words) Main findings & things learnt from research How it links to theory Brief critical reflection on how the strengths and weakness of the research (was it reliable and valid) and how it might be improved Do I have to use this structure?So assignment might have a structure of…So assignment might have a structure of… Part 1 (2000 words) Introduction Method Analysis Conclusion Part 2 (500 words) Reflexive statement References (not in word count) Appendix – full transcript (not in word count)ReferencesReferencesFulop L and Linstead S (2004) Power and Politics in Organisations in Linstead S, Fulop, L & Lilley, S (2004) Management and Organization: a critical text. Hampshire: Palgrave. Maynard, T Gilson, L & Mathieu, J (2012) Empowerment—Fad or Fab? A Multilevel Review of the Past Two Decades of Research. Journal of Management. Vol. 38 (4) p1231-1281. Thompson & McHugh (2009) Work Organisations: a critical approach (4th Ed). Hampshire: Palgrave. Sewell et al (2012) Working under intensive surveillance: when does measuring everything that moves become intolerable? Human Relations 65(2) 189-215