EMPOWERMENT
Total
Quality Movement had its roots in quality circles which introduced the concept of empowerment and team work. Besides the processes and conditions of empowerment, culture and structural interventions are the other components that ensure parity in power relations and thus make empowerment effective (Das 1992). The seven C's, namely, Commitment, Contribution, Communication, Cooperation, Conflict Management, Change Management and Connections are identified as key elements of effective team to succeed (Zoglio 1993). As confidence begets confidence, empowerment rests on culture of trust and collaboration. One of the primary tasks of leadership is to empower employees whose intelligent and creative work would pay dividends to the
organisation.
Consultation,
delegation and
decision making which constitute
empowerment are an essential part of what is called
participative management.
Participation as a form of power equalisation confers on the employees greater autonomy to set goals and to determine how to go about in achieving the goals thus set. March and Simon (1958:74) are of the opinion that 'the more the participation in making policy decisions, the stronger the tendency to identify with the organisation, which Fox (1974) calls as
high discretion syndrome leading to
high trust syndrome. Wit the dilemmasconcerning the 'ends' and 'means' having been resolved , participation is likely to increase motivation.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Career Development takes within its ambit such systematised administrative procedures, which provide for career advancement as a motivational inducement. Interposing motivation between morale and productivity, Whyte et al (1955:1) establish its importance as an intervening variable. Motivation thus becomes not only an integral part of human resource development, but also as one of the ingredients that is critical for total quality performance. While employees' contributions are contingent upon the inducements received in return from the organisation (March and Simon 1958), employees'
'orientation to work' holds the key that helps to unlock what constitutes their relationship to the organisation. Goldthorpe et al (1968:38) have offered a typology of
'work orientations'. The three types of mutually exclusive, but still overlapping
'orientations to work' so identified by them reveal that work is seen as a means to an end. Though monetary rewards may remain salient for such of those employees whose orientation is
instrumental,
symbolic or status considerations revelving around career may gain ascendency in the case of those with
bureaucratic orientation.Employees with
solidaristic orientation look upon work as a group activity, which may lead to their identification either with the employing organisation or with the work group. Though not a stable condition, cohesiveness enables employees to institute adjustments that further their interest (Blau 1955: 218). Facilitating group cohesiveness results in compliance with norms and group norms help align the same with the goals of organisational success.
COLLECTIVITY FUNCTION
While 'self assertion through voluntary association' (Cooley 1962:287-8)
shows its imprints on bilateral dissensus, converting such a situation into one of bilateral consensus calls for making the unions understand and divert their united power towards enrichment of organisational effectiveness and efficiency. Effectiveness and efficiency together termed as '
performativity' based on utility criteria (Lyotard 1993) afterall emphasise 'doing the things right' and 'doing right things' respectively. Employees' participation thus secured may contribute to better utilisation of human resources. Inasmuch as unions can help decisions to grow out of discussions, a positive union-management relationship serves as a lubricant to an organisation's ability to adapt and grow in it shared pursuit of common goals. Recognition of this type of reciprocal relations born of interdependency confers mutual benefits in the sense that the output from one becomes an input to the other. With the laying of the foundation for
diffusive harmony and quality consciousness in place, counter-productive habits can be addressed effectively through training.