Employee Empowerment and Management Control

Study Notes

Empowerment represents a shift in the locus of control from externally imposed directive control to internally imposed self-control
Management can achieve this shift in the locus of control by using four forms of managerial control:
- Ex-ante control: operating before the event and focusing on inputs
- Concurrent control: operating during the event and focusing on processes
- Ex-post control: operating after the event and focusing on outputs
- Meta control: operating “above” the event and focusing on values

Careful employee selection, recruitment, and training as a means of exercising ex-ante control
Having empower-able employees and inculcating skills, knowledge, and attitudes conducive to responsible behavior during service delivery
Performance-related rewards for promoting employee responsibility, creativity, and initiative
Customer-oriented organizational culture to enhance service delivery
Empowering management style to instill company values, shape attitudes, and stimulate desired behaviors

Empowerment requires a change in the form of management control
Devolving decision-making authority and responsibility to frontline employees for controlling and enhancing service quality and customer satisfaction during service delivery
Empowerment requires employees to engage in discretionary behavior, aiming to meet or exceed customers’ expectations during routine and non-routine service situations

Taking immediate action to resolve customer complaints, even if not directly related to their area of responsibility
Making financial concessions
Using creativity and doing “whatever it takes” to please guests, even beyond what is expected of them as employees
Exercising discretion in their dealings with guests

Characteristics of servant leadership (foresight, persuading, awareness, and stewardship) are important for employee empowerment
Servant leaders include followers’ input into important managerial decisions
Servant leaders’ behavior increases employees’ self-determination and self-efficacy levels by providing autonomy, empowerment, and the conditions in which to grow and develop

Implementing employee empowerment requires leaders to examine the importance of training, reward practices, organizational culture perceptions, and management style