Empowerment Campaign Paper

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Advantages

Disadvantages

- Employees are directly involved.

- Feedbacks are immediately collected.

- Employees have 1st hand information or experience of the reforms.

- Interference is unavoidable.

- Criticisms can be heard easily.

- Employees can be adamant.

Alternative 2

Assign Barbara to be the leader of the meeting group in Martin’s absence. This solution will accomplish two things:

- The other department heads will somehow be informed that Barbara has authority over them. She will act as the mediator of the group when conflict ensues.

- Barbara will be more empowered and her fear will be reduced, which will build up her confidence in taking the role of a disturbance handler in the meeting group.

As their substitute leader, Barbara can present to the meeting group what her team had came up with in line with the empowerment campaign Martin wanted for the company. She could ask other department heads to contribute their ideas as “internal customers”. Through this brainstorming, other department heads could feel that they are really “involved” in making changes to happen, and not just foot soldiers that follow orders passed through the chain of command.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Alternative 3

Martin could encourage the other department heads to create a team in their respective departments just as what Barbara did in her department and effect changes they think that can improve their work and delivering services to their customers (especially those dept. heads that face internal customers). Through this solution, department heads are involved in the changes that Martin wants to implement. They can able to see the true value of the empowerment campaign by applying or using the changes themselves, just like customers visiting a smart phone store to try the latest gadgets being offered.

Advantages

Disadvantages

- RECOMMENDATION

Abrupt and radical change in the thinking and behavior of employees has adverse psychological effect in the way they behave and act in their workplace, especially when the change being implemented is not clearly defined to the role of the employees affected and not communicated in a way that makes the affected employees comfortable to accept the change. Given the situation and the alternatives presented, I recommend the alternative 1 as a solution for reasons as follows:

- Acceptance of the psychological change or shift in thinking must be established first to encourage people to adapt to reformations in any organizations. This can be done by making employees experience the change itself or have a glimpse of what these changes are. Through this way, the freedom of choice is given to them, which they can act upon it or not instead of just being commanded to follow because the CEO said so.

- A trial or initial experience of the change to come is essential in the transition phase whenever there is a big and radical reform. Employees, who for so long, living in their comfort zones are more likely to reject changes, so to encourage them to