and, at the same time, doing work that has personal meaning in a way that maintains our integrity and optimism. It is easy and seductive at times to experience a sense of pessimism that the organization will ever become the kind of place we wish it to be. It often seems that other people are driving the business, not us, and that our survival is, in fact, in someone else's hands. How do we go about changing a culture that involves thousands of people, most of whom, from a distance, seem quite satisfied with things the way they are?
The promise of this book is that it holds an antidote to the malaise of predictability and control and the isolation they incur. Within each of us is the ability to create an organization of our own choosing. When we believe that, it is good for us and good for the organization. That belief–that it is possible for me to create a place I believe in, even in the midst of a group of automatons, an empty desert, or a risky marketplace–is the entrepreneurial spirit. It is the key to being political in a positive way and having the strength to avoid the manipulative choreography we see going on around us.
This book is for any of us who feel that most organizations are still venues to discover what is possible. Our belief is that organizations are successful sometimes despite the way they manage themselves. We know that if we are going to spend the best days of our lives at work, work ought to be more than a job–and it is up to us to push the limits, regardless of our position. The desire for change, the search for better ways to handle what seem to be unsolvable problems, the wish to create something that carries our personal and collective stamp, all grow out of feelings of dissatisfaction, restlessness, and suffering. This book is designed to scratch the itch created by both uneasiness and hope.
Sorry, Wrong Number
You, however, may view things very differently. You may feel very strongly that your organization is, in fact, currently a living example of your own deepest beliefs. You may feel that it operates well enough, that it achieves its goals, and that what is needed is more of the same. You may be an advocate for clearer goals, better structure, and more willingness on the part of people to make sacrifices and to return to a set of values that seem to have existed in the past. You may long for greater respect for authority, a greater willingness to postpone gratification, and an understanding that work is work and is not meant to be the carrying vessel for life's wishes and dreams and values. You may feel that one's personal life and community life are the places for self-expression and individuality. You may argue at times that many of the jobs in today's organizations, by their nature, are intrinsically repetitive and hold no promise for meaning or great satisfaction. If these statements ring true, if you are essentially satisfied with how your organization operates and believe that the best hope for the future is an improved version of the present, then this book may not be for you.
What to Expect
My intent is to offer a mix of philosophy and practicality. If you have read even this far, you have encountered most of the philosophy behind the book. Some of the more practical ways this book might be useful relate to the basic goal of developing some control over our own destiny even though we are in the middle of the organization. The book outlines specific ways to:
● Clearly see the pressures on us to be fast, cautious, safe, and compliant (Chapters 2 and 3).
● Formulate contracts with our subordinates, peers, and bosses that encourage responsibility, interdependence, self-expression, and commitment (Chapter 4).
● Create a vision of the future for our unit that embodies our deepest personal beliefs about individuals and organizations (Chapter 5).
● Develop high-integrity strategies for dealing with adversaries, fence sitters, and opponents as well as allies (Chapter 6).
● Resolve within ourselves our own wish to be dependent and taken care of, and replace this in a way that honors our interdependence (Chapter 7).
● Discover the courage to do what needs to be done for ourselves and the organization (Chapter 8).
● Develop a strategy for change that we can control (Chapter 9).
Woven throughout the book are two additional themes:
1. Ways to not only claim our own autonomy regardless of the expectations of others, but also to sustain our interdependence with peers even if they don't seem interested.
2. Ways to develop specific methods for handling meetings, restructuring our units, managing communications, and developing other processes that align with our wish for how the organization should operate.
Empowerment is not a set of techniques. It is a choice, not a tool. If you fundamentally believe that leadership, direction, and control are best exercised at the top of our institutions and our society, then just say no to empowerment. Be the best parent you can be. Don't create expectations of partnership that ultimately you will not fulfill. Do you choose to move down the path of self-management? Is this a business strategy you believe in? If so, then over time you continually seek more and more ways to shift responsibility and control to the people doing the core work of the organization.
What Next
Each time you begin to bring empowerment ideas into your work situation, as you give your employees more and more freedom, expect a very mixed response. There is a part of each of us that does not want more autonomy, choice, or responsibility. We want to be taken care of. We like the patriarchal contract. We want our bosses to be good parents. Choosing ownership, agency, and partnership means giving up safety. None of us gives up safety gracefully. Claiming freedom and autonomy means sacrificing innocence and security. This is the transformation we are moving through; it is difficult and demanding, and it triggers deep ambivalence.
We pursue the ideas of empowerment and partnership as the means for saving and renewing ourselves and our businesses, not because our people are clamoring for them. We hope that, over time, most of us will choose freedom and the responsibility that goes with it. The success organizations have had in employee involvement, self-management, quality through participation, and other similar efforts affirms this.
The starting point, though, is always a willful act of leadership, at whatever level you find yourself. Each of us can make a decision to engage in partnership almost independent of the responses of others or the short-term consequences.
INTRODUCTION
WHY EMPOWERMENT NOW AND AGAIN
The first version of this book was written in 1987.
It was a time of crisis for U.S. industry. In the early 1980s, Ford Motor Company set an all-time record for losses by a major U.S. corporation. Harley-Davidson was three months from bankruptcy. The Japanese were producing quality products; the United States was not. It was a time of recession, financial crises, and growing unemployment.
One response to these difficulties was to focus on improving the quality of U.S. products and services. The quality movement accelerated and one dimension of that wave was that organizations began to look to their employees to improve the products and services. Quality control had traditionally been a staff function, meaning third parties examined the output of line workers to make sure they achieved quality standards.
A shift in thinking was needed. The shift–initiated by experts like Edwards Deming, Tom Peters, the Association for Quality and Participation, and many more–put quality in the hands of the workers. This gave rise to Quality Circles, Employee Involvement, Participative Management, Team Building, and Sociotechnical Systems. These approaches had one thing in common: They believed that the lower level employees, with some support from above, had the ability to right the ship. The idea of engaging line people close to the work was the centerpiece of the economic recovery. It