M.B.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION, FEBRUARY 2018.
Fourth Semester
EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT
(Non CBCS Old Regulation)
2 901410
Time 3 Hours Max. Marks 70
PART — A
Answer any FIVE of the following. 12 60 Marks)
1. What is employee empowerment? Explain its importance.
2. Explain any two modern organisational structures.
3. Explain the process of building empowered teams.
4. How do you make individuals ready for the empowerment? Explain.
5. Explain the role of organization in employee empowerment.
6. Discuss different aspects of employee empowerment.
7. Explain the features of an empowered organisation.
8. Explain the conditions for restructuring the organisation.
PART — B
Case Study (Compulsory) (10 Marks)
Employee Participation-A Vital Aspect of Total Quality Management
9. Highly competitive and over-changing markets demand greater flexibility and
quicker response to ever-changing customer requirements This has brought about
innumerable changes in the method of operation and management of many
companies. Conventional management methods focused on officers or managers
giving orders versus workers 'taking orders'. They did not allow much room for
competition. However, total quality management enables companies to grow
and stay highly competitive through highly organized and efficient methods. One of
the most vital aspects of TQM is employee involvement, it encourages employees to
use their expertise, skills, and creativity in day-to-day activities to improve the
workplace and the goods or services they produce A shift from the conventional
management style to the participative style involves a lot of effort both by the
employees and the management. In order to ensure successful implementation of
participative management the following three support systems can be considered
The organizational system, the interpersonal system, and the individual
employees.

The organizational system focusses on changing the job responsibilities and roles of
employees at all levels to correspond to the participative philosophy The
organizational system should be such that It facilitates improvement and
teamwork.
The interpersonal system focusses on encouraging employees to solve their own
problems. Relevant knowledge should be preferred over status and collaboration
should be given priority over competition.
The individual employees at all levels must update their skills and develop
confidence to accept and carry out greater responsibilities. It is often seen that
although managers are fully aware of the need to encourage the participation of
their sub-ordinates, they are unaware of the methods to do so. Thus, employee
involvement gets restricted to non-job-related issues like cafeteria menus and
employee picnics. On the contrary success of any improvement initiative requires
massive involvement of employees in every problem that they face on the job front.
They should be involved in data recording and analysis, besides care of gauges,
tools, and machines. The best way to initiate employee participation is through an
intense training on TQM principles including participative, group, data collection,
and decision-making skills. Often employees hesitate to make suggestions and
resist new methods for fear of losing their jobs. The transition from conventional
management to participative management can be seen as a three-phase
development process.
In the first phase, the employees are encouraged to study and understand their
jobs and immediate work areas thoroughly to develop suggestions for improving
them.
In the second phase, the employees are trained to develop skills to analyse
problems and find solutions for them.
In the third phase, the management can focus on the economic and business
benefits gained through the employee inputs.
A look at the following cases shows how employee involvement resulted in
increased quality, productive decision-making, and more efficient work methods.
Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation in the US created a safety committee
comprising of employees from all levels of the organization. The efforts of the
empowered team resulted in a 69% reduction in recordable accidents and a 100%
reduction in lost workday. Further, within a span of four years of implementation a
75% drop in insurance premiums was also recorded. In another case, the New York
City Department of Parks and Recreation encouraged employee involvement in
what were once management decision-making areas. The department was in need
of information known only to the park workers. Ten teams were allotted projects on
different areas of concern and one such area was the preventive maintenance of the
department's vehicles. Employee inputs helped reduce the maintenance problems
by over 50%. Inputs from another team resulted in the reduction of time card
errors from 33% to 13%. The Internal Service Department of US implemented
TQM and employee involvement to reduce customer complaints and poor service
delivery.
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3
One team at the Ogden service centre addressed the issue of tax-payer correspondence
and within a year, savings of $577,986 were achieved after solving the
problem. Other teams helped to solve the problems caused by incorrect data input.
The total benefits achieved at the Ogden centre after employee participation
amounted to $37,30,959. These case studies show that TQM and employee
involvement are being successfully implemented not only in the manufacturing and
service sectors, but also in public sector and non-profit organizations. Employees
not only play a vital part in business reengineering, they also help to achieve cost
savings, quality improvements, and customer satisfaction. The best way to achieve
excellence in any business is to engage every mind involved to improve their
surroundings.
Source Adapted from http://www.themanagementor. Com/kuniverse/kmailers_
universe/manu_kmailers/ QM_employee2.htm, accessed on 23 August 2005.
Questions
Can you suggest some modifications for improving employee participation in
the quality management practice being followed by the organization?
How can you bring in cultural change in the organization to facilitate
participative management processes?
Do you think that the extent of reduction of number of lost workdays at
Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation is unacceptable? Explain.
How can the organization improve the participation of employees in the
teams?
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