The workers’ involvement, interest, and motivation are the critical factors of the company’s success and sustainability. Human resource management includes specific terms connected with the mentioned above issue. They are called employee participation and empowerment. These two concepts are closely related and are supposed to stimulate workers’ activity and motivation and, as a result, increase the performance of a particular organization.
Even though these concepts focus on achieving the same goals, there is a difference between employee empowerment and participation. In the first case, employees’ encouragement involves allowing workers to manage the working process themselves. Thus they feel responsible for their actions and try to work harder and show better results. Employee participation means that the employer creates a working atmosphere where employees are part of the company’s decision-making processes. They do not manage the working process themselves, but they are not mere pawns in the economic game. Thus, the employer respects the workers’ opinions and listens to them when they are right.
A good example of employee empowerment practices is the support of the manager, who will help employees learn how to organize the working process and client communications perfectly. Speaking about employee participation, practice the access for workers to visit board meetings and councils can be a good example. Usually, present members have a word to express their opinion on a particular issue during the board meetings. Thus, the workers’ representative will tell the collective thought, and everyone can become a part of the important decisions of the company’s life.
Worker’s empowerment and participation are similar concepts and aim to improve the company’s performance. The difference between them is in the pattern of employees’ involvement in the working process and decision-making of the company. They are supposed to empower the employees’ motivations and significance and, as a result, people will consider their job more fascinating and put more effort into it.
