The Human Development Report (1995) lists empowerment as one of the four essential components of the human development paradigm, the others being productivity, equity, and sustainability.Įmpowerment is essentially a bottom-up process rather than something that can be formulated as a top-down strategy. In organizations, when people fully participate in the decision-making processes, both the organizations and the people themselves stand to benefit and we achieve, in the true sense, empowerment of people. Such empowerment triggers social mobilization, building of alliances and coalitions, increase in self-esteem, rise in levels of awareness, heightened consciousness, and confidence building among people so empowered. Thus, empowerment can also be defined as giving power to employees. can be best reinforced through the process of empowerment. Organizational power to capacity building, supporting individual decision making, leadership, etc. Power over conflict and direct confrontation between powerful and powerless interest groups in organizations are evident even in professionally managed organizations, not to talk about the non-professionally managed ones. Power conflict is natural in organizations. Understanding of Power and Empowerment Implications in Practice :
Again, empowerment can be viewed in the context of individuals and even groups. West and Parent (1992) defined empowerment as the transfer of power and control over decisions, choices, and values. Harp (1994) viewed empowerment of individuals as possession of the same degree of control over one’s own life and the conditions that affect life as is generally possessed by people who are already empowered in a similar context.
Empowerment primarily is a feeling or state of mind (Riger 1993 Tyne 1994), that is, assertiveness. At its most basic level, empowerment is defined as a process of assumption or transfer of legal power and official authority (Websters New World Dictionary 1994). Jo Rowlands (1995) points out that empowerment is a bottom-up process and cannot be bestowed from the top down. It should lead to a situation where each one can become a whole being regardless of gender, and use their fullest potential to construct a more humane society for all’, (Akhtar 1992 quoted in Baliwala 1994). ‘Women’s empowerment should lead to the liberation of men from false value systems and ideologies of oppression. Gender studies stress that women’s empowerment is not about replacing one form of empowerment with another. Investing in people’s capabilities and empowering them to exercise their choices is not only valuable in itself but is also the surest way to contribute to economic growth and overall development.įor Oxfam, empowerment is about challenging oppression and inequality: ‘Empowerment involves challenging the forms of oppression which compel millions of people to play a part in their society on terms which are inequitable, or in ways which deny their human rights’, (Oxfam 1995). People must participate fully in the decisions and processes that shape their lives (UN 1995 b: 12). The Human Development Report 1995 stresses that empowerment is about participation.Įmpowerment must be by people, not only for them. It encompasses the fields of education, social work, psychology, politics, community development, gender studies, etc. The word empowerment is used in many different contexts and by many different organizations. In this process, employees also attain the stage of maturity.
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Empowerment is not something given to employees by the top management it is rather the role of die top management to create a culture in which employees can use their full potential to the benefit of the organization. On the contrary empowerment recognizes and realizes the power with the people.
When we talk about power, we indicate from the perspectives of power over people. Empowerment cannot be defined in terms of specific activities or end results because, it involves a process whereby people can freely analyse, develop, and voice their needs and interests, without those being pre-defined, or imposed by the organizations.
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