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The ethics of empowerment

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Abstract

Driven by competitive pressure, organizations are empowering employees to use their judgment, creativity, and ideas in pursuit of enhanced organizational performance and both employee and shareholder satisfaction. This empowerment offers both benefits and potential harm. This article explores the benefits and harm associated with role, reward, process and governance empowerment and makes recommendations for minimizing the harm while maximizing the benefits.

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Authors
  1. Jeffrey Gandz
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  2. Frederick G. Bird
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Additional information

Jeffrey Gandz is a Professor and the Director of the MBA Program, at the Western Business School, teaching courses in Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management, and Industrial Relations in both degree and executive programs. His current research is focused on the achievement of organizational effectiveness through the matching of organizational strategies, cultures, and individual values.

Frederick Bird is a Professor of Comparative Ethics at Concordia University in Montréal, where he directs the Ph.D. in Religion and teaches in the Religion and Management Departments and in the Executive MBA. He is the co-authors with Jeffrey Gandz of Good Management: Business Ethics in Action (Prentice-Hall) and the author of Good Conversations: A Practical Role for Ethics in Business (Boston College) and numerous articles. He is currently directing a research project with Manny Velasquez and Jeffrey Gandz studying how corporation manage moral issues.

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Gandz, J., Bird, F.G. The ethics of empowerment. Journal of Business Ethics 15, 383–392 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00380359

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