Inneed of a 125 response/discussion to EACH of the following forum posts.There are (4) different Forum posts. Agreement/disagreement/and/orcontinuing the discussion. Original forums discussion/topic post is asfollows:

Forum Post 1

Hello Class,

What is employee empowerment?

Employeeempowerment is allowing employees within a company a certain degree ofindependence and accountability for decision-making concerning theirspecific job or role within the business/company. “This permitsdecisions to be made at the lower levels of the organization whereemployees may have a unique view of the issues and problems facing theorganization at a certain level”. In turn empowered employees’ jobperformance is improved and employees are happier, they have moreresponsibility and say, so they feel valued and respected. (Fernandez& Moldogaziev, 2013). Employees are working together toproblem-solve, gathering data and compromising on improving the workprocesses (McCubbrey, 2009). Instead of micro-managing the employeesindividually, employees will work together to make decisions on teamprojects with little to no involvement from higher management. Trustingin your employee’s choices will empower them.

What kinds of information can companies provide employees to help them share decision-making responsibility?

Companiescan offer on the job training and provide classes that can essentiallyencourage employees to take on more responsibility in decision making,and more authority. This will increase job satisfaction for employees,and may also be beneficial in helping prepare employees for upcomingobstacles and or challenges.

Companies can empower their employeesby encouraging employees to take action to correct basic problems ontheir own at each level. The benefits of having employees thatunderstand the basic inner workings of the business keep the productionprocess running more efficiently (Skripak, S, 2016).

Are there risks related to empowerment?

Aswith anything else, there is always a chance you may run into somenegatives related to employee empowerment. One risk you may run into islaziness since the employees know they are in control with minimaloversight projects that could get delayed. You also do not what youremployees to think they have too much power as they could start takingbigger risks that may potentially have negative outcomes. Basically Ithink you have to go into this hoping for the best, you want youremployees to have good work ethics, and be trustworthy. With propertraining, I feel the positives will out weight the negatives (EmployeeEmpowerment, 2013).

Were the employees in the video empowered? Explain.

In my opinion, the employees in the video did not have any type ofempowerment aside from the main boss. The customer was continually sentto the next higher level of management to have their matter taken careof. If any lower area of management did have the power it was clearlynot apparent to them. Perhaps the higher levels of management couldexplain what they are and are not authorized to handle.

References

Employee Empowerment. (2013). Retrieved from http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/ama…

Fernandez,S., & Moldogaziev, T. (January 1, 2013). Using Employee Empowermentto Encourage Innovative Behavior in the Public Sector. Using Employee Empowerment to Encourage Innovative Behavior in the Public Sector.,23(1), 155-187. doi:10.1093/jopart/mus008

McCubbrey, D. J. (2009). Business Fundamentals.

Skripak,S., Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Polytechnic Institute andState University. University Libraries, & Open Textbook Library.(2016). Fundamentals of business. Retrieved from https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx…

Forum post 2

Employeeempowerment is given for an employee to gain trust and knowledge inmaking wise decisions without a higher authority being present. Allowingempowerment to employees in making the right decisions becomesbeneficial for a company due to prompt solving resolutions, all thewhile encouraging employees to go above and beyond the duties. Which, inturn makes a more positive and productive workplace due to feelingneeded.

Information companies can provide for employees to helpshare the decision making responsibilities could be hands on training,suggestion boxes, meetings, flow charts and informing head leaders on upbringing ideas that could lead to a successful and beneficial use ofemployee empowerment.

Risk related to empowerment are employeesego could cause issues in delegating task. The companies security couldbe at risk do to information being shared, its creativity and innovation(Prachi J, 2018). Employees not utilizing the right resources given orbetter yet taking advantage of it. Every employee starts from the bottomand gains a degree towards becoming an empowered asset.

In thevideo, the employees where not empowered, If given the proper resourceson what could be have been approved and what could not be approved byemployees. This situations is common especially in a retail store. Theprocess of the return could have been done in five mins due to customersunsatisfactory in regards to a scratched product, but depending on howlong he purchased the TV he would have not been able to return it or geta refund. For instance, walmarts electronic return policy is usually 15days of purchase and target is usually 30days.

Reference:

Prachi, J. (2018). Employee empowerment- good or bad management study guide retrieved February 16, 2020 from:http://managementstudyguide.com//portal/aboutus.com

Forum post 3

Hello Class,

Inevery business, you have your core values and your mission statement.For example, why you started your company and what your company standsfor. When you hire employees, you have a guidelines of how you want themto conduct themselves as being an employee of your company. Chick flea,employees always say my pleasure when your done ordering or when theygive you your food.

Employee empowerment is trusting your employees with the skills theyhave and the skills you instilled in them to represent the company.Whether it’s customer service or management, you expect them to know thejob inside and out. So when problems arise, they can handle it withoutgoing to the CEO or highest level of your team every time. When youfirst come to the company, there should be a training system in place.As time goes on, whether it is monthly or quarterly training, employeesshould be advancing there skills. Offering incentives or getting themcertified to hold a higher position can be employee empowerment.Companies can do seminars and give employees the authority to help withdecision-making skills. Also, in your meetings, giving them the floor tospeak, be heard, and understood as well as being able to bring newideas to the front line. There is always a risk with empowerment. Butyou have hired individuals who will respect their positions as well asthe company. You want your employees to believe in your company and itsvision.

In the video, the employees were not empowered. Thecustomer had to go through everybody when it could have stopped at thefirst person. There should have been a policy in place for any refund.If the sale person had to decide on the partial refund, he should havehad to make a phone to get approval if a policy isn’t in place.

Forum Post 4

1.Employee empowerment is trusting employees with day to day decisions inrunning the business. It gives the employees the chance to feel liketheir opinion matters and that they have a voice in the company. Byallowing them to make decisions that can affect the business, employeescan feel like they are valued more and could provide a higherproductivity level and have more job satisfaction.

2. Companiescan provide employees with sales data to help them with decision making.They could also provide them with customer service information.

3.The risks associated with empowerment could be employees takingadvantage of the policies. An employee could become arrogant and overconfident if clear guidelines are not set in place. An employee withlittle or no experience could end up making the wrong decision and hurtthe company.

4. The employees in the video were not empowered.With each employee that the customer went to, their answer was basicallyI am not qualified to make that decision, I need to send you to thenext higher employee. When the customer reached that next employee hegot the same answer. He ended up spending the whole day trying to getmoney back from the T.V. when it could have all been handled by thefirst employee if he was trained and trusted to issue refunds. Storeslike Walmart and Target often empower their employees to make return orexchange decisions and it makes the process very smooth and easy. Ifthey had to go through a store manager for each return it would be anightmare.