Editing Empowerment (section)

===In management===
In the sphere of [[management]] and organizational theory, "empowerment" often refers loosely to processes for giving subordinates (or workers generally) greater discretion and resources: distributing control in order to better serve both customers and the interests of employing organizations. It also giving employees the authority to take initiatives, make their own decisions, find and execute solutions. 
Data from [[survey research]] using [[confirmatory factor analysis]], empowerment can be captures through four dimensions, namely meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact; whereas some [[exploratory factor analysis]] identifies only three dimensions, namely meaning, competence, and influence (a conflation of self-determination and impact).

One account of the history of workplace empowerment in the [[United States of America|United States]] recalls the clash of management styles in railroad construction in the [[American West]] in the mid-19th century, where "traditional" hierarchical East-Coast models of control encountered individualistic pioneer workers, strongly supplemented by methods of [[efficiency]]-oriented "worker [[Moral responsibility|responsibility]]" brought to the scene by [[Chinese American|Chinese]] [[coolie|laborer]]s. In this case, empowerment at the level of work [[team]]s or brigades achieved a notable (but short-lived) demonstrated superiority. See the views of Robert L. Webb.

Since the 1980s and 1990s, empowerment has become a point of interest in management concepts and business administration. In this context, empowerment involves approaches that promise greater participation and integration to the employee in order to cope with their tasks as independently as possible and responsibly can. A strength-based approach known as "empowerment circle" has become an instrument of organizational development. Multidisciplinary empowerment teams aim for the development of [[quality circles]] to improve the organizational culture, strengthening the motivation and the skills of employees. The target of subjective job satisfaction of employees is pursued through flat hierarchies, participation in decisions, opening of creative effort, a positive, appreciative team culture, self-evaluation, taking responsibility (for results), more self-determination and constant further learning. The optimal use of existing potential and abilities can supposedly be better reached by satisfied and active workers. Here, [[knowledge management]] contributes significantly to implement employee participation as a guiding principle, for example through the creation of [[communities of practice]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://hbr.org/2010/04/empowering-your-employees-to-e|title=Empowering Your Employees to Empower Themselves |journal=Harvard Business Review |publisher=hbr.org |date= 2010-04-23|access-date=2015-09-17|last1=Goldsmith |first1=Marshall }}</ref>

However, it is important to ensure that the individual employee has the skills to meet their allocated responsibilities and that the company's structure sets up the right incentives for employees to reward their taking responsibilities. Otherwise there is a danger of being overwhelmed or even becoming lethargic.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://hbr.org/1998/05/empowerment-the-emperors-new-clothes|title=Empowerment: The Emperor's New Clothes |journal=Harvard Business Review |publisher=hbr.org |date= May 1998|access-date=2015-09-17|last1=Argyris |first1=Chris |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=98–105 |pmid=10179657 }}</ref>