Nithya 2005

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i

A STUDY ON THE EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT

At

M/s. BRAKES INDIA LTD.

A Dissertation Submitted to

THE UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS

In partial fulfillment of the requirements

For the award of the degree of

Master of Social Work

By

NITHYA. N

THE MADRAS SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK (Affiliated to The University of Madras)

No.32, Casa Major Road, Egmore,Chennai – 600 008.

March 2005

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ii

Certificate of Approval

It is hereby certified that this dissertation is based on the

bonafide work designed and executed by Ms. Nithya. N , in

partial fulfillment of the requirement of the Post graduate

Degree in social work for the academic year 2004 - 2005, in

the field of Human Resource Management and Organisational

Behaviour , The University of Madras . This dissertation was

carried out under my supervision exclusively for the above

said purpose.

Dr. D.Varadharajan, Prof. S. Malar,

Principal. Research Guide.

Place : Chennai

Date : 31-03-05

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iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my privilege to express my professional sense of gratitude to our Principal Dr. D.

Varadharajan for fostering an excellent academic climate, which ultimately made this

endeavor possible.

I express my deep sense of gratitude to Prof. S. Malar, Research Guide, MSSW for his

continuous and valuable guidance throughout the completion of this project by giving me moral

support and inspiration.

It is indeed my profound privilege to express my gratitude to

Mr.G.K. Sridharan , General Manager (Personnel), M/s. Brakes India Ltd. for having given me

an opportunity to undertake this study in their organization.

I thank all my friends, near and dear and all others who assisted me to take up this

project and complete it successfully.

Researcher

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sl.No. Contents Page No.

1 List of Tables ii - iii

2 List of Diagramsiv

3 Chapter : I Introduction and Review of Literature 1 - 32

4 Chapter : II Research Methodology 33 - 40

5 Chapter : III Data Analysis and Interpretation 41 - 88

6 Chapter : IV Findings, Suggestions and Conclusions 89 - 93

7 Bibliography 94 - 96

8 Appendix : Questionnaire 97 - 101

iv

Dedicated to my BelovedParents

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Chapter: I Introduction & Review of Literature

LIST OF TABLES

TableNo.

Title Page No.

1 Respondents by their Department 42

2 Respondents by their Designation 43

3 Respondents by their Age 44

4 Respondents by their Marital status 45

5 Respondents by their Educational Qualification 46

6 Respondents by their Work Experience 47

7 Respondents by their Monthly Income 48

8 Respondents by their Family Members 49

9 Level of Empowerment of the Respondents 50

10 Factors contributing to the Empowerment of the Respondents 54

11 Department Vs Level of Empowerment 56

12 Respondents by their Department Vs Factors of Empowerment 58

5

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LIST OF TABLES

TableNo. Title Page No.

13 Designation Vs Level of Empowerment 61

14 Respondents by their Designation Vs Factors of Empowerment 62

15 Age Vs Level of Empowerment 65

16 Respondents by their Age Vs Factors of Empowerment 67

17 Educational Qualification Vs Level of Empowerment 70

18 Respondents by their Educational Qualification Vs Factors of Empowerment 72

19 Work Experience Vs Level of Empowerment 75

20 Respondents by their Work Experience Vs Factors of Empowerment 77

21 Monthly Income Vs Level of Empowerment 80

22 Respondents by their Monthly Income Vs Factors of Empowerment 82

23 Quality of Work Life of Respondents 85

24 Level of Empowerment Vs Quality of Work Life 86

6

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LIST OF DIAGRAMS

DiagramNo.

Title Page No.

1Pie Diagram Showing the Distribution of Respondents by

their Level of Empowerment51

2

Column Bar Diagram Showing the Distribution of

Respondents by the factors contributing to their

Empowerment

55

3

Column Bar Diagram Showing the Distribution of

Respondents by their Level of Empowerment and their

Quality of Work Life

88

7

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Chapter 1

Introduction & Review of Literature

8

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INTRODUCTION

“ Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you

with their ingenuity”

- General George Smith Patton, Jr.

Man's problem is inter-linked with his economic activity. Today his economic

activity centers primarily on production. As we know, labour is the primary factor of

production; its role therefore has been given prime importance. In this point of view

harmonious relationship between labour and management occupy an important place

to the high productivity, which leads to satisfy man's economic activity. To achieve

the so called harmonious relationship employees are involved in the affairs of the

company beyond the bounds of their job typically lower level employees being

involved in taking a decision previously regarded as the sole concern of directors and

senior managers.

A realization that one should change in order to survive the competition iscatching up. In many industrial organizations outdated, manually operated machinery

is being replaced by CNC machines and machining centers. Conventional production

methods are being replaced by concepts such as "Just in Time". Similarly in the field

of Quality Assurance new concepts like "TQM" AND "QWL" have emerged and each

and every part of organization now a day, brings changes in order to survive in the

competitive and complex market.

Corporates are now customerising their organisation. In the past, the role of

the top management was to set corporate objectives to which the process was meant to

contribute. They never concentrate on the employee’s side. This did not help the

organisation in achieving the goal.

While dealing with employees the management should take into account this

important change. The conventional approach will not be effective under existing

circumstances.

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Industries In Current Scenario:

Nowadays many industries enter into globalization and MNC and emerge and

play a significant role. Due to this tremendous changes have been taken place both in

technology and manpower processes. Nowadays most of the companies go in for

self-management teams.

Organization connotes different things to different people. To a sociologist -

"organisation means a study of interactions of people or the hierarchy of an enterprise,

to a psychologist an organisation means effort to predict and influence behavior of

individuals in the enterprise. To the top executives, organisation is the product of all

forces that guide the action of an enterprise in producing the final result.

Empowerment And The 21 st Century Organisation:

As scientific management was a suitable philosophy for organizing and

controlling the massive bureaucracies of 1920’s and 1930’s. So empowerment is the

philosophy for running the organization in 21 st century. Most organization will have

to go through rapid transformation, changing, their style and the way they are running

in response to the changed environment in which they have to operate.

Every person working in an organization is an independent entity having his

own ideas and sense of values. Every person in the organization has own sense of

ego, wage of survival, desire for self-improvement and fulfillment. In pursuing the

objectives of the organization, he is also pursuing his own individual objectives. It is

basically wrong to state that people come to work to achieve and materialize their

own individual needs and objectives.

The role of employees can be redesigned in a way so that they perform the

roles intelligently, creatively and with commitment rather than just discharging their

duties. The qualities of people are revealed as a consequence of an empowering

organizational culture, which can be developed gradually involving everyone in the

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decision-making processes. Companies are slowly making up to the benefit of

developing and empowering their staff.

Empowerment – A Brief Note:

“Empowerment” as vested authority implies clarifying an employee’s mandate

and our expectation of his or her performance. The employees in turn must be willing

to accept responsibility and accountability or consequences. That’s where attempts at

empowerment often fall short. If employees fear they will be punished for honest

mistakes, they will protest them selves and only fellow orders. This turns a business

into a bureaucracy where people delegate upward when in doubt. Successful

companies need people to share ideas and information, innovate, resolve customer’s

problems on the spot and participate in high performance teams. In traditional

bureaucracies, we managed employee energy. In an empowered organization, we

need to manage both their energy and intelligence.

Employee Empowerment:

To empower is to give autonomy to an employee enabling him to make

decisions on his job and be accountable for his actions. It is the integrating of

ownership, authority, and accountability at work while challenging the employee to

meet certain objectives. To be successfully implemented, employee empowerment

depends upon a number of factors:

Commitment on the part of the top management. The top management talks

about employee empowerment only because it is the currently prevailing management

fad or it is willing to let people who are closer to a problem and understand it better

deal with it.

The willingness of the superiors to share their authority down the line

throughout the organization. Willingness on the part of employees to make decisions

and be accountable for their actions. Employees need to learn the skills of

empowerment such as decision making, conflict resolution, negotiating performance

plans, leadership, and technical skills in more than one functional area (Randolph,

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1995). They should be able to grasp interrelationships among work processes and

share expectations for individual and shared accountability.

Redesigning Roles:

The roles of employees can be redesigned in a way so that they perform their

roles intelligently creatively and with commitment rather than just discharging their

duties. The qualities of people are revealed as a consequences of an empowering

organizational culture, which can be developed gradually involving everyone in the

decision making process.

To Build Empowering Culture:

Following are some of the factors responsible for building an empowering

culture.

Build Empowering Leadership:

Empowering leadership can be built for empowering people as well as

liberating organizations.

Develop Empowering Attitude:

To develop an attitude which stresses the value of trust and positive

expectations as the most effective way of motivating people. The culture of trust may

help the empowered leaders to utilize efforts usually wasted on control mechanisms

and focus attention on accomplishing a common purpose and goal.

Build Skills Of Empowerment:

Empowerment can be made to educate people in the new order to develop a

reporting of empowerment skills through continuous training workshops. Thus,

efforts may be made to develop a series of care skills relating to effective listening,

effective communications, and supportive behaviour. There is also a need for

developing human resource skills for specific purposes.

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These skills include:

• Influencing and negotiating

• Coaching and Counseling

• Conducting appraisal interviews

• Leading discussions and meetings

It is possible to develop empowering attitude and empowering skills through

MBT (Management by Trust).

Empowerment By Managers:

Empowerment as a managerial strategy could be effective only if the

managers are ready to share their power and authority ad the employees are read to

take responsibilities and challenges. Only through building a culture of trust,

confidence, freedom and learning, can an organization truly empower its employees.Traditionally in bureaucratic organizations, the decision-making power resides in a

few people. Empowerment, by definition, allows individuals to realize their potential

and take personal responsibility for improving the way they do their jobs. An

empowered person becomes assertive, confident, requiring no supervision.

Well-Founded Empowerment:

Empowerment depending upon individual expertise reduces the response time

down the line. “Empowerment is getting employees to do what needs to be done

rather than make them do what they are told to (Darraugh, 1991)”

The foundation of empowerment is respect for people and a belief/faith in

their competence, knowledge, skills and potential; that, in the right environment, their

contributions can be maximized towards the achievement of the organization’s

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goals/objectives. The ‘feeling’ of the employee that he/she can make an impact, or

can bring about a change whenever necessary in the ultimately becomes an integral

part of the organization’s culture. Empowerment has very little to do with

compensation, designation or position in an organization, or even with the

qualification or experience of the employees. It is concerned with the ability of the

managers to instill confidence in the employees that they can show initiative beyond

their calling without being punished for non-conformity.

Leadership And Empowerment:

When the manger functions more like a leader, then the whole process of

empowering employees becomes an easy task. He takes the subordinates along with

him to fulfill the dream. Given the needed resources, a facilitating structure and the

confidence he has in his subordinates, in most case, the empowered employees will do

their utmost to meet the expectations of their leaders, By empowering employees, one

enhances their self-esteem and confidence. Often motivating them to perform beyond

expectations. Managers addicted to power may find it difficult to push empowerment

down the hierarchy as it involves a sharing of authority.

According to Becker, “Empowering is mostly an individual affair; it happens

when there is a common agreement between the boss and his subordinates on sharing

the responsibilities, authority and accountability for the work they do together”.

Organization and Empowerment:

The organizational structure should be such that people have a feeling of

ownership. The future being the case of our present behaviour, creating a vision

forces us to take a stand for a desired future. A clear vision helps the organization to

stay focused and not wander into unrelated areas. Vision enables the entire

organization to develop an inspirational force towards attaining a common goal. It is

necessary to make the empowerment process goal-oriented. The empowerment

process should start with a set o goals and a plan that is clearly articulated to the

employees involved. To make empowerment success individual employees must

accept it, because it needs a purpose and an obligation to help the organization to

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achieve the desired goals. Without individual commitment, management cannot

coerce employees to take any responsibility.

Empowerment – A Management Tool:

To make empowerment a successful managerial tool, t is necessary to replace

bureaucracy with an entrepreneurial spirit, and helplessness, with empowerment It is

necessary for employees to have confidence in their own capabilities as that gives

them the required independence to take the initiative and act alone when need arises.

The manager has to assume the role of a coach in developing his subordinates. Most

managers don’t assume this role whole-heartedly: sometimes, they are even in direct

competition with their subordinates. Unless he/she develops your subordinates,

he/she can’t delegate because he/she can’t remain assured that the job will be done

effectively.

A manager’s job is not just prescribing what to do, how to do, when to do, and

solving problems, but also to develop the people to make them ready for higher

responsibility.

Preparing People For Empowerment:

Coaching is the best action to prepare a subordinate to initiate and take

responsibility, especially when he is not ready for it. Coaching requires understanding

the subordinate’s problem behaviour, deciding whether the problem can be remedied,

and encouraging the subordinate to adopt the right behaviour to succeed in the five

cochin roles, viz. educating, sponsoring, coaching counseling and confronting. Most

executives are reluctant to coach as it takes a lot of time and the results are not

guaranteed. However, coaching is part of management.

The team approach involves that managers have to learn to delegate powers to

the subordinates and confine themselves to coordination and allocation of resources.

Similarly the members of the self-managed teams have to accept responsibility, taking

themselves accountable to accomplish the goals.

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Conclusion:

Thus, empowerment should make it easier for organizations to meet their

profit obligations to their stakeholders. Unless managers and employees are helped

understand the potential and limitations of empowerment and the wherewithal that is

required to manage the aftermath of its implementation, organizations may end up

worse than what it was when the started off. There must be willingness among the

employees to shoulder responsibilities that accompany empowerment, and a

willingness among the managers to share their powers with their subordinates. Most

importantly, the desire for empowerment should emerge from the employees, and

unless that internal urge is created, no amount organization of empowerment poured

out by management can really make any difference to the organization.

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Review of Literature

GoGo

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE

“You can empower all of the people some of the time and some of the people

all of the time, but you can’t empower all of the people all of the time, and be guided

by it in organizational expectations from empowerment. ”

- Abraham Lincoln .

Introduction:

In a competitive and global business environment, converting challenges into

business opportunities needs a high degree of integration of resources and

competencies. It also calls for an imaginative and innovative approach in leadership.

The greatest challenge for a business leader is to ensure employee commitment and

make him a partner in the value creation process of a business entity. One of the most

successful strategies is employee empowerment. As a HR strategy, it indicates the

tremendous faith reposed by the organization in the abilities of an employee to deliver

the value chain. Recognition and respect for the individual’s potential is the very

essence of empowerment. Businesses can skillfully exploit this wonderful and

powerful human motivational tool to their advantage, and at the same time, offer a

deep sense of satisfaction to the employees.

The benefits of employee empowerment are enormous. It facilitates a

participative work culture and unleashes the untapped potential of employees’

creativity and motivation to solve business problems. In order to create a business

climate conducive to the upward flow of creative ideas from employees, business

leaders must change their management style to meet the demands of the changing

workplace and workforce. For the 21st century organizations, empowerment is a kindof investment currency. The challenge is to capture its value, deploy its power and

multiply its benefits throughout the organization.

Empowerment –It’s Meaning:

The early nineties witnessed far-reaching changes in the strategy, structure

and systems of business. With information at everyone’s fingertips rather than being

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available only to those at the strategic apex of the organization, there is now a huge

emphasis on delayering and down sizing.

All the big corporations have been labouring to become ‘lean and mean’

and more entrepreneurial in nature. Traditional hierarchical relations are being

replaced by networks of ‘empowered’ work groups. With management hierarchies

relatively flat and differences in status minimized, control and lateral coordination

depend on shared goals. The willingness of individuals in empowered organizations

requires them to take calculated risks and accept responsibility for their actions

without being able to devolve the ultimate responsibility to the managerial class.

Empowerment is the process of giving employees more power to exercise

control over, and take responsibility for their work. It provides greater space for

individuals to use their abilities by enabling and encouraging them to take decisions

close to the point of impact.

Empowerment is about engaging both the hearts and minds of people so

that they can take the opportunities available to them for greater responsibility. Jobs

are so structured that individuals can plan, execute and evaluate a complete operation

in the total process personally.

Standard Definitions Of Empowerment:

According to Richard Carver, “Empowerment is the process of enabling or

authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action and control work and decision

making in autonomous ways. It is the state of feeling self-empowered to take control

of one’s own destiny.

Senge et al., defines “Empowerment” as persuading employees to take total

responsibility for their own job satisfaction. In the case the organizational task is to

encourage employees to consider what they like and dislike about their jobs and probe

their own motives and discover that what would make their job more interesting.

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Schein defines “Empowerment represents an attempt to establish moral

involvement which means that the person intrinsically values the mission of the

organization and his or her job and is personally involved and identifies with the

organization.

Bowen and Lawler defines “Empowerment involves sharing decision

making implies that more authority is delegated to the empowered employees.

Clearly this means that employees will be given some power to make certain issues

themselves.”

Johnson and Redmond defines “An organization is empowered when

people have the information they need to make decision about the organization in

which they are engaged, the motivation to make the decision in the best interests of

the organization and the authority to make these decision.

Richard Carver defines “Empowerment in terms of enabling or allowing the

workers to bring their talents, ideas, suggestions, hidden potentials and empowerment

give them scope to take part in the key roles like decision making towards the

organizational growth.

As a general definition, however, we suggest that empowerment is a multi-

dimensional social process that helps people gain control over their own lives. It is a

process that fosters power (i.e., the capacity to implement) in people, for use in their

communities and in their society by acting on issues that they define as important.

The term empowerment has different meanings in different social and

political contexts and does not translate easily into all languages. Local terms

associated with empowerment include: Self-strength, control, self-power of this

knowledge. All of this knowledge is valuable and waiting to be tapped for the

organization’s benefit, many organizations make half-hearted attempts at employee

empowerment with the suggestion box that is never opened. Employee empowerment

can be a new way of thinking for many who are used to more hierarchical

management structures. Technology can be a significant contribution to empower employees.

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Empowerment In The Vedic Period:

Empowerment is rooted in Indian philosophy – Vedanta and the BhagwadGita, Vedanta asserts “Tatvamash” – You are infinitely powerful and you have power

within you . Sivakarmana tam abhyarchya Siddhim Vindati Manava viz., Human

being can attain Sidhi, The final accomplishment of worshipping God through one’s

work. Work becomes a means of self-expansion. The Gita further and specifies

“Vajnakarma” which means that the individual has not only to work according to his

nature, but also is a part of a team or as a part of a total organization. Empowerment

can be used for accomplishing commitment a better service for the customer

transformation of the individual and continuous improvement of the organization.

Historical Perspective:

Early thoughts on empowerment go right up to the foundational theories of

Maslow, Herzberg and Mc Gregor, who in their own way have crystallize the spirit of

empowerment through concepts like self-actualization, job enrichment and

enlightened management. Theory Y, amongst other things, proposes that employees

can be treated as thinking, responsible and understanding individuals with zeal to

work and produce quality results. Maslow envisages that people need a sense of self-

determination, autonomy, dignity and responsible and understanding individuals with

zeal to work and produce quality results.

Change From The Classical Approach:

The relationship between managers and the employees whom they manage is

undergoing a qualitative change. The mangers who believed in classical approach

emphasized on direction, control, centralized authority and decision-making at higher

levels. Employees at the lower level were regarded as non-entity and their views

were never taken into account. Much water has flown under the bridge. Seesaw

change have taken place in sharing of authority and responsibility between the

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superiors and subordinates. The style of leadership and the tenor of relations between

the leader and the followers have changed a good deal. A manager today does not

exercise as much control and authority as his counter part few decades ago. He is

regarded more as an advisor, coach and a sponsor. There is paradigm shift from

“direction” and “control” to “support” and “facilitation”.

Empowerment is a process that provides greater autonomy to employees

through the sharing of relevant information and the provision of control over factors

affecting job performance. Empowerment helps to remove the feeling of

powerlessness and at the same time enhance employee feelings of self-confidence in

job performance. Empowerment enables employees to have control over problems

related to their jobs. The aim of empowerment is to create an organization consisting

of enthusiastic, committed people who perform their work efficiently. Empowerment

is intended to encourage employees to be creative and to take risks.

Empowering Ordinary People For Extraordinary Results:

Companies tend to receive extraordinary results from ordinary people, and as a

result, become successful. It will be amazing if the companies can understand and be

sensitive to the extraordinary potential of the employees. It embodies on the fat that

trust acts as a barrier between the employees and the management.

Employee empowerment can provide a means of converting ordinary looking

people to most extraordinary performers, as the idea of empowering an employee

implicitly recognizes the humane approach to the issue of people management. It is

reposing trust and confidence in the employee’s abilities and providing an opportunity

to the individual to blossom. The workplace facilitates in unleashing the untapped

potential of employee’s creativity and motivation to solve business problems in the

competitive business environment. Putting pride into work and making it more

meaningful, functional latitude and tolerance for genuine mistakes are some of the

effective ways to motivate and empower employees.

Many organizations fail to understand that among the so-called “rank and file”

of employees, there are many who are capable of giving extraordinary results and

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want to give their best. It is up to the organization to tap this potential and promote a

conducive work environment that ignites the passion of commitment and fosters

dedication towards the organization. It should provide opportunities that truly deserve

the employees’ passion, imagination, intelligence and energy. It will be wonderful if

the companies can understand and be sensitive to the extraordinary potential of the

employees. The organization can channel this wonderful positive energy to its

advantage, and at the same time, allow the individuals to have goal congruence that

deeply satisfies their life interests.

Organization must strongly believe that it is possible to hire people who are

passionate about their job. The only thing they need to do is to make their work

meaningful. People will ungrudgingly stretch as long as the company provides work

that is filling a human need somewhere. The company should feel from the soul and

take a cognitive leap from the commonly held notion that work is hell and the

employee must be coercively managed and threatened to work. Douglas McGregor’s

theory X principles may be irrelevant, at least in the knowledge society.

The entire issue of ordinary people making extraordinary organizational

contribution is summed up pretty well by Martha Finney, an HR journalist and a

consultant specializing in employee engagement. According to her, what engages the

employees is, “the feeling that they are working with people who share their mission

and values; and that their company respects them as adults. From that simple starting

place, any thing can happen, for both the individual and the company itself”.

Creating The Empowered:

Employee empowerment happens to be one of the most preached about

concepts in management parlance. In spite of the large pool of literature, countless

seminars, conferences and talks, real empowerment starts and ends in the heart of the

individual who decides to practice empowerment. Any amount of knowledge on the

subject will be of little avail, unless the manager:

• Makes a voluntary decision to trust the subordinate.

• Has faith in the abilities of his team members.

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• Has the capability and adaptability to appreciate the

diversity in human approaches in handling similar

situations.

Assumptions Behind The Empowered Organizations :

According to Charles Handy the three assumptions behind the concepts of

empowered organizations are competence, trust and teamwork. Tjerk Hooghiemstra

defines competence as ‘an underlying characteristic of an individual which is casually

related to effective or superior performance in a job’.

Competence can be motives, traits, self-concepts, attitudes, values, content-

knowledge or behavioural skills. In organizations, these behaviours lead to

continuous improvement in quality, productivity and to innovation in the development

of new products and services.

Management has complete trust and confidence in the ability and

enthusiasm of employees in an empowered organization. The climate is generally one

of belief in the competence and team spirit of employees. Team working becomes

more significant when organizations require ‘cellular’ working. At office or shop

floor level, autonomous workgroups may be set up which are responsible for all

aspects of their operations.

Employees Perception on Empowerment :

The obstacles for employee empowerment lies in the mindset of some

managers who think that front line employees lack an understanding of the impact of

their decisions on the organization’s costs, profits, and overall operation and hence

cannot make effective decisions on their own; and, secondly, that the front line may

not be capable of taking effective decisions.

Some employees may prefer to simply follow their superiors’ instructions for

the fear of making decisions on their own. For some, the benefits of empowerment

may not be evident. They find they have new responsibilities without the additional

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rewards of the management cadre. Some others may wish to seek satisfaction of their

ego needs outside the organizational context.

To facilitate empowerment, an organization has to create a climate where

employees take on the responsibility to work productively in self-managed, self-

initiated individual and team activities, and where they are free from organizational

constraints that inhibit their willingness to be proactive. People are willing to take the

initiative when the management reposes trust in its employees and let them learn from

their mistakes. The organizational structure and leadership should also facilitate

empowerment.

Employees perceiving meaningfulness in what they do. The

meaningfulness and purposefulness of one’s actions depends upon the perception of

how one’s actions are aligned with the strategic goals, objectives, and business

operations of the organization. Empowerment doe not work unless employees

understand the business challenges and their imperatives.

Information sharing is necessary to empower people. Employees should

have clear information about their authority, responsibility, and accountability. They

should get all the necessary information at the right time in order t make decisions on

their jobs.

The incentives and rewards to promote and sustain employee

empowerment within the organization could be in terms of career growth/professional

development or the sharing of profits, authority, etc., Some organizations in terms of

its commitment to employee empowerment, recognizes and rewards employees for

their proactive ideas, action plans to improve work processes, and superior customer

service through a variety of awards, bonuses cash prizes, and medallions.

The change process is facilitated by employee empowerment as employees

are able to relate changes in the tasks performed to the overall change goals and

strategy are willing to take the initiative, and are not afraid to make job-related

decisions while being responsible for their actions. The other advantages of employeeempowerment lie in les employee turnover, higher productivity, job satisfaction and

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the professional development of employees. Empowerment also brings forth

employee experience and their tacit knowledge to the work/change process.

The workplace is changing in terms o the demographic profile of the

employees, their needs, expectations and aspirations on the one side, and the

expectations of the management from the workforce on the other side. There is a

growing realization that excessive controls, regimentation and centralised decision-

making have limited utility in the effective running of organizations.

Various Strategies Of Empowerment Of The Employees:

Job Design And Work Organization:

The job design and work organization methods adopted in the pat are found to

be obsolete. They tend to create monotony and make the workers loose interest in the

job.

Assembly line of production and other jobs performed in a routine manner sap

the interest and lower the morale of the employee.

Jobs have to be designed in such a way that they ensure the following aspects.

• Skill variety, requiring a variety of different activities and

application of a number of skill and talents.

• Task identity, implying completion of a whole or identifiable

piece of work.

• Task significance, having substantial impact on the lives or

work o other people.

• Autonomy ensuring freedom, independence or discretion to the

individuals in scheduling the work and deciding the procedures

to be used in carrying out work.

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• Feedback, involving direct and clear information to the workers

about the effectiveness of their performance.

Job design involves a change in the perception and human nature, a faith

that people are primarily motivated from with in and they would respond by being

innovative.

Job Enrichment:

In recent years a new technique based on the psychological needs of man hasemerged which is totally different from other conventional methods and it is called

job enrichment. This concept helps in employee empowerment because it tends to

give more discretion and autonomy as well as increases responsibility. It focuses on

the content of the job through vertical job loading and integration. Psychological

needs such as growth, achievement, autonomy, self-actualization and self-fulfillment

are relatively of higher importance in an employee’s motivational profile.

Empowerment entails that job or tasks should be challenging, meaningful, interesting

and the work intrinsically more rewarding and satisfying.

Job Enlargement:

It refers to expansion of jobs horizontally. It increases job scope i.e. the

number of different operations required in a ob and the frequency with which the job

cycle is repeated. Job enlargement curbs the problem of lack of diversity in over

specialized jobs.

Management By Objectives(MBO):

MBO is based on three important aspects;

• People should know what is expected of them.

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• Allow employees to set goals. MBO emphasizes that both the

superior and the subordinate jointly decide the objectives and

indicates that both can play a dynamic role in achieving the

objectives.

• Both superior and subordinate take periodical review of the

progress made in achieving the goals and identify the problems

which impede the progress The worker concerned is helped to

grow and develop by training and counseling, coaching and

advice.

Many organizations practice the method of MBO in achieving the

organizational goals. For them it is a way of managing the organization itself with

involvement of people and empowering them in sharing information and having

control over their job performance.

Participative Management:

This is another concept, which occupies a vital role in this context of

empowerment.

There are three important ideas involving in the approach:

• First and probably the most important is the involvement-

mental and emotional rather than mere physical activity. A

person’ entire self is involved not just his skill. This

involvement is psychological rather than physical.

• The second idea involved in participation is that it motivates

people to contribute. They are empowered to release their own

potential, initiative and creativity toward the objectives of the

organization.

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• Finally participation encourages people to accept responsibility

in their group’s activity. It is a social process by which people

become involved in an organization and want to see that the

organization works successfully. Participation helps them to become good members and citizens of the organization instead

of continuing as non-responsible people performing duties in a

routine manner.

Self Managed Work Teams:

Self managed work teams represent the highest degree of employeeempowerment. A work team generates positive synergy through coordinated effort.

Self-managed teams generally comprise of ten to fifteen members who take upon

themselves the responsibilities of their supervisors. Teamwork typically includes co-

coordinated action for collective control over the speed of work, allocations of work

assignments, and arrangement of breaks and introduction of collective inspection

procedures. The teams that manage themselves fully even select their own members

and have a system of evaluating each other’s performance. As a result, the need for supervisory positions decreases and they may even be made redundant.

Empowerment- It’s Process:

Managers empower the members of their teams, not by giving up control but

by changing the way control is exercised. In the words of Tom Peters control by

procedure is replaced with control by vision and trust. Executives have the

responsibility to provide support, guidance and training to their staff as required.

Bosses have to learn to delegate more to subordinates. In the increasingly competitive

arena of today’s corporate world top management can no longer take anything for

granted, least of all their subordinates.

The new generations of subordinates are professionally and intellectually as

qualified as the boss, some are even more so. These high fliers are definitely

demanding to be heard. Give them a voice, give them a say and give them a chance to

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participate. Smart managers understand that they can get more work done by

delegating to these people. One key factor is that the corporate man must know the

capabilities of those to whom he will delegate the authority and responsibility.

Empowerment is also achieved by soliciting co-worker’s ideas; expressing

positive expectations of subordinates and rewarding performance improvement all of

these make employees feel more capable and motivated to assume increased

responsibility. At corporate level this is achieved by sharing strategic vision and

corporate values throughout the organization, creating the assumption of team spirit

and trust without which an empowered organization cannot operate. People

development has been neglected in the past by most of the command organizations

here reliance was placed on the authority of managers to get things done.

In contrast, an empowered organization aims at improving the

competencies of people, their growth and development, their role and function and

their motivation and contributes to organizational effectiveness in terms of higher

productivity and better competitiveness.

THE PROCESS OF EMPOWERMENT

Remove conditions of Powerlessness

• Changes• Leadership• Reward System• Job

Enhance job related Self-efficacy

• Job mastery• Control &

Accountability• Role Models• Reinforcement• Support

Perception of Empowerment

Competence

• High Value• Job meaning• Increased use of talent

Performance

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Mindset For Empowerment:

Empowerment as an initiative should begin in the hearts and the minds of the

individuals. The organization structure may be flat; the top management may be

committed totally to the purpose. But if the managers are not ready to let go of the

power and employees are not yet ready for the autonomy, empowerment becomes null

and void. Out of enthusiasm becomes null and void. Out of enthusiasm to create the

empowered, the team members should not be kicked and dragged and coerced into

empowerment. Empowerment is after all, creating an environment of understanding

and trust that will enable staff members to embrace the increase in responsibility and

accountability that come with it. The organization should wait as long as it takes for

the members to get ready for it.

Empowerment Fears:

Employees also sometimes suffer from a fear complex. Empowerment many a

times may not be welcome because it is riskier, more challenging and requires a better

competency base. Over the years, they would get accustomed to managers instructing

them on even the most trivial issues and processes. This encourages the employee toenter into a state of imposed lethargy and he/she may not like to venture out of it.

Such employees feel threatened when empowered because they are afraid that they

cannot make the decisions for the fear of failure and loss of face. The fear of making

mistakes and being punished for it makes the employees resist empowerment and

think that they are better off following instructions rather than taking their own

decisions. This obstacle can be overcome by communicating the goals and strategies

of the organization to the employees as well as conveying how their being empoweredhelps them attain greater benefits. It should be clearly communicated that the

management is open to the employees making mistakes and the costs associated with

it.

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Employee Empowerment:

The Pros And Cons:

Employee empowerment has become a buzzword in today’s business. Butempowerment means different things to different people. It is a process that has to be

initiated and supported all through by the top management, for achieving visible

results. Earlier efforts had mixed results as freedom was seen as a reactionary force

meant to counter top management hegemony. “Empowerment” today means striking

a mutually accepted balance that gives a shared sense of responsibility. It makes the

employers and employees partners working for common goals. The art of achieving

results through empowerment would hence mean finding ways to tackle counteractiveforces and chart out a common path.

The degree of empowerment that is visible in any given organization can take

different forms. It could vary from consultative participation to co-management of

self-management. It could range from simply keeping the employees informed about

all the issues concerning the organization to consulting them in decision-making.

Taking it a step further would be to actually divest the powers of decision-making (on

a range of issues) into the hands of the employees themselves.

Whatever be the form that a company adopts, it is a clear involvement of the

employees in all the aspects of the organization from production to quality check,

marketing, R&D and finally the strategy of the organization. So, empowerment in

concept is a powerful thing, but this does not always translate into action in totality.

Empowerment Through Mentoring:

Mentoring involving a keen interest in the personal and the work life of the

employees, is also a way of ensuring that there is a sense of commitment generated

among the work force in an organization. Mentoring and counseling of employees

seek to ensure that the health of the people as well as the organization is enhanced.

Providing mentoring to employee’s leads to an appreciation of the freedom accorded

to them. The workforce also recognizes that the organization is not abdicating its

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responsibility. Rather it is making them partners in the control and decision-making

processes. Hence, there is a greater sense of commitment instilled in the workforce.

Empowerment And ESOPs:

Employee Stock Options (ESOPs) and other similar ownership plans also

subscribe to the philosophy underlying empowerment. Taking the concept of

empowerment a step further, ESOPs look to create ownership among the employees,

thereby increasing their involvement in decision-making and their commitment to the

different stakeholders of the organization.

Empowered – The Japanese Way:

The Japanese style of management has traditionally recognized the importance

of worker participation. The rise of Japan as a powerful force in the world of business

was fuelled by team approach and consensus- based decision-making. Teams like

Kaizen, Quality circles and total Quality Management (TQM) became the buzzwords

of modern day management. The quality circles movement, where people in the

organization voluntarily came together and discovered ways to improve the existing

processes underlined the power of freedom at workplace. TQM was also an offshoot

of the empowered workplace that resulted in a dedicated workforce.

Empowerment: What It Offers To Organizations:

Empowerment of employees, as Hradesky(1995) said, provides the following

to an organization:

• The scope to use the employees’ knowledge and talents to the best

advantage of the firm by instilling involvement and a sense of

ownership in employees and thereby promote their productivity.

• Networking of problem-solvers across the organization, which in turn

builds an environment that is conducive to continual improvement in

productivity, product quality, etc., of individual and as well as groups;

and

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• The scope of fostering open communication at all levels in the

organization.

• Implementation of employee empowerment enables the organization to

fully exploit the creative forces available within the organization.

Employee Empowerment – A Workplace Strategy For Motivation:

The concept of “employee empowerment” in the corporate world is

about the need for a revolutionary, integrated, employee-oriented leadership

philosophy, with an emphasis on transformation of an organization by tapping into the

full potential of every employee.

Power Structure And Empowerment:

“Empowerment is a process for helping the right people at the right levels

make the right decisions for the right reasons (Holp, 195)”.

The challenge before the manager is to synchronize the individual’s goals

with those of the organization. In the process, the manger should design an

organizational structure that creates a sense of empowerment. To empower

employees, an appropriate organization culture should be created It needs a change in

mindset so that instead of feeling helpless, motivated to utilize what skill, knowledge

and competence they have for doing their task well and thus will go a long way in

making the organization effective. The shift from bureaucracy to an empowering

management calls for a massive change throughout the organization. It needs achange in values, attitudes and behaviour. Empowerment and individual

responsibility go hand-in-hand. Helplessness and dependency rest on the belief that

there are people who know what is best for others, including themselves. Setting

goals for people, defining the measures of progress towards these goals, and then,

rewarding them for achieving, does not give any scope or freedom to employees to

realize their potential.

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When employees feel empowered, they turn out to be more enthusiastic and

creative. As a result, they offer suggestions/create new working methods and

operating procedures.

Need For Participative Management:

Empowerment, which places responsibility for spotting and solving

problems squarely on employees, has become increasingly popular among companies

focused on quality improvement. “Empowerment is one step beyond involvement.”

Involvement, also called participatory management, encourages supervisors to solicit

comments from their workers and then act on those ideas considered viable. TheJournal of Commerce, a business periodical, noted that 80% of Fortune 500

companies, union and nonunion, have established worker involvement programs.

Empowerment requires leaders to not just ask for suggestions, but to let employees

make the decisions and then implement the actions necessary for change Participative

management has proven to be very successful in fostering responsibility, motivation

and belongingness in organizations with high autonomy and flexibility.

“Empowerment is the oil that lubricates the exercise of learning. Talented and

empowered human capital is becoming the prime ingredient of organizational

success”.

Merits And Demerits Of Employee Empowerment:

Employee empowerment is empowering employees to be responsible andauthorized to make decisions regarding all aspects of product development or

customer service.

Black and white are the two faces of the same coin. Similarly, empowering

employee is confronted with both merits and demerits. Disadvantages of employee

empowerment can be enumerated as following: Employees can misuse the increased

power given to them over responsibility for some employees, dissatisfaction among

employees due to self priority rather than group success, fallacies due to improper

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training imparted to managers to facilitate through sharing of information,

cooperation, and referrals to appropriate resources, all employees must accept the

concept of productivity and effectiveness. Decision taken is on personal and logical

values and not on facts. There might be interpersonal conflicts among group

members. Organizations may incur high cost on training and loss of time in deploying

regular job.

Advantages of employee empowerment are innumerable, few of which are

enlisted here:

More number of educated employees through training and cross training,

increased employee contribution as a result of participation in setting goals and

accomplishing the same, high job satisfaction and motivation noticed with fewer non-

acceptances to various degrees of changes, change in employee behavior like low

absenteeism, less interpersonal and management conflicts and better skill sets leading

to high effective productivity.

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Five Stage Model For Initiating Empowerment

Stage 1 Stage 2Conditions leading to a The use of managerialPsychological state of Strategies and techniques

Powerlessness

Stage 3

To provide self-efficacyinformation to subordinates

using four sources

+ +

Stage 4 Stage 5

Results in empowering Leading toExperience of behavioral effectsSubordinates

• Organizationalfactors

• Supervision• Reward

System• Nature of ob

• Participativemanagement

• Goal setting• Feedback system• Modeling

Contingent/Competence-

based reward job

• Enactive attainment• Vicarious experience• Verbal persuasion• Emotional arousal

• Removeconditionslisted inStage 1

• Strengthening of effort-performanceexpectancy or

belief in personalefficacy

• Initiation/persistence of

behavior toaccomplishtask objectives

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Mechanical aspects of changes and national and cultural differences in an

organization can be encountered by empowering employees for making decisions

with a thrust on more indirect value characteristics of the organization such as trust,

responsibility, participation, harmony and group affiliation. Empowerment can lead to

organizational excellence, total quality management, customer retention and problem

shooting through employee involvement and participation in work teams, quality

circles etc. Empowerment is more appealing to individuals in low power distance and

uncertainty avoidance cultures leading to self-development and increased

responsibility with flattened and formal rules existing in the organization.

A Case Study :

Boeing is committed to continually improving it s core businesses and

processes, while allowing our people to constantly explore new frontiers. We are

committed to providing an atmosphere of innovation faithful to the tradition begun by

William Boeing almost 100 years ago. From the Chairman’s innovational initiative,

where you can bring an idea of yours from the drawing board to the market place, to

the famous Thursday meeting of Commercial Airplanes, Boeing provides

opportunities for you to get deeply involved in the continued growth of our company.

After all, we don’t just talk about empowerment. We know your motivation and

involvement in our future is crucial to our success.

One way in which we do this is by giving our employees the option to direct

themselves for 15% of their time. During this time, they can work on projects of their

own choosing, their own design, without management approval. We also

acknowledge and reward the people who have succeeded through their own initiative

– Chairman and CEO, L D “Desi” DeSimone, frequently told the story f the

development of a popular 3M product.

The managers are always concerned with increasing efficiency and

productivity of workers. They have adopted various styles and methods to achieve

this objective. In the initial stages they leave total control and direction of the

employees at work. All the decision-making powers were exercised by them. With

the growth of social sciences more and more knowledge and concepts came to the

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rescue of the mangers to understand human behavior and to motivate them for higher

productivity.

Conclusion:

Thus, employee empowerment is considered to be a powerful management

tool which lays emphasis on human factor in organizations. It is believed that

employees through their willing efforts to achieve the organizational objectives, are

perceived to be assets to the organization and decide the destiny of the company. The

employees are no longer treated as cogs in the wheel of the organization, but are

considered active agents shaping their own futures and the future of the organization.

They are to be treated as responsible partners in the whole enterprise of an

organization and are, therefore, given an increased opportunity to influence the

performance and functioning of an organization.

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Chapter: II Research Methodology

Chapter 2

Research Methodology

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Introduction:

Research methodology is the description, explanation and justification of

various methods of conducting research. It deals with the various steps that are

generally adopted by a researcher in studying the research problem. It is a way to

systematically solve a research problem. In the process of conducting such a research

study, the researcher has adopted the following methodology to collect the necessary

data to analyse and draw useful inferences.

Significance Of The Study:

Empowerment can speed up decision making processes and accelerate the

response time to meet the changing needs of the customer, release creativity of

employees, provide for greater job satisfaction, motivation and commitment, give

people more responsibility. By empowering employees, through greater commitment

to the organizational goal, they take more responsibility for their own performance

and the success of the organization.

It enables employees to gain a greater sense of achievement from their work

and reduce operational costs by eliminating unnecessary layers of management, staff

functions, quality control and checking operations. Inherent skills and talents within

the employees can be realized and put to work for the benefits of the organization to

produce more satisfied customer and greater profits.

Statement Of The Problem:

With the changes taking place in the current corporate scenario and the

growing awareness that the customer is central to the scheme of things. It is

important that the company’s employees are equally committed to the concept as the

management. Therefore it is valuable that an organization checks on a regular basis

how the staff perceive their day to day work and its immediate work environmentwhere employees recommendations are regularly sought, listened to and

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implemented. So, the organizations are adopting various empowerment strategies in

order to empower its employees and boost up their morale, so that they work towards

the vision and mission of an organization. This has aroused great interest on the part

of the researcher to find out present scenario prevailing in the industry towards the

empowerment of the employees.

Title Of The Study:

“A study on the employee empowerment at M/s. Brakes India Ltd.”,

Padi, Chennai.

Objectives:

i. To study the factors and strategies that contribute to the empowerment of

workers in the organization.

ii. To study the level of empowerment of the workers and its impact on their

quality of work life.

Operational Definition:

Empowerment:

Empowerment is encouraging and allows individuals to take personal

responsibility for improving the way they do their jobs and contribute to theorganization goals. It requires a creation of a culture which both encourages people at

all levels to feel they can make a difference and help them to acquire the confidence

and sills to do so”.

Employee:

Employee in this study refers to any person who is working in the shopfloor and whose name appears on the muster roll of the organization.

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Job Knowledge:

Job knowledge refers to the knowledge about the machines used by the

employee, raw materials, products, internal and external customers in an organization.

Job design:

Job design is the process of deciding on the content of a job in terms of its

duties and responsibilities; on the methods to be used in carrying out the job and on

the relationships that should exist between the job holder and his superiors,

subordinates and colleagues.

Job Enrichment:

Job enrichment refers to the job that increases responsibility and gives self-

fulfillment, reward and recognition for the jobs performed by the employee.

Quality of work life:

Quality of work life refers to the extent to which members of a work

organization are able to satisfy important personal needs through their experience in

the organization.

Research Design:

Research design is the planned sequence of the entire process involved in

conducting a research study. It includes an overall picture of what the researcher will

do, right from the formulation of the problem to its implication and the analysis of the

data.

The research design adopted by the researcher is descriptive research design

since it portrays accurately the characteristics of a particular group.

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Universe:

The universe is the totality of units from which the sample is selected or

derived.

The universe for the purpose of the study is all the employees (Worker

category) of M/s. Brakes India Ltd., Padi, Chennai.

Company Profile:

M/s. Brakes India Ltd. Is the leading manufacturer of automotive and non-automotive braking systems and ferrous castings in India. It was established in the

year 1962 in joint venture between TVS group and Lucas Industries, U.K. now

(integrated with TRW). In 1981 Brakes India has established a Foundary division at

Sholinghur to manufacture permanent moulded grey iron castings. Both the divisions

are quality and environment systems certified. Brakes division of Padi, Sholinghur

and Foundary division, Sholinghur were conferred with TPM Excellence award.

Foundary division has been conferred with Deming award for TQM.

Commitment, Excellence, Fairness, Harmony & Co-operation, Humility,

Integrity, Innovativeness, Trust, Respect & Concern for people, Transparency and

Openness are the core values of the organization.

Sampling Technique:

The adopted sampling technique for the purpose of the research study is

“Simple random sampling” technique.

Sample Size:

For the purpose of the study, the size of the sample is 60. In this study, 60

samples have been selected from the field of study i.e., M/s. Brakes India Ltd., Padi,Chennai.

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Pre-Testing:

To ensure whether the questionnaire prepared by the researcher will be

effective or not a pre-testing was done on few of the samples. The changes that weremade because of pre-testing were not significant.

Field Of Study:

The study was conducted in M/s. Brakes India Ltd., Chennai.

Criteria For Selection:

The selection criteria for samples were as the following:

All employees (worker category) working in M/s. Brakes India Ltd.

Employees who were ready to give data for the purpose of the study.

Source Of Data:

Data that was collected for the purpose of the study has been collected through

two main categories.

Primary Data:

It refers to collection of information directly from the field i.e., M/s. Brakes

India Ltd. from its employees for the study.

Secondary Data:

The secondary source of data was collected from materials like books,

journals, magazines, and related websites.

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Tools Of Data Collection:

The questionnaire has been used for gathering data for the purpose of the

study. A questionnaire is a tool, which consists of sets of questions structured to elicitthe required response and data from the respondents. The questionnaire was translated

into Tamil and administered to the respondents.

Components Of The Tool:

The questionnaire consists of 44 questions which has been divided into

Personal profile

Factors contributing to empowerment

Quality of work life

Actual Collection Of Data:

The actual collection of data was done during the month of January 2005.

Analysis And Interpretation:

The data collected was analyzed and interpreted using SPSS (Statistical

Package for Social Sciences).

Limitations Of The Study:

Since the questionnaire has some information of their personal profile many of

the respondents were reluctant to let out some of their personal information.

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Chapterisation:

Chapter: 1 Introduction and Research Methodology

Chapter: 2 Review of Literature

Chapter: 3 Data Analysis and Interpretation

Chapter: 4 Findings, Conclusions and Suggestions

Bibliography

Appendix

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Chapter: III Data Analysis & Interpretation

Chapter 3

Data Analysis & Interpretation

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Department:

Department is the area of work or division in which an individual works.

Table No.1

Respondents by their Department

The distribution of respondents by their respective department has been depicted

in the above table.

It can be observed that majority (55 %) of the respondents belongs to Tool Room

while a little less than half (45 %) of the respondents belongs to Valve Assembly.

Thus it can be inferred that majority of the respondents in the field of study are

Tool Room employees.

Department No. of Respondents Per cent

Tool Room 33 55

Valve Assembly 27 45

Total 60 100

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Designation:

Designation is the level given to an individual based on their educationalqualification or experience or a combination of both with certain prescribed set of

departments and authority.

Table No.2

Respondents by their Designation

Designation No. of Respondents Per cent

Operator 28 47

Machinist 14 23

Tool & Die-Maker 14 23

Technical Assistant 4 7

Total 60 100

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The table above is the distribution of respondents by their designation.

From the table, it can be observed that a little less than half (47 %) of the

respondents are Operators, while a little less than half (46 %) of the respondents are

equally distributed between Machinist and Tool & Die-Maker. While the remaining are

Technical Assistants.

Thus it can be inferred that the Operator cadre is dominant than the other cadres

in the field of study.

Respondents by their Sex:

As far as Sex is concerned, all the respondents (100 %) in the field of study are

male.

Age:

Age can be expressed in terms of years, which represents the years of existence of

a respondent.

Table No.3

Respondents by their Age

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The distribution of respondents by their age has been depicted in the above table.

It can be observed that a vast majority (73 %) of the respondents are above 50

years of age, while one fifth (20 %) of the respondents falls under the age group of 40 to

50 years while the remaining respondents are below 40 years of age.

Thus, it can be inferred that a vast majority of the respondents are above 50 years

of age in the field of study.

Marital Status:

Age(in Years)

No. of Respondents Per cent

Below 40 4 7

40 – 50 12 20

Above 50 44 73

Total 60 100

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The degree of involvement in work may depend upon the marital status of the

respondents.

Table No.4Respondents by their Marital Status

The above table shows the distribution of respondents by their marital status.

From the table, it can be observed that almost all (93 %) the respondents are

married, while the remaining respondents are Unmarried.

Thus it can be seen that almost all the respondents are married in the field of

study.

Marital Status No. of Respondents Per cent

Married 56 93

Single 4 7

Total 60 100

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Educational Qualification:

Educational Qualification refers to the degree or the technical qualification that a

respondent has acquired.

Table No.5

Respondents by their Educational Qualification

The above table depicts the distribution of respondents by their educational

qualification.

EducationalQualification No. of Respondents Per cent

S.S.L.C. 28 47

+2 10 17

I.T.I. 20 33

D.M.E. 2 3

Total 60 100

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From the table, it can be seen that a little less than two third(64 %) of the

respondents have non-technical qualification while the remaining a little less than two

fifth(33 %) of the respondents have technical qualification.

Among the non-technically qualified respondents, a little less than half(47 %) of

the respondents have S.S.L.C. qualification while a little less than one fifth (17 %)of the

respondents have their Higher secondary qualification. Also among the technically

qualified respondents, one third (33 %)of the respondents have I.T.I. qualification while a

negligible amount(3 %) of respondents belongs to D.M.E. category.

Thus it can be inferred that all the respondents under the study are literate and

majority of the respondents have non-technical qualification in the field of study.

Work Experience:

Work experience may be explained as years of service that a person put in an

organization. In this context, years of experience refers to years of service that respondent

has put in the field of study i.e., Brakes India Ltd.

Table No.6

Respondents by their Work Experience

Work Experience(in Years) No. of Respondents Per cent

Below 20 4 7

20 – 30 18 30

Above 30 38 63

Total 60 100

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The table above shows the distribution of respondents by their work experience.

It is evident from the above table that a little less than two third(63%) of the

respondents possess more than 30 years of experience while a little less than one third

(30%) of the respondents have 20 to 30 years of experience whereas the remaining

respondents have below 20 years of work experience.

Thus it can be inferred that majority of the respondents have more than 30 years

of work experience and most of them are in the verge of retirement.

Monthly Income:

Monthly income is the salary drawn by the respondents per month in the field of study.

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Family Members:

Family members include spouse, children or parents of the respondents and the

number of family members of the respondents may directly or indirectly influence their

empowerment.

Table No.8Respondents by their Family Members

The above table reflects the distribution of respondents by their family members.

No. of FamilyMembers


Below 4 28 47

Above 5 32 53

Total 60 100

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It can be observed from the above table that a little more than half (53 %) of the

respondents have more than 5 family members while a little less than half (47 %)of the

respondents have less than 4 members in their family.

Thus it can be inferred that majority of the respondents have more than 5

members in their family.

Level of Empowerment of the Respondents:

The strategies and factors like Job Knowledge, Job Design & Job Enrichment,

Suggestion Scheme, Decision Making and Problem Solving may contribute to the

empowerment of the respondents. These factors may influence the level of empowerment

of the respondents.

Table No.9

Level of Empowerment of the Respondents

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The above table gives the distribution of respondents by their level of empowerment.

From the above table, that it can be observed that most (83 %)of the respondents

empowerment level is high in the field of study whereas a little less than one fifth

(17%)of the respondents level of empowerment is low in the field of study.

Thus, it can be inferred from the above table that the level of empowerment of therespondents is high in the field of study.

Level of Empowerment


High 50 83

Low 10 17

Total 60 100

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Pie Diagram Showing the Distribution of Respondents bytheir Level of Empowerment

High83%

Low17%

Factors of Empowerment:

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The factors like Job Knowledge, Job design and Job enrichment, Suggestion

Scheme, Decision Making and Problem Solving may influence the level of empowerment

of the Respondents.

Job Knowledge:

The Job Knowledge of the respondents also influence the level of their

empowerment. In Job Knowledge, the factors like knowledge about the machinery, raw

materials, product, internal customers, external customers has taken into consideration

and the level of empowerment of the respondents has been measured in four point scale.

Job Design & Job Enrichment:

The factor Job Design & Job Enrichment can influence the level of empowerment

of the respondents directly or indirectly. In Job Design & Job Enrichment, the factors

like respondents interest in the job and whether the job increases their responsibility and

gives them self-fulfillment and gives recognition and reward for their achievement has

been taken for consideration and the level of empowerment of the respondents has been

measured in four point scale.

Suggestion Scheme:

Suggestion Scheme is one of the strategies adopted to empower the respondents

where they are encouraged to give their valuable suggestions related to their work. In

Suggestion Scheme, the respondents awareness level about the scheme and their

involvement in that has been taken for consideration and the level of empowerment of the

respondents has been measured in the four – point scale.

Decision Making:

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Decision Making is one of the factors for the empowerment of the respondents. In

Decision Making strategy the respondents role and participation and their satisfaction

about the decisions taken by themselves in their work related issues and also the

opportunities provided to make decisions in their workplace has been taken for

consideration. Their level of empowerment is measured in four-point scale.

Problem Solving:

Problem Solving is a factor, which directly or indirectly influence the

empowerment level of the respondents. In Problem Solving strategy, the respondents

opinion about a problem and how they face it and their satisfaction about the resolving

technique and the encouragement given to them by their superiors to solve their work

related problems has been taken for consideration. Their level of empowerment is

measured in the four-point scale.

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Table No.10

Factors Contributing To The Empowerment Of The Respondents

Factors High Low Total

Job Knowledge 48(80)

12(20)

60(100)

Job Design &Job Enrichment

49(82)

11(18)

60(100)

SuggestionScheme 46(77) 14(23) 60(100)

Decision Making 40(67)

20(33)

60(100)

Problem Solving 46(77)

14(23)

60(100)

Figures in Parenthesis denote Percentage.

The above table gives the distribution of various factors and the extent of their

contribution to the empowerment of employees.

It can be observed that Job Design and Job enrichment (82 %) and Job

Knowledge (80 %) have high contribution towards the empowerment of the respondents.

Whereas Suggestion Scheme(77 %) and Problem Solving (77 %) have equally moderate

contribution while Decision Making is the only factor which contributes least towards theempowerment of the respondents.

Thus it can be understood that the field of study has a high level of empowerment

through the factors Job design and Job enrichment and Job Knowledge and low level of

empowerment through decision-making.

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48

12

49

11

46

14

40

20

46

14

0

10

20

30

40

50

JobKnowledge

Job Design &Job

Enrichment

SuggestionScheme

DecisionMaking

ProblemSolving

Column Bar Diagram Showing the Distributionof Respondents by the Factors Contributing to

their Empowerment

High Low

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Table No.11

Department Vs Level of Empowerment

Go


Chi-Square value with 1 degree of freedom : 1.939

With Yate’s correction. Insignificant at 0.05 level

The purpose of doing this cross tabulation is to find out which department has

high and low level of empowerment of the respondents.

The above table reflects the distribution of respondents by their department and

their level of empowerment.

It can be observed from the table that almost all (93 %) the respondents of the

Valve Assembly have high level of empowerment, which is even greater than the level of

empowerment which the respondents of the Tool Room department possess.

Further more, it can be seen that nearly one fourth (24 %)of the respondents from

the Tool Room department have low level of empowerment when compared to ValveAssembly department.

Department


Total

High Low

Tool Room 25(76)

8(24)

33(100)

Valve Assembly 25(93)

2(7)

27(100)

Total50

(83)10

(16)60

(100)

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Thus it can be inferred that level of empowerment found high among the

respondents of Valve Assembly when compared to Tool Room department.

Since the calculated value of the Chi-Square is less than the tabulated value, there

is no statistical significance between the Department of the respondents and their level of

empowerment.

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Table No.12Respondents by their Department Vs Factors of Empowerment

FactorsLevel of

Empowerment

DepartmentTotal

Tool Room Valve Assembly

Job Knowledge

High 25(76)

23(85)

48(80)

Low 8(24)

4(15)

12(20)

Total 33(100)

27(100)

60(100)


High 25(76)

24(89)

49(82)

Low 8(24)

3(11)

11(18)

Total33

(100)27

(100)60

(100)

SuggestionScheme

High 23(70)

23(85)

46(77)

Low 10(30)

4(15)

14(23)

Total33

(100)27

(100)60

(100)

Decision Making

High 22(67)

18(67)

40(67)

Low 11(33)

9(33) 20

(33)

Total33

(100)27

(100)60

(100)

Problem SolvingHigh 22

(67)24

(89)46

(77)

Low 11(33)

3(11)

14(23)

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Total33

(100)27

(100)60

(100)


Chi – Square value with 1 degree of freedom:

Department Vs Job Knowledge : 0.034

Department Vs Job Design & Job Enrichment : 0.946

Department Vs Suggestion Scheme : 1.220

Department Vs Decision Making : 0

Department Vs Problem Solving : 2.950


The main purpose of doing this cross tabulation between Department and factors

of empowerment is to identify the factor that contributes to the high and low level of

empowerment of the respondents in each department.

The above table shows the distribution of the respondents by their department and

factors of empowerment.

In the Tool Room department, high level of empowerment of the respondents is

equally (76 %)contributed to a large extent by both the factors Job Design & Job

Enrichment and Job Knowledge. Whereas high level of empowerment is moderately

(70%) contributed by the factor Suggestion Scheme while Decision Making and Problem

Solving contributes more(33 %) to the low level of empowerment of the respondents.

Similarly, in the Valve Assembly department, high level of empowerment of the

respondents is equally (89 %) contributed to a large extent by the factors Job Design &

Job Enrichment and Problem Solving. Whereas high level of empowerment is equally

(85%) contributed to a moderate extent by the factors Suggestion Scheme and Job

Knowledge while Decision Making contributes more (33 %) to the low level of

empowerment of the respondents.

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Thus it can be inferred that level of empowerment of the respondents found high

in the Valve Assembly department which is highly contributed by the factors Job design

and Job enrichment and Problem Solving when compared to Tool Room department.


is no statistical significance between the factors of empowerment (Job Knowledge, Job

design and Job enrichment, Suggestion Scheme, Decision Making and Problem Solving)

and the Department of the respondents.

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Table No.13

Designation Vs Level of Empowerment


The purpose of doing this cross tabulation is to find out the designation of the

respondents, which has high and low level of empowerment.

The above table shows the distribution of respondents by their designation and the

Level of empowerment.

It can be seen from the above table that most (83 %)of the respondents of both

Operator/Machinist and the Tool & Die-Maker/Technical Assistant cadre equally have

high level of empowerment.

Similarly, a little less than one fifth (17 %)of the respondents of both the

Operator/Machinist and the Tool & Die-Maker equally have low level of empowerment.

Designation


Total

High Low

Operator/Machinist 35(83)

7(17)

42(100)

Tool & Diemaker/Technical

Assistant

15(83)

3(17)

18(100)

Total 50

(83)

10

(17)

60

(100)

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Thus it can be inferred from the above table that level of empowerment found

high among both the Operator/Machinist and Tool & Die-Maker/Technical Assistant.

Go

G

Table No.14

Respondents by their Designation Vs Factors of Empowerment

Factors Level of Empowerment

Designation

TotalOperator/

Machinist

Tool & Die-maker/

Technical Asst.

Job KnowledgeHigh 34

(81)14

(78)48

(80)

Low 8(19)

4(22)

12(20)

Total 42(100)

18(100)

60(100)


High 34(81)

15(83)

49(82)

Low 8(19)

3(17)

11(18)

Total42

(100)18

(100)60

(100)

SuggestionScheme

High 33(79)

13(72)

46(77)

Low 9(21)

5(28)

14(23)

Total 42(100)

18(100)

60(100)

Decision Making

High 27(64)

13(72)

40(67)

Low 15(36)

5(28)

20(33)

Total 42(100)

18(100)

60(100)

Problem Solving High 32(76)

14(78)

46(77)

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Low 10(24)

4(22)

14(23)

Total42

(100)18

(100)60

(100)


Chi Square value with 1 degree of freedom :

Designation Vs Job Knowledge : 0.005

Designation Vs Job Design & Job Enrichment : 0.021

Designation Vs Suggestion Scheme : 0.284

Designation Vs Decision Making : 0.357

Designation Vs Problem Solving : 0.033


The main purpose of doing this cross tabulation between Designation and factors

of empowerment is to find out the factor that contributes to the high and low level of

empowerment of the respondents in each cadre.

The above table shows the distribution of the respondents by their designation and

factors of empowerment.

In the Operator/Machinist cadre, high level of empowerment of the respondents isequally contributed to a large extent (81%)by both the factors Job Design & Job

Enrichment and Job Knowledge. Whereas high level of empowerment is contributed to a

moderate extent by the factors Suggestion Scheme (79%) and Problem

Solving(76%)while Decision Making is the only factor which contributes more (36%) to

the low level of empowerment of the respondents.

Similarly, in the Tool & Die-Maker/Technical Assistant cadre, high level of empowerment of the respondents is contributed to a large extent (83%) by the factor Job

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Design & Job Enrichment. Whereas high level of empowerment is equally contributed to

a moderate extent (78 %) by the factors Problem Solving and Job Knowledge while

Decision Making and Suggestion Scheme equally contributes more (28%) to the low

level of empowerment of the respondents.

Thus it can be inferred that level of empowerment found high among both the

cadres Tool & Die-Maker/Technical Assistant and Operator/Machinist which is highly

contributed by the both the factors Job design and Job enrichment as well as Job

Knowledge.




and the Designation of the respondents.

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Table No.15

Age Vs Level of Empowerment




The main purpose of doing this cross tabulation between Age and Level of

empowerment of the respondents is to find out the age group of respondents, which has

high and low level of empowerment.

The above table depicts the distribution of respondents by their age and their level

of empowerment.

Age( in Years)


Total

High Low

Below 50 14(88)

2(13)

16(100)

Above 50 36(82)

8(18)

44(100)

Total 50(83)

10(17)

60(100)

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It can be observed from the table that nearly almost all (88 %)of the respondents

of below 50years of age have a high level of empowerment which is even more greater

than the level of empowerment which the respondents of above 50 years of age possess.

Further more, a little less than one fifth (18 %)of the respondents of above 50

years of age have a low level of empowerment when compared to the respondents of

below 50 years of age.


respondents of below 50 years of age.


is no statistical significance between the age of the respondents and their level of

empowerment.

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Table No.16

Respondents by their Age Vs Factors of Empowerment


Age (in Years)Total

Below 50 Above 50

Job Knowledge

High 14(88)

34(77)

48(80)

Low 2(12)

10(23)

12(20)

Total 16(100)

44(100)

60(100)


High 14(88)

35(80)

49(82)

Low 2(12)

9(20)

11(18)

Total 16(100)

44(100)

60(100)

Suggestion Scheme

High 13(81)

33(75)

46(77)

Low 3(19)

11(25)

14(23)

Total29

(100)44

(100)60

(100)Decision Making High 10

(63)30

(68)40

(67)

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Low 6(37)

14(32)

20(33)

Total 16(100)

44(100)

60(100)

Problem Solving

High 12(75)

34(77)

46(77)

Low 4(25)

10(23)

14(23)

Total 16(100)

44(100)

60(100)


Chi Square value with 1 degree of freedom:

Age Vs Job Knowledge : 0.260

Age Vs Job Design & Job Enrichment : 0.111

Age Vs Suggestion Scheme : 0.027

Age Vs Decision Making : 0.170

Age Vs Problem Solving : 0.026


The main purpose of doing this cross tabulation between Age and factors of

empowerment, is to find out the factor that contributes to the high and low level of

empowerment under each age group.

The above table shows the distribution of the respondents by their age and factors

of empowerment.

In the age group of below 50 years of the respondents, high level of

empowerment is equally contributed to a large extent (88 %) by both the factors Job

Knowledge and Job design and job enrichment. Whereas high level of empowerment is

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contributed to a moderate extent by the factors Suggestion Scheme (81 %) and Problem

Solving(75 %) while Decision Making is the only factor which contributes more (37 %)

to the low level of empowerment.

Similarly, in the age group of above 50years, high level of empowerment of the

respondents is contributed to a large extent by the factors Job design and Job enrichment

(80%), Job Knowledge(77%) and Problem Solving(77%). Whereas high level of

empowerment is contributed to a moderate extent by the factor Suggestion Scheme

(75%)

while Decision Making is the only factor that contributes more(32 %) to the low level of

empowerment.


respondents of below 50 years of age which is highly contributed by the factors Job

design and Job enrichment and Job Knowledge when compared to the respondents of

above 50 years of age.




and the age of the respondents.

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The main purpose of doing this cross tabulation between Educational

Qualification and Level of empowerment of the respondents is to find out the particular

qualification which has high and low level of empowerment among the respondents.

The above table depicts the distribution of respondents by their educational

qualification and their level of empowerment.

It can be observed from the table that most (86 %)of the respondents having

technical qualification have a high level of empowerment which is even more greater

than the level of empowerment which the respondents having non-technical qualification

possess.

Similarly a little less than one fifth (18 %)of the respondents having non-technical

qualification have a low level of empowerment when compared to the respondents

having technical qualification.


respondents having technical qualification.


is no statistical significance between the educational qualification of the respondents and

their level of empowerment.

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Table No.18

Respondents by their Educational Qualification Vs Factors of

Empowerment


Educational QualificationTotal

Non-Technical Technical


(76)

19

(86)

48

(80)

Low 9(24)

3(14)

12(20)

Total 38(100)

22(100)

60(100)


High 29(76)

20(91)

49(82)

Low 9(24)

2(9)

11(18)

Total 38(100)

22(100)

60(100)

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Suggestion Scheme

High 29(76)

17(77)

46(77)

Low 9(24)

5(23)

14(23)

Total 38(100)

22(100)

60(100)

Decision Making

High 23(60)

17(77)

40(67)

Low 15(40)

5(23)

20(33)

Total 38(100)

22(100)

60(100)

Problem Solving

High 28(74)

18(82)

46(77)

Low 10(26)

4(18)

14(23)

Total38

(100)22

(100)60

(100)


Chi Square value with 1 d.f. :

Educational Qualification Vs Job Design : 0.036

Educational Qualification Vs Job Design & Job Enrichment : 1.122

Educational Qualification Vs Suggestion Scheme : 0.007

Educational Qualification Vs Decision Making : 1.758

Educational Qualification Vs Problem Solving : 0.159


The main purpose of doing this cross tabulation between Educational

Qualification and factors of empowerment, is to find out the factor that contributes to the

high and low level of empowerment of the respondents having any particular qualification.

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The above table shows the distribution of the respondents by their educational

qualification and factors of empowerment.

Among the respondents having non-technical qualification, high level of

empowerment is equally contributed to a large extent (76 %) by the factors Job

Knowledge, Job design and job enrichment and Suggestion Scheme. Whereas high level

of empowerment is equally contributed to a moderate extent by the factor Problem

Solving (74 %) while Decision Making is the only factor, which contributes more (40 %)

to the low level of empowerment of the respondents.

Similarly, among the respondents having technical qualification, high level of

empowerment of the respondents is contributed to a large extent by the factors Job design

and Job enrichment(91 %), Job Knowledge(86 %). Whereas high level of empowerment

is contributed to a moderate extent by the factor Problem Solving (82 %) while Decision

Making and Suggestion Scheme are the factors that equally contributes more(23 %) to

the low level of empowerment.


respondents having technical qualification which is highly contributed by the factors Job

design and Job enrichment and Job Knowledge when compared to the respondents

having non-technical qualification.




and the educational qualification of the respondents.

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Table No.19

Work Experience Vs Level of Empowerment

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With Yate’s correction Insignificant at 0.05 level

The main purpose of doing this cross tabulation between the work experience and

Level of empowerment of the respondents is to find out the particular work experience

which has high and low level of empowerment among the respondents.

The above table reflects the distribution of respondents by their work experience

and their level of empowerment.

It can be observed from the table that most (84 %) of the respondents having

above 30 years of work experience have a high level of empowerment which is even

more greater than the level of empowerment which the respondents having below 30

years of work experience possess.

Similarly a little less than one fifth (18 %) of the respondents having below 30

years of work experience have a low level of empowerment when compared to the

respondents having above 30 years of work experience.

Thus it can be inferred that level of empowerment found high among therespondents having above 30 years of work experience.

Work Experience(in Years)

Level of empowerment

Total

High Low

Below 30 18(82)

4(18)

22(100)

Above 30 32(84)

6(16)

38(100)

Total 50(83)

10(17)

60(100)

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is no statistical significance between the work experience of the respondents and their

level of empowerment.

Go

Go

Go

Table No.20

Respondents by their Work Experience Vs Factors of Empowerment


Work Experience ( in Years) Total

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Below 30 Above 30


(95)27

(71)48

(80)

Low 1(5) 11(29) 12(20)

Total 22(100)

38(100)

60(100)


High 18(82)

31(82)

49(82)

Low 4(18)

7(18)

11(18)

Total22

(100)38

(100)60

(100)

SuggestionScheme

High 15(68)

31(82)

46(77)

Low 7(32)

7(18)

14(23)

Total 22(100)

38(100)

60(100)

DecisionMaking

High 15(68)

25(66)

40(67)

Low7

(32)13

(34)20

(33)

Total 37(100)

38(100)

60(100)

Problem Solving

High 17(77)

29(77)

46(77)

Low 5(23)

9(24)

14(23)

Total 22(100)

38(100)

60(100)



Work Experience Vs Job Knowledge : 3.770

Work Experience Vs Job Design & Job Enrichment : 0.106

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and the work experience of the respondents.

Table No.21

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Monthly Income Vs Level of Empowerment




The main purpose of doing this cross tabulation between the monthly income and

Level of empowerment of the respondents is to find out the particular range of monthly

income of the respondents which has high and low level of empowerment among them.

The above table shows the distribution of respondents by their monthly income

and their level of empowerment.

It can be observed from the table that most (86 %)of the respondents drawing

above Rs.10,000 as their monthly income have a high level of empowerment which iseven more greater than the level of empowerment of the respondents drawing below

Rs.10,000 as their monthly income.

Similarly one third (33 %) of the respondents drawing below Rs.10,000 as their

monthly income have a low level of empowerment when compared to the respondents

drawing above Rs.10,000 as their monthly income.

Monthly Income(in Rs.)


TotalHigh Low

Below 10,000 6(67)

3(33)

9(100)

Above 10,000 44(86)

7(14)

51(100)

Total50

(83)10

(17)60

(100)

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Thus level of empowerment found high among the respondents drawing above

Rs.10,000 as their monthly income.


is no statistical significance between the monthly income of the respondents and their

level of empowerment.

GoGoGo

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Table No.22

Respondents by their Monthly Income Vs Factors of Empowerment


Monthly Income ( in Rs.)Total

Below 10,000 Above 10,000

Job KnowledgeHigh 7

(78)41

(80)48

(80)

Low 2(22)

10(20)

12(20)

Total 9(100)

51(100)

60(100)


High 6(67)

43(84)

49(82)

Low 3(33)

8(16)

11(18)

Total 9(100)

51(100)

60(100)

SuggestionScheme

High 5(56)

41(80)

46(77)

Low 4(44)

10(20)

14(23)

Total 9(100)

51(100)

60(100)

Decision Making

High 5(56)

35(69)

40(67)

Low 4

(44)

16

(31)

20

(33)

Total 9(100)

51(100)

60(100)

Problem Solving

High 4(44)

42(82)

46(77)

Low 5(56)

9(18)

14(23)

Total 9(100)

51(100)

60(100)


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Monthly Income Vs Job Knowledge : 0.074

Monthly Income Vs Job Design & Job Enrichment : 0.063

Monthly Income Vs Suggestion Scheme : 1.432

Monthly Income Vs Decision Making : 0.147


Monthly Income Vs Problem Solving : 4.208

With Yate’s correction. Significant at 0.05 level

The main purpose of doing this cross tabulation between monthly income of the

respondents and factors of empowerment, is to find out the factor that contributes to the

high and low level of empowerment of the respondents drawing any particular income

per month.

The above table shows the distribution of the respondents by their monthly

income and factors of empowerment.

Among the respondents drawing below Rs.10,000 as their monthly income, high

level of empowerment is contributed to a large extent by the factor Job Knowledge(78

%). Whereas high level of empowerment is contributed to a moderate extent by thefactors Job design and Job enrichment(67 %) , Suggestion Scheme(44 %) and Decision

Making (44 %)while Problem Solving is the only factors which contributes more (56 %)

to the low level of empowerment of the respondents.

Similarly, among the respondents drawing above Rs.10,000 as their monthly

income, high level of empowerment is equally to a large extent by the factors Job design

and Job enrichment(84 %)and Problem Solving(82 %). Whereas high level of

empowerment is equally contributed to a moderate extent (80 %) by the factors Job

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Knowledge and Suggestion Scheme while Decision Making is the only factor that

contributes more(31 %) to the low level of empowerment.


respondents drawing above Rs.10,000 as their monthly income which is highly

contributed by the factors Problem solving, Job design and Job enrichment when

compared to the respondents drawing below Rs.10,000 as their monthly income.



design and Job enrichment, Suggestion Scheme and Decision Making ) and the monthly

income of the respondents. Whereas the calculated value of the Chi-Square is greater

than the tabulated value, there is statistical significance between the factor (Problem

Solving) and the monthly income of the respondents.

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Quality of work life of the Respondents:

Quality of work life refers to the favorableness or unfavourableness of a job

environment for people. It also means that “the degree to which members of a work

organization are able to satisfy important personal needs through their experience in the

organization.” In the field of study, the researcher has considered various components

like job satisfaction and managing their work stress and maintaining their positive

relationship with others.

Table No.23

Quality of Work Life of Respondents

The distribution of respondents by their Quality of work life has been depicted in

the above table.

It can be observed that three fourth (75 %) of the respondents are of the opinion

that quality of work life is very high while one fourth (25 %)of the respondents quality

of work life is low.

Quality of Work Life No. of Respondents Per cent

High 45 75

Low 15 25

Total 60 100

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Thus it can be inferred that the quality of work life of most of the respondents in

the field of study is high.

Table No.24

Level of Empowerment Vs Quality of Work Life


Chi- Square value with 1 degree of freedom : 24.99

With Yate’s Correction Significant at 0.05 level

The main purpose of doing this cross tabulation between Quality of work life of

the respondents and their level of empowerment, is to find out whether the empowerment

level of the respondents have any impact on their quality of work life.

The above table shows the distribution of the respondents by their level of

empowerment and quality of work life.


Quality of work Life

Total

High Low

High 44(88)

6(12)

50(100)

Low 1(10)

9(90)

10(100)

Total 45(75)

15(25)

60(100)

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It can be observed from the table that nearly almost all (88 %) the respondents

who are having high level of empowerment has their quality of work life as high which

is even more greater than the respondents having low level of empowerment.

Similarly, almost all(90 %) the respondents who have low level of empowerment

has their quality of work life as low when compared to the respondents having high level

of empowerment.

Thus it can be inferred that the level of empowerment and the quality of work life

of most of the respondents in the field of study is high.

Since the calculated value of the Chi-Square is greater than the tabulated value,

there is statistical significance between the level of empowerment of the respondents and

their quality of work life. Therefore the level of empowerment of the respondents have an

impact on their quality of work life.

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88

12 10

90

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Q u a l i t y

o f W o r k

L i

High Low


Column Bar Diagram Showing the Distribution of Respondentsby their Level of Empowerment and their Quality of Work Life

Quality of Work Life High Quality of Work Life Low

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Chapter 4

Findings, Suggestions & Conclusions

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FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

1. Personal Profile:

Majority of the respondents in the field of study are Tool Room

employees and majority of them have more than 30 years of work

experience and most of them are in the verge of retirement and they draw

above Rs.10000 as their monthly income.

The Operator cadre is dominant than the other cadres in the field of

study and all the respondents are male and almost all of them are married

while majority of them have more than 5 members in their family.

A vast majority of the respondents are above 50 years of age in the

field of study and all the respondents are literate while majority of themhave non-technical qualification.

2. Overall Level of Empowerment and Its Factors:

The level of empowerment of the respondents found to be high through the

factors Job knowledge, Job design and Job enrichment while low level of

empowerment of the respondents is through the factor decision-making inthe field of study.

2.1 Department and Level of empowerment:

Level of empowerment of the respondents is found to be high in the Valve

Assembly department which is highly contributed by the factors Job

design, Job enrichment and Problem solving.

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2.2 Designation and Level of Empowerment:

Level of empowerment of the respondents is found to be high among both

the cadres Tool & Die-maker/Technical Assistant and Operator/Machinist

which is highly contributed by the factors Job Knowledge, Job design and

Job enrichment.

2.3 Age and Level of Empowerment:

Level of empowerment is found to be high among the respondents of

below 50 years of age which is highly contributed by the factors Job

knowledge, Job design and Job enrichment.

2.4 Educational Qualification and Level of Empowerment:

Level of empowerment is found to be high among the respondents havingtechnical qualification which is highly contributed by the factors Job

knowledge, Job design and Job enrichment.

2.5 Work Experience and Level of Empowerment:

Level of empowerment is found to be high among the respondents who are

having above 30 years of work experience which is highly contributed bythe factors Suggestion scheme, Job design and Job enrichment.

2.6 Monthly Income and Level of Empowerment:

Level of empowerment is found to be high among the respondents who are

drawing above Rs.10,000 as their monthly income which is highly

contributed by the factors Problem solving, Job design and Job

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enrichment. There is a statistical significance between the Problem

Solving factor and the monthly income of the respondents.

3. QUALITY OF WORK LIFE:

The quality of work life of the respondents in the field of study is very

high.

3.1 Level of Empowerment And Its Impact on Quality of Work Life:

The level of empowerment and the quality of work life of most of the

respondents in the field of study is high.

There is a statistical significance between the level of empowerment of the

respondents and their quality of work life.

SUGGESTIONS:

In the current scenario, Organisation has various employee empowerment

programmes like involving the employees in taking part in management activities like

Decision Making, Problem Solving, Suggestion Scheme and various training

programmes for the benefit of the employees. Based on this, various suggestions has

been given by the researcher in this study.

The empowerment of employees can be made more effective

by the following ways.

Designing jobs in such a way that they encompass some aspects

like skill variety, autonomy, feedback etc. This will make the job more

interesting for the job holder.

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Helping employees to achieve mastery over the job by

providing proper training, coaching and counseling.

Allowing more control by giving employees discretion in performing the job and making them accountable for results.

Providing successful role models by allowing employees to

observe their peers who have already performed successfully on the job.

Using social reinforcement and persuasion by giving praise,

encouragement and feedback meant to raise self-confidence.

Giving emotional support by reducing stress and anxiety

through clear role definition, task assistance and showing care.

CONCLUSION:

Every organization needs to have empowered people to perform the activities

that have to be done. There exists a favorable opinion in the field of study with regard

to the existence of empowerment programme is concerned. The survey has

highlighted very much positive points about empowerment as a major development

process. Employees in the field of study are very much satisfied with their job and

they receive reward and recognition for their performance. Employees best

suggestions have been rewarded and also processed in time. Their participation indecision making process is also high and they are satisfied with the decisions taken in

their work related issues. Their superiors also encourages and motivates them to solve

their problems related to work. Problems faced by the employees in the work place

are considered as an opportunity to learn.

The researcher throughout the method of observation has come to the

conclusion that level of empowerment of the respondents in the field of study is high

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through the factors like Job Knowledge, Job Design and Job Enrichment and it also

have a high positive impact on their quality of work life.

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Bibliography

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Bibliography

Books:

1. C.B.Mamoria Personnel Management

(1988) Himalaya Publishing House,Bombay.

2. Cook, Hunsaker, Coffey Management and Organizational Behaviour.

(1997) Irwin McGraw-Hill; Newyork

3. P. Subba Rao, V.S.P.Rao Personnel/Human Resource Management

(1993) Konark Publishers Pvt Ltd; New Delhi.

4. Stephen P. Robbins Organizational Behaviour

(1996) Prentice Hall of India Pvt Ltd.; New Delhi

5. K.K.Ahuja Managerial Excellence

(1999) Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi.

6. G.Chandran Pillai The Hindu Speaks on Management

(1996) Kasturi & Sons Ltd., Chennai.

Journals:

1. Jay Nathan Empowerment as a Workplace Strategy in Small

Business.

(1993) Review of Business, Volume 15.

2. Dr.D.B.R.N.K.Banerjee Employee Empowerment: A means of

Efficiency and Productivity.

(October – December 2003) Personnel Today, pp 31-36

3. PVL Raju Empowering Ordinary People for Extraordinary

Results.

(February 2005) HRM Review, pp 11-13.

4. Daniel Ashish, Abhinaya C Creating the Empowered.

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Bibliography

(February 2005) HRM Review, pp 14 -16.

5. Sireesha Mamidenna Employee Empowerment – The Pros and Cons.


6. GRK Murty Empowerment of Employees – A Myth?


7. Radha Mohan Chebolu Employee Empowerment – A Workplace

Strategy for Motivation.


8. Anuradha Patra Employee Empowerment and Cultural

Dimensions

February 2005 HRM Review, pp 34-38.

Websites:

1. www.humanresources.about.com

2. www.leadersdirect.com

3. www.hrvillage.com

4. www.hrgopher.com

http://www.humanresources.about.com/

http://www.leadersdirect.com/

http://www.hrvillage.com/

http://www.humanresources.about.com/

http://www.leadersdirect.com/

http://www.hrvillage.com/

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Bibliography

Appendix

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Bibliography

QUESTIONNAIRE

A STUDY ON THE EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT

AT

BRAKES INDIA LTD.

Personal Profile:

1. Department :

2. Designation :

3. Sex :

4. Age :

5. Marital Status :

6. Educational Qualification :

7. Experience :

8. Income :

9. Number of membersin the family :

I. Strategies and factors that contribute to the empowerment of workers in the organization:

1) I have thorough knowledge about the machines used by me

a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree

2) I have thorough knowledge about the raw materials used in my department


3) I have thorough knowledge about the product produced in my department


4) I have clearly understood the expectations of my internal customers


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Bibliography

5) Iam aware of the external customers and their need of my product


6) The jobs that I do increases my interest in doing that


7) The jobs that I do are not routine


8) The job that I do increases my responsibility


9) The jobs that I do gives me self-fulfillment


10) I receive the reward & recognition for the jobs that I do


11) Iam aware of the suggestion scheme practiced in my organization


12) I have contributed my suggestions to the suggestion scheme


13) My supervisor encourages me to contribute my suggestions


14) My suggestions contributed to the suggestion scheme have been rewarded


15) My suggestions has been processed in time


16) I involve myself in taking the decisions related to my work


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Bibliography

17) My organisation provides sufficient opportunities to make the decisions regardingmy work-related issues.


18) I play the role of initiator and participator in the decision-making process.


19) My supervisor encourages me in taking decisions regarding my work related

issues.


20) Iam satisfied with the decisions taken by me in the work related issues


21) Problem faced in my work place is an opportunity to learn


22) I feel tensed whenever I face a problem in the work place


23) I feel a sense of achievement after resolving any problem


24) I feel satisfied about the problem solving technique used by me


25) My supervisor encourages me in solving my work related problems


II. Quality of work life:

26) I feel proud about working in this organization


27) Iam able to accept work style differences in others

a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree28) Iam very much satisfied with my job

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29) Iam satisfied with the recognition that I receive for my job performance


30) Iam able to achieve a balance between my professional and personal life


31) I work effectively in my team


32) I have trust in my co-workers ability in order to work as team


33) I have a sense of positive working relationship with my co-workers


34) Iam able to manage my work stress.


35) I have cordial relationship with my superiors


Documents

Nithya 2005