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Summer Internship Project Report

On

‘Employee Empowerment’

Conducted At

L&T Kansbahal Works

Submitted By: Project Guide:

Vikrant Bhaskar, Mr. Amit Parashar,

Human Resource Management (2014-2016), Manager-HR,

Xavier Institute of Social Service, L&T Kansbahal Works,

Ranchi Sundargarh

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me utmost pleasure to present here my summer internship project report on

the topic ‘Employee Empowerment’, done in the premises of L&T Kansbahal Works.

Completing this project in it’s current shape was never an easy task. It was always a

challenging and daunting job to do. But, there were some people who made this work

easier, by supporting and encouraging me throughout this report. I would like to thank

all of them for their continuous effort that they had put in for me.

At first, I would like to thank my college people, Mr. SR Shauq and Mr. Sajeet Lakra who toiled hard so that I could land with this opportunity to work with an organization like L&T. Then, I would like to thank Mr. Shyamal Gomes who provided me with enough information before I left the college for my internship.

Now, I would like to thank people at L&T Kansbahal Works, who were actually there

with me throughout this project work. I would thank Mr. Ratikanta Dash for making my

task easier by giving enough briefing classes before I started my work on the topic.

Then, I would like thank Mr. Amit Parashar who is also an alumni from my college, for

being my project guide here at L&T Kansbahal Works. Last, but not the least I would

like to thank Mr. Debashis Raj and Ms. Deepika Dash for providing me a home like

atmosphere and helping me out in each and every, small and large problems.

I would once again thank each person as this report would have never been a success

without their slightest effort.

Thanking You,

Vikrant Bhaskar,

Department of Human Resource Management,

Xavier Institute of Social Service,

Ranchi

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DECALARATION

This project report presented here is totally a unique work done by me and is NOT a copy of any other project work, report, documentation, etc. produced before by any other person. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without my prior permission, except for personal and non-commercial use. The rights of this work is completely vested with me. Any act of copying, deforming, editing and any unauthorized use of this work, apart from personal and non-commercial use, is illegal and will be considered as a criminal offence.

Copyright 2015.

All Rights Reserved.

Vikrant Bhaskar,

Department of Human Resource Management,

Xavier Institute of Social Service,

Ranchi.

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CERTIFICATE

This project report is a unique copy produced by the student and is not an image of any other produced project report made previously. This project report was compiled as a summer internship project report of the student, during his stay at L&T Kansbahal Works for a period of six weeks. This project report is purely made for the student’s academic purpose.

Signature of the student Signature of the guide

(Vikrant Bhaskar) (Mr. Amit Parashar)

June, 2015 Signature of the HOD

(Mr. Ratikanta Dash)

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CONTENTS

Organization Profile………………………………06

Abstract……………………………………………..23

Introduction to the Topic………………………...24

Review of Literature……………………………....26

Why Employee Empowerment at L&T Kansbahal Works………………………………………………..36

Research Methodology…………………………..37

Data Analysis and Results……………………....42

Findings and Suggestions……………………....49

Summary……………………………………………51

Conclusion…………………………………………57

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ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE

Larsen & Toubro Limited

Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T), India’s largest engineering, technology and construction company. L&T is a USD 9.8 billion company with global operation. It is one of the largest and most respected companies in India’s private sector. The company was founded in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1938 by two Danish engineers, Henning Holck-Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro - both of whom were strongly committed to developing India’s engineering talent and enabling it to meet the demands of industry. Today, the company sets engineering benchmarks in terms of scale and complexity. The core competencies of the company are: -

Engineering & Construction – Projects Heavy Engineering Construction Electrical & Electronics Equipments Information Technology Machinery & Industrial Products Corporate Social Responsibility

At present Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) employing 26,000 people across its 130 offices & 30 factories all over the world. Its major manufacturing units are located at Mumbai, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Kansbahal, Delhi, Kolkata and many places of India.

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History

The evolution of L&T into the country's largest engineering and construction organization is among the most remarkable success stories in Indian industry.

L&T was founded in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1938 by two Danish engineers, Henning Holck-Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro. Both of them were strongly committed to developing India's engineering capabilities to meet the demands of industry.

Larsen Toubro

Beginning with the import of machinery from Europe, L&T rapidly took on engineering and construction assignments of increasing sophistication. Today, the company sets global engineering benchmarks in terms of scale and complexity.

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Early Days

Henning Holck-Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro, school-mates in Denmark, would not have dreamt, as they were learning about India in history classes that they would, one day, create history in that land.

In 1938, the two friends decided to forgo the comforts of working in Europe, and started their own operation in India. All they had was a dream. And the courage to dare.

Their first office in Mumbai (Bombay) was so small that only one of the partners could use the office at a time!

In the early years, they represented Danish manufacturers of dairy equipment for a modest retainer. But with the start of the Second World War in 1939, imports were restricted, compelling them to start a small work-shop to undertake jobs and provide service facilities.

Germany's invasion of Denmark in 1940 stopped supplies of Danish products. This crisis forced the partners to stand on their own feet and innovate. They started manufacturing dairy equipment indigenously. These products proved to be a success, and L&T came to be recognised as a reliable fabricator with high standards.

The war-time need to repair and refit ships offered L&T an opportunity, and led to the formation of a new company, Hilda Ltd., to handle these operations. L&T also started two repair and fabrication shops - the Company had begun to expand.

Again, the sudden internment of German engineers (because of the War) who were to put up a soda ash plant for the Tatas, gave L&T a chance to enter the field of installation - an area where their capability became well respected.

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Overview

Larsen & Toubro Limited - an engineering, technology and construction major - is among the largest and most reputed companies in India's private sector. Its reputation is based on a strong customer orientation, the technological sophistication that characterizes its products & projects, and an impressive record of achievements across six decades.

Kansbahal Works, a unit under the Machinery & Industrial Products Division of L&T, is a world class Integrated Machine Building Centre with facilities for Casting, Fabrication, Machining and Assembly, complimented by excellent design, engineering, quality control and logistics support.

Set up in 1962 as an Indo-German Venture, it merged with L&T in 1982. The business portfolio includes Crushing and Screening systems, Pulp & Paper machinery, Wind mill components, Cast products and various other industrial products.

The commitment to quality and customer satisfaction are the driving forces for all its activities. The concern for environment is an integral part of the company's vision.

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In Orissa eastern part of India - 25 km from Rourkela

Well connected by road & rail

International airport - 430 km

Nearest port - 430 km

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Larsen & Toubro Vision

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Larsen & Toubro Mission

Mission 2020:

To become a dominant global player in Crushing and Screening Equipment and Wind mill castings with:

Profitable presence in all major world markets

Globally bench marked products and technology

A place among the top 3 terms of market share

Company Policy (Business, Safety, and Environment)

The company Integrated Management System Policy is given below:

We shall design, manufacture and supply industrial machinery and their components/spare that meet or exceed customer requirements.

We shall strive to perform task free of defects on time, every time and enhance

customer satisfaction through service before and after sales.

We shall confirm to the applicable OH&S legislation and create working conditions that prevent the risk of accidents, incidents, injure and ill-health.

We shall abide by the regulation for environmental protection, conserve

natural resource and reduce pollution due to our operations.

We shall above all strive for continual improvement in all our endeavors.

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Larsen & Toubro Kansbahal Works

L&T’s Kansbahal Works is located near Rourkela (Orissa) and is the state’s largest heavy engineering unit in the private sector. It is a world-class Integrated Machine Building Centre with facilities for Casting, Fabrication, Machining and Assembly, complemented by excellent design, engineering, quality control and logistics support. Set up in 1962 as an Indo-German Venture, it merged with L&T in 1982. The facility produces Crushing and Screening systems, Pulp & Paper machinery, Windmill components, Cast products, Mining equipment and various other specialized industrial products. The Kansbahal Works R&D wing is equipped to carry out process engineering, mechanical design / analysis, 3D modeling, Finite Element Analysis, and basic and detailed engineering. L&T's Kansbahal Works (which started as an Indo-German venture in 1960), has evolved into a world-class integrated manufacturing centre with facilities for fabrication, machining, assembly, casting foundry and under carriage works. The works is an ISO certified unit accredited with ISO: 9001-2008, ISO: 14001-2004 & OHSAS 18001-2007 certifications by DNV. It manufactures wide spectrum of critical industrial products for core sectors such as cement, steel, paper, power, mineral, and railways. L&T's Engineering Workshop (LTEW) at Kancheepuram (Tamil Nadu) is an ISO 9001-2008 certified Workshop that undertakes fabrication and supply of plant and equipment including sophisticated as well as custom designed equipment components for core industries like steel, power, refinery, etc. The workshop has been accredited with ASME U2 stamping for fabricating high pressure vessels.

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Foundry Business Unit

L&T’s only foundry facility is located at Kansbahal and is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art facilities to manufacture quality castings in steel, alloy iron, cast iron, with intricate geometries and large tonnages. It have complete in-house facilities like technology centre, pattern shop, machine moulding, heat treatment facilities, melting furnaces and complete QA tools. The plant capacity and range of products are: - Casting Capacity:

Hand Moulding: - 3000 T Cylinder Moulding: - 500 T Machine Moulding: - 500 T

Casting Range – Few Kilos to 22 tons in single piece:

Steel: - 12 T Alloy Iron: - 15 T SG / Cast Iron: - 22 T

Cast Products:

Wear Resistant Grinding Elements Impact Resistant Manganese Steel Castings Low Alloy High Strength Steel Castings Spheroidal Graphite and Grey Iron Castings General Purpose Carbon and Alloy Steel Castings

Quality Accreditation:

ISO – 2001, 1400, OSHAS: 1800 certified by DNV TUV for pressure tested castings CBB (Central Boiler Board) as “Well known Foundry”

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Melting Shop

Continuous Sand Mixer

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At foundry, L&T Kansbahal manufactures a large range of components for Wind Mills. It specializes in manufacturing ready-to-fit components for Wind Turbine Generators in SG iron. Some of the castings, which are used in windmills & manufactured by it, are given below:

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Fabrication Shop

L&T – Kansbahal works fabrication shop is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art facilities to manufacture fabricated job up to 100 tons capacity. It covers 9760 sq.mtr of floor area and maximum gantry height is 16 meter. The major fabrication jobs carried-out are surface minor, TLC, Crushers, and Impactors. The manufacturing facilities of fabrication shop are:

Description Capacity

CNC Profile Cutting Machine

X-5.26 M, Y-25 m & Max. Thk - 300mm

Pug Portable Cutting Machine

Max. thickness – 50 mm (MS)

Plasma Cutting Machine

Max. thickness – 60 mm (SS)

Shearing Machine 10 mm x 2100 mm Max.

Rolling / Bending Machine

100 mm x 700 mm Max. & ID = 3000 mm

Folding Machine 4 mm x 2500 mm Max

Hydraulic Press 500 T / 300 T

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Surface Minor is in operation at coal mines

Machine Shop

Machine Shop is equipped with a wide range of machines for Turning (upto 3.5 m dia x 10 m long) , Boring (10 m x 5 m x 2.2 m with 65 T table capacity), Cylinder Grinding (2.5 m dia x 10 m long) and Planning (2 m x 1.6 m x 6 m) of complex welded structures/ castings / forging.

Machine Capacity

Horizontal Floor Borer (CNC & Conventional type)

Sp. dia 203 mm, X -10 m, Y -5 m, Z -2.2 m, Job wt:100 T

Horizontal Table Borer (CNC & Conventional type)

Sp. dia 130 mm, job wt.:10 T

Vertical Lathes Table dia:1.2 m - 4.77 m, job wt.:4 T-100 T

Facing Lathes Dia.: 3 m, Length: 10 m

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Grinding Machines Double column Plano milling m/c's.

CNC Lathes Turning dia. 550 / 600 mm X length 3 m

CNC Turning Centers Swing over carriage : 925 mm

Milling/Drilling/Slotting Machines

Stroke : 1000

Consumers

The consumers for its products are mining and paper manufacturing units and steel manufacturing industries, wind turbine manufacture units.

Style of Management

L&T is a private sector company. Management attitude is very fair and normal towards its employees. All types of general matters or problems are always discussed or settled amicably. Regarding individual issues management settles problems. In case of major issues the management used to discuss with representatives of all three unions.

In L&T the style of management is democratic leadership or participative leadership because subordinates fell completely free to discuss things about the job with their superior.

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Human Resource Development at Larsen & Toubro Limited

Larsen and Toubro Limited is probably the first organization in India to introduce an integrated HRD system and to set a separate Human Resources Development Department, headed by a senior executive to implement the system. The whole exercise of looking into the Human Resources system was mainly due to the culture of Excellence, introspection and openness in the company. Constructive criticism and periodical reviews are common to ensure maximum mileage from a system or an operation.

Explanation:

The P&IR Department of L&T Kansbahal Works is a very important part of the company. The personnel department is headed by Senior Deputy General Manager who looks after all the working of the department. Under him there is an Assistant Manager P&IR, who looks after the work of personnel officers and Senior Deputy Supervisors those who looks after activities like TQM, Welfare, Canteen and many more. Under these there are two Junior Supervisors who looks after works like giving leave, wage & salary, administration respectively. Each executive in P&IR Department have their role clarity and perform their respective tasks everyday to achieve the objectives of the organizations.

Personnel Policies & Benefits:

Recruitment Policy The prime consideration for recruitment shall continue to be based on efficiency, qualification and suitability for the job. Before recruitment from outside is considered, possibility of promotion from the existing cadres will be explored. Other factors being equal, preference will be given to existing workmen.

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Core Development Programs Core development programs are organized for employees in various cadres to groom them for shouldering their responsibilities effectively. Supervisory Development Program (SDP) for Supervisory cadre

employees.

Executive Development Program (EDP) for the Executive cadre employees. This provides basic Managerial knowledge in subjects like Marketing, Finance, Human Resources and Operations.

Management Development Program (MDP) for the Middle Management cadre employees.

Senior Management Development Program (SMP) for the Senior Management cadre employees.

Top Management Program (TMP) for the Top Management cadre

employees.

Management Development Centre L&T has a management development centre at Lonavala (in between Mumbai & Pune) a state of the art training facility. The MDC is constructed in a prime location spread over 20 acres of land. All the management development programmes for the middle to top management are organized at MDC. In addition to this there are many Training Centers, Technical Training Workshops and Libraries available at various locations across the company.

Leadership Programs These programs are aimed at identifying future leaders in the organization. These programs are in various categories and cater to the different requirements of the organization. The nominees go through an assessment center and the successful candidates are chosen to be groomed for taking higher responsibilities in the future. The categories are:

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Supervisory Leadership Program (SLP) - This program is to identify for budding the leaders in the supervisory cadre. Execution Leadership Program (ELP) - This program is meant for identifying and budding leaders in the Executive Cadre as well as in Middle Management Cadre employees. Management Leadership Program (MLP) - This program is meant for identifying & budding leaders in the Senior Management cadres. Technology Leadership Programs (TLP) - This program is for identifying & budding the top talent in the various technology areas to gain technology edge for the future.

Human Resource Development:

HRD is the process of helping people to acquire competencies. HRD is mainly concerned with developing the skill, knowledge, attitude and competencies of people & it is people oriented concept. In an organizational context, HRD is a process by which the employees of an organization are helped in a continuous and planned way to:

Acquire capabilities required to perform various functions associated with their present and future roles.

Develop their general capabilities as individuals and discover and exploit their own inner potentials for their own and organizational development purposes.

Develop an organizational culture in which superior-subordinate

relationship, team work & collaboration among sub-units are strong.

HRD process is facilitated by mechanisms like performance appraisal, training, organizational development, feedback & counseling, career development, potential development, job rotation & rewards.

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ABSTRACT

It is becoming increasingly clear that the engine for organizational development is not analysts, but managers and people who do the work. Without altering human knowledge, skills, and behavior, change in technology, processes, and structures is unlikely to yield long-term benefits. Managing business productivity has essentially become synonymous with managing change effectively. To manage change, companies must not only determine what to do and how to do it, they also need to be concerned with how employees will react to it.

In this respect, the role of Human Resource Management [HRM] is moving from the traditional command and control approach to a more strategic one, and studies have highlighted “employee empowerment” as one of its critical success elements.

This research attempts to identify the relation between the empowerment level of Employee and organizational factors. To gauge the power of employees, it employs psychological empowerment model which is multi-dimensional, covering facets such as competence, self-determination, meaningfulness, impact, and trust. Moreover, other organizational factors can be referred to as having clear goals, reward system, availability of resources, organizational structure, performance evaluation and professional development.

This paper presented here is a survey done on L&T Kansbahal Works employees that tests the viability of the topic “Employee Empowerment” at this particular organization. This research survey presented here verifies the findings and tries to obtain the most appropriate results. After compiling and verifying the obtained results, this survey report manages to draw a definite conclusion. The report along with the obtained results, tries to offer certain suggestions and recommendations to L&T Kansbahal Works, purely based on the Employee Empowerment research survey done on their own employees.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

Employee Empowerment as some people say is the most major step towards greater workplace democracy. Democracy as we all understand is a term used for anybody where power is mainly vested with the people. Hence, workplace democracy directly coincides with the fact that it talks about the organizations where power or, the flow of command control mainly resides with the employees working there. In other words, workplace democracy thrusts on the point that employees enjoy maximum freedom in such an organization.

The new world of work is introducing flexible working hours, knowledge workers, working from home, etc. While these patterns emerge, organisations must change the way they deal with their people to achieve maximum benefit. It is firmly believed that the success of an organization lies more in its intellectual and systems capabilities than in physical assets. Without altering human knowledge, skill, and behaviour, change in technology, processes, and structures is unlikely to yield long-term benefits. The “process” and “IT” aspects of any organization are continuously changing, subject to daily improvements, and easily replicated by competitors.

It is estimated that competitors secure detailed information on 70% of new products within one year of introduction, and that 60 to 70 % of all ‘process learning is eventually acquired by competitors. In fact, ‘human development’ is a viable alternative to ‘traditional’ organizational development as a strategy for bringing about dramatic performance improvements. Thus, it is suggested that the only source of competitive advantage is the organization’s people [committed, educated, and flexible]. In this respect, the role of Human Resource Management [HRM] is moving from the traditional command and control approach to a more strategic one, and studies of prominent authors and researchers have highlighted “employee empowerment” as one of its critical success.

Many few people know that Employee Empowerment is a key TQM (Total Quality Management) practice that managers count on to increase the success of TQM implementation. That is because TQM emphasizes on the culture of involving all employees in the process and contributing to the work performance development. Employee empowerment has been linked with the prominence of firm’s quality culture. Thus, from managerial cognizance perspective, empowering employee leads to achieve the best of TQM implementation. Utilizing and revealing the empowerment practices within the management process in organization provokes and necessitates the concept of total employee empowerment.

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Employee Empowerment is the first and the most important step towards such a freedom to be put into practice for the employees, and this term Employee Empowerment actually focuses on increasing productivity by empowering their employees by different methods. We can say that organizations aim at empowering their employees, not to lose control over them but they have a bigger and clearer picture about increasing productivity which they have in sight. In such cases organizations always look at long term goals rather than calculating short term results. There are two main dimensions in defining empowerment: psychological dimension and structural dimension. Psychological empowerment dimension definitions fall into intrinsic motivation that creates discretion and self-efficiency. The definitions that focused on structural dimension, on the other hand, explain empowerment as management action from perspective of organization’s policies and structure. Employee Empowerment facilitates the creation of an integrated quality environment, where superior products and services become practical. In order to increase effectiveness in the any industry, management must become active in empowering their employees. This is done by sharing information, creating autonomy, and establishing self-directed teams.

Empowerment that is transfer of power or, authority is always a risky task as it involves an immense bit of trust that the upper levels who are powerful, should have with lower levels who are powerless. Organizations support and practice employee empowerment to gain competitive advantage along with providing satisfaction for their staff members. This is the key to lead the markets in any field or, the structure of production. Empowerment implementation is always seen as having an edge over other firms where organizations can gain more than they can lose. There are some negative aspects, which we will be discussing as we go about this topic further.

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE

1. Empowerment The word '' empowerment'', popularized since 1980s, is employed to refer to a new form of employee involvement; it is derived from various approaches and fields of study such as psychology, economy, education, and social and organizational studies. The history of its first definition goes back to 1788, regarding empowerment as the conferment of power to organizational role of the individual. This power should be endowed to the individual or should be observed in his or her organizational role.

There are many definitions about empowerment; other theoreticians as Wetten and Cameron postulate that empowerment signifies we help individuals to improve their confidence to overcome their feelings of inability and insufficiency. In empowerment, individuals require not only power, but also enough training, credit and information in order that they can be responsible for the decisions they have made.

In a general categorization of empowerment, it can be hold that the researchers acknowledge that empowerment is delegation; what can be comprehended from their definitions is that managers is able to empower the Employee only if they give the organizational information to them, reconstruct the organizational structure, replace hierarchies with team work, and produce educational opportunities. On the other hand, some theorists presume that empowerment deals with creating motivation; and also considers empowerment as the process of increasing self-efficacy in individuals through identification and elimination of the conditions which have caused inability in the employee.

Regarding the precedence and antiquity, up to 1980, the first approach (mechanical) attracted the attention of the scientists of this field. However, after the studies of Thomas and Velthouse and the researches of Speritzer, the tendency changed towards psychological empowerment; and in less than 20 years there have been a considerable amount of scientific and academic studies in this area. On the one hand, this attention originates from the fact that mechanical empowerment studies have not achieved positive and pervasive results in various work environments and on the other hand until the individual is not ready and capable psychologically, promotion and physical capability of the employees will

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not be effective. Yet, it should be noted that none of the researches so far has proved which approach has priority over the other and essentially these two approaches are not separate from each other and their interdependence while performance is essential.

2. Dimensions Of Psychological Empowerment a. Meaningfulness

Meaningfulness indicates capable individuals appreciate career goals according to their personal ideals and standards; in their value system working is considered significant and they feel they are important when they participate in the activities of the organization.

b. Impact Accepting the personal result is a stage where the individual influences on the results and the strategic, official and operational consequences. Capable employees believes that they can have a significant role for the realization of the organizational goals by performing their career responsibilities; they can control the occupational results and consequences and they can have a positive impact on what occurs and can handle the limitations and barriers.

c. Competence When individuals become capable, they feel self-efficacy or they feel they are qualified and they have enough skill and proficiency to perform a successful work. Not only capable people feel they are qualified, but they feel they are confident and they are able to do their work competently. They feel personal excellence and assume that if they are going to encounter new challenges, they should learn and prosper. Some writers postulate this characteristic is the most important aspect of psychological empowerment for it is the feeling of self-efficacy which produces perseverance and endeavor to perform the difficult works.

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d. Self-Determination Capable employees feel responsibility and ownership towards their activities. They feel they have independence to perform their responsibilities; they can make decisions about their work and have enough authority regarding the manner, time and the speed of their performing the task. The examples in this area include making decision about the methods of performing the job or determining the amount of efforts necessary to perform the activities.

e. Trust It refers to the relationship between the superior and the inferior (the manager's trust to the employee and the reverse). Trust is associated with interest, competence, openness and belief in the others. Capable people feel confident and are assured that they will be treated fairly and honestly; this indicates they are certain that the operators of center powers or the authority figures will not harm them and will treat them impartially.

3. Organizational Conditions For The Employees’ Empowerment a. Clear Goals and Vision

Having clear and challenging goals is one of the underlying features of employees empowerment. The first factor in discussions of organizational factors which facilitate the empowerment of the individuals is having a clear and challenging outlook. Capable people feel they have comprehended the senior management perspective and strategies of the organization. On this account, they feel they have the required competence to perform the assigned responsibilities independently, without waiting for the orders and instructions of the senior management.

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b. Organizational Structure

Management experts and researchers believe that organizational structure is associated with the employees’ empowerment. Bureaucratic structures and authoritarian methods of management usually lead to nurturing dependency in the employees, rejection of their opinions, unskillful performance of the work, meaninglessness of the organizational goals, and inability in the employees. Conversely, in the empowered organizations, organizational structure is designed to enable the employees so that they achieve desirable results from their works and carry out what is necessary; not merely to discharge their obligations and receive bonuses for that particular act.

c. Performance Evaluation

The principle of ''if you do not evaluate anything, there will not be any improvement'' is true in every profession. The crucial purpose of performance evaluation is to help the individuals to do their work better, not to confer reward or punishment. The experts posit that competence-based performance evaluation is connected to the empowerment). In an empowered organization where the responsibilities are shared, the individuals should participate in the evaluation of the performance; that is, there should be a reciprocal evaluation between the employees and the managers.

d. Reward System

The final control, which is the most useful support in the process of empowerment, is granting rewards. Similar to rewards, determining the basic values and establishing the goals are the known methods to achieve desirable results. Rewards, generally, are not our interests; they are taken into consideration as policies supporting development and promotion of empowerment like the authority based on competence. For empowering the employees in a proper reward system, every individual's share should be determined. Although rewards may enhance the performance of groups or organizations, most individuals do not have clear understanding of their actions which may have influence on the high levels of performance.

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e. Professional Development Of The Employees

Training the employees, their development and professional growth are crucial parts of empowerment programs. In new organizations which are known as Organization Learning, managers have shown great interest in the empowerment and management plans; this interest stems from the fact that empowerment has a significant role in promoting a learning culture.

f. Availability Of The Resources To The Employees

Empowerment is related to providing a variety of human resources which can help the individuals to perform their responsibilities. The managers, who empower their employees, are mainly providers of resources and eliminators of barriers; they are less risk-takers or commanders. Therefore, one of the chief missions of managers is to help the employees to achieve their goals. The managers, who provide the requisite resources for their employees so as to increase their capacity, make endeavor to be assured that the employees receives professional development experiences and adequate and constant training.

4. Employee Empowerment & Industrial Relations

Industrial relations is an expression used not only for relationship between employer and trade unions but also involving government with the aim of defining policies, facing labour problems. Industrial relations include following concept.

Rules for employee management Role of state government bodies Harmonious relations and technology

Empowerment mean to enable, to give power, to allow or to permit. Empowerment as an act of building, development and increasing power.

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Empowerments as a motivational concept associated with enabling rather than delegating. Employee empowerment is an important motivational tool in organization.

A flatter organization structure facilitating dispersion of authority.

Participative decision –making and allied activities in the organization.

Open communication systems and exchange of information.

Open communication systems and exchange of information.

Empowering employees no longer remains an optical decision, but has become necessity to make organization flexible and adoptable to the volatile environment. Why are more and more companies empowering employees? One reason is the need of quick decisions by those people, who are most knowledgeable about the issue. Often those at lower organizational levels. If organizations are to successfully complete in a dynamic global economy. They have to be able to make decision and implement changes quickly. Another reasons is the reality that organizational downsizing during the last part of the twentieth century left many managers with larger spans of control. In order to cope with the increased work demands manager had to empower their people. If an organization implements employee empowerment properly: - the productivity gains, quality improvement more satisfied customers, increased employee motivation and improved morale. But the primarily role of management is “to support and simulate their people, co-operate to overcome cross functional barriers, and work to eliminate fear within their own team.” Success with empowerment, Saturn a highly successful American Car manufacture, empowered its employees by the work team. Even the design process involves a high degree of employee participation. In the Saturn case, empowerment became directly linked to responsibility, and employees make suggestion how to improve processes.

The process of empowerment will differ from organization to organization depending on their: Concept of empowerment

Organizational objectives and strategies.

Resource and financial position.

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Resource and financial position.

Resource and financial position.

It is a philosophical concept that organizations have to buy into: - for many

organization include some. Important facts – values, leadership, job structure and

reward system.

Process of empowerment divide into 3 steps:

Studying the working environment of the employees.

Redefining tasks and reallocating resources.

Focusing on the psychological & motivational needs of employee in

empowered position.

Empowerment has come to play a major role in corporate excellence.

Empowerment means giving the employees the authority to make decisions and

providing them with financial resources to implement their decisions.

5. Employee Empowerment & Productivity

In today’s rapid-fire modern business world, Employee Productivity has taken a

center stage, and one of the best ways to improve productivity of the employees

is to empower them.

Employee Empowerment is the process of making an individual confident,

capable, and making them feel in control of their work outcomes. These factors

when inculcated amongst employees, they start working more effectively without

any excessive monitoring or micromanagement.

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6. Employee Empowerment & Quality

Quality is important because it measures the viability of the organization. Without

quality an organization can survive but it can't/won't reach its optimal earning

potential. Quality is an important factor to organizations because it means

management is better able to compete on both price and quality, yielding better

customer value. Good consistent quality can give your organization a competitive

advantage and will lead to lower costs and higher profits. Experts have estimated

that the losses from the costs of poor quality range from 20-30% of gross sales for

defective and unsatisfactory products. An organization that has poor quality will

find its reputation quickly deteriorating and it is very difficult to regain integrity once

it has been destroyed.

Quality starts with engaging the people responsible for processes - the people who

know the processes best. How do you engage people? You give them freedom

and autonomy in their jobs. You empower them. Employee empowerment is one

of the most important concepts in total quality management. Empowerment is the

key to motivation and productivity which will result in better quality. It is important

that management recognizes the potential of employees to identify and to derive

corrective actions to quality problems. Also very important is that by empowering

your employees you are giving management more time to spend engaged in

visioning, nurturing, broad-based thinking and focusing on quality. By empowering

your staff you are creating employees who are friendly, happy, and can cater to

the customer's needs more easily which can affect the customer's perception of

service quality in a positive way.

7. Employee Empowerment vs. Employee

Engagement

Employee empowerment is giving employees the authority to make decisions

about their jobs. Instead of managers deciding who to hire and how to staff a shift,

the employees on an empowered team collectively make these decisions and

more. Empowered employees may be given the authority to decide work

schedules, productivity goals, and even daily priorities.

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Employee empowerment is a component of employee engagement. The more

employees feel like they have the authority to make decisions about how their work

is done, the more engaged they become in their work and company.

Empowerment leads to greater collaboration and sharing of ideas. It can also lead

to productivity gains and increased performance. Employee engagement suffers if

employees don’t have the authority to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Employee engagement describes how committed and energized employees are

about their jobs. Because empowerment is only a component of engagement, an

employee can be entirely empowered without being engaged. This could be

caused by low compensation, a jerk boss, or burnout.

To achieve employee engagement an organization needs some level of

empowerment, but employee empowerment alone does not ensure employee

engagement.

Employee empowerment is a term used to express the ways in which staff

can make their own decisions without consulting superiors.

These decisions may vary in effect depending on the level of empowerment your

organization wishes its employees to have. Employee empowerment usually

begins with training, which can transition an entire company toward an

empowerment model where employees are trusted to make responsible decisions

that benefit the company as a whole. Or, it could merely mean giving employees

the ability to make some decisions on their own, but still putting parameters in

place to govern those decisions. With greater responsibility, employees feel

appreciated and will work for the greater good of your organization. By offering

employees choice and participation on a level that actually affects daily production,

your employees are more a part of the company, and view themselves as

ambassadors and will work to justify your trust with enhanced performance.

Employee engagement is the concept that when employees have choices, they

will act in a way that benefits their company’s interests.

An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about,

his or her work. Less than 30 percent of all employees actually feel engaged in

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their jobs, according to a 2008 Employee Engagement Report. Highly engaged

employees believe they can positively affect the quality of their organization’s

products or services. Those engaged employees work with passion and feel a

strong connection to their company.

There are several steps that will help to empower and engage your employees.

The top five are:

Perception of job importance – If your employees feel that their jobs are

important, they will feel valued, and you will have employee loyalty.

Clear expectations – Clear expectations, basic materials, and equipment

must be provided or negative emotions such as boredom may result.

Employees will become more focused on getting through the day than about

how to help the organization succeed.

Regular feedback from superiors – Feedback is the key to giving employees

a sense of where they’re going. Many companies are lacking in this

department. This feedback has to be positive as well as constructively

critical.

Use a suggestion box – Allowing your employees a say in what is being

done in the work place will strengthen their pride in their job and let them

feel as if they have an effect on the company’s operations.

Effective communications – Employees want to know what is happening in

the workplace. Accepting that employees wish to feel involved in what they

are doing is the first step in creating a more productive work environment.

Employee engagement and empowerment represent powerful ways to

enhance productivity and profitability. Valued employees are happy

employees; and happy employees are what drive business success.

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WHY EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT AT

L&T KANSBAHAL WORKS

The reason employee empowerment is a topic of concern at L&T Kansbahal Works,

is because it has employees who have enough to speak but, are bound by the

avenues of communication of this organization. Chain of command is a must process

that every employee has to get through. This process sometimes gets too lengthy to

solve a problem on time. The final reply command comes late enough to dilute the

effectiveness of a decision to be taken at a proper time. Sometimes the message

travels too slow to upper authorities and in the process the viability of the issues gets

too diluted or, we can say it loses the kind of effectiveness that it is bound to make.

Employees at work are the most suited people to make and take a decision

considering the concerned employees’ knowledge about the work and his work

experience. Sometimes a decision that is bound to be taken at a particular time

doesn’t get a final nod because the authority that says a ‘Yes’ to it is absent, or the

person present is not authorized and empowered enough to make such a call.

It was important to check the views that people hold about their empowerment levels

at the current moment at L&T Kansbahal Works.

The employees here have a strong opinion that the open avenues of communication

are not very open. It’s a hectic task to make the higher authorities listen to what they

want to say. This word need to be put to test hence employee empowerment. It was

also necessary to measure the satisfaction and happiness levels of the employees

that directly come from the authorities and freedom that they enjoy at their workplace.

Lastly, it was important to make the L&T Kansbahal aware about their employees’

current empowerment levels and devise methods for improvement if necessary.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The research design is descriptive and contains a mixture of both

Quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Locale of Study

The study was conducted in L&T Kansbahal Works, in the period of May-June

2015.

Population of Study

The study was conducted on Tier-1, Tier-2 and, Tier-3 level employees

at L&T Kansbahal Works. The study was done by keeping Tier-1 level

Employees in one segment and Tier-2, Tier-3 level employees in

another segment.

Sampling Method and Sampling Size

Convenience non-random sampling method was used. 32 respondents filled a self-

administered questionnaire with 18 of them from Tier-1 level and the remaining from

Tier-2 and Tier-3 levels. The data was collected was distributing a hard copy of the

questionnaire displayed below. Data was analyzed based on responses from the

respondents.

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Research Instrument and Method

The survey was done using a well-structured questionnaire designed me and my

guide. Some help was taken from the internet websites but the questionnaire is not

a complete copy from any source.

We designed a total of 20 questions with the last question being an open- ended

question. Each of the questions on ‘Employee Empowerment’ belongs to one of

the five indicators mentioned below:

1. Education, Training and Awareness

2. Resource Related

3. Involvement, Performance and Appraisal

4. Psychology and Self-Confidence

5. Happiness and Satisfaction

Questionnaire Sample

Questionnaire

Survey questions on Employee Empowerment at L&T Kansbahal Works

Name (Optional): ____________________ Phone No. (Optional):________________________

Gender: ____________ Age: ______ Marital Status: ____________________________

Experience: ____________________

Please tick the box that most accurately reflects how you feel about your empowerment levels at the moment.

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1. I know what I exactly need to do in my work and what it requires of me.

Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree 2. I have the materials, equipment and resources needed to do my work.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

3. My opinions are taken while making changes in the way I work.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

4. I feel enthusiastic about my work and my work motivates me.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

5. My people and team members are happy with the kind of work I do.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

6. I know my work related responsibilities.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

7. My work environment is favorable enough to give me the opportunity to work on skills

that prepare me to achieve future goals.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

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8. I frequently take initiatives at work.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

9. This is the type of work where I can feel a sense of accomplishment.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

10. I am treated in a just manner and I am happy about the delegation of authorities by the

upper levels of management.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

11. I have a clearly defined and frequently articulated roles and responsibilities.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree 12. I am rewarded and recognized for my work well done.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

13. I feel valued as a team member.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree 14. I understand how my work contributes to the company’s overall goals and strategy.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

15. There are open avenues of communication across all levels of organization for me.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

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16. I know whom I need to report immediately for any of my work-related issues.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree 17. The upper levels of management supports and encourages me to make my own

decisions as far as possible for accomplishing assigned tasks.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree 18. My department uses employee feedback to make improvements.

Strongly Agree

Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

19. Overall, I am satisfied with the recognition and reward that I receive for doing my work.

Strongly Agree Agree

Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

20. Do you feel empowered in your job-aspect?

Yes No

If Yes/No, devise methods that you feel may be necessary to make employees

empowered in your organization.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………..………………………………………………………………………………………..…

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………....…………………………………………………………………………………………

...…………………………………….………………………………………………………………

…………..........................................................................................................Thank You!

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DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

L&T Kansbahal Works believes that its employees are empowered and they enjoy a

good control of authority based on their position level and the kind of work that they do.

We aim at checking the viability or, correctness of such an assumption.

Hypothesis

Null Hypothesis, H0: µ<= 3

Alternate Hypothesis, Ha: µ>3

µ is hypothesized sample mean denoting the level of empowerment.

Procedure

Since we are aiming at obtaining empowerment levels that is greater than average

3, hence, we used the right sided one-tailed t-test (since the sample size is less than

30 for both the segment of employees, and the population standard deviation is

unknown) to compute the empowerment levels of the respondents. The Likert scoring

system comprising of five categories of Strongly Disagree (SD), Disagree (DA),

Undecided (U), Agree (A) and Strongly Agree (SA) were used in each item of the

questionnaire. They were assigned the following weights:

1 for Strongly Disagree,

2 for Disagree,

3 for Undecided,

4 for Agree, and

5 for Strongly Agree.

The population was divided into two categories, Tier-1 being the one and Tier-2 & 3

being the other. Then, the right handed t-tail test was applied on each population

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separately. Each question was separately studied and the test was applied on each

of the questions individually.

We did not have the population standard deviation for any of the tier of employees.

Hence, we calculated the mean from the responses and then we computed the

sample standard deviation for each of the questions in the questionnaire.

We have taken the degrees of freedom as 17 (sample size=18) for Tier-1 level of

employees and 15 (sample size=16) for Tier-2 and 3 level of employees.

We have taken α=0.01 for every question.

We used the normal distribution bell curve to reject or, accept the null hypothesis.

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Table 1

For Tier-1 level employees.

Sample size= 18

Degrees of freedom= 17

α= 0.01

Question Number

Mean Standard Deviation

t-critical t-calculated Accept/Reject Null Hypothesis

1 4.611 0.502 2.567 13.653 Reject

2 4.333 0.485 2.567 11.693 Reject

3 3.944 0.802 2.567 4.99 Reject

4 4.444 0.511 2.567 12.033 Reject

5 4.389 0.502 2.567 11.74 Reject

6 4.667 0.485 2.567 14.584 Reject

7 4.167 0.514 2.567 9.624 Reject

8 4.222 0.732 2.567 7.083 Reject

9 4.111 0.471 2.567 10.008 Reject

10 3.778 0.878 2.567 3.76 Reject

11 4.167 0.383 2.567 12.928 Reject

12 3.889 0.676 2.567 5.577 Reject

13 4.167 0.383 2.567 12.928 Reject

14 4.722 0.461 2.567 15.849 Reject

15 4 0.485 2.567 8.748 Reject

16 4.722 0.461 2.567 15.849 Reject

17 4 0.686 2.567 6.185 Reject

18 3.889 0.323 2.567 11.678 Reject

19 3.778 0.548 2.567 6.024 Reject

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Question Number 20.

Yes94%

No6%

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Table 2

For Tier-2 & 3 level employees.

Sample size=16

Degrees of freedom=15

α= 0.01

Question Number

Mean Standard Deviation

t-critical t-calculated Accept/Reject Null Hypothesis

1 4.563 0.512 2.602 12.211 Reject

2 3.75 1 2.602 3 Reject

3 4.125 0.5 2.602 9 Reject

4 4.188 0.655 2.602 7.255 Reject

5 4.188 0.75 2.602 6.336 Reject

6 4.563 0.512 2.602 12.211 Reject

7 3.938 0.854 2.602 4.393 Reject

8 4.313 0.602 2.602 8.724 Reject

9 4.188 0.544 2.602 8.735 Reject

10 3.938 0.998 2.602 3.76 Reject

11 4.063 0.68 2.602 6.253 Reject

12 3.875 0.806 2.602 4.342 Reject

13 4.125 0.719 2.602 6.259 Reject

14 4.563 0.512 2.602 12.211 Reject

15 4.125 0.719 2.602 6.259 Reject

16 4.688 0.602 2.602 11.216 Reject

17 4.25 0.775 2.602 6.452 Reject

18 3.875 0.806 2.602 4.342 Reject

19 4 0.632 2.602 6.33 Reject

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Question Number 20.

Yes87%

No13%

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Results

Results in the above tables 1 and 2 show that the t-values calculated fall in the

rejection region of the bell curve. Hence the null hypothesis (H0) has been rejected

and the alternate hypothesis (Ha) has been accepted.

This implies that the employees in the Tier-1, 2 and, 3 feel quite empowered about

their work and authorities at L&T Kansbahal Works. The maximum number of people

agree to the fact that they feel empowered and are happy about their empowerment

levels at the moment in their current job.

Rating 1 to 2: Not at all empowered

Rating 2.1 to 3: Poorly empowered

Rating 3.1 to 4: Partially empowered

Rating 4.1 to 5: Almost fully empowered

Based on these ratings, in Tier-1, 61.11% employees are almost fully empowered,

38.88% employees are partially empowered, and for the rest two category ranges we

recorded zero readings.

In Tier-2 & 3, 50% employees are almost fully empowered, 50% employees are

partially empowered, and for the rest two category ranges we recorded zero readings.

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FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS

The results show that the maximum number of employees are empowered and also

feel empowered in Tier-1, 2, and, 3.

Still the areas that may require a tune up or, can be revisited are as follows:

Taking care that the employees are provided with the right and enough

resources that they need to do their work.

Taking opinions while making changes in the way someone works.

Making the work environment more favorable.

Treatment of the employees should be made more just.

Rewards and recognitions should be enhanced.

Open avenues of communication.

More support from the upper levels of management.

The above mentioned points are the ones whose calculated t-values were closest to

the non-rejection region of the bell curve. Hence, these points should be paid an

attention, and improvements should be made wherever necessary.

Some of the suggestions to make the employees empowered, that we received from

the employees of L&T Kansbahal Works are as follows:

Employee and Emotional Engagement towards the job should be encouraged.

Team management, analytical ability, effective communication, leadership

quality, goal sharing, listening and continuous learning, problem solving

methods, decision making methods, these are all necessary and play a vital role

before making an employee empowered.

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Rewarding self-improvement and achievements of an employee.

Clearly defined roles and responsibilities to maintain accountability of

employees.

Encouraging open and two-way communication.

Improvement groups should be formed.

Job-enrichment such as multiskilling and job-rotation should be practiced.

Transparency and Fairness i.e. open-door policy should be put into work.

Suggestion and feedback scheme should be strengthened.

Employee recognition policies should be renewed and should be made more

important and recognizable.

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SUMMARY

Emotional Engagement Before Empowerment Is a Necessity

Traditionally, bringing emotions into the workplace has been considered taboo, or even

looked upon as a weakness. Well, with a 13% engagement rate worldwide, we can see

how far that archaic corporate notion has gotten us.

“In the end, leaders become more valuable when they can prove to increase

productivity, employee engagement and results by creating a teamwork environment

that gets the best performance from everyone. This requires leaders to be strong

mentors as well as sponsors who can help their colleagues better navigate workplace

opportunities and catapult their careers.” - Workplace Innovation Expert, Glenn Lopes

Both the emotional and functional commitment towards his job and organization has to

be there for an employee before making him/her empowered.

As it turns out, emotions and therefore, emotional intelligence are a huge part of

successful leadership and employee engagement. There are 4 key emotions that lead

to engagement:

Enthusiasm

Empowered

Inspired

Confidence

These are considered the key emotions linked to engagement because a study

revealed that 95% of employees who feel at least 3 of these emotions about their

organization are engaged. Not surprisingly, direct management has a big impact on

these emotional ties with the organization.

84% of how employees feel about their organization is driven by their immediate

manager.

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So the question is, how emotionally invested are our managers? Management’s

dedication to fostering healthy relationships and leadership at work can be the defining

factor in whether or not your employees are engaged at work. If you think you have

better things to worry about, like your bottom line, think again –companies with

engaged employees outperform those without by up to 202%.

“Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions,

and those of the people around you. People with a high degree of emotional

intelligence know what they’re feeling, what their emotions mean, and how these

emotions can affect other people.” - James Manktelow of Mind Tools.

Making room for emotional intelligence training at work is part of this extremely effective

employee-centric work model that a lot of organizations are adapting. If you ask any

employer what their most important asset is, they will likely tell you that it is their

employees. However, until very recently, these employers were all talk –never truly

willing to invest their corporate hierarchical pyramids.

When emotional intelligence is made a strategic part of leadership, the results can be

pretty phenomenal. FedEx did a case study on the implementation of a 6-month EI

leadership program, and here are some of the results:

44% of participants experienced very large increases in emotional intelligence.

58% of participants showed very large improvements in influence.

72% of program participants experienced very large increases in decision-making

abilities.

60% reported an increase in quality of life.

The EI program also yielded an 8-11% increase in core leadership competencies.

Leaders who practice emotional intelligence are simply put, smarter with their own

feelings and of those around them. These types of leaders are less emotionally

reactive, and more responsive. Because they are more in tune with their emotions and

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the effect that they have on others, they deal with situations and issues in a far better,

thoughtful manner.

“Emotional intelligence is the primary driver in leader effectiveness because

leadership is about using influence and building effective relationships, which are

largely emotional tasks. In fact, EI has been measured as contributing 75-80% of the

elements for success compared to 20-25% for IQ.” - Joel H. Head, ACC, Managing

Partner of Headwinds Ltd.

We would all like to see an increase in our leadership’s quality of life, better decision-

making abilities and improvements in their influence. Encouraging emotional

intelligence in your workforce is the first step. Like most powerful initiatives, this is a

top-down action that requires exec buy-in and participation. As leaders become more

aware of how their emotions affect their leadership, workers will undoubtedly

recognize the change from reactionary, to responsive leadership.

Tips for Empowering Employees

Having empowered employees is the dream of every leader. All managers want

people who show initiative by taking on and completing tasks with little guidance.

Here are 8 tips that aim at empowering employees and will conclude this summary.

1. Foster Open Communication

So many companies are built on top-down communication from management.

Employees in this environment feel there is no purpose in taking a stand, since

they have no direct channel and don't feel they'll have an impact. As a leader, you

may have clear direction and more experience, but that doesn't invalidate feedback

and ideas from people on the front lines. Give employees structured ways to make

their thoughts, feelings and observations known easily and regularly. Help them

understand that their input is valued even if you decide to go a different way.

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Make sure you acknowledge them for sharing and reward valuable input that helps

the company.

2. Reward Self-Improvement

Many leaders complain that employees are stagnant but do little to help them grow.

In such cases, somehow management has the idea that promotion and money are

sufficient to get people to advance. More often than not, people don't have the

resources or knowledge of what to do. Many entrepreneurs are so accustomed to

self-improvement that they assume everyone thinks the same way. Budget dollars

and time toward management and personal development training. Help employees

set a plan for growth and reward them as they advance. They'll be grateful and

apply their newly-learned skills as they step up to leadership opportunities.

3. Encourage Safe Failure

Many employees, by their very nature, are risk-adverse. That's why they are

employees and not entrepreneurs. If they work in an environment where the boss

is always correcting them before they have a chance to execute, they will

constantly look for approval before taking action or, worse, simply avoid any new

or dynamic action. Give employees the opportunity to try new things in a way that

doesn't put the company in danger. Create milestone checkpoints or set up

laboratory environments where people can test new ideas and learn from the

failures as well as the successes. Then your employees will gain understanding

and feel comfortable innovating.

4. Provide Plenty of Context

Most leaders carry lots of information in their brains. Unfortunately, many

employees don't get the benefit of all that information, yet they are expected to

take action and make good decisions as if they understood every nuance. Great

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leaders figure out how to extract the important information from their minds and

share it in a structured and consistent manner. An employee who clearly

understands the core values, purpose and direction of the company can easily

make consistent decisions and take appropriate action at any junction. It's on you

as the leader to impart your vision. That's how you lead.

5. Clearly Define Roles

People who don't know what they are supposed to do can't do it very well.

Additionally, they need to know their boundaries so they don't step on others' toes

or create inefficiency through redundancy. Establish specific roles and

responsibilities with employees so all are clear and can work together

cooperatively.

6. Require Accountability

People need to know when they are meeting expectations and, more importantly,

when they are not. No one will maintain accountability if they don't understand the

consequences of failure. And if they see others not being held accountable, they

will see little need to make the extra effort for success. Be consistent and diligent

in your measurement and rewards so employees are motivated to do their best.

7. Support Their Independence

A leader who is constantly looking over the shoulder of employees is little more

than a babysitter. Give your employees reasons and opportunity to stretch out on

their own and even lead others. They may stumble, but they'll learn a lot and build

the respect of their colleagues while preparing to be great empowering leaders

themselves someday.

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8. Appreciate Their Efforts

Yes, it's true that people get paid for the job. But the best employees don't work at

your company just for the money. Empowered people need a greater level of

satisfaction than simply financial stability. They need to feel that leadership

appreciates their contribution and values their participation. Don't be shy about

finding ways to say "thank you" or celebrating the good things your employees do.

If they have to ask how they are doing, you are doing your job poorly as a leader.

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CONCLUSION

It was a great experience completing this report on Employee Empowerment. The

entire project was very learning. Different dimensions of empowerment and how to

foster them in an organization was learned. I am thankful to everyone who were a part

of this project report along with the employees who eagerly took up the questionnaire

to fill it up for me. Their valuable suggestions will always be there as a remembrance.

Also, the Human Resource Department people who helped me quite a lot.

We learned that L&T as a brand is still continuing its force and Kansbahal Works is an

example as employees are mostly empowered here. The emotional engagement

towards the job and the organization is a must before empowering any employee no

matter how much experience and knowledge he has behind him.

Overall, it was a great learning experience that I will cherish for the times to come. A

big ‘Thank You’ to everyone at L&T Kansbahal Works for everything during my

summer internship period.