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Mostafa N. Marghany
Swansea University
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Investigating the Effects of Employee Empowerment on Job Satisfaction and Performance: A Case Study of Front Office Employees in
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Mostafa Marghany
Abstract
operating efficiency and customer service. But the most effective way to empower the staff is
not always clear to hospitality managers, both in terms of what to do and what to avoid. This
study will test a model of the relationships between empowerment, job satisfaction, self
efficacy, and performance. As the value of empowering employees seems clear, multinational
hospitality organizations may wish to select employees and managers who are comfortable
with an empowerment strategy, and make clear to all employees that the organization will
Introduction
The hospitality industry, with its multicultural workforce (Iverson 2000), is a logical
values into account for employee empowerment (Gill, Fitzgerald, et al. 2010). Hospitality
organizations are more than ever putting their employees and customers as the centerpiece of
their management practices (Tsaur & Lin, 2004) to gain competitive advantage and increase
Empowerment definitions
The meaning of empowerment has been the subject of great debate and remains, at
indicated that employee empowerment means encouraging and allowing individuals to take
personal responsibility for improving the way they do their jobs and contribute to the
Effects of Empowerment on Employee Performance in the Workplace 2
being provided with a greater degree of flexibility and more freedom to make decisions
relating to work.
Empowerment forms
Lashley (2001) explained that there are four types or forms of empowerment. The first
from management arena, for example, the use of autonomous working groups. The second
type is empowerment through involvement, in this case management gain through reflecting
on employees’ experiences, ideas, and suggestions, for example team briefings. The third
type is empowerment through commitment that leads to increased commitment to goals and
employee job satisfaction, for example, profit sharing schemes and job rotation. While the
fourth type is empowerment through delayering which means reducing the numbers of
Empowerment practices
Empowering leadership
managerial techniques in which empowering leadership behaviors play a central role. The
empowered work environments by enabling and encouraging workers in their work roles.
The specific behaviors include leading by example, coaching, informing, showing concern,
and participative decision-making. Raub and Robert (2012) stated that these empowering
The focus of psychological empowerment is on the state or set of conditions that allow
for employees or teams to believe that they have control over their work. Conger and
foster powerlessness and through their removal by both formal organizational practices
(1988: 474).
and Beehr (2001) defined empowerment as involving team members’ perceived authority and
responsibility for work outcomes. Lee and Koh (2001) further refined these four dimensions
(1) Meaningfulness: the meaning of a value of a task goal or purpose judged in relation to an
skillfully.
(3) Self-determination (or choice): autonomy in the initiation and continuation of work
(4) Impact: the perception of the degree to which an individual can influence certain
outcomes at work.
Effects of Empowerment on Employee Performance in the Workplace 2
among employees (e.g. psychological empowerment) and, in return, this mindset would be
the motivational drive leading employees to do their job skillfully, see how things could be
done differently and take concrete action to increase efficacy in their jobs as well as in their
organizations. If organizations wish to know whether they are benefiting from their
The central tenet is that workers respond more creatively when given broad
responsibilities, encouraged to contribute, and helped to derive satisfaction from their work
(Greasley et al, 2007). Job satisfaction has been defined as “a pleasurable of positive
emotional state, resulting from the appraisal of one’s job experience” (Scott et al, 2004).
attenuate the positive effect of discretion and autonomy on job satisfaction in high power-
distance nations where subordinates are accustomed to taking orders from their supervisor
(Robert, 2000).
Self-efficacy refers to the belief that one is competent and can successfully perform an
assigned task. It is described as the development of a "can-do" attitude (Fulford and Enz,
1995). When people have sense of efficacy, they became empowered. Empower people not
only feel the sense of competence, but they are sure that to be capable enough to do their
framework will be tested using data that will be collected from hotel employees. This study
will examine the usage of the four forms of empowerment and their impact on employees’
performance in the hotel. Moreover, the researcher aims to explore the best empowerment
form that improves the hotel employees’ performance. Proposed framework of the study as
following:
Empowerment through
participation
Job Satisfaction
Empowerment through
involvement
Employee
Empowerment through performance
commitment Self-efficacy
Empowerment through
delayering
Adopted from: (Lashley, 2001; Scott et al., 2004; Greasley et al., 2007).
Research question
snowballing, and random samples. The process will divide into two stages, in first stage,
employees’ supervisors and managers will ask by interviewing about the types of
empowerment which they can apply, and how they can empower their employees. In second
stage, Employees targeted will be at the non-managerial level and various job types such as
front-office employees, food and beverage employees, and customer service representative.
Employees will ask to answer a survey to measure empowerment practices, self-efficacy, job
satisfaction, and performance. Confidentiality will be guaranteed for both employees and
Measures
The researcher will use interviews and survey. The survey could be designed by online
survey called Survey Monkey. The constructs—empowerment and all measurement items in
these scales will analyze for reliability and validity. The empowerment construct consisted of
12 items, but after testing the scale for reliability and consistency, 2 items were deleted due to
their low factor loadings. An exploratory factor analysis also indicated two factors: (1) EMP
Factor 1, which was named “Task meaningfulness” and (2) EMP Factor 2, which was named
Procedures
Quantitative methods of data collection are used to measure, document, and provide
numerical values. This is accomplished by using objective and standardized data gathering
for all research participants. The researcher can use tests, survey, and structured interviews
(McMillan, 2012). Employee survey and managers interviews will be used to address the
objectives of the study. They will be used with managers and employees in order to
containing subscales, was administered as part of a survey in hotels. The survey consisted of
a series of questions about employees' empowerment, job satisfactions and efficacy (Arnold
et al, 2000).
Data Analysis
There are several ways data collection techniques can be classified. In this study will
use quantitative methods of data collection, are used to measure, document, and provide
numerical values. The most suitable procedure is the t-test; it is a parametric statistical
equation is most often used to test the null hypothesis that means of two groups are the same.
One of its forms is the independent-samples t-test, is used in designs assigned groups on a
References
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Effects of Empowerment on Employee Performance in the Workplace 2
Appendix
job, how they perceive their work environment and how these factors affect their
performance. Results of this study should help hospitality organizations in their efforts to
Your input and participation are critical to the success of this study. I would be grateful
if you would complete this questionnaire which may take you 5-10 minutes. Your answer
will be kept strictly confidential and will be used for research purpose.
Sincerely,
The researcher
Effects of Empowerment on Employee Performance in the Workplace 2
1. My work is important to me
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Nor Agree
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