Chapter 3 - the “I’s” in Teams

Question 1

What are the 4 dimensions of individual empowerment?

Answer 1

• Choice: the extent to which people have self-determination or control over carrying out their work
• Impact: the extent to which a person’s work is perceived as making a difference in a company
• Competence: the extent to which people can carry out their works skillfully when they attempt to do so
• Meaningfulness: the extent to which people care, on an intrinsic level, about the work they do.

Question 2

What are the five ways to display empowering leader behavior for individuals?

Answer 2

1. Be a Role model – show how you take initiative in the presence of your own boss
2. Encourage and allow individuals to participate in decision making – assign someone as devils advocate, don’t punish them for points but use them
3. Provide effective coaching – take time for each individual
4. Share important and strategic information – make team members feel like insiders by openly sharing important information
5. Display a high level of concern and caring – ask team members how you can help their personal life, show compassion to people

Question 3

What is LMX?

Answer 3

Leader-member exchange (LMX): the importance of building high-quality empowering relationships with each of the “I’s” on your teams

Question 4

What is the positive relationship of LMX to employee empowerment? 4 outcomes from individual

Answer 4

• Perform jobs more effectively, are better organizational citizens, and have lower turnover
• Are more committed to their company and more satisfied with their jobs & leaders
• See their company as being fairer and work roles as having less ambiguity and conflict
* Link between LMX and employee empowerment is very strong.*

Question 5

Describe 8 ways a team leader can create empowering organizational structures and systems targeted at individuals in teams.
(Effective Empowerment Structures)

Answer 5

1. Supportive Organizational Climate: All leaders in a company to the extent possible must collectively, not singularly, work together to promote an empowering climate by integrating and coordinating their empowering leader behaviors.
2. High Perceived Organizational Support: Employees must have a recognition that the company values and cares about them and has their best interests at heart.
3. High Level of organizational Trust: Leaders must trust individual team members to make decisions, act as representatives, or lead others.
4. Work Design: skill variety: Expand team members skills by creating tasks that will build new skill sets
5. Work Design: task identity: involve team members in as many steps to the final product as possible and don’t restrict them to just one piece of the task.
6. Work Design: task significance: make sure each team member knows how their task ties into the bigger picture
7. Work Design: Autonomy (self-direct freedom/independence): Design the job so autonomy is “baked in”
8. Work Design: feedback: have team members meet with internal and external customers. Get feedback from these meetings and pass it along.