Empowerment

The term “empowerment” refers to giving employees the authority and responsibility to make decisions and take actions. Empowerment results in decisions being made closest to the “front line,” where work-related knowledge and understanding reside.

Empowerment is aimed at enabling employees to satisfy customers on first contact, to improve processes and increase productivity, and to improve the organization’s performance results. Empowered employees require information to make appropriate decisions; thus, an organizational requirement is to provide that information in a timely and useful way.

The term "empowerment" appears in the Baldrige Criteria in the following locations: