What is Empowerment? Definition of Empowerment, Empowerment Meaning and Concept

The term empowerment, also called empowerment, refers to the fact of giving more power and worth to people so that they can have more freedom over their actions or tasks.

The origin of empowerment arises in the 60s of the 20th century as a result of the work of Paulo Fraire, an expert in education and one of the most prominent pedagogues of the 20th century.

This concept is applicable and extensible to all social groups, but in the first instance its application was in the female group. The name of this concept arose in the 80s of the 20th century, through DAWN, a group formed by women researchers with the aim of accessing a greater number of positions of responsibility, control of resources and improvement of capacities. In short, the objective was for women to have a greater role in all areas of society.

If at first there was a feminist approach, over the years it has expanded to other areas, such as marginalized groups so that they increase their social possibilities, have access to all kinds of resources and participate in changes in society as any other group with the same rights and benefits.

Business empowerment

In the company, empowerment consists of delegating and transmitting power to workers or work groups so that they can carry out their tasks with some autonomy. The objective is that they can solve the activities and situations they face without being continuously supervised by the bosses, or a superior team.

In short, it is about empowering employees so that they feel motivated, their work is recognized and also the results that are achieved as a team are celebrated.

Putting empowerment into practice in the company has great value, and great objectives can be achieved:

• The first thing to do is value each employee. Know him in depth to know his motivations, what he stands out for, his main activities and the responsibilities he may have.
• Something important will be to measure the results that are obtained with this practice in order to know what works and improve what does not.
• The teams and workers that make up the company will be more motivated. Delegating and letting a worker do their job fully, have freedom, and have their success recognized is motivating.
• Communication to power. Maintaining an effective communication channel with employees to exchange information, suggestions and dialogue will be of great help.
• Training. It must be borne in mind that training employees is essential if there are moments of change, introduction of new tasks and activities so that they know how to carry them out themselves with total efficiency.
• Mistakes may be made. This is something that can happen, and working in this way can help to assess them and know the room for maneuver to correct them.

Empowerment in the company has been increasing during the 21st century as it is a new way of conceiving work within a company. Workers will be able to be responsible for the work they carry out, and those responsible for the brand will be able to demonstrate their leadership and achieve a better evaluation by their employees thanks to the implementation of empowerment.