It would also be appropriate where management is too removed from the impact of their operational decisions to gauge the effects of those decisions on the working conditions of the employees who are responsible for implementing them. Finally, the participative leadership style would also be appropriate for introduction where long-time experienced personnel are exhibiting a lack of morale or enthusiasm for their work or where there is a low level of "buy-in" on their part to management decisions or to the organization's operational or strategic goals. 8. Define delegation and empowerment; describe two key components of developing each (delegation and empowerment); and explain why both of these forms of participative leadership are valuable to an organization.

Delegation has always been a fundamental aspect of business management because it is absolutely necessary to the underlying concept of hierarchical management functions. In principle, delegation simply means that supervisors, managers, and others in positions of relative authority within business organizations have the ability to increase their productivity and that of their organizations by assigning specific tasks and responsibilities to other employees, usually their subordinates. The concept of delegation is simply a means of allowing specific tasks to be completed by the most appropriate individuals while freeing up the time and attention of more highly skilled individuals and/or those with supervisory or management functions to devote their attention to matters that only they are capable of handling. Generally, delegation is a process or task-oriented concept.

By contrast, empowerment does not relate to processes...

Empowerment is a means that leaders use to help employees reach their fullest potential in both the short and long terms. In the short-term, it is conducive to improving motivation and to increasing the perception of the organization's employees with regard to their value to the organization. In the longer term, the empowerment of employees helps cultivate a culture of professional success and of organizational values.
Delegation does not affect employee performance (or outlook) beyond the immediate task at issue; for that matter, delegation may not have any beneficial effect even on the quality of performance. In its simplest manifestation, delegation is nothing more than a means of assigning certain personnel to particular tasks and responsibilities that allows the leader (or manager) to focus on other objectives. Delegation is a comparatively short-term mechanism used to ensure that specific business functions and operations are carried out.

Empowerment may be implemented without reference to any specific vocational tasks or responsibilities because it primarily involves the process of more experienced leaders (and managers) helping their subordinates develop the necessary perspectives and skills to reach their highest potential and possibly rise within the organization. Whereas delegation involves only operational considerations, the concept of empowerment provides a long-term strategic approach to building organizational quality by motivating and improving the performance level of personnel more generally and far beyond the scope of specific tasks.