Empowerment and the Managerial Perogative

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Abstract
Describes the inherent tensions in the relationship between the self and work and considers how these tensions become apparent in relationship between management development and self‐development in the pursuit of “professional” management. Management development is thrown into critical focus in order to give emphasis to the underlying conflicts which it conceals. Describes the extent to which the advancement of management development is regarded as “value free” and unproblematic. Examines some widely held views on the objectives and desired outcomes of management development programs and, in particular, considers how management development objectives promote, and are located in the context of, specific value systems, for example, improved communications, trust, exhortations to greater risk taking behavior, greater commercial and strategic awareness of the business, vision, and so on. Considers the tensions between such objectives and the experiences of day‐to‐day managerial work. Pays particular attention to the relationship between power and empowerment, fear and defensive behavior on the part of senior management, and disillusionment and its consequences in order to expose a pervasive ambivalence in change management in general and in “empowerment” in particular.

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