Michailova (2002)

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Michailova (2002)

Participative decision-making is empowering for the employee and encourages them to take responsibility for their individual actions. People work harder if they feel more responsible for the jobs they do and to the company for which they work.

The problem with empowerment is that it can cause difficulties, tensions and mistrust. It can actually perpetuate inequality, as they form separate groups in which they are forced to behave in certain ways. Empowerment needs to be done carefully, not just "sold" into a firm.

Empowerment imposes responsibility and pressure, as well as bringing power. Schemes are also difficult to implement as managers to not want to give up authoritarian control and perceive it as lacking in strategy.

Indeed, there is a high power distance in Russia, so firms have a strict hierarchy of control, which would be shattered by the concept of employee empowerment, which managers and employees see as too soft and ineffective.

Frameworks that are developed in the West need to be adapted to those firms in the East, as firms in the West work completely differently. They need to focus on implicit knowledge transfer, as well as explicit transfer.

The author stresses the importance of understanding the context before implementing a scheme such as an empowerment programme.

Russians have an anti-individualist attitude, meaning that those who think independently are shunned. Dependence is seen as a source of security in Russia, as it is related to paternalism or guardianship.

Managers may collect information, but they are less willing to share it, due to levels of mistrust.

Employees face problems of receiving conflicting orders from Western and Russian managers