Involving employees : The relations between redistribution of power, employee empowerment and upward influence attempts

Abstract: Power, influence and employee empowerment are topics which have been of great interest to many researchers for a long time. However, there has been limited research on upward influence and employees' perceptions of empowerment. In addition, there has almost been no research on the relations between upward influence and employee empowerment. This thesis deals with these relations, and how they can be manifested in organizations in terms of employee involvement. We introduce three background topics which we discuss in relation to our results. First, the Swedish law concerning employees' right of participation in decision-making, or MBL. Second, a Swedish research article which indicates that too much freedom and responsibility in employees' work can make them stressed and mentally ill. Last, the continuously changing business environment, which organizations and their employees deal with every day. The study was implemented through a literature study with a qualitative method with an inductive and iterative approach. We thoroughly examined different previous researches on redistribution of power, upward influence and employee empowerment. Our analysis indicates that empowerment and upward influence are strongly connected and dependent on each other. The conclusions suggest that if employees perceive they are empowered, they feel they are both motivated and able to perform. Further, our results imply that the feeling of being empowered is followed by the feeling of being able to exert upward influence. Finally, our findings suggest that it is important for organizations to carefully consider what has do be done to involve employees, so they will perceive they are empowered and able to exert upward influence.