Question 48

The Correct Answer is B **Explanation for Option B (Correct Answer):** Empowering employees fundamentally means giving them the necessary authority, responsibility, and resources to make decisions and take actions pertinent to their work without needing constant approval from higher management. Option B, "Granting employee's authority to make key decisions by delegation," precisely captures this concept. Delegation, in this context, is the formal mechanism used to transfer decision-making power and responsibility down the organizational hierarchy, which is the core action of employee empowerment. **Why the Other Options are Incorrect:** * **A) Gaining employee acceptance and identification based on personal charisma.** This describes charismatic leadership or influence, but it does not inherently involve granting formal decision-making authority or power to the employees themselves. * **C) Gaining employee compliance under threat of punishment such as pulling overtime.** This describes coercion or punitive management (Theory X approach) and is the opposite of empowerment, which seeks to motivate through autonomy and responsibility. * **D) Rewarding employees with positive rewards such as the availability of overtime.** This describes motivation or incentives (extrinsic rewards). While rewards can accompany empowerment, they are not the definition of empowerment itself. Empowerment is about structural authority and decision rights, not merely compensation or benefits.