Question: "Empowerment" is a term frequently heard in organizations in relation to process improvement. Empowerment concerns moving decision-making authority in an organization down to the lowest appropriate levels. Unfortunately, the concept is sometimes employed only until a mistake is made, then a severe reprimand occurs, and/or the decision-making privilege is moved back up to a higher level.
(a) Name two things that are lacking in an approach to quality improvement like that described above. (Consider decision-making resulting from empowerment as a process.)
(b) How does real, effective (and consistent) empowerment logically fit into the six-step quality improvement cycle?