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Empowerment in a Government Agency

In: Ethics and Empowerment

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  • Barbara Goodwin

Abstract

This chapter considers how a policy of empowerment within a public-sector organisation has affected employees’ sense of personal responsibility and their perception of ethical issues. It derives from empirical research, based on lengthy interviews, in a government ‘Next Steps’ agency created in 1991, one of several government agencies concerned with the distribution of welfare benefits. ‘The Agency’ has espoused a policy of empowerment in the last few years, and its employees have actually experienced double empowerment: the move out of the conventional civil service was widely viewed as a liberation in itself, and the internally propagated empowerment movement has further revolutionised the role of employees. The empowerment policy did not initially form part of my own agenda during the interviews, but it was frequently raised by the participants and evidently coloured their own view of their work. This chapter presents their perceptions, which are all-important in considering how empowerment works and whether it is working.

Suggested Citation

  • Barbara Goodwin, 1999. "Empowerment in a Government Agency," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: John J. Quinn & Peter W. F. Davies (ed.), Ethics and Empowerment, chapter 10, pages 300-325, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-37272-6_11
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230372726_11
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