Final answer:
Empowering employees is indeed linked to performance gains, and organizations often use reward systems, such as profit sharing, to encourage empowerment. This reflects modern management trends favoring an equal partnership model and transformational leadership styles. Option a.
Step-by-step explanation:
Empowerment and Reward Systems
The statement that empowering employees can lead to various performance gains and that organizations often use their reward systems to promote empowerment is A) True. Effective empowerment strategies include providing training and development opportunities, involving employees in decision-making, and granting autonomy to perform tasks.
Organizations may use reward systems to incentivize empowerment by linking bonuses, promotions, or other rewards to measures of empowerment and individual or team performance. This relationship reflects the trend in management toward an equal partnership between managers and employees, acknowledging that empowered employees contribute significantly to an organization's success. Examples include profit sharing, where profits and earnings are distributed among employees, often leading to improved productivity.
Such approaches are based on Theory Y, which assumes employees are motivated and seek to work productively, as opposed to Theory X, which assumes a need for control and punishment. Reward systems promoting empowerment align with transformational leadership styles, characterized by supporting and inspiring employees to achieve both individual and organizational goals.