Cognitive mapping the topic of empowerment

Cognitive mapping the topic of empowerment

Joseph Kim-keung Ho

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Abstract: The topic of empowerment in the subject of business management is complex. By making use of the cognitive mapping technique to conduct a brief literature review on the empowerment topic, the writer renders a systemic image on the topic of empowerment. The result of the study, in the form of a cognitive map on empowerment, should be useful to those who are interested in the topics of cognitive mapping, literature review and empowerment.

Key words: empowerment, cognitive mapping, literature review

Introduction

As a topic in business management, empowerment is complex. It is thus useful to employ some learning tool to conduct its study, notably for literature review purpose. For a teacher in research methods, systems thinking and management, the writer is specifically interested in finding out how the cognitive mapping technique can be employed to go through a literature review on  empowerment. This literature review exercise is taken up and reported in this article.

On the cognitive mapping exercise for literature review

Literature review is an important intellectual learning exercise, and not just for doing final year dissertation projects for tertiary education students. On these two topics of intellectual learning and literature review, the writer has compiled some e-learning resources. They are the Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page and the Literature on literature review Facebook page. Conducting literature review with the cognitive mapping technique is not novel in the cognitive mapping literature, see Eden and Simpson (1989), Eden, Jones and Sims (1983), Open University (n.d) and the Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page. In this article, the specific steps involved in the cognitive mapping exercise are as follows:

Step 1: gather some main points from a number of academic journal articles on empowerment. This result in the production of a table (Table 1) with the main points and associated references.

Step 2: consolidate  the main points from Table 1 to come up with a table listing the cognitive map variables (re: Table 2).

Step 3: link up the cognitive  map variables in a plausible way to produce a cognitive map (re: Figure 1) on the topic under review.

The next section applies these three steps to produce a cognitive map on empowerment.

Descriptions of cognitive map variables on the empowerment topic

From the reading of some academic articles on empowerment, a number of main points (e.g., viewpoints, concepts and empirical findings) were gathered by the  writer. They are shown in Table 1 with explicit referencing on the points.

Table 1: Main points from the empowerment literature and referencing

Main points from the empowerment literature	Referencing
Point 1: There are two aspects of empowerment: (1) personal empowerment ("i.e., "that which individuals are responsible for doing for themselves  in order to feel empowered in their lives regardless of circumstances") and (2) non-personal empowerment (i.e., it has "to do with the way in which we work with others to nurture their sense of self-esteem, autonomy and growth").	Pastor, J. 1996. "Empowerment: what it is and what it is not" Empowerment in Organization 4(2), Emerald: 5-7.
Point 2: "Empowerment in the workplace must integrate key aspects of personal empowerment, responsibility, accountability and shared risk taking".	Pastor, J. 1996. "Empowerment: what it is and what it is not" Empowerment in Organization 4(2), Emerald: 5-7.
Point 3: Empowerment is "a dynamic evolutionary process in which the manager, employee and team are all involved".	Pastor, J. 1996. "Empowerment: what it is and what it is not" Empowerment in Organization 4(2), Emerald: 5-7.
Point 4: "Empowerment is a construct that links individual strengths and  competencies, natural helping systems, and proactive behaviors to social policy and social change".	Perkins, D.D. 1995. "Empowerment Theory, Research, and Application" American Journal of Community Psychology 23(5): 569-579.
Point 5: "... empowerment research  focuses on identifying capabilities  instead of cataloging risk factors and exploring environmental influences of social problems instead of blaming victims".	Perkins, D.D. 1995. "Empowerment Theory, Research, and Application" American Journal of Community Psychology 23(5): 569-579.
Point 6: Empowerment is "an intentional ongoing process centered in the local community, involving mutual respect, critical reflection, caring and group participation, through which people lacking an equal share of valued resources gain greater access to and control other those resources".	Perkins, D.D. 1995. "Empowerment Theory, Research, and Application" American Journal of Community Psychology 23(5): 569-579.
Point 7: "Empowered outcomes for individuals might include situation-specific perceived control and resource mobilization skills".	Perkins, D.D. 1995. "Empowerment Theory, Research, and Application" American Journal of Community Psychology 23(5): 569-579.
Point 8: Organizational outcomes of empowerment can be "development of organizational networks, organizational growth, and policy leverage".	Perkins, D.D. 1995. "Empowerment Theory, Research, and Application" American Journal of Community Psychology 23(5): 569-579.
Point 9: "Community-level empowerment outcomes might include evidence of pluralism, and existence of organizational coalitions, and accessible community resources".	Perkins, D.D. 1995. "Empowerment Theory, Research, and Application" American Journal of Community Psychology 23(5): 569-579.
Point 10: "...studies on leadership and management skills... suggest that the practice of empowering subordinates is a principal component of managerial and organizational effectiveness".	Conger, J.A. and R.N. Kaunungo. 1988. "The empowerment Process: Integrating Theory and Practice" The Academy of Management Review 13(3), July: 471-482.
Point 11: "... analysis of power and control within organizations... reveals that the total productive forms of organizational power and effectiveness grow with superiors' sharing of power and control with subordinates".	Conger, J.A. and R.N. Kaunungo. 1988. "The empowerment Process: Integrating Theory and Practice" The Academy of Management Review 13(3), July: 471-482.
Point 12: "...experience in team building within organizations... suggest that empowerment techniques play a crucial role in group development and maintenance".	Conger, J.A. and R.N. Kaunungo. 1988. "The empowerment Process: Integrating Theory and Practice" The Academy of Management Review 13(3), July: 471-482.
Point 13: "...empowerment is an emerging construct used by theorists  to explain organizational effectiveness. The construct also has been widely used by other social scientists  who have dealt with issues of the powerlessness of minority groups (e.g. women, blacks and the handicapped)".	Conger, J.A. and R.N. Kaunungo. 1988. "The empowerment Process: Integrating Theory and Practice" The Academy of Management Review 13(3), July: 471-482.
Point 14: "...most management theorists have dealt with empowerment as a set of managerial techniques and have not paid sufficient  attention to its nature or the processes underlying the construct".	Conger, J.A. and R.N. Kaunungo. 1988. "The empowerment Process: Integrating Theory and Practice" The Academy of Management Review 13(3), July: 471-482.
Point 15: "At the interpersonal level, the principal sources of actor power over others are argued to be (a) the office or structural position of the actor, (b) the personal characteristics of the actor (e.g., referent power...), (c) the expertise of the actor, and (d) the opportunity for the actor to access specialized knowledge/information".	Conger, J.A. and R.N. Kaunungo. 1988. "The empowerment Process: Integrating Theory and Practice" The Academy of Management Review 13(3), July: 471-482.
Point 16: "Power in the motivational sense refers to an intrinsic need for self-determination... or a belief in personal self-efficacy".	Conger, J.A. and R.N. Kaunungo. 1988. "The empowerment Process: Integrating Theory and Practice" The Academy of Management Review 13(3), July: 471-482.
Point 17: "Empowerment is a pervasive positive value in American culture. The concept suggests both individual determination over one's own life and democratic participation in the life of one's community, often through mediating structures such as schools, neighborhoods, churches, and other voluntary organizations".	Rappaport, J. 1987. "Terms of Empowerment/ Exemplars of Prevention: Toward a Theory for Community Psychology" American Journal of Community Psychology 15(2), Plenum: 121-148.
Point 18: "Empowerment conveys both a psychological sense of personal control or influence and a concern with actual social influence, political power, and legal rights. It is a multilevel construct applicable to individual citizens as well as to organizations and neighborhoods".	Rappaport, J. 1987. "Terms of Empowerment/ Exemplars of Prevention: Toward a Theory for Community Psychology" American Journal of Community Psychology 15(2), Plenum: 121-148.
Point 19: "... empowerment is a process, a mechanism by which people, organizations, and communities gain mastery over their affairs".	Rappaport, J. 1987. "Terms of Empowerment/ Exemplars of Prevention: Toward a Theory for Community Psychology" American Journal of Community Psychology 15(2), Plenum: 121-148.
Point 20: "The word "empower" ... has two related meanings: 1: to give power or authority to; authorize; and 2: to enabler or permit".	Rappaport, J. 1987. "Terms of Empowerment/ Exemplars of Prevention: Toward a Theory for Community Psychology" American Journal of Community Psychology 15(2), Plenum: 121-148.
Point 21: "Empowerment is (and has been) on nearly every community developer's mind. It appears in the program brochures on community leadership education and pervades community development language to the extent that one begins to get suspicious of the term".	Pigg, K.E. 2002. "Three faces of empowerment: expanding the theory of empowerment in community development" Journal of Community Development Society 33(1): 107-123.
Point 22: "...there are three dimensions of empowerment: self-empowerment through individual action, mutual empowerment that is interpersonal, and social empowerment in the outcomes of social action".	Pigg, K.E. 2002. "Three faces of empowerment: expanding the theory of empowerment in community development" Journal of Community Development Society 33(1): 107-123.
Point 23: "Power is usually defined behaviorally, as the ability of one actor - individual or collective - to affect the actions of another, or... power is considered as a class of "affecting behaviors" that are both social and individual".	Pigg, K.E. 2002. "Three faces of empowerment: expanding the theory of empowerment in community development" Journal of Community Development Society 33(1): 107-123.
Point 24: "Rarely..... is there an effective direct transfer of power. Instead, one can transfer power resources to another".	Pigg, K.E. 2002. "Three faces of empowerment: expanding the theory of empowerment in community development" Journal of Community Development Society 33(1): 107-123.
Point 25: "empowerment involves the ability to make choices and entails a process of change from being without (sufficient) power to make choices to having sufficient power to do so".	Pigg, K.E. 2002. "Three faces of empowerment: expanding the theory of empowerment in community development" Journal of Community Development Society 33(1): 107-123.
Point 26: "..community power was closely held by a small number of elites and exercised in support of limited interests, presumably those who held the power".	Pigg, K.E. 2002. "Three faces of empowerment: expanding the theory of empowerment in community development" Journal of Community Development Society 33(1): 107-123.
Point 27: "Typically, it [empowerment] embraces job involvement, job enrichment, participation in various forms,  including suggestions schemes".	Smith, B. 1997. "Empowerment - the challenge is now" Empowerment in Organizations 5(3), MCB University Press: 120-122.
Point 28: "Essentially, the main thrust of empowerment is through having greater autonomy over how jobs are done, carrying with it immerse potential for improving productivity".	Smith, B. 1997. "Empowerment - the challenge is now" Empowerment in Organizations 5(3), MCB University Press: 120-122.
Point 29: "The need for empowerment is a direct consequence of the attempts by organizations, through de-layering and right-sizing, to increase efficiency, effectiveness and meet the needs of increased competition".	Smith, B. 1997. "Empowerment - the challenge is now" Empowerment in Organizations 5(3), MCB University Press: 120-122.
Point 30: "Managers need to give people accountability and authority to do their jobs in such a way that they feel ownership".	Smith, B. 1997. "Empowerment - the challenge is now" Empowerment in Organizations 5(3), MCB University Press: 120-122.

With a set of main points collected, the writer produces a set of cognitive map variables. These variables are informed by the set of main points from Table 1. These variables are presented in Table 2.

Table 2: Cognitive map variables based on Table 1

Cognitive map variables	Literature review points
Variable 1: Drivers to adopt empowerment practices	Point 17: "Empowerment is a pervasive positive value in American culture. The concept suggests both individual determination over one's own life and democratic participation in the life of one's community, often through mediating structures such as schools, neighborhoods, churches, and other voluntary organizations". Point 21: "Empowerment is (and has been) on nearly every community developer's mind. It appears in the program brochures on community leadership education and pervades community development language to the extent that one begins to get suspicious of the term". Point 29: "The need for empowerment is a direct consequence of the attempts by organizations, through de-layering and right-sizing, to increase efficiency, effectiveness and meet the needs of increased competition".
Variable 2: Better knowledge on the  empowerment notion	Point 1: There are two aspects of empowerment: (1) personal empowerment ("i.e., "that which individuals are responsible for doing for themselves  in order to feel empowered in their lives regardless of circumstances") and (2) non-personal empowerment (i.e., it has "to do with the way in which we work with others to nurture their sense of self-esteem, autonomy and growth"). Point 5: "... empowerment research  focuses on identifying capabilities  instead of cataloging risk factors and exploring environmental influences of social problems instead of blaming victims". Point 6: Empowerment is "an intentional ongoing process centered in the local community, involving mutual respect, critical reflection, caring and group participation, through which people lacking an equal share of valued resources gain greater access to and control other those resources". Point 13: "...empowerment is an emerging construct used by theorists  to explain organizational effectiveness. The construct also has been widely used by other social scientists  who have dealt with issues of the powerlessness of minority groups (e.g. women, blacks and the handicapped)". Point 14: "...most management theorists have dealt with empowerment as a set of managerial techniques and have not paid sufficient  attention to its nature or the processes underlying the construct". Point 15: "At the interpersonal level, the principal sources of actor power over others are argued to be (a) the office or structural position of the actor, (b) the personal characteristics of the actor (e.g., referent power...), (c) the expertise of the actor, and (d) the opportunity for the actor to access specialized knowledge/information". Point 16: "Power in the motivational sense refers to an intrinsic need for self-determination... or a belief in personal self-efficacy". Point 18: "Empowerment conveys both a psychological sense of personal control or influence and a concern with actual social influence, political power, and legal rights. It is a multilevel construct applicable to individual citizens as well as to organizations and neighborhoods". Point 19: "... empowerment is a process, a mechanism by which people, organizations, and communities gain mastery over their affairs". Point 20: "The word "empower" ... has two related meanings: 1: to give power or authority to; authorize; and 2: to enabler or permit". Point 22: "...there are three dimensions of empowerment: self-empowerment through individual action, mutual empowerment that is interpersonal, and social empowerment in the outcomes of social action". Point 23: "Power is usually defined behaviorally, as the ability of one actor - individual or collective - to affect the actions of another, or... power is considered as a class of "affecting behaviors" that are both social and individual". Point 25: "empowerment involves the ability to make choices and entails a process of change from being without (sufficient) power to make choices to having sufficient power to do so".
Variable 3: Better knowledge of the empower approaches	Point 2: "Empowerment in the workplace must integrate key aspects of personal empowerment, responsibility, accountability and shared risk taking". Point 3: Empowerment is "a dynamic evolutionary process in which the manager, employee and team are all involved". Point 4: "Empowerment is a construct that links individual strengths and  competencies, natural helping systems, and proactive behaviors to social policy and social change".
Variable 4: Effective real-world empowerment practices	Point 24: "Rarely..... is there an effective direct transfer of power. Instead, one can transfer power resources to another". Point 26: "..community power was closely held by a small number of elites and exercised in support of limited interests, presumably those who held the power". Point 27: "Typically, it [empowerment] embraces job involvement, job enrichment, participation in various forms,  including suggestions schemes". Point 28: "Essentially, the main thrust of empowerment is through having greater autonomy over how jobs are done, carrying with it immerse potential for improving productivity". Point 30: "Managers need to give people accountability and authority to do their jobs in such a way that they feel ownership".
Variable 5: Positive impacts of empowerment practices	Point 7: "Empowered outcomes for individuals might include situation-specific perceived control and resource mobilization skills". Point 8: Organizational outcomes of empowerment can be "development of organizational networks, organizational growth, and policy leverage". Point 9: "Community-level empowerment outcomes might include evidence of pluralism, and existence of organizational coalitions, and accessible community resources". Point 10: "...studies on leadership and management skills... suggest that the practice of empowering subordinates is a principal component of managerial and organizational effectiveness". Point 11: "... analysis of power and control within organizations... reveals that the total productive forms of organizational power and effectiveness grow with superiors' sharing of power and control with subordinates". Point 12: "...experience in team building within organizations... suggest that empowerment techniques play a crucial role in group development and maintenance".
Variable 6: Learn from empowerment practice experience	-

The next step is to relate the cognitive map variables to make up a cognitive map on empowerment. The cognitive map and its explanation are presented in the next section.

A cognitive map on empowerment and its interpretation

By relating the variables identified in Table 2, the writer comes up with a cognitive map on empowerment, as shown in Figure 1.

There are three groups of variables:

Empowerment drivers: This is covered by variable 1 (drivers to adopt empowerment practices).

Empowerment theories: These include variable 2 (better knowledge on the empowerment notion) and variable 3 (better knowledge of the empowerment approaches).

Empowerment feedback loop: They comprises variable 4 (effective real-world empowerment practices), variable 5 (positive impacts of empowerment practices) and variable 6 (learn from empowerment practice experience).

These cognitive  map variables, six of them altogether, are related to constitute a systemic image of empowerment. The links in the cognitive map (re: Figure 1) indicate direction of influences between variables. The + sign shows that an increase in one variable leads to an increase in another variable while a -ve sign tells us that in increase in one variable leads to a decrease in another variable.  If there no signs shown on the arrows, that means the influences can be positive or negative. Readers are referred to the Literature on empowerment Facebook page for more  information on the topic.

Concluding remarks

The cognitive mapping exercise captures in one diagram some of the main variables involved in empowerment. The resultant cognitive map promotes an exploratory way to study empowerment in a holistic tone. The experience of the cognitive mapping exercise is that it can be a quick, efficient and entertaining way to explore a complex topic such as empowerment in business management. Finally, readers who are interested in cognitive mapping should also find the article informative on this mapping topic.

Bibliography

1.      Conger, J.A. and R.N. Kaunungo. 1988. "The empowerment Process: Integrating Theory and Practice" The Academy of Management Review 13(3), July: 471-482.

2.      Eden, C. and P. Simpson. 1989. "SODA and cognitive mapping in practice", pp. 43-70, in Rosenhead, J. (editor) Rational Analysis for a Problematic World, Wiley, Chichester.

3.      Eden, C., C. Jones and D. Sims. 1983. Messing about in Problems: An informal structured approach to their identification and management, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

4.      Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/Literature-on-cognitive-mapping-800894476751355/).

5.      Literature on empowerment Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.empowerment/).

6.      Literature on literature review Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.literaturereview/).

7.      Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/managerial.intellectual.learning/).

8.      Open University. n.d. "Sign graph" Systems Thinking and Practice (T552): Diagramming, Open University, U.K. (url address: http://systems.open.ac.uk/materials/T552/) [visited at April 10, 2017].

9.      Pastor, J. 1996. "Empowerment: what it is and what it is not" Empowerment in Organization 4(2), Emerald: 5-7.

10. Perkins, D.D. 1995. "Empowerment Theory, Research, and Application" American Journal of Community Psychology 23(5): 569-579.

11. Pigg, K.E. 2002. "Three faces of empowerment: expanding the theory of empowerment in community development" Journal of Community Development Society 33(1): 107-123.

12. Rappaport, J. 1987. "Terms of Empowerment/ Exemplars of Prevention: Toward a Theory for Community Psychology" American Journal of Community Psychology 15(2), Plenum: 121-148.

13. Smith, B. 1997. "Empowerment - the challenge is now" Empowerment in Organizations 5(3), MCB University Press: 120-122.