Can organizational empowerment work in multinational settings?

Multinational companies face serious challenges from a dynamic and complex global economy-challenges that compromise the effectiveness of traditional management methods. Empowerment can address these challenges if managers are willing to take the steps to create a culture of structural empowerment, while also taking into account the impact of national culture differences. Strong evidence suggests that empowerment comes to life and has positive impacts on performance and efficiency when managers use the following three interrelated keys: share accurate information, create autonomy via boundaries, and replace hierarchical thinking with self-managed teams. To avoid failed empowerment efforts in multinational settings, managers must understand several specific issues they will face when using these three keys in such settings, where cultures vary along four dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism, and assertiveness focus. This article defines empowerment in practical terms and explains how to create a culture of empowerment using the three keys. The four dimensions of national culture are used to examine in detail how national culture differences can impede or facilitate utilization of the three keys to empowerment. A number of specific multinational examples are provided throughout the discussion. We conclude with specific guidelines for successful creation of organizational empowerment in multinational settings.