Managing the empowerment of employees to address issues of inter‐employee co‐operation, communication and work redesign

This paper reports on the outcomes of a study in a service industry in which concept maps were used to facilitate the process of employees at all levels of an organisation discussing and negotiating work issues. The use of the maps in the discussions facilitated inter‐employee co‐operation and communication. Specifically the use of the maps assisted employees to understand the perspective of others, organise their own thoughts, keep on track during meetings, reduce confrontation in meetings, share information, and involve all participants. The authors include, as an example, a description of one of the nine cases in the study in which two employees redesign a component of their work, and in the process improve their working relationship, thus addressing issues of significance to both employees. The authors conclude that concept mapping is an innovative tool which can be used by employees at all levels of an organisation for co‐operative work redesign.