In leadership practice, which approach is characterized by giving employees more authority and responsibility to decide how to achieve goals?

• A. Empowerment
• B. Control
• C. Autocracy
• D. Compliance

Answer: (A)

Empowerment is about giving people more authority and responsibility to decide how to reach goals. It means trusting team members to use their judgment, providing the resources and guidance they need, and holding them accountable for the outcomes. This approach boosts initiative, ownership, and speed of action because decisions don’t have to travel up the chain for every detail, as long as safety and policy boundaries are respected. In practice, you might let frontline crew determine the best tactical approach to a task within those boundaries, rather than having every step approved from above.

The other options don’t fit this description. Control relies on tight supervision and centralized decision-making, leaving little room for employee initiative. Autocracy centers decision power in a single leader, with minimal input from others. Compliance focuses on following rules and directives rather than empowering individuals to decide how to achieve goals.