Empowerment: An endeavour to explain an enigma

Empowerment has become one of the most common coins in the currency of total quality management (TQM). It is a word which is making ever more frequent appearances in both the literature and language of TQM, yet, paradoxically, it has remained a word lacking connotation for it has not been subject to precise definition. It none the less conveys positive values, it is something which must be strived for and its implementation is unfailingly advocated for the benefits which it can impart to any TQM initiative.