Найти книгу: "The Myth of Empowerment"

The Myth of Empowerment surveys the ways in which women have been represented and influenced by the rapidly growing therapeutic culture—both popular and professional—from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The middle-class woman concerned about her health and her ability to care for others in an uncertain world is not as different from her late nineteenth-century white middle-class predecessors as we might imagine. In the nineteenth century she was told that her moral virtue was her power; today, her power is said to reside in her ability to “relate” to others or to take better care of herself so that she can take care of others. Dana Becker argues that ideas like empowerment perpetuate the myth that many of the problems women have are medical rather than societal; personal rather than political.From mesmerism to psychotherapy to the Oprah Winfrey Show , women have gleaned ideas about who they are as psychological beings. Becker questions what women have had to gain from these ideas as she recounts the story of where they have been led and where the therapeutic culture is taking them.

Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute tells the story of a young manager whose attempts to turn his troubled company around through traditional top-down, command-and-control management are failing. Reluctantly, he contacts an expert in empowerment, even though he feels like he's already tried that too. Step by step, the expert helps him understand why his past and present efforts have fallen short and exactly what he needs to do to create an empowered workforce. The process as it unfolds is complex, paradoxical and counterintuitive -but well worth the effort. The new introduction dispels the notion that empowerment is a bygone fad. No matter what its name, the essential concept-that organizations can achieve extraordinary results by recognizing and taking advantage of the skills, experience, and knowledge already existing in the organization-will always be relevant. The new epilogue describes obstacles companies have encountered and overcome and outlines empowerment strategies that have proved successful during the fifteen years the authors have been consulting, researching, and refining these concepts. Although sometimes arduous, the journey to empowerment is well worth making. In fact, unleashing the power of people in an organization may be the only way to continue to do business in a competitive, complicated marketplace.