Effects of Leaders’ Transparency, Fairness and Empowerment on Personnel Performance and Work Values

Leaders play an indispensable role in every organization. Their influence on the attitudes of their subordinates is vital to the work values of the employees. There are three very important characteristics of every leader that subordinates always look for. These are transparency, fairness and empowerment. Transparency means keeping the subordinates informed. Both progress and failures are being opened to everyone and each employee are always given the chance to state his or her comments and suggestions. Transparency denotes that nothing should be kept secret especially in financial matters. It was proven that transparency in the workplace promotes long term success, continued trust, improves workers’ morale, lessens work stress and provides inspiration to subordinates. Contrary to this, many leaders don’t practice transparency due to a combination of fear, strategic and cultural factors, frequently aiming to protect their authority, the organization, or their own careers. To push transparency, leaders should promote freedom to disseminate information within the organization, set clear boundaries and manage expectations. On the other hand, fairness is one of the very important qualities that leaders should practice in order to promote harmony , good will and sense of equity in the workplace. This doesn’t mean giving everyone the same recognition but it stresses that everyone should receive equal opportunities to be recognized. Fair treatment in the workplace points to equality and fairness towards financial compensations, work payback, paid leaves, vacation time and disability benefits. Leaders should see to it that fairness in the workplace is well implemented including those policies that are accommodating and not discriminating against employees with impairments. Lastly, empowerment is a process of giving trust to subordinates and giving them the power to make decisions, thus making them feel that their decisions are also a contributory factor towards the success of the organization. This trait is very important in establishing a sustainable team as it requires an increase in trust, clear communication, and strategic delegation.