Literature Review, Methodology, and Questionnaire

The Importance of the Study:
This study came as a unique trial to measure the degree of applying the empowerment and change management in the Kuwaiti public sector due to the absence such practical studies. The importance of this study is increasing when considering (public sector), as most of concerned studies in this regard try to apply its study on the private sector. In general this study has its importance from what it provides to the receivers (students, stakeholders, officials, decision makers) of information and statistical, analytical, theoretical data about the subject of the empowerment and change management and the degree of its adoption or application on the public sector’s institutions so that the study importance has two aspects:
1. The theoretical aspect, this study provide an organized scientific material to the main researchers’ contributions in this field about the subject of empowerment and change management by identifying the contents, indicators and its importance to the adopted authorities (Ministry of Health and Council of Ministries General Secretariat).

2. The practical aspect in the managerial level, this study seeks to put a and experienced scientific material between the reader’s hand, it provides a statistical and mathematical data unveils the level of applying the change and empowerment management in its community, so that it described to the competent persons the failure aspects (weak points) in that application and the strength points to finds solutions for the first and promote the second.

3. Whether in the theoretical or practical level, this study fill the clear academic and knowledge shortage in this aspect through exploring empowerment and change management in Kuwait Public sector, and open the scope to more supplementary, promoted or more specialized studies on the subject of the empowerment and change management as a two terms and administrative mechanisms deserve the study and research.

The Study Terminology:
Empowerment management:
It is to provide the opportunity for staff of the initiative and work independently in their decisions, according to the new developments and conditions of their work environment (pivateau, 2012: 4), as well as means to give the employee an opportunity for adventure and risk-taking, without prejudice to the organizational goals and a message and a vision the institution, and its role in the decision-making process, with a view to achieving the administrative efficiency and behavior innovative, it is meant to enable workers to new responsibilities and powers of the work of the organizational structure is not centrally located and a culture of innovative with do not contravene with the objectives and vision of the Organization (dehghani & other, 2014: 1133) measured by indicators: meaning (significance), option (self-determination), efficiency and impact.
Change management:
It is the systematic approach for the transformation of individuals and teams and organizations from the current situation to the desired future state, to achieve, or the implementation of the vision and strategy for the Organization’s future, and the process of organizational aims to enable staff to accept and adopt changes in the present environment (Sheldon, 2011: 5), the following operations: planning for change, change management, promoting change, the scientific methodology for change (Creasey, 2007: 4).

Proposed Solution:
With the beginning of the 21st Century, massive changes had been occurred affected the corporates’ organizational scene as a result to the science and technology advances, emersion of the global market, economic groups such North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and European Union (EU) and other factors that require creating more effective practices in terms of cost, operation and move toward the customers which obliged to move toward employees’ empowerment by giving them more authority and responsibilities of their work than they were got in the conventional organizational methods ( Ahearne& Others, 2005:945).
The globalization is the factor which led to create new work mechanisms in the global economy and spread of the direct foreign investment which let the organizations to exploit the external resources to be financed, possibility to widen and spread throughout the world, the globalization led to change the production mechanisms, trends toward specialization and increasing the competition level, all of the foregoing push the organizations to create new methods in the management and organize its various administrative operations specially what the changes and factors produced of worn the middle management centers out in that organizations by trending toward the decentralization in the management, decision and empowering the staff of lower level and the hierarchy.
The most dramatically change that the last century witnessed was represented by the nature of the organization was changes, as the human capital became one of the stakeholders in the new organization, while the past organizations specifying the stakeholders by the property holders, material assets and shareholders. The capital was the main motor, energy of the organization and its management. Nowadays, the capital amount is not a condition to the organization success and progress and it is not the motor of the organization, while the human capital which has the capability of innovation and creating new pioneer ideas and creative methods able to survive in an increasing competition environment, which all pushed to highlight the empowerment on the high priority list of the administrative work in the today corporations in addition to the engagement of what is called of the change management (Marin, 2003: 3-4).
Today, the developed and changeable global economy is more competitor and more dynamically, many organizations realized that achieving the difference between it and other organizations based on its employees behaviors to promote the productivity and capable of survive and competition. Many studies’ results showed that the performance of the employee is restricted to some circumstances and nature / psychological factors, the circumstances factors include: organizational policies, administrative practices and procedures, self-independency and teamwork.
The nature factors include: the personal characteristics, needs, situations, preferences, knowledge capability, emotional intelligence and motives. Although the circumstances factor are vast, it has a major effect on the employee performance, one of the most important circumstances factors is the “Empowerment” which has a direct effect on the performance whether on the organizational or psychological level which affect the general performance of the employee, then the empowerment exists as one of the important factors to increase the employee’s productivity (Sutherland& Others, 2007:60).
The administrative empowerment represented in the group of practices that involve the authorization of the responsibility to the lower hierarchy and giving the staff a role in making decisions in respect of carrying out their baic tasks. (Ahearne & Others.2005: 946). It is also means the knowledge, power and rewards that the employee is give regarding this operation (Empowerment), it is in the same time increasing the powers of workers acts in the organization by introducing new skills and experiences to them to support the organizational structure of the organization provided:
The empowerment activities shall be within the job description of the employees, giving the opportunity to the employees to easily access the information, support the job responsibilities of the workers and they ease of obtaining the required resources to achieve required tasks and performance of the job.
Despite of the great argument between the management scientist and thinkers in this regard about finding a specific definition to the empowerment, the argument agreed to divide the administrative empowerment to organizational empowerment and psychological empowerment. Organizational administrative empowerment means giving the employees the discretion to carry out tasks and behaviors related to their tasks by preparing the organizational environment, required policies, teamwork, exchange information, ability to make decisions which requires giving the employees the possibility to exchange information, self independent and self judge on the matters course in a climate of responsibility an transparency (Sutherland & other, 2007:61).
The psychological aspect is describing the administrative empowerment as multi-dimensional building consists of the impact (any degree where it feels the employee to work positively influence Organization), and efficiency (i.e. look at the employee in its ability to carry out its work effectively on any meaningful work and care essential functions), and option (any self-determination or autonomy to work), in short known the Empowerment on psychological aspect: the push of individuals/ staff to good performance while they relaize that they have autonomy and ability to perform meaningful work can affect the organization positively(Chen, 2007: 332)،
The psychological administrative empowerment is a motivational building to the employee to recognize (meaning, competency, impact, self making decision) about his job roles as it is measuring the realizing of the staff and permit them to use their own initiative and self judge in their roles, in other words, the empowerment is defined as giving the employees a discretion in their rendering services and performing their duties and the motive and imagination to achieve clients’ needs.
So that the empowerment is group of features, the most prominent of which are: achieve a readily response to the clients demands, providing new idea to new services, the empowerment is the main setting to the more quality of service and higher customer satisfaction, by giving the employee more discretions, so that they can resolve the problem that they or their clients faced in an efficient way, achieving many and major behavior findings such as promoting the self competence of the employee and permit them to determine best ways to provide services, fulfill the customers’ needs, as well as the empowerment gives staff kind of pride in their job performance if they were trusted ( Chow & others, 2006:484).
Because change is an integral part of the individuals, organizations and societies lives, then dealing with is considered one of the main factors and requirements to adapt and coping with the new business environment and get the opportunity; change arises from two main sources one of them is external as a result to the changes occurred to the external environment of the organization and other is internal due to the changes in the plans and work schedules, special circumstances of the organization; so that both types of the change sources require a great amount of knowledge, skills and capacities that the leader and the adaptive team acquire inside the organization to deal effectively with the change management; this process is necessary to achieve success for the individual and to the organization, but it should characterized with dynamically and applicability ( Lowder,2009: 3). Change management is an organized process aims to direct dealing and intentional with the human factors not for the planning and executing but by changing the behavior too and achieving the corporate objectives in changeable and developed environment, the requirement is achieved of changing the behavior by assisting individuals to understand and realize the change and preparing them to form a successful contributions to their corporation (McCarthy, & Eastman, 2010:22).
When we try to identify what is the meaning of change management, we find many definitions according to the vision that we look into through, when we consider the change management a systematic process, it is defined as an official process to the organization change including following an organized approach and applying the knowledge which means determining and adoption of organization strategies, structures, procedures and mechanisms to deal with change based on internal and external circumstances, i.e. it is a relatively management requires methodology based on the type of urgent change.
But when considering the change management as a method to transit individual, the change management arise as an in important part of any project lead and managed to empower the individual- employees- to accept operations, procedures, technologies, systems, structures and new work values, it is a group of activities that assist people to transit from their current method of work to the desired method, but the change management as a competitive tactic means: progressive process of harmonization the organization with the market to empower it to undertake that in more effective way to respond of the competitive market situations( Sheldon,2011: 4-5).
In general, the aim of change management is to improve the organization by changing the way of looking to how to work based on when introducing the change to the organization, change management process includes the following parts: operations, systems, organizational structure, job roles while the methods that can be used to improve the organizational is different according to the part to be changed, it is also varies based on the objective of the change management, the object may me be: increasing the competition, approaching clients or achieving competency and this is the motive of the change process, change management is a process, tool, mechanisms to manage the organizational customers to achieve the required results, in general the change management includes the following operations: plant to change, administrative change, promoting change, determining the methodology to change, while the tools of the change management determined to: individual module of change, communication, caring, training, resistance management ( change resistance) ( Creasy, 2007 :3-4).
Expected Outcome:
1. Examine the input success factors of team empowerment and change management strategy by identifying whether organization performance in the Kuwait public sector has resulted from the strategic input of empowerment practices
2. Evaluate the nature of empowerment and change management in Kuwait public service
3. Explore the existing relationships and the dynamics of team empowerment and team performance in the Kuwaiti public sectors
4. Identify the characteristic challenges that impact the implementation of strategic empowerment and change management process in the Kuwait public sector.