Empowering Lower Level Employees: Bridging the Corporate Decision-Making Gap

1. Bottom – Up Corporate Policy/Decision Making Empowering Lower Level Employees to Affect Upper Level Decision Making

2. The Idea: My Goals • How can lower level employees affect upper level decision making in regards to the environment or any other corporate policy? • Once research is complete and input from young professionals has been received, create guidelines to help young professionals feel empowered to affect change in their companies.

3. My Research So Far • Still working on current and past corporate American culture. • What am I looking for? • Does upper management value entry level employees’ ideas? • How did up down culture evolve? • What are consequences of speaking up? • Why do lower level employees feel helpless to affect company policy?

4. Dialogue Findings • All felt that change from the bottom up is possible. • Providing facts is important before speaking up with ideas. • Strength in numbers is important • Form groups with or without company blessing • Have middle management help you. • Work on your proposals and ideas outside of work. Self motivation is very important.

5. My Action Research Cycle Research – Academic and Dialogue/Brainstorming Sessions • Evaluate – What have I learned? • Rough Draft and Feedback – What do peers think? • Reflection and synthesizing of information – Take feedback into account to previous research. • Planning – Create final guidelines

6. Where do I go next? • Finish background research. • Create preliminary guidelines and present to peers for feedback. • Analyze all information gathered from research and feedback. • Create guidelines for lower level employees to create change in upper level decisions regarding company environmental policy or other policies.