The Needs for Change at Election Law Enforcement Commission - Essay Example

The deregulation of the market for supplying electricity to the country was the dominant driving force for ELEC’s change. The organization has been regarded as a monopoly and its structure, organizational climate, and processes had been originally designed to manifest job security to the workforce. In addition, the deregulation invited competitors to supply electricity at cheaper rates. This required ELEC to review the current rates charged to their clients and had to make the necessary adjustments to meet competitor’s rates; otherwise, they would experience declining profits due to the shifting of clientele to other competitors who offer electricity at significantly lower rates.

Likewise, the move of the government to “further regulatory demands in a new electricity act” (Lohmann & Steyaert, 2006, par. 7), prompted ELEC to seek other means of reducing costs further. And finally, changes in organizations, including applications of ‘Human Resources’ to replace ‘Personnel’; as well as the emergence of flexible work schedules required immediate adjustments in ELEC through practicing these principles in their work setting. The entry of a new CEO from an external organization brought new attitudes and initiatives for change through the dismantling of units and retrenchment.

From the external environmental factors that prompted ELEC to change in order to survive, there were drastic internal problems that ensued from the process. The reaction of the personnel ranged from anxiety, insecurity, quandary, feelings of dissatisfaction, loss of orientation, and exhaustion (Lohmann & Steyaert, 2006). The internal problems which emerged included human resources problems manifested through low morale, work overload, fatigue, and job insecurity as a result of cost cutting through minimization of space, the closing of units, and retrenchment.

Other internal problems were managerial and supervisory problems through lack of proper and effective communication to establish the need for the change and to disseminate information, lack of involvement of personnel in the change process, and lack of abilities of change agents to manage change. In addition, structural changes that were implemented to minimize costs included reorganization, limited resources, and having to adapt to innovative practices (flexible work hours, changes in work settings, and physical movements of office equipment and personnel) also caused internal problems.