Knowledge Intensive Firms and Knowledge Workers - Research Paper Example

Knowledge Intensive Firms and Knowledge Workers: A Case of Southern Company Introduction Southern Company is an American electric public utility holding company. The headquarters is located in Atlanta, Georgia, in the Southern region of the United States. However, other offices are located in Birmingham, Alabama[Goo15]. Today, Southern Co. Operates as a public utility that not only constructs, owns, and acquires, but also manages asset generation such as projects on renewable energy. Furthermore, the company is one of the many that sell electricity to American consumers at affordable and market-oriented rates. All electricity is sold to on wholesale in the market under the regulation of FERC. Southern power continues to find opportunities to implement its strategy of creating value through its numerous transactions such as asset acquisition and selling, establishment of novel power plants, entrance into Power Plants Associations mostly with other investor owned utilities, municipalities, independent power producers, and electric co-operatives[Goo15]. In Southern Co’s operations, FERC plays the crucial role of providing the operation regulations instead of following traditionally defined state regulations like any other traditional operating company. Though operating as one large company, the Southern Company operates under several leveraged leases such as Southern LINC Wireless that offers digital wireless communications for Southern Co.’s uses. Purpose and Scope For purposes of this paper, the evaluation Southern Company is limited to company’s proactive approach to prepare for disaster recovery. For a long time, Hurricane Katrina has been known for its numerous complex challenges such as 100% loss of power for customers, 65% of power delivery system damages, 97% loss of power generation capacity, approximately 9,000 damaged or damaged power poles, transformer damages, 100% dilapidated corporate offices, and more than half of the residents suffering noteworthy damages for their homes[War06]. Other challenges experienced during the Katrina hurricane are communication loss and devastation infrastructure. Through its investment and prioritization of knowledge base management, Southern Co. effectively planned on eliminating the challenges associated with the Katrina Hurricane through approaches such as a reduction in the time duration required to restore power to its customers, provision of family services, assisting employees with personal losses, and daily provision of thousands of fuel gallons daily. External analysis provides an analysis of the relevant industry Southern Co. today experiences huge growth opportunities given the population growth associated with America’s Southeastern region. In addition, there is also an increasing wave of acceptability of renewable energy to the growing population, resulting in a huge market for potential growth. These opportunities are emphasized by Southern Company’s close working relations with the United States Department of Energy on numerous projects such as smart grid incentives and infrastructure distribution and transmission[Vio06]. Through this close working relationship, Southern Co. has been granted the responsibility of governing the National Carbon Capture Center under DOE. This way, the company gains valuable knowledge and information to guide its development of policies to protect the environment from harmful gases and chemicals. Furthermore, Southern Co. has invested in next generation technology for electric transmission system and next generation creation of technologies for carbon capture. For instance, the company’s Kemper power plant has implemented TRIG advanced technology for coal gasification as a way of reducing the costs of and pollution due to coal breaking. Internal analysis The company operates under simplified philosophies such as excellence in fundamentals, acquisition of success with major construction, people development and value[Bal061]. The philosophies began with three men who enlightened a faded American legacy through seeing what others could not and harnessing the courage to provide electricity to regions considered underdeveloped while inspiring a growing workforce. In addition, the company operates under subsidiaries to develop a truly diverse generation portfolio that utilizes all available sources of fuel. To meet this goal, Southern Co. has committed $ 1 Billion to assist consumers to efficiently use energy by 2020 thus securing America’s energy future. In order to deal with the Katrina Storm proactively and efficiently, Southern Co. reinforced its Information Technology to ensure that their disaster manual was efficiently reviewed and updated annually, notify employees to protect printers, PCs, and phones; issue storm radios, fully charged prior to the storm; inspect generators and alarms; and work with MPC for food, fuel, lodging, and tree trimming coordination[Bal061]. The IT team was also obliged to pre-arrange mobile trailers and satellites agreements, and technology restoration for use in controlling nearly lost electrical network in affected areas. Through these strong IT preparation, engineers managed to access design plans after the hurricane and use them as guidance to restore power and damaged substations repair. This was a great improvement that eliminated the need for physically tacking down plans in files for hours[Vio06]. Consequently, power, in Katrina 2005 was restored within 12 days, unlike the traditionally estimated four weeks. Southern Co has a strong culture that is transferred from one generation to the other and eagerly carried forward. For more than a century, southern company has been learning from its predecessors to equip its present workforce and position itself for the future[Rui12]. As a result, the company has managed to maintain a lasting legacy of genuine commitment to communities and customers served. In terms of customers’ future, the company’s value of innovation and common sense policies guaranteed leadership in clean, reliable, safe, and affordable future of energy. However, Southern Co.’s dependence on subsidiary calls for payment of huge dividends yet the company is limited to the southeastern market of the United States. Other drawbacks are higher expenses incurred in the litigation concerning the Mirant subsidiary. Conclusion Southern Company’s response to the Katrina Hurricane in 2005 was a turning point in the way America responded to hurricane disasters. Knowledge application involved intensive research of past challenges in recovering from hurricanes, preparation in disaster recovery, and training of a personnel. The implications included reduction in the number of days required to bring back communication, provide power to victims, and offer other support including food. The establishment of Southern Company as a super-regional utility is due to the company’s investment in creating a knowledge legacy for generations of its employees,investment in advanced information technology resources, and working with FERC regulations to provide clean, affordable, and reliable energy today and in future. References Goo15: , (Google Finance, 2015), Goo15: , (Google Finance, 2015, p. 1), War06: , (Ward, 2006, pp. 7-13), Vio06: , (Violino, 2006, p. 1), Bal061: , (Ball, 2006, p. 24), Bal061: , (Ball, 2006, p. 22), Rui12: , (Ruiz, Benefield, Horton, Nielens, & Akins, 2012, pp. 12-14), Read More