Utility Organizations Excellence - Coursework Example

Published work on organization utilities

Utility organizations deal with supplying various requirements to the citizens in a certain nation. They thus require excellent performance to ensure satisfaction of the people (Kerzner, 2010). Organizational excellent is, therefore, the continuous efforts of establishing an internal framework of processes and standards which are supposed to motivate and engage the workers so as to deliver services and products which will fulfill the requirements of the customers within the expectations of business.

The organization is the group of people who are combined under particular management leadership to function to attain a set goal. Excellence, on the other hand, is the measure of the performance which is superior and consistency which is more than the requirements and expectations without showing any flaws (Evans and Lindsay, 2002). In utility organizations, excellence is measured by the level of consistency in the production and the distribution of the product in question and attaining high levels of satisfaction, without wasting the resources to achieve it.

For organizational excellent to be attained, there are various approaches which require being followed (Cook, 2011). The attributes of organizational excellent are tactical scheduling; governance; business results; market and consumer motivation; procedure supervision; focus on human resource and information and investigation.

Contribution

A study carried out by the “European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM)” illustrated that people; leadership; strategy; society results; business results; services, processes and products; resources and partnerships and consumer results determine the excellence of business.

Awards

The “Deming prize” was generated by the “Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE)” with particular awards for people and firms and operating divisions. The awards ranged from quality information, management, education, analysis, standardization, quality assurance, planning, and results (Goetsch, 2013). The different perspectives applied for shows that the traits of excellence in are constant across nations and cultures which are different.

Management of organizational excellent is necessary to make sure that there will be no recording of failure which already has been achieved. For the success to be achieved, it is necessary to integrate infrastructure, technology, and personnel (Pellicer et al., 2012). In utility organizations, there should be research on the advanced technology so that it can be used in improving the products. Infrastructure should be improved to make sure that there will be no hindrances on the transportation of the services and the products.

At times the excellence of the organization can be the result of transformational and transitional activities. For the success to be achieved, there need to be management and improvement of various main elements. Information is the first key, and there is a need to determine the metric, the measurements which will result in the decision that will be made. The structure is the second key, and it states the roles and responsibilities of the organizational staff and accountability of each area (Kubr, 2002). The third element is the people, and it is the total human capital within the firm. The rewards are the fourth element, and they are sued for compensation to the hardworking employees and incentives to motivate the staff members. The learning system is given to all members of the business, and it is used to train them and pass knowledge on how to achieve excellence (Nicoletti, 2013). The last key factor is the working processes which cater for the interaction and cooperation of the workflows.

Organizational excellence in corporate utilities depends on having sufficient commitment to embracing and using positive changes in the key areas elements. For excellence to be achieved there has to be shifts in the management and the functions and it is necessary to communicate it to the staff members to reduce any uncertainty and hindrances (Lal, 2008). Collaboration is a critical thing where balance scorecard in applied in utility organizations and it covers different perspectives such as customer; learning and growth; financial and internal business processes.

Organizational excellence cannot be termed as absolute though it is incremental. There are maturity levels which show the different characteristics of the company. Through the levels, it can be determined the levels which are unreachable, and they should be avoided to reduce wastage of resources, and all the stakeholders should recognize how to collaborate and use their different capabilities to attain success. With the attainment of the maturity level, one is able to determine the excellence standards of the company (British Quality Foundation, 1994).

Statement 

It is necessary to pursue organizational excellence as it will benefit the company externally and internally. It boosts the appeal and prestige of the firm since an excellent performing business is admired by any people thus attracting other customers. It results in well-paid employees since the returns of the company are great, and with satisfied clients, there will be efficient operations. Research has shown that the utility companies have a 3:1 ratio of the benefit-to-cost analysis, showing how excellence in the firm is beneficial (Morgan, 1999).

Utility organizations operate by the notion that good is no longer good enough and they have to go a mile extra to achieve it. It is critical for maintaining client satisfaction and growth of the business. Being excellent is to make sure that the firm competes favorable in the market and with the different methods used by other companies; the utility firms have to make sure that they are above it all.

For excellence to be achieved, it is guided by five pillars recognized as the five pillars of excellence. All the components need to be integrated since neglecting of some is a recipe for failure. Excellence is designed as a permanent change, and with the cooperation of the pillars it can be attained and achieved. These supports are process organization; venture administration; change supervision; information managing and resource execution (Prosser, 2014).

Some utility organizations are in fear of trying something new due to failure or negative results. In process management, there need to consider the different methods such as the requirements of output between the customers and the process owners and the suppliers and the process owners. The process of transforming those who supply inputs to turn them into outputs so as to meet quality requirements and customer performance is a part of process administration (Westcott, 2005). Measuring the performance is necessary to determine the pitfalls that need to be looked into and the areas which have achieved improvements.

Project management deals with the determination of the projects which are likely to be successful and those which will fail thus reducing chances of excellence (Jonker and Eskildsen, 2009). There are projects which are poor in utility organizations, such as those which use too much finances and does not give a high return. Failure of such projects results from variances, poor planning, scope creep, exceptions and delays, poor time utilization, lack of skills required, lack of preparedness to the staff on the changes that will take place.

Change management is necessary since, without the members of the utility adapting to the changes established, there will be not success recorded, and instead failure will result. Staff members are usually reluctant to adapt to the change, and they show resistant behavior (Seligman, 2012). The top administration requires being the one to act as role models of change so that the organization staff can follow.

Since change is inevitable, it is paramount to determine how to manage it so as to be successful. It starts by defining what sectors will be modified, and then defining how to change it and then making the change happen. Most research done on change has been a theoretical framework. Changing it to be practical has been faced with various challenges. It is necessary to make sure that training is undertaken for all people to be aware of the changes (Spoonley, Dupuis and De Bruin, 2004). For instance, the introduction of IT in the utility organizations may challenge most of the employees who do not have any idea about computer application. Therefore, after the launch of the change, these members should be educated and shown the important of embracing the change. With the acceptance of change, the organization is bound to record excellence in their performances (Morgan, 1999).

Resource management pillar is supposed to make sure that resource allocation is done and utilization to achieve high-quality production carried out. Whether the resources are much or less, it is necessary to plan how to utilize them and avoid wasting (Ibbs and Reginato, 2002). For the resources to be utilized effectively, it is paramount to establish people with knowledge on the areas which they will operate best, so that maximum utilization can be noted.

The knowledge management is the last pillar. For excellent to be achieved, all members require to be aware of the change and how excellent is expected to be delivered. It may be through managing the finances or utilizing the available resources to attain satisfaction (Akintoye, Goulding and Zawdie, 2012). The staff members should be made aware through training so that they can all work towards achieving high levels of excellence. The combination of the five pillars and the inclusion of all the employees as well as the top management cooperation will result in the business being competitive by attaining excellence.

In conclusion, the management of the five pillars to achieve success in the utility organizations runs across various threads such as teamwork; communication; respect; empowerment; honesty; fairness; quality; technology and leadership (Grant, 2010). Excellence is built on management which turns the employee into a responsible person who works towards the achievement of excellence of the company.