Overview of the Power Generation Company of Trinidad & Tobago Essay

PowerGen was established on 24 December 1994 with the divestment of the coevals assets of T & A ; TEC. PowerGen owns and operates the state ‘s three chief power workss at Port of Spain, Point Lisas and Penal. Twenty one of its bring forthing units are gas fired, with the bring forthing units at Port of Spain power works capable of runing either by oil or gas fire.

Our Vision is to be the taking provider of quality energy, committed to the demands of our clients and sensitive to the environment.

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Our Mission is to transcend our clients ‘ outlooks for quality energy in a safe and environmentally responsible mode, making value for our clients, employees and stockholders.

PowerGen ‘s Core Valuess are:

  • We take duty for our success and we are accountable for our actions in our administration!
  • We know our administration and the market in which we operate!
  • We identify and explore chances for growing!
  • We strive to aline our personal ends with that of the administration!
  • We promote and safeguard a positive image of PowerGen!
  • We take ownership!
  • We build reciprocally good relationships!
  • We deliver consequences!
  • We care for state!

PowerGen recognizes that its hereafter prosperity depends to a big extent on the hiring determinations made today. To this terminal, it is the policy of the Company to enroll the right individuals for the right places and to keep a work force best suited for the available places through ongoing preparation and development. The Company subscribes to the rules of equal chance in its enlisting and choice procedures, choosing employees on the footing of virtue, competence, advancement potency and character without mention to race, cultural beginning, faith or gender.

PowerGen – Not merely Power, People excessively! 1

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1 hypertext transfer protocol: //powergen-co-tt.web25.winsvr.net/AboutUs/CoreValues/tabid/66/Default.aspx

History of PowerGen

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO ELECTRICITY COMMISSION ( T & A ; TEC ) Pie Chart

The Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission was established as a Statutory authorization in 1946 and operates under the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission Act Chapter 54:70 which was revised in 1994 to let the partial divestment of its coevals assets. The Commission now has exclusive duty for the transmittal and distribution of electricity throughout Trinidad and Tobago and presently supplies over 350,000 1000 clients.

AMOCO TRINIDAD POWER RESOURCES

One of the power subordinates of bp, a universe category oil and gas company, is AMOCO TRINIDAD POWER RESOURCES. AMOCO group which has extended experience in the power sector on a world-wide footing.

MARU ENERGY, LLC

Maru Energy, LLC is a entirely owned subordinate of Marubeni Corporation of Japan. Marubeni Corporation operates in reasonably diversified industries with a strong focal point on power sector investing globally. Marubeni has built 72,000 MW of bring forthing works around the universe, and presently owns equity involvement in bring forthing capacity in aggregative 17.000 MW.2

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2 hypertext transfer protocol: //powergen-co-tt.web25.winsvr.net/AboutUs/Shareholders/tabid/63/Default.aspx

Present Day at PowerGen

PowerGen is a portion of the dynamic energy sector in Trinidad and Tobago. It provides electricity to the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission. It employees about 2,000 employees which are distributed at the three power workss and the chief caput office situated around the state.

The oldest power works located in the capital metropolis of Port-of-Spain is tentatively commissioned for closing by 2013. This is to be replaced by a new mechanized power works situated in the suburban country of the metropolis. This has sparked unrest among the employees since information obtained through the pipelines point to restructuring of staff doing the administration leaner.

In add-on, the physical environment has been a cause for concern. Even though they follow high safety criterions on Monday 24th May, 2010 there was a fire in the Port-of-Spain power works which disrupted the electricity around the neighbouring constituencies.3 Apart from that, the two deceases caused by an detonation in June 26th, 2006 at the Penal power works still resonates fright in the heads of employees.4

Recently, there seems to be an addition in employee absenteeism, high rate of employee turnover, low employee morale, hapless productiveness and diminishing profitableness. To happen out the grounds for this, in December 2009 a survey was conducted trusting to relieve these debatable issues in order to stay profitable in anp increasing competitory environment.

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3 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.news.gov.tt/index.php? news=3981

4 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Coroner__Arrest_PowerGen_employee-110895929.html

Introduction

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“ Many of us spend a good trade of our life working. At work, we make friends, learn about ourselves, grow and develop, we become advanced, energized and stimulated. Working hand in glove with others, we are able to make positive energy that gives us joy and added value to our companies ” ( Lynda Gratton, 2007 ) .

“ Peoples are the chief resource of any administration. Without its members an administration is nil, an administration is merely every bit good as the people who work within it ” ( Mullins 2010 ) . Therefore, the effectual direction of the “ people resource ” is extremely of import for an administration ‘s endurance and success particularly in an extremely dynamic and competitory environment which encompasses most administrations.

In Essence, the survey of Organisational Behaviour ( OB ) is intrinsic for the administration ‘s success. “ Organizational Behaviour is concerned with the survey of the behavior of the people within an organizational scene. It involves the apprehension, anticipation and control of human behavior ” ( Mullins, 2010 ) .

Johns and Saks ( 2005 ) refer to OB as the systematic survey of the attitudes and behaviors of persons and groups in administrations and supply penetration about efficaciously pull offing and altering them. In add-on, OB could be by and large defined as the survey and apprehension of single and group behavior and forms of construction in order to assist better organizational public presentation and effectivity ( Robbins and Judge, 2007 ) .

Therefore, the survey of OB is concerned with many aspects of organizational life and harmonizing to Hellriegel, Slocum and Woodman ( 1999 ) , “ One manner to recognize why people behave as they do at work is to see an administration as an iceberg. What sinks ships is n’t ever what crewmans can see, but what they ca n’t see. ” Therefore, it is merely every bit of import to analyze the covert behavioral facets of an administration ( attitudes, communicating forms, informal squad procedures, personality, underlying competences and accomplishments and struggle ) every bit good as the overt formal facets such as ; engineering, formal ends, regulations and ordinances, administration design, physical installations and surface competences and accomplishments. With this in head, the PowerGen Company will be evaluated utilizing four chief OB issues in order to see the administration holistically. These are: administration construction, leading manners, motive and group kineticss.

Statement of Problem

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Mullins ( 2010 ) , work administrations are structured to make an environment that facilitates optimal on the job conditions. In order for maximal productiveness to take topographic point rapprochement of the administration ‘s demands with that of the employees ‘ must go on. Therefore, an rating of the workers ‘ demands and PowerGen ‘s demands to cognize whether there is synergy or inharmoniousness is necessary.

Purposes and Aims

In this survey, there will be an rating of organizational behavior issues in relation to the Power Generation Company to measure the causes for the current deficiency of productiveness.

Aims:

To measure the importance of holding a good organizational construction and how this impacts on the behavior of employees and the overall public presentation of the administration.

To find the consequence of leading manner on the behavior of employees and their degree of committedness to undertakings.

To measure the impact of power and authorization in the administration and how this impacts on behavior.

To measure if a relationship exists between motive and employee productiveness.

To urge any necessary alterations in order to work out the issues stated above.

Literature Review and Analysis

Administration Structure:

William jennings bryans and Cronin ( 1983 ) province, a concern establishes an administration construction in an effort to make a model to ease the meeting of aims. This construction in the administration has an impact on functions, communicating flow, location of authorization and duty, efficiency and effectivity. Besides, it serves as the “ formal power base or hierarchy within the administration, and constitutes an of import influence in the development of members ‘ attitudes and behavior. ”

Baptiste ( 2000 ) asserts that administration construction is a manner of apportioning work functions, administrative and other duties that creates a form of interconnected work activities and allows the administration to carry on, organize and command its work activities.

Nathan birnbaums and Stalker ( 1963 ) as cited in Baptiste ( 2000 ) separate two types of administrations. These are: “ mechanistic ” and “ organismal ” which is subsequently known as “ organic. ” A mechanistic administration is stiff and is good suited for a bureaucratic construction where determination devising is everyday and the environment is a comparatively stable one. On the other manus, an organismal administration is flexible since the environment is quickly altering and requires non-routine and innovatory determination devising.

Harmonizing to Burns and Stalker ( 1963 ) , PowerGen operates as a mechanistic construction with a high grade of specialised occupations with each degree of the hierarchy holding immediate supervising and coordination. There is a hierarchal construction of control, in add-on to authorization and communicating. To reenforce the hierarchal construction, there is centralization of information and decision-making at the top of the hierarchy. Besides, there is “ perpendicular interaction ” between higher-ups and subsidiaries. Last, trueness to the administration is enforced every bit good as obeisance to higher authorization. All of these features can impact on the morale of employees and productiveness.

Centralised decision-making isolates senior direction from the remainder of the administration and hence, subsidiaries tend to experience a sense of disaffection. They feel isolated from the company ‘s ends and aims because there is no integrating of employees to concern scheme and aims. This disaffection can take down employee morale and lower productiveness degrees. Harmonizing to Karl Marx ( 1844 ) as cited in Barnard, Burgess and Kirby ( 2004 ) , disaffection is a systemic consequence of capitalist economy which is built-in in the work environment. For Marx, within the capitalist manner of production, workers lose finding of their lives and fates because they are deprived of the right to believe of themselves as the manager of their actions, to specify their ain relationship with others, to utilize or have the value of what is produced by their actions. Workers can ne’er go independent, self-realized human existences because they are directed into ends and activities dictated by the middle class or in this instance senior direction, who owns or has control over the agencies of production which allows them to pull out the maximal sum of excess value from the workers to enable competitory advantage. Alienation in this capitalist system occurs because workers can merely show their individualism through a production system that is non jointly, but in private owned in which each person maps non as a societal being, but as an instrument.

Henri Fayol ( 1916 ) , in his book ‘Administration Industrielle et Generate ‘ as cited in Marino ( 2010 ) developed a list of 14 rules which depicts the procedure for obtaining a good administration construction and demonstrates how to accomplish profitableness. ( See Appendix B, Table 1 for a comprehensive list. )

From critical scrutiny of this list it is apparent that PowerGen has a perpendicular division of labor which is necessary for truth and effectivity given the critical nature of the occupation but does non fulfill the societal demands of the workers. Discipline is non-existent in the administration because there is no sense of regard between employees. Employees are ever utilizing blasphemous linguistic communication towards supervisors and employees are ever showing their concerns in a dissatisfied mode. Built-in in this administration is hapless integrity of bid. Subordinates study to multiple foremans which creates confusion harmonizing to Fayol.

This hierarchal construction which encapsulates a perpendicular division of labor, formal regulations and processs and harmonizing to Fayol ( 1916 ) , a scalar concatenation of bid represents a bureaucratic construction proposed by Max Weber ( 1964 ) . Weber ‘s thoughts stressed the importance of direction through reason that is, “ rational legal authorization ” every bit good as underscoring the regulations and ordinances of the workplace to keep order and control. Weber saw bureaucratism as an ideal type, a theoretical account of a conjectural pure signifier of an bing entity which has the undermentioned features: division of labor, hierarchy of authorization, public office, virtue choice, calling form and nonsubjective regulations as seen in PowerGen ‘s nucleus values. 5

Although bureaucratisms are going less popular amongst most administrations today, it is still present within administrations such as PowerGen which is due to the fact that high hazards ( fire, detonation, employee hurts and loss of life ) associated with the occupation requires a stable stiff construction ( Mullins, 2010 ) . Therefore, a bureaucratic construction is necessary in this case.

Nathan birnbaums and Stalker ( 1963 ) as cited in Bryans and Cronin ( 1983 ) inquiry the “ goodness of tantrum ” of bureaucratic administrations to the economic and societal environments facing them. Specialization or division of work would de-motivate the workers since they would non see the holistic position of the work they are making. In add-on, bureaucratic administrations are criticised for holding excessively much “ ruddy tape. ” This creates communicating jobs where the sending and receiving of information can be delayed which are particularly critical when exigencies occur.

Inter alia, Argyris ( 1964 ) as cited in Bryans and Cronin ( 1983 ) composing from the Neo-Human Relations School claims that bureaucratic administrations restrict the person ‘s psychological growing doing feelings of failure, defeat and struggle. He suggests that there should be single duty, self-denial and an chance for persons to use their full abilities within the administration. Not being able to make this could ensue in de-motivation of staff, as they could easy acquire bored due to the humdrum occupation in which they perform.

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5 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ega.edu/facweb/strickland/soci1101online/CHAPTEROUTLINES/OutlineCHAPTER06.html

Merton ( 1940 ) as cited in Barnard, Burgess and Kirby ( 2004 ) is the chief critic of Weber ‘s bureaucratism being an ideal type. He advocated the “ disfunctions of bureaucratism. ” Merton observed that people in bureaucratisms such as employees of PowerGen develop “ trained incapacity ” , in which regulations are obeyed for their ain interest instead than as a agency to an terminal. Besides, the hiring patterns may be based on a stiff set of formal demands instead than the ability to execute the undertakings involved in a occupation. Last, existent jobs do non ever suit into the compartments designed to manage them ; this can take to the “ run around ” for people seeking to decide jobs.

In add-on to a bureaucratic construction, PowerGen displays a functional construction as depicted in Appendix A, Figure 1. Mintzberg ( 1983 ) argues that “ machine bureaucratism ” is extremely formalised and there are direct supervising and standardization of work procedures. This type of administration is necessary due to the fact that work processs, if altered can ensue in accidents and loss of life. Therefore, functional constructions allow maximal supervising and control. Besides, the demand for specialized people to pull off complex jobs and state of affairss where good decision-making is cardinal to the operations is necessary.

However, good decision-making besides entails speedy decision-making which can be a job with functional constructions. Centralised decision-making by the pull offing manager or senior direction squad is understood accordingly, due to the increasing size of the administration ; communicating can be slow, nerve-racking and have “ ruddy tape. ” Gordon ( 1996 ) argues that a functional construction is non appropriate where rapid communicating is necessary. Therefore, the disadvantages antecedently outlined by holding a mechanistic, bureaucratic and functional administration construction may the ground for loss of productiveness and unhappy employees.

Leadership Manner:

Charles Handy ( 1976 ) states that, “ a leader is one who shapes and portions a vision which gives point to the work of others. ” Bryans and Cronin ( 1983 ) argue that leading is a critical portion of the control system in an administration. If executed good, directors can act upon the behavior and attitudes of their subsidiaries.

PowerGen being a bureaucratic construction, the executive and line directors subscribe to an bossy leading manner ( Lewin et al. 1939 ) . By implementing this manner of leading, productiveness remains high but when direction is non present there is a important diminution in productiveness. In add-on, workers develop a casual attitude to work when they are non coerced to make so. There is a high committedness degree to finish undertakings when the bossy manner is used nevertheless, if workers are left entirely, they are non committed to completion of their undertakings. Recently, direction used a advisory manner as advocated by Likert ( 1961 ) and there has been more cooperation from employees and a two – manner exchange of information.

It can be argued that the bossy leading manner employed is centred on commanding the work force. For Lewin et Al. ( 1939 ) and The Survey Research Centre at the University of Michigan ( 1950s and 1960s ) cited in Bryans and Cronin ( 1983 ) assert that an bossy leading manner might ease productiveness but occupation satisfaction and employee morale can be badly affected. Using a democratic or participative attack is more suitable for pull offing workers since they can be involved in the decision-making procedure of how to transport out undertakings which is done by group treatments ( Mullins, 2010 ) .

However, Fiedler ( 1967 ) and Tannenbaum and Schmidt ( 1958 ) as cited in Baptiste ( 2000 ) argue that the leading manner entirely of a director does non promote or deter employees ‘ productiveness degrees. There are situational variables that must be taken into history. For case, the employees at PowerGen might non desire to be given liberty of their actions and may prefer to be led. In add-on, the undertakings to be carried out at PowerGen would necessitate leaders with proficient expertness and cognition to depute workers and guarantee efficiency in workers ‘ responsibilities hence, the leading function can non be taken lightly and handed over to subsidiaries. As such, the situational leader is the ideal type.

In add-on, the statement rewards on whether or non leaders are born and non made. The position that leaders are born is gleaned from the trait theory. Gordon ( 1996 ) asserts that more than one 100 surveies indicate that leading traits are built-in in the individual ‘s societal and physical features. This position has been extremely criticised. For the eventuality theoreticians, leaders are non born but besides can non be made. They doubt the fact that person can be trained to bring forth an ideal manner of leading. PowerGen implements leading preparation programmes for directors and supervisors but harmonizing to Fiedler ( 1967 ) it is easier to alter the state of affairs of the leader than to alter the leader ‘s manner.

As Mullins ( 2010 ) provinces there is no 1 “ best ” leading manner. Different leading manners are needed to get by with different organizational state of affairss. Different types of leading may besides change at different phases in the development of an administration. Leadership entirely can non increase productiveness and efficiency ; it must be coupled with other factors to be good.

Power and Authority:

Dahl ( 1957 ) as cited in Bryans and Cronin ( 1983 ) interprets power as the capableness to exert influence over the behavior of others. As such that A has something ( power ) over B to the extent that A can acquire B to move in a certain manner that B would non usually do. While, authorization is when person has the right to enforce influence and is tantamount to legalize power.

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