Electricity of Haiti: Strategic Process Guidelines

Electricity of Haiti: Strategic Process Guidelines

Leontes Dorzilme

Walden University

June 2014
 

The Haitian newspaper Le Matin (2013) reported that Haitian government grants the substantial annual inflow of 200 million to financially support the Electricity of Haiti which collects only 50 million. This governmental entity has been on deficit for so long that we can even remember. The Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe has recently resigned the dynamic and young manager whom came from the United States with a Master’s in Management. Based on the organizational life cycles as described by Bridges (2009) the organization must be revitalized or will die. This paper is aimed at analyzing the use of three main guidelines from Bryson (2011) process guidelines in crafting a strategic approach to solve the Electricity of Haiti problem.

Finding Initial Agreement on the Strategic Planning Process

The first guideline to be applied in the case of The Electricity of Haiti (EDH) is to design the stakeholder analysis (Bryson, 2011, p. 105) before the identification of the right persons and groups to forge an initial agreement. With the new government that had come in three years ago, it seems that a national agreement was found around many aspects of the public administration to be changed. At that time, people in different management levels and key stakeholders in diverse areas waited on a decision that could change forever the way the national electric company is management and its incapacity to provide services to the businesses and the families. This timing was set with the appointment of a new Director who came from the United States with a master’s degree in Management. However, the experience did not last and she had taken too long to set the new tone and to conduct a professional step by step analysis of the organization in order to confirm her capacity to reach out to the key stakeholders and to craft a strategic plan. The collaboration indispensable to conduct the change in the organization has not been reach because of a lack of clear defined vision and objectives to set a new tone. It was deceiving and surprising for observers when she was fired and replaced by a former General Director whom was her deputy. This decision made by the Haitian government was perceived mostly as a jump in the status quo. Deciding who should be involved in a new dynamic to bring change is crucial as a first step toward an effective initial agreement.

Second, identified the courageous and committed people capable to initiate and champion the process (Bryson, 2011, p. 204). The champions may not be necessarily the General Director of the organization. It needs to be an emblematic leader with a visionary and/or a transformational style for an effective transition toward change. At this point, a new sense of collaboration and teamwork may be developed into the organization (Daft, 2010). Since the organization has been for a long time on life support, the champions may work to decide if there is need to privatize the organization instead of revitalizing it. The organization is so weak that interventions should be made in all areas from organizational structure, leadership or management style, stakeholders and new image, work environment and psychological climate, objectives and resources. According to Bridges (2009) there are seven steps in the organizational life cycle. The electricity of Haiti may have already reached the dying phase, only a well crafted strategic plan may decide if it will be catalogued as died or on life support to have been running on deficit and sustained by successive governments for many years. In fact in a country such as United States, this type of organization could have already filed for bankruptcy.

The third guideline should be to form a strategic committee or task force (Bryson, 2011, p.109). The committee should have a clearly stated mission with a timetable, and a budget to conduct their mission. Only the strategic committee could decide if there is need of outside consultant is specific areas or to gather information via questionnaires from key stakeholders on their expectations.

A collaborative Approach in Applying the Process Guidelines

In my opinion, instead of having a designated General Director, whom owes allegiance to the government, as head of the Electricity of Haiti, there is need of a collegial transitory board that will initiate the change by mapping the strategic process. They could use the Strategic options Development and Analysis (SODA) to address each issue (Bryson, 2011). The government could ask the three branches of the power in Haiti, Legislative, judiciary and the Executive to propose three members as components of this board. The involvement of the Parliament could also lead to a set of laws to deter fraudulent connections as soon as the process started. The transition board would have for mission to conduct the stakeholder analysis and to decide if the Electricity of Haiti will be privatized or simply revitalized. In addition they would have to identify the people capable to initiate and champion the established course of actions and then the board would keep the main mission to liaise between the actual champions and the officials with no direct intervention. The work of the champions would lead to the formation of a strategic committee or task force with a clear mission and a detailed timetable. At this point, the committee will be the sole responsible for the transition, will decide if there is need to hire an independent consultant for additional expertise, and would work toward the final results.

Ethical Considerations in Working with Stakeholders

Ethical considerations related to identifying and working with stakeholders must be based on five key principles stated by Bryson (2011). Understand the laws and regulations when dealing with the problem of fraudulent connections. People having fraudulent connections are in greater number than the regular connections. Then, they become part of the solution, same they are part of the problem. The champions and sponsors may work with them as equal stakeholders in understanding how they can be regularly integrated and what method to be developed while taking into account their revenue. In addition, the other stakeholders may be educated on possible ethical issues to be aware of. Based on social justice and equity, they may prevent any consideration that may exclude the minorities. To prevent social inequality, the regulations and rules must be based on human rights (Frederickson, 1990). It is also important in this context to define a new set of rules and ethical conduct during the transition management, including the committee members’ ethical conducts both in the case of privatization or revitalization.

Conclusion

The new managerial approach is not only about providing good customer service, developing good relations with supplier and being sensitive to the need of the community on three distinct descriptive, normative, and instrumental levels (McVea  & Freeman, 2005). More importantly, the new managerial approach is focused on deep business problems by integrating stakeholders’ interests into business strategic planning. The process guidelines in strategic planning help in mapping the principal stakeholder groups and to work efficiently in implementing organizational efficiency. Hopefully the management of the organization presented in this case study will act in a timely manner for an efficient revitalization. 

References

Bridges, W. (2009). Managing transitions: making the most of change, (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Da Capo Press.

Bryson, J. M. (2011). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement (4th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Daft, R. L. (2010).  Organization theory and design (10th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Frederickson, H. G. (1990). Public Administration and Social Equity. Public Administration Review, vol. 50 (2), 228.Retrieved from https://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=52ca9f0a-c550-482e-aa77-803cbe047724%40sessionmgr4005&vid=2&hid=4114

Johnson, C. E. (2012). Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

Le Matin (2013). When the Governement is wekened the Electricity of Haiti. Retrieved from https://www.lematinhaiti.com/contenu.php?idtexte=34919

McVea, J. F., & Freeman, R. E. (2005). A names-and-faces approach to stakeholder management: How focusing on stakeholders as individuals can bring ethics and entrepreneurial strategy together. Journal of Management Inquiry, 14(1), 57–69.