O M CAN BE CHANGED - A SUPERVISORY TASK FORCE IS ONE ROAD TO SUCCESSFUL CHANGE

摘要

The Alexandria, Virginia Sanitation Authority (ASA) owns, operates and maintains arn54 MGD wastewater facility, three pump stations and approximately 12 miles ofrnintercepting sewers, for the City of Alexandria and portions of Fairfax County,rnVirginia. In 1996, a radical change was made in its organizational structure - mergingrnthe then separate Operations and Maintenance divisions into one new TreatmentrnDivision. No change of this magnitude, having such a direct impact on staff, had everrnoccurred at the Authority. Compounding this change was the fact that no direct formalrncommunication had ever really occurred between these two divisions. Blame was easilyrnand consistently placed on staff in the other division. While the task of changing thernculture of these 178 employees was daunting, the Authority felt it important to beginrnpositioning itself to meet its future needs. While the competitiveness issue in thernoverall wastewater industry was strong, ASA had a more immediate driver - a plannedrn$290 million upgrade that would change everything from its fundamental treatmentrnstrategy to its unit processes -- from primarily labor intensive to complete automaticrncontrol. The Authority had to create a spirit of teamwork, cooperation andrncommunication while insuring continuation of excellent wastewater quality dischargerncompliance. The Authority believed the key to success lay with its front linernsupervisors. The Treatment Division Director took the step of creating thern揝upervisory Task Force?(STF) to help the supervisors internalize the behavioralrnchanges they needed and then to lead their staffs in changing their overall behaviors.rnThis action has led to the Authority reducing its overall staffing level by almost one thirdrnand saving over $3 million in a two year period.