ADDC, or the Abu Dhabi Distribution Company, is one of the largest providers of water and electricity in the vicinity. It is a public joint-stock company under the ownership of the Abu-Dhabi Water and Electricity governmental authority. Its area of service covers the entirety of the Abu Dhabi Emirate, except for the Al Ain region. The company specializes not only in providing these essential goods to the population, but also in adjoining operations, which include planning, design, construction, and operation of the electrical and water networks in the region. Even though the company is largely owned by the government, the authorities of Abu Dhabi are always looking to improve the functioning of their assets by implementing innovative management and business practices. The purpose of this joint paper is to work on solutions to potential problems that ADDC currently has, such as the inability to reach governmental standards of service level, delays in abnormal bill complaints and refund bank transactions for the customers, and a lack of new activities for the employees in the organization.
Problems and Solutions
The Inability to Reach the Governmental Standards of Service Level
Quality of service has always been one of the pressing matters in ADDC. Many of the ensuing problems stem from the fact that the company has no external drive to improve, as it has a monopoly on supplying electricity and water to the end-users. Lack of competition, in turn, turns to a lack of effort to adopt new practices and focus on self-improvement. However, this problem could be solved from within, to some degree. Adopting the Quality Control Management paradigm and implementing Six Sigma is one of the ways to raise the quality of service to governmental standards. The Six Sigma program is a data-driven approach to improving the quality of the products and services, which has the potential to decrease the overall cost and improve the quality of managers and leaders of the company. Another approach would involve studying foreign companies and adopting their practices and techniques to achieve the same purpose.
Delays in Abnormal Bill Complaints and Refund Bank Transactions for the Customers
This problem, from how we see it, stems from inefficient banking transactions and a lack of information exchange between the bank, the customer, and the company. To solve this problem, we must first understand it in detail. Both the customers and the bank managers and employees would need to be thoroughly interviewed to determine the potential reasons for delays and complaints. The process of approving refunds and delivering bills must be simplified. Also, it would be reasonable to survey other banks as well. It could be possible that another bank would provide a better and faster quality of service while being just as available to the customer as the current bank.
A Lack of New Activities for the Employees in the Organization
This problem relates directly to employee motivation and desire to improve. From how we see it, ADDC does not offer enough opportunities for its employees to grow as professionals and as individuals. However, to ensure the accuracy of such assumptions, it is suggested for the company to perform several surveys to estimate the current employee satisfaction levels, as well as their views on the company, workplace dedication, and corporate culture. It is possible that the company would need to change the way it functions by engaging in social events and bonding exercises, as well as adopting the concept of Servant Leadership.