The poor performance at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raised concerns among various stakeholders. There was need for the organization to change its manner of operations to achieve effective service delivery. The stakeholders in IRS transformation included the government, outside institutions, IRS employees and the public. The public, government and IRS employees were the most important stakeholders in this case. The main function of IRS is to collect money from various taxpayer segments. These include individuals, self-employed persons, small businesses, large businesses and partnerships (Amy & Frances, 2002). These segments comprise of members of the public. In this regard, the public forms a core component of IRS operations, as it is the greatest source of revenue.
IRS plans its revenue collection operations based on various categories of taxpayers. It considers the revenue obtainable for each customer segment and devises means to ensure appropriate levels of contribution by these segments. The other important stakeholder in the IRS transformation is the organization’s employees. The implementation of various task force recommendations will largely be an undertaking of the employees. Employees play a significant role in determining the outcome of any organization’s change process. Without their involvement, it is considerably difficult for an organization to realize meaningful changes (Whitsett & Burling, 1996). Furthermore, employees have the greatest influence on customers. The employee-customer relationship determines an organization’s progress in various aspects.
A healthy employee-customer relationship enhances customer loyalty and confidence with respect to a particular organization. Another important stakeholder in the IRS transformation is the government. IRS serves as a vital of the government concerning revenue collection. The government uses the money obtained through this organ to fund various projects that directly influence the country’s growth. Therefore, when such an organization suffers poor performance, it affects a wide range of national undertakings. The proper functioning of such a crucial organ is a key consideration for the government.
IRS transformation became necessary due to complain from various stakeholders regarding poor performance. It had become considerably difficult to file tax returns and sort out various issues affecting taxpayers. Outdated systems and poor service delivery had resulted in increasing cases of lateness in filing returns and non-compliance (Amy & Frances, 2002). There were increasing concerns that the organization’s ineffectiveness in executing various duties translated into revenue losses. Taxpayers complained that IRS took long to respond to their enquiries. Thus, although they intended to file tax returns early, the manner of operation in the organization made the process considerably difficult. In addition, even when taxpayers got responses, complex accounting and law concepts made the interpretation of various reports challenging.
The organization lacked mechanisms that could allow the presentation of taxpayers’ records in a simple and clear manner understandable to everyone. Numerous cases of errors in tax returns created a negative perception about IRS among taxpayers. Taxpayers became discouraged to pay taxes considering numerous processes involved in the whole exercise. The limited number of outlets from which taxpayers could file their returns further worsened the problem. Furthermore, some of the measures imposed to enforce revenue collection subjected taxpayers to unfair treatment.
Therefore, it was necessary to adopt various approaches that created a customer-friendly environment and enabled taxpayers to sort out various issue with minimal challenges. IRS intended to change its employees’ work practices, redefine management roles, and introduce new systems to enhance service delivery and eliminate various factors that had led to its unsatisfactory state. Organizational change relating to the human resource focused on creating a customer-focused approach of operation. This would ensure that employees regarded customers highly and responded to their queries on time. This would boost the taxpayers’ confidence in IRS and improve customer loyalty (Rusaw, 1998). There was the need to increase the number of office hours to enable more taxpayers to access various IRS services and minimize issue of late tax filing that occurred due to the inability to access services on time.
Ineffective and outdated systems such as the telephone service that made it considerably difficult for taxpayers to conduct enquiries, required replacement. IRS needed systems that could handle large numbers of customers and minimize call traffic (Amy & Frances, 2002). In addition, the organization required systems that facilitated increased customer service hours. Thus, it was crucial to expand service delivery by employing effective technologies such as call-routing technologies. Adopting appropriate and varied means of filling returns was necessary to ease the congestion associated with tax payment. It would also eliminate unnecessary filing procedures and thus save taxpayers’ time. Taxpayers required a variety of filing systems relating to payment of returns and future follow-up incase of disputes regarding compliance. In addition, there was the need to increase the outlets at which taxpayers could access IRS services. Through creating channels that enabled taxpayers to learn more regarding tax payment, IRS would tackle issues of non-compliance and promote timely filing of returns. By expanding the scope of interaction between IRS employees and taxpayers, the organization would tackle various problems that largely occurred due to the inability by taxpayers to obtain clarification regarding the filing of returns.
References
Amy, C. E., & Frances, X. F. (2002). Transformation at the IRS, Harvard Business School, Web.
Rusaw, A. C. (1998). Transforming the character of public organizations techniques for change agents. Westport, Conn.: Quorum Books.
Whitsett, D. A., & Burling, I. R. (1996). Achieving successful organizational transformation. Westport, Conn.: Quorum.