TOMAS LIUKAITIS
organizational change development and employee engagement
TOMAS LIUKAITIS
State Enterprise Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant
Visaginas, Lithuania
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Abstract
Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant has, for a number of years, been in a transition from operation to decommissioning. This strategic transformation is being approached not so much as a “period” but as a “process” leading to substantial organizational changes and significant challenges in change management, and employee engagement. Once the decision to decommission a nuclear power plant is taken, a determined, result driven senior management team should be established and this team should give their full commitment to ensuring the success of the transition from operation to decommissioning. The integrated structural transformation strategy should be prepared well in advance. An early thorough analysis and top management commitment to long-term personnel planning for the whole decommissioning period is of paramount importance. Equally important is the identification of suitable personnel for key positions and developing them within the new organizational structure.Setting challenging, incentivized, project delivery targets within a framework of high standards and good governance fully supported by senior management should form the basis for achieving good performance and creditable results.Development of an employee recruitment and retention strategy, and the required training and retraining for new decommissioning activities, should be ensured. An employee engagement survey serves measuring staff satisfaction, motivation and engagement for further decommissioning. Finally, proper internal communication ensures staff support for constant changes and high employee engagement. It may be concluded that the transitional challenges on change management and employee engagement are more complex to solve than the technical issues.
1.INTRODUCTION
Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP, the plant) is situated in the north-east corner of Lithuania, immediately bordering Latvia and Belarus. The former Soviet Union chose the site and decided the construction of the plant. INPP was supposed to service the North-Western region of the Soviet Union, thus, after the Lithuania’s independence in 1990, one unit of the plant could produce 80% of the country’s electricity demand.
During the time of construction of the plant in the 1980s, up to 10 000 people worked on the construction site. Visaginas, a neighbouring town, was expressly built to service the needs of INPP. More than 30 000 inhabitants lived there during the operation of INPP and today Visaginas still has a little over 20 000 inhabitants.
INPP operated two RBMK-1500 water-cooled, graphite-moderated channel-type nuclear power reactors. The operation of the first unit was launched in 1983 and the second unit started operating in 1987. At that time these were the most powerful energy reactors worldwide.
Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004, agreeing that it would irreversibly shut-down INPP as it was similar, although not identical, to the Chernobyl-type reactor. Thus, the first unit was shut-down on 31 December 2004 and the second unit ceased operation on 31 December 2009. This meant that INPP went from being an electricity producer to a decommissioning organization while still maintaining the status of an organization operating a nuclear facility with the purpose of gradual and safe decommissioning of the plant.
In 2002, the Lithuanian Government resolved on thedecommissioning of the first unit byimmediate dismantling. A number of factors were taken intoconsideration when opting for this method of decommissioning, including social, economic, financial and environmental consequences as well as the available knowledge-base at the plant.
Immediate dismantling was also supportedby INPP employees since this optionpromised higher level of employment.This method has many advantages ascomplicated work that requires specialknowledge and skill is performed by INPP staff which possessesextensive experience in operating theequipment. In fact, some of these employeeswere present during the construction andinstallation of the facility, which is crucialto ensure safe decommissioning.
It is a unique project since this is the first ever dismantling of an RBMK-type reactor worldwide. Taking into account the exceptional circumstances of INPP closure, the European Union is providing substantial financial assistance to support the decommissioning of INPP. It is expected that by 2038, the site willachieve “brownfield” status.
2.organizational changes
The preparatory activities regarding the decommissioning of INPP started well before the closure of the first unit although the staff really perceived the change only when the second (last) unit ceased operation. This transition from operation to decommissioning should be better approached not so much as a “period” but as a “process” leading to substantial organizational changes and significant challenges in change management, and employee engagement. Even eight years after the final closure, INPP is still “in transition” and it is obvious that this will continue.
To support INPP, aDecommissioning Project Management Unit (DPMU) comprising foreign experts from leading international nuclear industry companies was set up in 2001 for preparation for decommissioning. These preparatory decommissioning activities covered the elaboration of the final decommissioning plan, engineering inventory and radiological characterization as well as opening radioactive waste routes. DPMU accumulated good project management and planning competences but lacked adequate RBMK-type reactor technical expertise for decommissioning. In addition, during the second unit operation (exactly 5 years after the closure of the first unit), the senior management as well as most of the plant operating staff were still inevitably focused on operation and only reservedly committed to decommissioning.
The phased plant shutdown prevented a“clean break” start tothe transition period. Thus, after the second unit closure, it led to confrontation between the DPMU and the rest of the plant operating staff (in particular, the former senior operators) as the decommissioning became the key activity for the whole organization although these two units already operated under the different corporate cultures. As a result, INPP encountered delays in implementing key decommissioning projects (Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility, Solid Waste Management Facilities) and tense relationships with the contractors of such projects.
In such a situation the senior management was faced with the challenge to integrate activities of two separate units (DPMU and the former Technical Department) for efficient decommissioning planning and implementation. DPMU was integrated into the renamed Decommissioning Department (the former Technical Department) seeking to improve the internal communication and cooperation as well as the relationship with key contractors and to increase the role, input and “ownership” of the former operators in decommissioning. Such consolidation and further optimisation of different teams was also faced with the challenge to preserve the accumulated project management and planning competences as there was a lack of the appropriate project management skills in former operators.
As decommissioning, contrary to former operation, is project-based rather than a continuous process-based activity, in 2014 the Project Management Services was re-established aiming to strengthen the plant’s project management functions. In order to ensure stricter adherence to the decommissioning plan, the separation of planning from execution activities within the organizational structure has been completed at the same time. In addition, in order to ensure more rational use of human and material resources, restructuring of dismantling activities (again, clear separation of dismantling planning and implementation) as well as centralization of maintenance services has been performed a few years ago. For the same purpose, this year the organizational restructuring of post-operation and management of radioactive waste activities is undergoing.
Taking into account the experience of INPP, it should be emphasized that immediately, once the decision to decommission a nuclear power plant is taken, a determined, result driven senior management team should be established and this team should give their full commitment to ensuring the success of the transition from operation to decommissioning. Decommissioning should be treated as the main activity already while preparing for decommissioning not while executing it. In order to avoid the emergence of several separate disintegrated units with the organization, the integration of operation and decommissioning knowledgeshould commence from the outset of decommissioning.
Thus, the integrated structural transformation strategy should be prepared well in advance although its gradual implementation is advised at the right time according to future decommissioning needs. The continuous improvement of the organizational structure is recommended to establish aflattened organizational structure for quicker decisions, lower costs and efficient communication. In addition, in order to ensure the staff support for such constant changes and high employee engagement, proper internal communication is of paramount importance.
To maximise the benefit of the organisational changes the identification of suitable personnel for key positions and developing them within the new organisational structure is equally important. Difficult decisions and choices have to be faced. It has been appropriate and necessary to retire “old school” inflexible managers with entrenched views. Younger staff with leadership skills and aptitude for the work, with character including an ability to work under pressure, and a willingness to accept increased responsibility have been promoted into key positions within the new organisational structure.
These younger staff were found from within INPP and had the length of service and performance record to merit their promotion. To ensure they settled quickly into the new role, grew in confidence and competence and gained the trust of their staff to ensure effective teamwork, staff in key roles were encourage to participate in international conferences in their specialist areas, go on technical exchange visits to other decommissioning plants and to attend various management training courses.
Senior management and stakeholders have set challenging project milestone delivery targets within a framework of high standards and good governance fully supported by senior management. This has formed the basis for achieving good performance and creditable results.To achieve challenging project delivery targets, managers in key positions and their teams often need to go that extra mile in order to consistently deliver their objectives on time. To recognise and reward this appropriate incentivizes are provided to them bring about a win/win opportunity for both manager and the organization both in terms of engagement and retention of the individual and in realizing the objectives of the organization.
3.long-term staff planning
As RBMK-type reactors are designed for fully autonomous operation, more than 5000 employees worked at INPP during its operation. After the closure of first unit the staff was reduced to 3900 employees with the constant gradual dismissal in further years and after the closure of the second unit another substantial downsizing of more than 1000 staff took place. In 2010, when the operation of both units was stopped, about 2000 employees worked at INPP. Today,slightly less than 2000 employees are still working at INPP although since 2010 about 700 employees have been dismissed and a similar number of new persons with different competences and skills have been employed at the plant.
Likewise with the structural changes, once the decision on decommissioning is made, it is important to develop a long-term strategy for decommissioning staff taking into consideration the different decommissioning phases of the operations and the variable required staff and competences as well as the level of outsourcing. For this purpose, a thorough analysis and long-term planning before decommissioning started in order to identify staff needs for the whole decommissioning period is of paramount importance. Moreover, the top management should be committed to long-term planning for decommissioning staff in order to avoid the shortage of competent staff. In addition, in order to avoid the loss of qualified staff which is needed for various decommissioning phases, a redundancy plan should be developed asthe re-employment of former specialists is rather complicated.
In the case of INPP, the senior management of the plant was faced with the challenge of how to employ the required number of qualified personnel at the right time as demanded for the variousdecommissioning activities. As mentioned above, due to a number social and technical reasons, the political decision was taken to use the former operational staff for the plant’s decommissioning. However, it should be noted that decommissioning as compared with the operation of the plant requires lower skilled personnel.
The senior management of the plant therefore was faced and in fact still being faced with the challenge to redeploy the highly-skilled staff. Also, particular attention to workforce ageing should be taken into consideration as certain decommissioning activities (for instance, dismantling) is physically demanding high levels of strength and stamina. At the same time, due to aging, many competent and still required employees prefer to quit the plant on voluntary retirement.
As INPP is the main employer in the region, the impact on local community should be taken into consideration while performing substantial reduction in staff. On the otherhand, aiming for more rational use of human resources the key stakeholders require the implementation of a so-called “make or buy” strategy which foresees the evaluation of decommissioning activities to be performed whether in-house or outsourced. In the latter case, a certain reduction of staff is inevitable.
Nowadays INPP is staffed by high qualified human resources. Nevertheless, taking into consideration the long-term duration of decommissioning and natural manpower turnover, INPP may face a lack of qualified personnel in the future. In order to prevent the lack of qualified staff, as from 2015INPP annually fulfils an analysis of the demand for human resources according to its decommissioning plan taking into consideration in particular the employees’ achievement of retirement age.
4.EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION STRATEGY
As mentioned above, the transformation from operation to decommissioning should be better approached not so much as a “period” but as a “process” which means that the whole organization has to adapt from continuous process-based work to project management and learn to live with constant change. Showing initiative which was actively discouraged in NPP’s operational culture becomes essential in a pioneering decommissioning project. This is a substantial change, in particular, in the social context, and not all former operational staff manages to cope with this.
The retention of the former operators ensures, in particular, the safety aspects of nuclear facility decommissioning as they possess the essential knowledge of the plant. Loss of trained qualified staff leads to the loss of knowledge and expertise necessary for safe and efficient decommissioning. Nevertheless, a number of new specific competences for decommissioning are needed once the plant enters into the decommissioning phase. Therefore, the development of employee recruitment and retention strategy, and the required training and retraining for new decommissioning activities, should be ensured. The required new competences can be obtained either by reconverting internal operational staff or by outsourcing on short-term basis for complex assignments of experts with unique-knowledge and high experience or to specialized contractors.
From 2010, the plant retrained former operators for new duties related to the decommissioning activities as well as trainednewly employed staff for D&D activities. In addition, management skills improvement training (in particular, on project management, change management, risk management, process optimization areas) was arranged for the management and leading specialists of the plant.
In order to provide the plant with a sufficient number of qualified employees to ensure safe and efficient INPP decommissioning process the Young Specialists Engagement in the INPP Programme was developed. Also, taking into consideration the uniqueness of the acquired knowledge and accumulated experience of the former operators and the risk of losing such useful knowledge through retirement or dismissal, a Knowledge Accumulation and Preservation Systemis being applied at the plant.
As decommissioning is project-based activity, a new result-oriented remuneration system has been developed at the plant few years ago. Recently introduced regular employee performance evaluations as well as the annual employee engagement surveysalso serve measuring staff satisfaction, motivation and engagement for further decommissioning. The latest employee engagement survey indicated that staff is result-oriented, loyal and quite highly engaged in INPP’s activities and also employees heavily rely on their expertise and competences although they appreciated less internal communication flows. Thus, particular communication gaps between management and employees were identified. It has been decided therefore to strengthen internal communication culture and effective employee feedback as well as to accelerate decision-making process and engage employees through high-involvement working practices.
5.Concluding Remarks
It may be concluded that in the transitional challenges on change management and employee engagement faced by the plant moving from operation to decommissioningphase are more complex to solve than the technical issues. Therefore, the early and adequate planning to address these issues and the proper although quite tough resolution of such challenges is recommended.
Initiative and training, adaptability and flexibility, living with change, a flat structural organization, constant senior management involvement, good governance and working with stakeholders characterize the essential qualities required of the management and employees for a successful transition from plant operation to plant decommissioning.
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