Leadership for Change and Technology Efficiency

Leadership for Change and Technology Efficiency

            Public administration is a very engaging practice, especially when trying to fix some challenges that cripple the organization. In some cases, public demands may overwhelm the resources available to the civil servants. However, general managers must demonstrate a wealth of knowledge for creativity and innovation towards meeting public needs. It is the role of the managers to device policies and frameworks that ensure the public of excellent service delivery. Often, creative leaders influence changes in the organization. In the modern world, technology plays a significant role in providing quality service to the public. This paper examines the Saudi Arabian ministry for energy towards establishing the part of the ministry’s leadership in bringing change and implementation technology for effective communication and service delivery.

Role of leadership towards change

Among ministries in Saudi Arabia, the department of energy is among the most recent departments that have received a new direction. This ministry is responsible for addressing all the public needs concerning petroleum and natural resources, including oil and gas. In September 2019 of 2019, the department received Prince Abdulaziz as its minister. Since his appointment, Prince Abdulaziz has influenced various changes to the petroleum and oil sector towards enhancing public service delivery (Amran, Amran, Alyousef & Alabduljabbar, 2019). The minister is trying to improve communication to the public connecting with other players in the energy sector to organize the forum. In a conference hosted by the Asharqia Chamber of Commerce, the minister announced the new strategy by the ministry.

Recently, the ministry embarked on a plan to link all initiatives and activities to a single system. According to the minister, the Jafurah field offers a wide range of political, social, national, and economic benefits. In light of this, the minister claimed that the ministry of energy aims to reach over 90% of production from renewable energy and gas. As such, the Jafurah field will allow Saudi Arabia to “convert power stations from oil to gas.” The latter is a fuel’s rationalization.

Besides, the ministry is working on finer details to ensure a smooth listing of Aramco in 2020/2021 while providing the necessary support to the company as it completes its merger with SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corporation). Towards a smooth change, for instance, the ministry prefers splitting of Aramco’s IPO into two different phases while introducing local listing by the end of the year after the 2020/2021 international offering (Amran, Amran, Alyousef & Alabduljabbar, 2019).

As demonstrated above, public administration demands a lot of forecasting, effective communication, and the development of a clear strategic plan. It is noteworthy that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the highest producer of oil and gas (Svendsen & Joensson, 2016). However, the ministry of energy is diversifying towards green energy as per the global demands.

According to the chief information officer in the ministry of energy, the ministry does not only focus on the manufacture and distribution of power but also the security of the consumers and the entire kingdom. The department of energy is informed of cyber-attacks as one of the current worries of energy consumers. The primary objective of cyber attackers is to disrupt vital infrastructures of the government. Notably, energy is one of the critical resources for the government and every Saudi Arabian. Therefore, the ministry projects no chances of power disruptions.

Wahid Hammami, the ministry’s CIO, asserts that the department has reinforced its infrastructure by implementing multi-cloud application services for the enhancement of its cybersecurity and digital transformation or online features. In the Saudi Arabian vision 2030, the ministry, through its leadership, ensures agile delivery of services. Notably, the ministry forecasts local consumption of energy to rise by 300% by 2030. The latter will require increased sources of energy and hence the focus on clean energy. In light of this, the leaders decide to install a BIG-IP LTM full proxy to enhance inspection, management, and reporting of the entire application traffic to and from the network. Besides, the BIG-IP TLM supports faster automation and customization of application services.

Because BIG-IP LTM is a full proxy, it is possible to inspect, manage, and report on all application traffic entering and exiting the network. It also helps simplify, automate, and customize application services faster and with greater predictability while enhancing predictability. As such, public management and leadership at considerable help to forecast for effective planning.

According to the studies, management performs various functions, including planning, controlling, and coordinating as well as directing and organizing. By developing its strategy and including the critical elements to the vision 2030, the management effectively performs its leadership roles. Research indicates that many countries are striving to provide adequate infrastructure for handling cybersecurity threats (Caulfield & Senger, 2017). Because of the increased consumption of energy throughout Saudi Arabia, the ministry must devise new strategies for ensuring that local consumers are not vulnerable to disruptions. In light of this, the leadership has deployed firewall systems to guard the entire system against intruders.

Usually, the lack of proper information enhances the misuse of available resources. By improving firewall systems, the ministry increases efficiency in the communication of information by energy consumers and the internal staff (Amran, Amran, Alyousef & Alabduljabbar, 2019). As such, the current leadership of the ministry of energy proves its ability to control information for accuracy and integrity. As highlighted above, managing is a very critical function of the management, and thus, the effort by ministry to increase cybersecurity is significant.

It is noteworthy that leaders apply different leadership styles. While some use the democratic method, other leaders use the autocratic leadership style. Other leaders are transformational and hence focus on bringing change to the organization (Holzer & Schwester, 2015). For instance, having worked in different organizations in the energy sector, Prince Abdulaziz brings vast knowledge and skills towards changing the operational procedures in the ministry for efficiency and improved service delivery to the public.

Conclusion

This research demonstrates that success in every organization highly depends on the organization’s leadership. While the ministry has been trying to develop strategies towards efficiency in the energy sector, the new appointment has shown that Saudi Arabia is ready to adopt new policies, including maximizing the use of clean energy. Besides, the leadership underscores the importance of improved cybersecurity in its infrastructure. In this regard, the deployment of robust firewall systems and BIG-IP LTM full proxy is a significant step in information security. From this perspective, the leadership of the ministry of energy is focused on consumer satisfaction and safety. It is also apparent that increasing information security enhances information integrity. Therefore, leadership demonstrates its enthusiasm for planning and control. Notably, these efforts are significant towards change in the ministry.

References

Amran, Y. A., Amran, Y. M., Alyousef, R., & Alabduljabbar, H. (2019). Renewable and sustainable energy production in Saudi Arabia according to Saudi Vision 2030; Current status and prospects. Journal of Cleaner Production, 119602.

Caulfield, J. L., & Senger, A. (2017). Perception is the reality: change leadership and work engagement. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.

Holzer, M., & Schwester, R. W. (2015). Public administration: An introduction. Routledge.

Svendsen, M., & Joensson, T. S. (2016). Transformational leadership and change related voice behavior. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.