Environmental uncertainty and organizational effectiveness in the U.S. EPA

Organizational Theory for U.S. EPA

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a federal organization that is responsible for safeguarding human health and the environment from any potential harm. It was formed on December 3, 1970 under President Nixon. The agency is headed by an Administrator who is appointed by the President after getting approval from the Congress. The current administrator is Lisa. P. Jackson and she heads about 18,000 full-time employees of this organization.

The primary mission of EPA is to protect the environment and human life. According to EPA website, its aims to protect Americans from any significant health risks and safeguard the environment they work and live in. They are responsible for enforcing the different federal laws related to environment and all parties in a society like individuals, businesses and state have access to all information pertaining to these regulations. Their mission also includes acting as a leader and working with other countries to ensure that their people and environment are also protected.

Environmental Domain

The environmental domain can be defined as the areas in which EPA operate and they include water, air and the land portion occupied by the United States. It is all-pervading in its role on these domains with numerous programs and projects. Each of the project undertaken by the EPA relates to the natural environment as well as the environment in which Americans live, work and operate.

Some examples of their projects in different environmental domains include Air Quality Planning and Standards, Asbestos Program, American Indian Environmental, Best Workplaces for Commuters, Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Clean Energy, Clean Lakes Program, Clear Skies, Climate Change, Computational Toxicology, Drinking Water and Ground Water protection, Electronic Data Interchange, Environmental leadership, Hazardous Waste Program, Microbiology, Radiation Programs, Water Efficiency and Waste minimization. A snapshot of its programs reveal that it has a presence in almost every aspect of the environment including waste disposal and human safety.

Environmental Uncertainty

The recent years have seen numerous issues that have overwhelmed the EPA in many ways. To start with, there is a lot of difficulty in implementing and enforcing numerous legislation. According to Mintz (1995, p.16), "Any attempt at standardized decision making by the EPA is confounded by the enormous variety of conditions and circumstances that individual cases involve." Also, the changing global and political environment make it all the more difficult to enforce laws. For example, the U.S. And Mexico border offers numerous environmental issues with regard to the extensive use of pesticides, the improper disposal of waste, inadequate water and sewage treatment on the other side of the border. This makes people living in the United States, especially the elders and children, exposed to health problems and the EPA is working hard to overcome it.

Life Cycle Stage

Organizational life cycle is a concept that "suggests that organizations are born, grow older and eventually die. Organization structure, leadership style, and administrative systems follow a predictable pattern through stages in the life cycle." (Daft, 2009, p.340). There are four stages involved and they are Entrepreneurial stage, collectivity stage, formalization stage and elaboration stage.

The EPA is currently in the elaboration stage because it is mature, large and bureaucratic. Daft has defined this stage as "large and bureaucratic with extensive control systems, rules and procedures. Organization managers attempt to develop a team orientation within the bureaucracy to prevent further bureaucratization. Top managers are concerned with establishing a complete organization." (2009, p.344). All these characteristics correspond to the EPA and it is definitely in this stage.

Organizational Change

Similar to any other organization, the EPA is also undergoing changes from time to play a more effective role in the protection of environment and human beings. Many employees within an organization resist change because they are used to a particular way of working and they feel scared and intimated to make changes. It is mostly the older employees who are resistant to change especially those related to technology. The younger group, on the other hand, is always looking for ways and means to prove their worth and advance in their career and they use organizational change as a potent platform to move up the ladder.

Organization Chart

The organization chart of EPA looks like this.

Based on this structure, we can infer that the EPA has many different bodies or organizations working under it. Though the overall control vests with the EPA, each sub-organization has its own agenda and list of administrators. They are in effect an independent organization with periodic reporting to the EPA. This structure is highly democratic and partitioned.

New Structure

The existing structure is fragmented and it becomes difficult for the EPA to exercise the required amounts of control over its sub-divisions. To make the entire organization more effective, the EPA should have more control over the activities of its child organizations and all of them should work together towards the achievement of its goals. In such a case, a centralized organization will work better without a lot of divisions. This will also make accountability easy and will prevent the blame from getting shifted from one department to another.

The existing structure is highly chaotic and gives rise to numerous internal conflicts and bureaucratic problems within the EPA. "At the regional office level, enforcement duties are generally divided among senior career civil servants who head divisions that have responsibility for regulatory matters in one specific environmental medium (air, water, hazardous waste, etc.) as well as regional counsel. These officials report to more than one superior. On the one hand, they are all supervised by relatively autonomous regional administrators, senior officials whose appointments and outlooks are often influenced by state governors and environmental officials." (Mintz, 1995, p.13). All these give rise to numerous bottlenecks and it is time the EPA changes its structure have a more effective role amidst the changing global and political face of the 21st century.