Human Resources at AES CorpStructural FrameworkAES' organizational structure and management systems are well aligned with its set of values ​​and principles of (a) fun at work through decision making and 'be responsible, (b) trust your employees by being treated fairly and with respect, and (c) social and business integrity. No functional departments: fun but an expensive compromise? These values ​​are manifested through a simple five-level hierarchical structure. Each plant has three levels: the plant manager, seven area superintendents and frontline staff while a divisional level supervises the plants and projects by area providing interaction between the headquarters and the plants followed by the managing director. Each establishment includes a number of small ones; multi-skilled; flexible; collaborative, self-managing teams instead of functional departments with specialized functions (e.g. legal, finance or HR etc. as in a conventional system). These teams have decision-making power over all plant-specific business functions, including capital allocation, expenditures, strategic planning and plant design. This bottom-up decision-making process emphasizes the trust the company places in its employees and is very effective in decentralizing the power base, consequently, involving every employee in the responsibility for the company's performance and not just the administrator delegate. This management structure where “everyone does everything”, obviously creates an ideal learning environment, “where people have an engaging experience every day”. While they help speed up decision-making as no approvals from top management are required, they can also sometimes prove inefficient and costly. The employee is therefore not limited to preparing, adapting and being able to communicate a company strategy to all staff. This would unite the company, strengthening it in the face of incoming competition, while keeping the entire existing structure and value system intact. Rather than taking away responsibility from employees, functional specialists together with the functional operator level would introduce dynamic measures of gathering and coordinating operations across the company and thus, not only giving direction but keeping everyone well informed about market and company conditions/trends focused and prepared for future changes. Teams will then be able to make better decisions regarding the company's overall short- and long-term strategy. Knowing that the company is stable and well prepared for future contingencies increases employee and shareholder confidence.