Impacts of energy legislation on organizational motivation: A case study

In an attempt to reduce operational energy use in non-domestic buildings and mitigate climate change, the UK government has introduced Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) legislation to motivate large organizations to implement energy-efficiency (EE) measures. However, evidence suggests that an organization’s behaviour with regard to EE measures does not follow rational cost minimization, demonstrating potential ESOS weakness. A case study is presented that assesses whether ESOS can lead to EE measures deployment despite different overarching agendas. A generic qualitative approach is used to assess the change within the organization; auto-ethnomethodology was used to assess the change within its facility management (FM). The results demonstrate that the energy audit delivered through an agenda of cost minimization was weak in creating organizational behaviour change. However, the ESOS audit along with the research process led to a mindset change of the FM, resetting an overarching agenda from cost minimization to co-evolution between a building and its occupants, further empowering the FM to facilitate behavioural change within the whole organization. These findings suggest that the success of EE policies can increase if policies shift from understanding end-users as passive to proactive and capable of shaping better outcomes for themselves and their organizations.