Description of Driving Event:
Workforce Downsizing and Human Resources Policies Having Adverse Impact on Management Experience
Lesson(s) Learned:
The combination of downsizing losses, hiring restrictions, and transition of responsibilities from NASA to contractors, such as USA, continues to limit the opportunities for junior and mid-level NASA managers to gain the operational knowledge and experience required for continued leadership in senior management positions.
Recommendation(s):
Innovative arrangements between NASA and its contractors to provide entry-level and mid-level NASA S&Es with operational, "hands-on" experience should be strengthened and expanded. Project management training initiatives, such as the Academy of Program & Project Leadership (APPL), must strive to broaden their outreach to management teams and individuals at Field Centers.
Evidence of Recurrence Control Effectiveness:
NASA concurs with the ASAP recommendation. NASA agrees that its existing programs and initiatives should be intensified and broadened to provide opportunities for hands-on work experiences, not only for new hires, but also for all career levels. Providing a broad set of work experiences is key to building leadership capability, and NASA has a number of programs in place or in development that will improve our capability to do so. Examples include: - co-op assignments partnered with contractor systems engineers
- direct observation or procedure review of critical tasks
- management of Shuttle launch countdown, launch, and landing/recovery
- participation in flight and ground systems development and enhancements
- processing mid-decks, utilization payloads, and partial Shuttle payloads
- participation in contractor testing, and anomaly resolution
- ensuring adequately designed, tested, and assembled hardware
To allow some of our best junior- and midlevel personnel the opportunity to broaden their functional experiences, the Space Shuttle Program Office has created rotational opportunities at several Centers where they can gain experience at the program level before considering a program office job. This early exposure to the significant operational and programmatic management challenges will better equip them to serve in future leadership roles in either a functional-, project- or program-level organization. Our current hiring strategy also considers how to develop our leadership capability. Placing engineers fresh out of college into hands-on directorates (i.e., engineering, mission operations, etc.) allows the Agency to move experienced personnel from these line organizations into jobs in the program offices where they can build on the experience base they bring from functional jobs. Formal training opportunities have expanded in recent years. We take advantage of opportunities to bring courses to the Centers for intact work groups and will increase our use of intact team training and performance support tools in the future. An example of a unique partnering relationship in the project management training area at JSC has been the Engineering Directorate's work with Lockheed Martin and the consulting firm of Kepner-Tregoe. Kepner-Tregoe designed a course specifically tailored to include the NASA process for the development of Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) hardware. Many of the Engineering Directorate's civil servant GFE project managers participated in sessions with their Lockheed Martin counterparts. This experience was extremely beneficial for all involved and can serve as a model for the future. At the Agency level, our Academy of Program/Project Leadership provides developmental training opportunities for future and current program/project personnel and additionally provides a full curriculum of courses for personnel at all levels. The Academy includes 23 courses, performance support to intact teams, a project management assessment initiative, web-based tools for project managers, a knowledge management/best practices initiative, and a project management development competency model for developing personnel. We have initiated a new option for high performing potential project personnel which includes a 1-year development assignment and up to 2 years graduate study at MIT, which provides a dual masters degree in business and systems engineering. Future directions in training and learning for the program and project management workforce will take us to using the latest advances in learning delivery methods and technology, providing team learning directly to project and organizational teams, providing individual training emphasizing technical and leadership core competencies and skills, and providing mentoring and coaching for program and project managers. We will emphasize and encourage continual learning in the workplace as well as academic training in these areas, and we will form alliances with our industry and Government partners, encouraging them to also foster similar continual learning efforts within their organizations. Through these efforts, NASA and its partners will achieve higher levels of skill in project management and leadership.
Documents Related to Lesson:
N/A
Mission Directorate(s):
- Space Operations
- Exploration Systems
Additional Key Phrase(s):
- Administration/Organization
- Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel
- Human Resources & Education
- Policy & Planning
- Risk Management/Assessment
Additional Info:
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