NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe
addressed NASA employees about a plan to bring about proposed changes to NASA’s
culture after seeing the results from research conducted on the organizational culture
at NASA and it’s potential effects and consequences. After seeing the results, I think this
meeting was held because O’Keefe recognized that there was a pretty large gap
in communication and personal connections between upper and senior management
and the employees at NASA. Much of the
research showed that upward communication was one of the biggest issues cited
within the organization, which in turn, caused a lack of trust and feeling of
self-worth within the NASA organization.
(NASA Facts, 2003)
While his thought process was in
the right place, the type of change that needs to happen within the
organization is better off seen, than heard.
Looking at the audience throughout the video highlighted a look that I
am very familiar with, especially in a corporate environment. At my previous job, I worked at a company
that struggled in a similar way with upward communication and respect amongst
employees. I felt like we went through
these types of meetings time after time and never really saw any changes. After awhile, it began to make the situation
worse because it felt like our thoughts were clearly expressed and obviously
understood by upper management based on the meetings, yet they never came to
fruition making it difficult to believe these types of meetings. The audience in this meeting was no different
than what I have experienced. What makes
O’Keefe difficult to believe is not necessarily his honest feelings toward the
situation, but the knowledge that big changes need to happen which requiring a
lot of self-reflecting for people not on stage with him. He is one person, but it takes a whole
organization to make the changes needed and sometimes it can be difficult to
believe that those changes will happen on such a grand scale. I don’t think anybody necessarily doubted his
truthfulness within the speech, as he stated multiple times that he recognized
that the change starts with him, hopefully showing a lot of character to the
crowd that he is willing to learn and grow from this. I do think it will take
action to really reinforce the validity of his speech to some in the audience
however.
The speech and discussion about the
results would not be as relevant if NASA’s values were not brought up. The values represent the ideal of the company
culture and without placing a visual goal in mind for the audience and the company;
the proposed plan would feel irrelevant.
Without NASA’s company values, there is no focus for the employees. By reiterating the importance of these
values, O’Keefe was working to establish a common ground for everyone to work
within and work toward. O’Keefe made
sure to recognize the great things that the company has been doing to meet
these values, while also highlighting areas that need work. This was a great way to make the road to
achieving cohesion easier to grasp.
While I am not a huge fan of the
corporate meetings where discussions about what we are doing and what we can do
to be better are the focus, I do recognize that there is a need for the company
to connect with its’ employees and sometimes, when you are so far away from the
connection, the easiest way to establish some sort of bond is through these
types of meetings. I also think the fact
that NASA was in the wake of such an awful tragedy, it is important to remain a
constant figure in the eyes of your employees – showing that you recognize that
change needs to happen and that progress will be slow. This, in some ways, at least keeps the
conversation going whether negative or positive, and helps employees remember
why they wanted to work there in the first place. At my previous job, there was a campaign
started to improve employee morale after recent layoffs and changes. To most people it was a waste of money and
time, but I noticed that every now and then, there was positivity and in the
wake of a serious bump in the road for an organization, bringing about some
sort of positive reflection, no matter how big, can make a big difference in
the end.
References
Brown, R.
D, (2011). An experiential
approach to organization development (Eighth
edition.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
NASA
Facts. (2003, March). Columbia
Accident Investigation Board Member Biographies. (Retrieved from
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/2196main_COL_caib_bios.pdf
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