A630.5.5.RB_HallMike

After reading the Assessment and Plan for Organizational Culture Change at NASA and watching the video, I must admit I am surprised that some of the shortfalls in the program existed.  For safety to not be the number one concern at an organization, none-the-less an organization that puts people into space strapped to several million pounds of rocket fuel with several hundred million dollar payloads, is quite shocking.  With that being said, communication was the underlying problem at NASA.  People did not communicate safety concerns because they thought that deadlines were the only thing important to their managers (i.e. managers communicated neither their priorities nor their culture norms).  As a result, Columbia was lost upon reentry over the Southeast US in 2003.  All of the shortfalls within NASA’s culture were identified during the investigation, during which lack of communication was specifically cited.  It was exactly this lack of communication that resulted in the NASA director going on TV to talk about the changes that were being made.  He had to make a personal showing - communication was going to be very important to the new NASA and to prove it he was communciating the new ideas.

Watching the clip, I would say that he was believable during his discussion and he absolutely had to be.  The shortcomings identified were almost inexcusable and it was up to him to fix them.  For him to address his employees and to come across as not genuine would have been a disaster.  If he ended up not being believable, I can almost see the eyes rolling of the NASA employees as he talks about the proposed change (I have seen eyes rolled in many culture change discussions).

He chose to discuss NASA values because it was NASA not following the values that led to the disaster.  Had they strictly followed their own values, perhaps none of the problems that occurred would have happened.  He needed to stress that the values were how NASA was going to do business in the future and that everyone within the company would uphold them.

Ultimately, there are several lessons that can be learned from this scenario.  First, communication in both directions is paramount in any organization.  Talking down but not listening to what is coming up has just as many bad outcomes as the opposite.  You must be able to talk to your employees just as easily as they can talk to you.  This not only aids in the flow of information, but it establishes trust, cohesion, and maintains morale.  Secondly, many organizations have values that are specifically listed out as the way that company does business.  If you fail to uphold them, you are letting your employees know that certain things that you do or say are nothing more than lip service.  You must have your employees understand that everything that is said or done is done for a purpose and is expected to be followed.  Values, like integrity, is an “all or none” situation – you either have the values that you espouse or you do not.  Finally, safety is something that must always be on the forefront of everyone’s mind.  The CEO all the way down to the entry level worker must know and push for safety – there are very few reasons why it shouldn’t be the number one priority.