1298. Focus on People ASD’s People Program Experiment

Paper

Abstract

This paper outlines the creation, operational methods and some results of the US Air Force’s Aeronautical Systems Division’s Management Development Team. This team provides a mechanism whereby t h e feelings and perceptions of the people in the work force may be determined and various level of management made aware of this is in a non-threatening manner. The team works only at the invitation of the leaders of the organizations and keeps the source of all the perceptions it surfaces anonymous. Through the use of surveys and interviews the team collects data and then feeds it back to managers. If these managers desire help in reacting to the perception that are surfaced, the team provides follow-up activities in form of workshops and seminars. One of the firs functional areas for which data was collected was that of engineering. Some of the positive perceptions these people indicated they felt were that they had challenging jabs that provided independence, flexibility and responsibility. The major negative factors they perceived as impacting their work satisfaction were inadequate manning, heavy workload and poor promotion potential. These perceptions were fed back to the management of the engineering organization with suggestions as to how they could make the most effective use of the data . Team building/problem solving workshops have been effectively used to help organizations build a common understanding and agreement on the goals of the organization and clarify the roles of work group members. The response of both management and the work force to the activities of the Management Development Team has been very positive. We feel that we are on the road to developing increased productivity and personal satisfaction among the people who work in Aeronautical Systems Division.