Organizational Culture Change at NASA: The Assessment and Plan

Macro problems

• Employees’ inability to raise core issues;
• Lack of attention to excellence among teams;
• Low integrity, as raising issues is not welcomed;
• Cultural conflict due to poor communication;
• Lack of transparency in the organization;
• Difficulty in managing large groups.

Culture supportive of safety has not been fully developed as upward communication is discouraged. Employees’ commitment towards organization is low compared to their technical work. This is due to lack of respect and appreciation of workers by the management. Excellence is only experienced in individual technical work, however, when it comes to management skills, communication, and administration functions in the same way tend to diminish (NASA, 2004). The value of integrity is compromised as some stakeholders keep sending signals that raising concerns is not welcomed.

Causes

Adoption of culture unsupportive of safety is manifested throughout the agency with deliberate avoidance of organization’s espoused core values. The culture based on task achievement rather than core value of safety, people, excellence, and integrity is hurting the firm. Current culture and climate within NASA are generally positive; however, some culture and leadership practices are non-supportive to safety. A number of employees do not feel connected, respected or appreciated by the organization.

As such, their loyalty and commitment to the agency is low or non-existent. Inconsistency in integrity and communication is undermining team member’s needs and vision of the organization. Therefore, there is a need to establish proper communication channels and embrace transparency. Survey by Diaz pointed out the need to improve leadership, learning, communication, processes and rules, technical capabilities, organizational structure and risk management in the agency (NASA, 2004).

Reference

NASA. (2004). Assessment and plan for organizational culture change at NASA. Web.