Micro problems
- Poor communication among stakeholders;
- Workers’ failure to adhere to processes and rules (NASA, 2004);
- Neglect of personal responsibility, accountability and competence;
- Employees’ inability to raise concerns to the management;
- Excellence is not valued among team members;
- Workers are hesitant to adhere to safety culture (NASA, 2004);
- Loyalty and commitment is low;
- Lack of contact and collaboration among workers;
- Problems take longer to solve;
- Poor relationships between workers and management;
- Inconsistency in integrity and communication;
- Language barriers due to diverse population.
Even though safety is a NASA’s core value, the Columbia disaster still occurred claiming lives of seven crew members (NASA, 2004). Chief administrator of NASA O’Keefe set out guiding principles based on open communication, embracing personal responsibility, technical competence and accountability of all employees. Fear of retaliation and continued signals against reporting of concerns is affecting communication. Safety is therefore compromised since potential harm cannot be communicated properly.
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 members’ needs and vision of the organization. International workers in the agency sometimes face communication challenges due to language barriers.
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.