Over the years, since 1994, NASA being one of the most successful organizations in the world has given much information on how firms can not only achieve long-term objectives but also maintain a high standard of professionalism. In this light, the current paper seeks to respond to some given questions in a bid to widen knowledge on management practices.
Why individuals are so important to the NASA project teams
The number one reason why individuals are so important to the NASA project teams is that they form the organization’s social capital. That is, the experiences that individuals gunner overtime as they work together is the very foundation of social capital networks within NASA. Secondly, these experiences that people have within the organization is of profound importance to both personal development and teamwork.
The Lessons learned program and its relationship with better project management
Ideally, the Lessons Learned Program is a database containing lessons learned from the history of NASA. It can therefore be said to be a system through which the organization shares information from past failures and successes mainly regarding knowledge management practices. In other words, LLP refers to understanding, insight, and knowledge gained by experience(Olla & Holm, 2006).
Having pointed what LLP means, it is clear that it has a direct relationship with better project management at NASA. Firstly, the program helps the current staff and project teams identify potential threats to the success of a project and thus avoid them in time. Secondly, the program makes it possible to integrate knowledge deployed in past projects. That is, knowledge at NASA becomes cumulative. Accordingly, there is no loophole for retardation in terms of knowledge application. Third, the program is a pool of viewpoints, perspectives, and contributions from employees hailing from very diverse backgrounds. As such, it makes it quite simple to understand possible sources of conflict in a team, how different people view things, and diverse problem-solving skills.
Individual Accountability and Team Responsibility
At NASA, individual accountability is so important in managing risk. Given the danger that failure at NASA can have both domestically and internationally, every individual is held accountable so as to reduce all loopholes for risk(Fosmire& Radcliffe, 2014). Although projects teams are responsible for the success of a project, preventing and managing risk is narrowed down to an individual level. Doing so makes considerably neutralizes human errors and closes the door against carelessness. Thus, teams do shoulder the responsibility of achieving success but not failure. Every team member has an assigned role of which he or she is held accountable for.
Key Competencies of a good project manager according to the NASA managers
There are three main competencies of a good project manager according to the NASA manager. To begin with is knowledge in his or her course. That is, managers are expected to be well founded on what their teams are to achieve. Precisely, a good project manager is expected to know every detail of the project and at times much more. The other key competency is commitment. Given that NASA’s work is scientific at the core, it is required that project managers show a lot of commitment in their work(Pellerin, 2009). Principally, this is so because most of the success at NASA either directly or indirectly pins down to creativity and innovation in management practices. The other key competency for good project managers at NASA is that they have respect from their subordinates. Based on the fact that team work is central to NASA’s success, a good manager must be respected by his juniors not only as an authority figure but also one that provides a sense of direction when required.
Leadership and good project manager
Leadership is not the same thing as a good project manager. The two are completely different. On the one hand, leadership has to do with the ability to inspire people towards achieving set objectives by way of utilizing each follower’s unique capabilities and potentials(Northouse, 2010). Further, leaders are vision bearers; they point the team where they are supposed to go, motivate them accordingly, and mobilize the required resources for the task. On the other hand, a good project manager is one that can coordinate resources, do the planning, and exercise control to ensure that set objectives are achieved in time. Most importantly, though, most leaders can make very good project managers and not the other round. However, it is imperative that leadership and good management skills come together in one person having oversight in a team, department, or even an organization(Ramsey, 2006).
Leadership Integrity and the Success of a Project
Leaders are viewed as role models. Hence, lack of integrity in leadership will soon trickle down to the followers and thus have massive impact on the success of a project(Northouse, 2010). In other words, a leader’s integrity is the glue that holds followers together to remain focused on the already established objectives. Moreover, integrity in leaders gives them a chance to question insubordinate, uncommitted, and unreliable staff members.
References
Fosmire, M., &Radcliffe, D. F. (2014). Integrating information into the engineering design process.West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press.
Northouse, P. G. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Olla, P., & Holm, J. (2006). Knowledge management in the space industry. Bradford, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.
Pellerin, C. J. (2009). How NASA builds teams: Mission critical soft skills for scientists, engineers, and project teams. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Ramsey, R. D. (2006). Lead, follow, or get out of the way: How to be a more effective leader in today's schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
