Why did NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe address NASA employees to describe the
plan to bring about proposed changes to NASA's culture?
The main reason
Mr. O'Keefe wanted to come on and talk about the changes is because of the
recent accident that they were dealing with. There were a lot of questions
surrounding the culture of NASA and they wanted to determine where
the breakdown came from and what they could do better moving on.
It was important to present that data to the public and to address what
their intentions were moving forward.
Was he believable? Is it important
whether he appeared to be believable?
Personally, I feel as though he was believable
and that the information he presented was genuine. I feel
that they actually took the appropriate time to understand the culture and
where the potential break downs were coming from. What I found interesting is
that he talked about how on paper, they felt like they had a good operating
culture but in practice they weren’t living up to it. He said employees were
afraid to come forward with safety information or go to higher levels within
their department at that time and that is something they were going to address.
Why did he talk
about NASA values?
He talked about the passion and the drive
that NASA has and I think he had to do that so there doesn’t seem to be any negligence
or shortcomings on their part. The accident itself basically formed the basis
for why he discussed what he did. I think he wants the viewer to understand
their intent and their motivation in being safe and productive.
What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use
in your career?
What I think pertains the most to our organization is the
concept of not letting anything stop with you. What I mean is, if you have some
information that has safety implications, you should be able to present that information
without fear or repercussions. Recently, the FAA has moved to that sort of
program. The problem with the program is that when you actually report
something, they can pinpoint who was working where and they’ll always know who
to talk to. People don’t want to risk their career over something they might
deem small. That small thing however could grow into something larger. I will
try to apply this process of keeping information flowing here at our facility. Maybe
we can determine where the information stops.
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