Alfred E. Thal

Facilitating organizational change: a test of leadership strategies

A sample of 339 employees embroiled in a major organizational change completed a survey that was designed to explore how specific change messages (e.g. appropriateness, valence, and management support) and change facilitation strategies (participation and training) relate to the perceptions of the change benefits and quality of information conveyed. Results indicated that appropriateness and extrinsic valence were strong predictors of perceptions of change benefits while supervisor support and extrinsic valence most influenced perceptions of information quality. Results further indicated that participation and training were related to perceptions of information quality. However, contrary to our expectations, participation was inversely related to the benefits of the change. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for practitioners and researchers.

Project manager personality as a factor for success

Much has been written regarding project success, and one of the factors contributing to project success is the role of the project manager. Since project success can be enhanced by selecting the most appropriate project manager, we investigated the role of the ldquoBig Fiverdquo personality traits on project success by surveying United States Department of Defense project managers. The findings indicate that Conscientiousness and Openness were both good predictors of successful project managers. The results may be useful as one consideration when hiring and selecting project managers.

To LEED or Not to LEED: Analysis of Cost Premiums Associated With Sustainable Facility Design

Abstract: Many organizations have established policies authorizing a “green” cost premium to fund sustainable design. In order to determine whether or not this practice is supported, we collected construction, cost, and utility data on a sample of 160 LEED certified buildings. Using simple correlation and descriptive statistics to analyze the resulting database, we found operating costs in LEED certified buildings were

Military technology development: a future-based approach using scenarios

0.70 per square foot less than non-LEED buildings, energy costs were 31% lower, and cost premiums ranged from 2.5 to 9.4% with a mean of 4.1%. Correlation analysis suggests there are very few statistically significant correlations among the design variables.

Sequencing the Development Order of Architecture Products: An Application to DoDAF

Purpose – The threat environment countries face is a dynamic one, with many emerging technologies. This paper presents unique challenges as countries evaluate which technologies to pursue in support of national security. Rather than addressing a broad range of strategic options, this paper limits its scope to a single type of aircraft. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a methodology to counter the most likely future threats to a long‐range strike aircraft.Design/methodology/approach – To address future threats, the paper examined the most likely course of technology development within the context of various alternative futures. To decompose general threat scenarios into specific risk scenarios, the risk filtering, ranking, and management (RFRM) framework was used. After identifying the most significant risk scenarios, decision tree analysis provided insight into whether or not to pursue a given technology (e.g. electromagnetic pulse hardening, redundant control structures, etc.).Findings –...

Infrastructure Decay Modeling With the Input-Output Inoperability Model

The Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF) v1.5 describes 29 distinct architecture products but provides limited guidance on their development. Furthermore, existing guidance specifying a static list of products may detract from the creation of those products critical to system success. Therefore, using a unique combination of systems architecture, decision analysis, and scheduling heuristics, we analyzed the value of individual products and established associated goals for their development. A key observation from this research was the fact that the stakeholder values attributed to various products did not necessarily align with existing DoD guidance. The resulting insight enables decision-makers to more effectively guide the development and sequencing of specific products.

Evaluating the effectiveness of utility privatization effortsThe views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or United States Government.

Asset management and infrastructure interdependency concepts are found to be useful in the study of infrastructure decay. As such, infrastructure decay is modeled with the input-output inoperabilit...

Probabilistic Assessment of Failure for United States Air Force Building Systems

Purpose – Government‐owned utility systems at many locations are old, obsolete, and unreliable. Replacement of these systems has become more technically and operationally complex, thereby making them more difficult for personnel to operate and maintain. In response, some governmental agencies are conveying ownership of these systems to the private sector through utility privatization as a way to efficiently operate and upgrade them. For utility privatization to be successful though, independent audits are necessary to ensure desired quantitative and qualitative factors are balanced. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – The paper explains how the value‐focused thinking (VFT) methodology was used to develop a multi‐objective decision analysis (MODA) model to determine the effectiveness of utility privatization efforts.Findings – The VFT MODA model was determined to be a suitable tool to evaluate a complex decision problem such as utility system evaluation. The mod...

User-Centered Design in U.S Air Force Additive Manufacturing; Case Studies on Tools, Jigs, and Topology Optimization

AbstractDeteriorating and failing federal facilities represent a significant cost to the U.S. government. In maintaining these assets, the United States Air Force currently uses a facility data sys...

User-Centered Design Applied to USAF Civil Engineering Explosive Ordnance Disposal Tools and Jigs

User-centered Additive Manufacturing (AM) design processes were applied to tools and jigs used in operational tasks for various career fields. Case study analysis was used to investigate to what degree can user centered AM design processes and topology optimization be utilized by various Air Force squadrons in everyday and contingency operations and to what degree topology optimization can be applied to the tools and jigs developed while preserving user requirements. Nine case studies evaluated tools and jigs for Explosive Ordnance Disposal and the Engineering Management Laboratory at the US Air Force Institute of Technology. If deemed appropriate by the customer and designer, topology optimization was applied. Surveys were used to rate different aspects of usability for each case study and the results were used to identify trends between the case studies. Overall, this research found that AM and topology optimization could be applied to both daily and contingency operations.