Organizational Considerations for Implementing Systems Engineering and Integration in the Ares Projects Office

Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) is a critical discipline in developing new space systems. In 2005, NASA performed an internal study of 24 agency and Department of Defense (DoD) programs to evaluate methods of integrating SE&I practices and determine their effectiveness. The goal of the study was to determine the best SE&I implementation strategy for the Ares Projects Office. The study identified six SE&I organizational structures: 1. Lead systems integrator (LSI) with SE&I responsibility and government technical insight. 2a. Integration contractor with government SE&I responsibility (government insight). 2b. Integration contractor with government SE&I responsibility (government oversight). 3a. Prime contractor with SE&I responsibility (government insight). 3b. Prime contractor with SE&I responsibility (government oversight). 3c. Prime contractor with SE&I responsibility (government/industry partnership). 4a.Prime contractor with government SE&I responsibility (government insight). 4b. Prime contractor with government SE&I responsibility (government oversight). 4d.Prime contractors with total system performance responsibility (TSPR). 5. Prime contractor with government SE&I responsibility and integration products through a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC). 6. Government/FFRDC in-house development with SE&I responsibility and function. The organizational structure used most often was number 4, using a prime contractor with government SE&I responsibility and government technical insight. However, data analyses did not establish a positive relationship between program development costs and specific SE&I organizational types, nor did it positively determine the relationship between successful programs or projects and their SE&I structure. The SE&I study reached the following conclusions: (1) Large, long-duration, technically complex programs or projects reach their technical goals, but rarely meet schedule or cost goals. NASA's recent successes have been smaller, short-duration development projects using heritage hardware/software, focused technology development, technical oversight and stable external factors. (2) Programs and projects have failed or been terminated due to lack of technical insight, relaxing of SE&I processes, and unstable external factors. (3) The study did not find a single, clear optimum SE&I organization type to fit all projects. However, while any organizational structure can be made to work, the fewer complexities in the program, the better the likelihood of success. (4) The most common successful SE&I organization structure type in the study was type 4b, where the government maintained integration responsibility, with the prime contractor providing SE&I products and the government providing technical oversight. This study was instrumental in helping the APO select organization structure 4, following the same SE&I and oversight process used during humanlund7s last voyages to the Moon

Using structural complexity to explain decision-making on corporate responsibility

PhD ThesisIntra-organizational factors are an important line of inquiry to improve the explanation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) behavior in current theory and management concepts. Contributions from organizational behavior literature were used in this thesis to orient the analysis to the company’s structure in order to provide alternative explanations as to ‘why’ and ‘how’ companies addressed social responsibility issues and activities. Qualitative methods were employed to investigate the structure/decision relationship among a sample of decision processes of multinational business organizations. Conclusions suggest that social responsibility issues and activities can be treated contextually by the company, and its complexity can influence and shape the development of alternatives to address the issues and activities

Strategic delegation of responsibility in competing firms

This paper investigates the strategic impact of organizational design on product market competition. In a duopoly model of horizontal and vertical product differentiation, each firm's manager can impose a product location, or delegate responsibility to select product location to his subordinate. The task of a subordinate is to develop and produce the good. Quality is determined by his effort level, which depends on his private benefits. The managers compete on a product market by selling the goods produced by their subordinates. Conditions for existence of equilibria are derived, and implications for management strategy are discussedOligopoly;Competition;Product Differentiation;Organizational Structure;Corporate Strategy;business economics

The pioneer projects: Economical exploration of the solar system

The interplanetary Pioneer missions are reviewed in terms of management implications and cost control. The responsibilities, organizational structure, and management practices of the Pioneer Projects are presented. The lines of authority and areas of responsibility of the principal organizational elements supporting the Pioneer missions are identified, and the methods employed for maintaining effective and timely interactions among these elements are indicated. The technical and administrative functions of the various organizational elements of the Pioneer Project Office at Ames Research Center are described in terms of their management responsibilities and interactions with other elements of the Project Office and with external organizations having Pioneer Project responsibilities. The management and control of activities prior to and during the hardware procurement phase are described to indicate the basis for obtaining visibility of the technical progress, utilization of resources, and cost performance of the contractors and other institutions supporting the Pioneer projects

PERAN AKUNTANSI PERTANGGUNGJAWABAN DALAM HUBUNGANNYA DENGAN PENILAIAN KINERJA MANAJER PADA PT. PAKERIN SURABAYA”

The purpose of this study is to determine suitability of the organizational structure with responsibility accounting system, to identify the account code, to knowthe preparation of corporate budgets and to determine whether responsibility accounting can be used to assess the performance of managers. The research method used in this study is qualitative and descriptive case studies. Qualitative methods are research methods that explain the circumstances of a phenomenon or event by using the description of the sentence. Based on survey results revealed that the company has not applied the accounting system of accountability, this can be seen from the organizational structure which does not list the account code for each part of the organization, preparing a budget that is less in accordance with the rules of preparation of the budget in the form of statements of responsibility, and there is no cost grouping. This resulted in the company is difficult to know if it happened in a part of cost efficiency. To implement responsibility accounting system, a company must establish the center - the center is clearly accountable by giving the code - code of responsibility center. In a responsibility accounting system based on central budget - accountability and cost centers separated into controllable expenses and uncontrollable costs, as well as its reporting system. Thus the leadership would be easier to evaluate the performance of responsibility center managers. From the above analysis and conclusions in the company needs to implement responsibility accounting system

Responsibility for Failures of Government: The Problem of Many Hands

The problem of many hands—the difficulty of assigning responsibility in organizations in which many different individuals contribute to decisions and policies—stands in the way of investigating and correcting the failures of government. The problem can be mitigated by giving greater attention to the design of processes of organizational responsibility. An independent investigation can identify both the individual actions and the structural defects that contributed to an organizational failure. Then, specific individuals can be designated as overseers, who are held responsible for monitoring the structure and making changes as necessary. Three cases—the official responses to terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, and the financial crisis that began in 2007—illustrate how this prospective approach of designing responsibility could work in practice.Governmen

Establishment of Expression of Management Culture as a Formal Part of the Organizational Culture, Aiming to Implement Corporate Social Responsibility

In order to establish the factors of occurrence of the management culture as a part of formal organizational culture, which have an influence on the implementation of corporate social responsibility, the survey of managerial staff of the companies was carried out. Corporate policy of formulation of strategic goals, visions, organizational structures, etc. as well as how corporate social responsibility is realised in practice was evaluated. Attention is drawn to the inconsistencies because of which corporate social responsibility, as a concept, is not fully realised in the corporate strategy, but only focused on individual goals. Therefore, there remains a wide untapped field of the managerial potential and the development of structure of the organization

The French Polar Effort and the Expeditions Polaires Francaises

Reviews the development of EPF as a private organization under Paul-Emile Victor since 1947, its present status and future. Its organizational structure, financing by the French government, activities in Greenland and the Antarctic are described as is its changing relationship with government as result of France's expanded polar operations. EPF has organizational responsibility for the expeditions of Expedition Glaciologique Internationale au Groenland

Co-working spaces in Porto, Portugal: collaborative economy within capitalism reforms or anti-capitalist experiences?

Co-working spaces are collaborative economic practices that have been gaining increasing visibility in the last decade in European cities. In Porto, these practices are currently quite popular. In this research, the authors map and characterize co-working spaces in Porto, aiming to analize their spatial distribution and perceptions, motivations and opinions of their owners / managers. Based on content analysis of web sites and three semi-structured interviews with managers and owners of co-working spaces, we propose in this article a new approach to the subject, in order to understand which dimensions of capitalism profit orientation; organizational structure; professional autonomy and responsibility; organizational responsibility are transformed or abolished in these economic activities