Research Summaries

Back Enhance Warfighter Performance by Fostering Organizational Agility & Innovation in the Naval Research and Development Enterprise

Fiscal Year 2019
Division Research & Sponsored Programs
Department NPS Naval Research Program
Investigator(s) Gallenson, Ann C.
Jansen, Erik
Higgins, Susan L.
Barrett, Frank J.
Brutzman, Donald P.
Sponsor NPS Naval Research Program (Navy)
Summary The CNO’s Design for Maritime Superiority identifies concerns about unprecedented, accelerating rates of change in maritime systems, global information systems & technology. It highlights the need to reexamine approaches in every aspect of the Navy’s operations. The NRDE has been the subject of at least two recent studies examining competencies & leadership. The Naval Research Advisory Council (NRAC) & the Defense Science Board (DSB), provided many recommendations pointing to the need to adapt to maintain excellence as the rate of technology change accelerates. However, few recommendations that have resulted in substantive change have been adopted. Transforming large organizations is messy, as leaders must align strategy, organizational structures, tasks & practices, training, education, informal continuous learning, rewards & incentives. And, they must consider the interdependencies of all these. This study will start where the NRAC & DSB studies end, with a focus on how to create essential organizational change in NRDE bureaucratic organizations. Our multi-faceted approach will use action-research methodologies to create recommendations for sustained change across the NRDE. Our study will explore how the NRDE might increase its organizational agility, including the integration of sensing, learning, adapting & responding to an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex, environment and exponentially accelerating (E-VUCA). To understand & help guide NRDE organizations as they adapt, we propose the development of a maturity model - an assessment tool for organizational agility. A model could measure agile values and the agility of people & organizational structures. The estimated budget of $200K funds labor & travel for four faculty across four quarters with their students to actively participate in the study. Primary deliverable will be a written report containing actionable recommendations for leaders.
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Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal