| Plexus Consulting Group | Success Stories | ||
| American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) |
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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
(AIAA)
1801 Alexander Bell Drive
Plexus Consulting Group, LLC |
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Vital Stats: With more than 31,000 members, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world's largest professional society devoted to the progress of engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. The Institute continues to be the principal voice, information resource, and publisher for aerospace engineers, scientists, managers, policymakers, students, and educators. Also, many prominent corporations and governments worldwide rely on AIAA as an aggregator of professional accomplishment in all areas related to aerospace. The Challenge | The Solution | The Process | Unintended Consequences | Unforseen Benefits | Measurements & Results | Lessons Learned
How to build a motivated, educated and effective workforce to enable a dynamic organization to provide economically viable products and services to meet changing industry needs? With the early 1990's downturn in the aerospace industry resulting from decreased defense spending and industry consolidation, AIAA was forced to change its organization making it more efficient, and rethinking its operation strategy. The decision was to "reengineer the organization." By making it more "process centered" rather than product
centered, AIAA was able to meet the imperative brought on by an industry
downturn, decrease organizational layers that had trapped the Institute
in an outmoded method of operation, and for the first time in a long
time provide pinpoint focus for a staff which (for whatever reason)
had been meandering. Change the corporate culture to enable association staff to be entrepreneur-owners in their work. In order to reengineer the organization, the change had to begin
with the employees. They had to be motivated, educated and, in the
end, molded into a group of employees operating with minimal bureaucracy
and acting as though they were entrepreneur-owners of a for-profit
company. Through the combination of capable employees and a master
"Strategic Marketing Plan," AIAA became market driven and
customer focused. Over the most recent five-year period, these efforts
have increased AIAA's revenue base by $3.3 million (a 25 percent growth
rate). In 1996, as part of the reengineering process, AIAA decided it was necessary not just to adapt the association to the changing trends, but also to create what would eventually become an entirely new corporate culture. During the reengineering process, the company emphasized the importance and benefits of education, stating that "more educated employees are both smarter and happier" because they are better situated to make significant impact on the bottom line.
While AIAA has always had a formal training and education plan, the emphasis on learning was increased, and the plan was moved to the front burner. AIAA operates with a comprehensive training program that includes tuition reimbursement, all staff training, and individualized development programs. Approximately 1 percent of the budget ($150,000 per year) has been and continues to be spent on staff training. Within the AIAA environment, the basic employee unit is that of the project team, which consists of 8-10 people performing multidisciplinary tasks. The Institute's plan, therefore, emphasizes individual as well as team training. The initial intent was to increase communication and interaction among the team members, thereby increasing the productivity rate. The positive outcomes that resulted from this training approach included:
On an Institute-wide basis, the thrust for more and better training resulted in:
For all the positives that can come with such a program, there have also been negative consequences. A very few number of individuals had their own agendas, and took advantage of the increased training to help them build their own careers apart form AIAA. Was this unavoidable? Probably. Is it preventable? Definitely. This factor keeps top management on their toes as they must consistently evaluate each employee to ensure that he or she is appropriately challenged and being utilized to the fullest extent. We have found that, when managed, this potential negative consequence is minimized to the point of being trivial. There were both foreseen and unforeseen benefits and results. The intended benefits that resulted from this training program were:
The unintended benefits that resulted from this training program included:
Over the past 10 years, the productivity was nearly doubled; over the past 5 years, revenues are up 25 percent. The various training programs not only helped the employees become more efficient and productive, but it also helped them cultivate better working relationships - and stronger personal relationships - with each other. In short, training and education improved our teams, and better teams in turn yielded a reduced rate of turnover, down to 2 percent voluntary turnover in the past fiscal year, in the company. Employees feel like part of a large family where everyone watches out for each other, and where their contribution truly makes a difference. AIAA has been quite pleased with the overall turnout of the reengineering, the training initiatives, and all that each entails; however undergoing the change has been quite challenging and even painful as well. AIAA learned that in the long run, the training program was a success - not just in terms of productivity, but in many other ways, too. Training and education can help change the culture of an association, but only if it is continually accompanied by the commitment of both management and every single employee.
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