Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Abstract
Affordability within industry has grown in interest over the years as organizations strive to balance performance and cost effectiveness in projects. The desire to produce high quality outputs while adhering to budgetary and schedule limitations has led to a shift in focus that emphasizes improving affordability through organizational changes and practices. There are often variations in perceptions of applications and best practices in regards to affordability improvement. These variations may lead to misunderstandings between individuals, teams, and organizations when implementing a strategy to improve affordability. The purpose of the current study is to ascertain how individuals within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Marshall Space Flight Center perceive non-financial aspects of improving affordability. Participants (N=173) were asked to respond to a survey regarding their approaches to the concept of affordability. Both financial and non-financial aspects were mentioned in participant responses, however, this poster presents the results of the thematic analysis performed on the perceived approaches to improving affordability through non-financial aspects. The responses were categorized into 5 non-financial themes of Process (including design and technology), People, External Environments, Attributes, and Other. The majority of respondents (45%) believed affordability could be improved through Process-related methodologies. Results revealed Process and People categories to be the predominant industrial-organizational facets. Process was further broken down into Technology, Design, Requirements & Specifications, Documentation, Risk, Planning, Organization, and Schedule with Technology being the most frequent category mentioned by participants. The second most common response theme was People (31%) which was further broken down into sub themes of Workforce, Management, Communication, Customer & Stakeholders, Training, and Culture & Climate. For those participants who suggested People-related improvements to affordability, Workforce was the most frequent response. Responses were limited to categorization within a single category and subcategory by researchers. Additional investigation will analyze responses from a number of industries, including but not limited to the aerospace industry. The findings from this survey may help researchers understand perceptions of affordability improvement through non-financial aspects within the aerospace industry.
Date
10-16-2021
Subject
Industrial and organizational psychology
Document Type
posters
Language
English
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Included in
Non-Financial Aspects of Perceived Affordability Improvement
Affordability within industry has grown in interest over the years as organizations strive to balance performance and cost effectiveness in projects. The desire to produce high quality outputs while adhering to budgetary and schedule limitations has led to a shift in focus that emphasizes improving affordability through organizational changes and practices. There are often variations in perceptions of applications and best practices in regards to affordability improvement. These variations may lead to misunderstandings between individuals, teams, and organizations when implementing a strategy to improve affordability. The purpose of the current study is to ascertain how individuals within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Marshall Space Flight Center perceive non-financial aspects of improving affordability. Participants (N=173) were asked to respond to a survey regarding their approaches to the concept of affordability. Both financial and non-financial aspects were mentioned in participant responses, however, this poster presents the results of the thematic analysis performed on the perceived approaches to improving affordability through non-financial aspects. The responses were categorized into 5 non-financial themes of Process (including design and technology), People, External Environments, Attributes, and Other. The majority of respondents (45%) believed affordability could be improved through Process-related methodologies. Results revealed Process and People categories to be the predominant industrial-organizational facets. Process was further broken down into Technology, Design, Requirements & Specifications, Documentation, Risk, Planning, Organization, and Schedule with Technology being the most frequent category mentioned by participants. The second most common response theme was People (31%) which was further broken down into sub themes of Workforce, Management, Communication, Customer & Stakeholders, Training, and Culture & Climate. For those participants who suggested People-related improvements to affordability, Workforce was the most frequent response. Responses were limited to categorization within a single category and subcategory by researchers. Additional investigation will analyze responses from a number of industries, including but not limited to the aerospace industry. The findings from this survey may help researchers understand perceptions of affordability improvement through non-financial aspects within the aerospace industry.
Department
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dept. of Psychology