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CSS561-Programming
Concepts
Software
Maintenance and Change Control
Derek
Denaro & Samuel Manackaraj
Team
D
September
23, 2003
Professor
Shriram Krishnan
Change Control
Issues:
I would now like to draw upon the importance of change
control, the significance of, and the repercussions of, as well as the ill
effects due to the lack of incorporating change within the organization.
Perhaps the greatest example of what I am referring to can be clearly seen in
the following examples.
The NASA Polar Lander disappeared during its landing attempt
on the Mars surface on December 3, 1999. The Failure Review Board determined
that the most likely reason for this occurrence was a malfunction due to an
unexpected setting of a single data bit, but more importantly was why it was
never caught by internal tests.
Also another factor interesting to note, is that in order to
save money NASA simplified the mechanism responsible for shutting off the
thrusters for when the Lander touches ground. The review board learned that the
Mars Polar Lander was tested by multiple teams. Accordingly when the Polar
Lander legs snapped open for landing, a mechanical vibration also tripped the
touch down switch, setting the fatal bit. One team tested the leg fold
procedure and another the landing process. From that point on, the other first
team never looked to see if the touch down bit was set, since it was not their
area. The second team always reset the computer, clearing the bit before it
started its testing. Both pieces worked perfectly on an individual base but not
when put together. (2003)
Let's examine something further. On February 1st,
2003 NASA mission STS-107 ended tragically with the destruction of the Columbia
Space Shuttle along with seven crew members upon reentry to the earth's atmosphere,
according to the Executive Solution Journal. The Columbia Accident
Investigation Board provided us with both technical and organizational defects
that characterized the disaster. In this 260 page report more of the report has
to do with the culture, management and budgetary processes of the shuttle
program than the physical items that failed.
Clearly this phenomenon is not unique to NASA. In fact,
business schools are littered with case studies of corporate mergers and new
product launches that produce the same effect; a culture that does not match
the tasks at hand. (p.1-2)
According to Richard Jorgensen, my personal coach, founder,
and CEO of Life Skills U, culture is
the combined perceptions, attitudes, thinking, and behavior of all people within
the organization. He states that it was Edward Demming's principles that were
redefined into economic and organizational terms to help decentralize
management with his philosophy of the relationship between leadership and
workers. It was these principles that were implemented by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which made NASA the pinnacle of
excellence and performance in our society and the creator of the "Can
Do" attitude. As time passed, the world changed but NASA culture did not
use the same principles to adapt to the changes. Instead the principles became
rules and the dynamics inherent in these principles, which are necessary for
change, were lost. The organization became rigid and unable to flex and change.
The result was a cultural "time lock" within NASA. Vertical
communication has grounded to a halt and in its place small "power
centers" formed for personal and organizational survival.
This "time lock" is found in all organizational
cultures in the form of resistance, covering up or denying problems,
communication failures, authority conflicts, accidents, harassment, violence
and ultimately lost opportunities, layoffs and sometimes bankruptcy.
The driving force that a change control environment begins
with is an awareness of these circumstances described above. Driving our
understanding of culture the way Richard Jorgensen has presented it to us, is
the starting point from which change can be accepted without the usual
resistance often associated with change. However we must know what drives
resistance to change before we can expect changes to happen.
Before any goals to be set for a change procedure to happen,
or before any formative development stage can occur, we first have to go to the
source of the problem.
Once again based upon the profound and thought provoking
insights from Richard Jorgensen, it was discovered that an important aspect of
humanism was missing…Emotional Self-Authority. The ability to make sound
decisions about ones emotions and not be ruled by them. Without Emotional
Self-Authority, people within the organization cannot make logical decisions.
Instead their decisions are reactionary to each situation. They do not consider
the impact of their decisions on the organization.
(p. 1)
More so as we begin to understand the difference between
structural authority and self-emotional control we are able to make decisions
that are right for ourselves as well as support the right decisions passed on
from leadership within the organization. We no longer have to fear that the
suggestions we put forth will be accepted or not. We are able to make sound
decisions because we have been able to separate our own self emotional-control
from structural authority. Thus a leader and a follower can establish synergy.
When one has Emotional Self-Authority, team-members are given the freedom to
exercise their self-authority, self-responsibility, and self-accountability.
Leaders are given the freedom to exercise structural authority, responsibility,
and accountability to accomplish the organizational goals and objectives.
(2002)
When these two elements of Self Emotional-Authority and
Structural Authority are reciprocated the organization becomes empowered and as
a result any change or changes needed, no longer becomes an issue but becomes a
natural process for change to occur and the universality of cause and effect
are able to flow.
When this type of foundation becomes the platform in which
we approach our everyday endeavors it becomes the basis for success and
achievement.
It is
a platform of inequality that forms the basis for control of others as opposed
to the attainment of self-control and as a result creates instability,
distrust, disloyalty, job-dissatisfaction, job turnover, passive and aggressive
resistance, just to name a few. These behaviors in the work place stem from the
learned behaviors that each and every individual brings from outside the
workplace. As Richard Jorgensen says, people have personalities, organizations
have cultures. If the organizational culture is unable to attain the mutual
exchange of interpersonal relationships based on creativity, compassion and
support then this type of organization has no hope to conceive of spiraling
upward. As a result any efforts to incorporate change with that basis has no
other recourse but to meet with resistance and as a result are perpetuating the
cycle of cultural "Time-Lock" as so eloquently depicted by Richard
Jorgensen.
The mission of Life Skills U
organization is to teach how an organizational culture can attain the level of
performance in which a forum of mutual exchange among leadership and followers
can establish and keep an environment of creativity, compassion, and support.
As a result the occurrence of real change can take place by "Creating a
Culture Responsive to Change."
References:
Patton, R. (2003), "Software Testing" Que Publications
Jorgensen, D.R (2003), 'Our Organizational Culture'
retrieved September 18, 2003
from http://www.lifeskillsu.org/LSU%20-Culture-Deming-htm
Crowell, B (2003), 'Business Lessons from the Columbia
Report',
Published by exsj, executive solution
journal
Jorgensen, D.R (2002), "Creating a Culture
Responsive to Change"
Stop-n-Start Learning Systems delivered by
Life Skills U
http://www.lifeskillsu.org
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