Dynamics the Company General Dynamics Term Paper

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General Dynamics employed WBS to connect their Integrated Product Teams, known as Design Build Teams -- DBTs having the established design goals. Hence every DBT possess a particular design goal allocated by management. The WBS is planned to wholly describe everything inside the program. A WBS defines the product(s) to be developed or produced and connects the constituents of work to be attained mutually and to the final product. Hence the role of WBS is important in planning and assigning management and technical duties; and evaluating and controlling the progress made and also the position of the engineering endeavors, resource allocations, cost estimates, expenses, and cost & technical performance. (Clark; Littrell, 2002)

Giving a logical framework for mentioning the technical purposes of the program, the WBS initially defines the program on the basis of the hierarchically associated, product-oriented factors and the work processes needed for their accomplishment. Every constituent for the WBS gives logical synopsis points for evaluating technical accomplishments, and for computing the cost and scheduled performance gained in achieving the specified technical objectives. In case of every WBS element, the detailed technical objectives are defined as also the particular work responsibilities allotted to each contractor organization element; and the resources, materials, and processes needed to accomplish the goals.

The WBS is (i) recognized on the Contract Data Requirement List -- CDRL (ii) included along with that of the Statement of Work -- SOW; and (iii) submitted finally as part of the draft Request for Proposal -- REP. The format for developing a WBS is stated in the Military Handbook 881 that has the format for the seven types of systems. These are (i) Missile Systems (ii) Ordnance System (iii) Ship System (iv) Space System (v) Surface Vehicle System (vi) Aircraft System (vii) Electronic Software System. (Clark; Littrell, 2002) f) Work Teams Utilization:

Under Work Teams Utilization, it is the responsibility of the Project Manager and Team Members to know what exactly is needed to be accomplished on a daily basis. It is on the part of the Executive to oversee both the complete scenario and its details in order to raise matters, anticipate the bottlenecks, and interrogate difficult questions. The person remains responsible for finding out the risks, guiding the managers, assisting in solving the problems, appraising the progress, and making the managers responsible. It has to be ensured by the executive that the every project are completed by the scheduled dates, and remain within the budgetary constrains and synchronized with other projects. This needs basic knowledge as also thorough attention to the general plan. In the absence of the details, it will be difficult on the part of the manager to provide leadership needed for implementation. (Girst, 2005)

Utilization of Work teams for strategy execution needs not just attention to detail and verifying personally, but also a feeling of and an appreciation of the psychology involved. The strategy is needed to be broken down in short-term lasting for 0-2 years, midterm of 2-5 years, and long-term objectives. At the time of developing implementing plans, it is needed to build chance for early wins, although they are small ones. Achievements in early stages motivate the team and make longer-term goals appear increasingly practical and attainable. Ways for improvements have to be seen that can be made quickly for making an influence on the organization. (Girst, 2005) g) Staffing:

The staffing pattern at General Dynamics is one of an efficient structure where there is a Leadership Team consisting of (i) Lou Von Thaer who is the Corporate VPP, GD & Advanced Information Systems (ii) Nancy Sturges serving as the Senior VP, Operations. The various other VP & General Manager oversee the functioning of various divisions like Engineering Development and Integration Systems, Intelligence and Exploitation Systems, Maritime Digital System and Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems. Besides, there are Senior Vice President, Engineering, Technology and Chief Technology Officer, Vice President, Finance; Vice President and General Counsel; Vice President, Human Resources & Administration. (Leadership Team) h) Employee and Management Development:-

Employee Development Program -- EDP are the proposals to foster learning for the employees through the workplace. The distinguishing feature of EDP from conventional training programs are (i) voluntary participation of the learner (ii) the learning happens mainly or even exclusively as per the learner's time and pace (iii) the targeted participants is free to choose about the topics with comparatively few restrictions (iv) the activities supported are in addition to the usual job related training and development (v) it is the employers who pay towards the cost of learning.

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(Employee Development Programs) i) Motivating employees:

The employer's expectation of people and the people's expectation of them are the important factors in deciding the quality of performance at work. This is known as the Pygmalion effect and the Galatea effect, respectively, and the power of expectations cannot be overestimated. These constitute the basic principles which can be applied to performance expectations and potential performance improvement at workplaces. The Pygmalion effect is popularly known as the power of expectations by considering that (i) every supervisor reserves expectations of the people who report before him (ii) supervisors covey about these communications knowingly and unknowingly. (iii) People catch, knowingly or unknowingly these expectations from their bosses. The Pygmalion effect facilitates the employees to outshine to the message of the manager that they are capable of success and expected to succeed. The Pygmalion effect has the possibility of discouragement of performance of staff while restrained communication originating from the manager communicates them the opposite. These signals are often subtle. An instance can be given of a supervisor who fails to commend about a staff person's performance as regularly as he helps with the praising others. (The Pygmalion Effect: The Power of the Supervisor's Expectations) j) Leading:-

It is imperative that leaders must be principle-centered. Principled-centered leadership constitutes those who perform basing on their natural principles and create these principles core to their lives, into the core of their relationships with others, into to the centre of their agreements and contracts, into their management processes, and also into their mission statements. Principles are guided by the why's of do's that have a universal applications; when principles are imbibed into habits, they empower people to build a wide variety of customs to handle different situations. Leading by principles needs more training, however the returns are more in terms of expertise, creativity, and shared responsibility at every level of the organization. (Principled-Centered Leadership) k) Conflict Management and Stress:

Effective conflict management can be done through (i) Collaboration (ii) Compromise (iii) Competition (iv) Accommodation and (v) Avoidance. Collaboration results from an increased concern regarding interest in one's own group coupled with an increased concern for the interest of other partners. This strategy is normally applied when concern for others is vital. Normally, it is also the best strategy when the interest of the society is at stake. This approach assists in the building of commitment and reduces ill feelings. The limitations are that it consumer time and energy. Apart from that, there might be situations where some partners light take advantage of others. Compromise results from a heightened concern for the interest of the group together with some concern for the interest of other partners. This policy is employed for solving temporary problems. A major drawback is that partners have the chance to overlook important values and long-term goals. This approach can also distract partners from the benefits of a problem and build a pessimistic environment.

Competition is another strategy that is due to a heightened concern for one's group's own particular interests having less of concern for others and the outcome is a win/lose situation. Accommodation results due to a low level of concern for one's groups own particular interests which are linked with a high level of concern for other partner's interests and the outcome is one of lose/win situation. Avoidance is due to a low level of concern for one's groups own specific interests which are linked with a low level of concern for others interests and the outcome is one of lose/lose situation. (Managing Conflict: A Guide for Watershed Partnerships) l) Managing change:

Managing change indicates making changes in a planned and managed or systematic manner. Seemingly, the most known example of change is the change of version control aspect of information system development projects. Nevertheless, these internal changes may have been activated by the events initiating external to the organization which is termed as the environment. Therefore the second meaning of managing change viz. The reaction of changes on lies outside the control of the organization like legislation, social and political tumult etc. (Nickols, 2004) m) Controlling:

Under the Intelligence Information, Command and Control Equipment and Enhancement program, General Dynamics gives computer repair, network management and administration, logistics support, video system support, software configuration and remote diagnostics service at 1065 customer locations across the world. The Siebel Field Service System will track every request for action between the Government and General Dynamics, improving service provision….....

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