WORKSHOP FIVE: TOTAL QUALITY PLAN IMPLEMENTATION FOR IMPROVING NASAÆS HIGH-LEVEL DECISION-MAKING PROCESS û THE APPROACH TO PROGRAM GOAL SETTING-PRIORITIZING PROGRAM GOALS-FUNDING-OPERATIONAL DECISION-MAKING)
A proposal to improve the high-level decision-making process (program goal setting-prioritizing program goals-funding-operational decision-making) at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been developed and put forward for consideration by top-level NASA management. The objective of this current effort is to persuade top management at NASA to implement the proposed plan for improving the agencyÆs high-level decision-making process. The persuasion strategy is a strategy based on ôeducatingö NASA top management of the value of the proposed plan for improvement. ôEducatingö within the context of this strategy refers to providing NASA top management with the relevant information (and explanations of that information when requested) that will allow top management at the agency to evaluate the worthiness of the proposed change to the high-level decision-making process at NASA.
The information relevant to educating top management at NASA concerning the proposed changes to the high-level decision-making process includes four elements. These elements are (a) the ôAs Isö state of the high-level decision-making process, (b) the To Beö state of the high-level decision-making process, (c) the benefits associated with moving from the ôAs Isö state to the ôTo Beö state, and (d) how one will recognize success when it occurs (how success will be measured).
Persuading NASAÆs top management of the desirability of implementing the proposed change to the agencyÆs high-level decision-making process requires first the identification of who is included in the ôtop managementö for the purposes of considering the proposed change. This identification involves the determination of the ôKey Customerö (...