1. AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY ON CREATING A COLLABORATIVE AND EFFICIENT VIRTUAL COMMAND CENTER AMONG FOUR SEPARATE ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY
Ms. Teresa Gonda, Master Black Belt
Senior Service College Fellow
Defense Acquisition University
Anne Kohnke, PhD
Assistant Professor of IT
Lawrence Technological University
College of Management

2. Midwest Academy of Management 2012
OUTLINE
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Midwest Academy of Management 2012

3. Introduction The Context
DoD and Army in a major transformation to become more efficient
Creation of Virtual Integrated Command Centers (2004)
Army Wide Process Improvement Implementation (2006)
Leadership Programs to teach new thinking (2006)
New Integrated IT Business Systems across Army/DoD (2011)
Better Business Initiatives (DoD) (2011)
Seven year case study Master’s Thesis
Part of an ongoing longitudinal study/Participant Action Research – Formative Evaluation Research
The Beginning of the Journey: What to do with a clean sheet of paper? (or not so clean…)
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4. Introduction The Problem
The DoD Acquisition Executive Goals
Acquisition is the Business side of DoD
Acquiring or building “stuff” for military
Affordable Programs
Improve Efficiency
Civilian
Military
Army Acquisition Executive
Army Materiel Command GENERAL (4 star General)
Two Separate Chains of Command in Army
Program Executives (PEO)
Program Managers (PM)
Control $/ Programs
PEO PM
Prod
Separate Powers
Research, Development, Engineering
Sustainment, Logistics, Costing
Control
Requirements (& Program Support)
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5. Introduction The Change
Operate as One Collaborative Business
The Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC)
A Virtual Command Center
Unit of Analysis
( )
LCMC Intervention Projects •
Human Resources
Financial Synchronization
Fleet
Rde
RDE Alignment LCMC Block Project-Lean Six Sigma
Create LCMC Tech
Portfolio
Planning
Align
PM and Research Community to
collaboratively work tech
planning
and insertion
Create an LCMC
shared systems
engineering and integration
center of
excellence to be utilized across
PMs/PEOs
The Intervention
LCMC Initiative •
Get products to the
Soldier faster
Make good products
even better
Minimize life cycle cost
Enhance the synergy and
effectiveness of the separate orgs
Lean Six Sigma Directed
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6. Midwest Academy of Management 2012
LIT REVIEW
Implementing Change
Lean Six Sigma for Enterprise Excellence*
Frigon, N. L., & Jackson, H. K. (2008). Enterprise Excellence: A Practical Guide to World Class Competition.
George, M. (2003). Lean Six Sigma for Service
Change Models and Variety
Kotter (1996) , Leading Change
Change Communication
The importance of leadership in change
Organizational Design
Labovitz, G., & Rosansky, V. (1997). The Power of Alignment: How Great Companies Stay Centered and Accomplish Extraordinary Things.
McKinsey 7-S, Waterman, Peters, & Phillips, 1980
*Relevant in this phase of the effort
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7. Midwest Academy of Management 2012
METHODOLOGY
Participants
LCMC Executive Committee
The RDE Alignment Executive Steering Group
The Action Research Team
The Core Team
Subject Matter Experts
Analytical Framework – COVERED MORE in RESULTS
Frigon & George: Lean Six Sigma DMAIC - Modified toward Design for Lean Six Sigma (create something new)
Structured Interviews – process adapted from Lean Six Sigma
Thematic Analysis – Three Person Interrater reliability
Content Analysis (for Failure Modes and Effects Analysis)
Constant Comparative Analysis (interviews, FMEA, best practices, process mapping)
Mixed Method Qualitative & Quantitative
Intervention Exercises
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8. METHODOLOGY Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA) Template
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9. Midwest Academy of Management 2012
RESULTS
DEFINE PHASE
MEASURE PHASE
ANALYZE PHASE
IMPROVE PHASE
CONTROL PHASE
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10. RESULTS DEFINE PHASE
AFFINITY DIAGRAM/INTERRELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM/SCORING MATRIX
8 and 15 participants – Key stakeholders in the processes across the orgs.
RESEARCH BEST PRACTICES
STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS – Voice of the Customer, SCOPING, REFINING
Interdependency diagraph of problems from Affinity Pareto chart
Pareto chart for Affinity process
RESULT: Refinement of problem towards need for collaborative Portfolio Management.
CHALLENGE: No Pfm infrastructure, no integrative processes, proper skills, tools in place. Would have to build from scratch and create the culture
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11. Midwest Academy of Management 2012
RESULTS MEASURE PHASE
PROCESS MAPPING
BEST PRACTICES
Additional Voice of the Customer
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12. Midwest Academy of Management 2012
RESULTS ANALYZE PHASE
CAUSE & EFFECT FISHBONE
Failure Modes & Effects Analysis
THEMATIC ANALYSIS
Constant Comparative Analysis
interviews, FMEA, best practices, process mapping
% Cumulative Risk
29% - Unclear Roles and Resp
17% - No Formal Process
13% -No Strategy accounted
11% - Incorrect Skills
11% - Lack of Collaboration
7%- Lack of Coordinated Users
4% - Funding problems
4% Poor Communication
3% - Org Structure Problems
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13. Midwest Academy of Management 2012
RESULTS IMPROVE PHASE
BEST PRACTICES
FUTURE STATE PROCESS MAPPING, RACI MAPPING
SYNTHESIZE
Constant Comparative Analysis (interviews, FMEA, best practices, process mapping)
The RDE Alignment Solution Set based on the Labovitz and Rosanksy Alignment Model
Synthesis Resulted in a Blue Print for:
Overarching collaborative synchronized planning process
A central planning function (new roles) to manage the process
A center of excellence for systems engineering and integration
The governance structure to bring the pieces together since the virtual Command Center had no other means of centralized decision making
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14. Midwest Academy of Management 2012
RESULTS CONTROL PHASE
Developed an Implementation Plan of projects that needed to be launched to build blueprint
Assigned Champion Senior Executive
Established a Strategic Transformation Cell to drive and facilitate
Established an Improvement Project Management Infrastructure
Developed a Strategic Plan based on the blueprint
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15. DISCUSSION KEY LESSONS LEARNED
LSS was directed
Implementation poor overall. Not understood. Little outside help.
The outside mentoring I got and being full time, made the difference
Mentoring approach built into LSS good for developing change agents
Tools very good for guiding qualitative analysis
Fishbone/FMEA combo is powerful tedious, but calibrates a group and gives very rich data
DMAIC Framework adaptable given the right personality ODC
Communication
Per Kotter et al, it is crucial and there wasn’t nearly enough of it
This was big departure. Major Comms strategy called for to implement change
Leadership
Army knows fighting leadership, but hasn’t built the business framework yet and just assumes that “leadership” is the problem. But leading change and building a “business” is not understand.
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16. DISCUSSION CHALLENGES
Lean Six Sigma is for fixing, not creating
Could have used Design for LSS, but not part of culture
Would have started with Appreciative Inquiry
Scope, Scope, Scope
Leading Change
While Kotter book was read, leaders still underestimate what communication is needed and that strat comms requires a diligent continuous system
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17. Midwest Academy of Management 2012
CONCLUSION
Study Demonstrated
Even amidst significant challenges,
Effective employing and adapting elements of Lean Six Sigma change philosophies, structures, and tools
Can be used to guide dedicated Action Research Teams in creating
a new vision
A Tailored Quality Management System Blueprint
Strategic plan
and implementation plan
For establishing a collaborative and efficient virtual business organization and Command Center
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18. CONCLUSION RECOMMENDATIONS
Research aligns with Frigon & Jackson, George and Kotter that
Care must be taken to properly scope interventions
Wholesale and continuous effective communication is required throughout the entire intervention
Change requires committed and engaged Senior Leader with knowledgable and dedicated change agents
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19. Midwest Academy of Management 2012
FINAL NOTE
The results of this study helped four separate organizations within the United States Army to identify several issues and implement the structural changes and new processes that they believe were required in order for this transformation to a virtual business organization to succeed.
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