1. NASA Diversity and Inclusion Framework: The Role of IT
Brenda R. Manuel
Associate Administrator for Diversity
and Equal Opportunity
August 15, 2011
SPEAKER: Brenda
Greeting and Welcome,
Introduction - Brenda Manuel, Associate Administrator for ODEO,
With me is Barbara Spotts, Agency Diversity Manager, and David Chambers, Senior Civil Rights Analyst, and Sarah Condit, our administrative assistant.
We are very pleased to be here to explore with you today how IT plays a major role in NASA D&I effort.

2. SPEAKER: Brenda
IT is about communications. There is great diversity in the way we communicate, which has also changed over time. It changes depending on our circumstance, on our age, on our preferences. Some people in today’s world prefer the blackberry, some of us like iPhones, some of us love our droids. Now we’re moving into tablets and other platforms, and of course there’s social networking. And then there’s everybody’s best friend, . As diverse as people’s tech preferences are, are people themselves.
Some of us are married, some of us are single, some of us grew up in an urban environment, some of us are from the country, some enjoy sailing, some enjoy biking.
Some have a military background, and we all have different religious and education backgrounds.
We vary by our economic status, whether we’re management or labor, “boomers” and Gen X and Y, family life, and in a host of other ways.

3. Diversity Wheel Organizational External Internal Traditionalist
Functional level/Classification
Diversity Wheel
External
Traditionalist
pre-1946
Family/
Parental Status
Work Content/ Field
Relationship/
Marital
Status
Management
Status
Religion
Internal
Military
Race
Gender
Baby Boomers
Language/ Accent
Income
Division/
Department
Unit/Group
Age
Union
Affiliation
Ethnicity
Personality
Recreational Habits
Appearance
Millennial’s
Physical &
Mental
Ability
Sexual Orientation
Gen X
SPEAKER: Brenda
If we take a look at what has traditionally been called the “diversity wheel”, you can see that diversity takes into account all of our differences, including the ones we have just spoken about.
Diversity encompasses all of the internal and external characteristics of an individual and an organization.
This is an important distinction between another concept with which you are all familiar – EEO. EEO is concerned with the law, and so it is limited to just a few of the “internal” characteristics of the Wheel, race, gender, ethnicity.
Diversity, on the other hand, is not just about following the law. It’s about making our similarities and our differences work FOR us, both as individuals and as organizations, including the IT community, throughout NASA and even extending to our external stakeholders in the wider space and aeronautics community.
The Wheel reflects this broad vision of diversity, that goes beyond race and gender to touch on all the characteristics that an individual brings into the workplace, for example their work style and experience, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, language and accent, generational differences, and so on. In addition, another element of our diversity is where we stand in our organization. The fact that there are members of the IT community, as well as many other communities at NASA, and these differing roles and responsibilities within NASA are reflective of organizational and professional diversity. The members of the IT community, offer specific contributions, viewpoints, and competencies, as IT professionals, in addition to their individual characteristics.
Geographic
Location
Work experience & style
Educational
Background
Work
Location
Seniority
Source: Internal & external dimensions adapted from Marilyn Loden & Judy Rosener, Workforce America 1991

4. Progression of Diversity vs. Progression of IT Development/Evolution
The Wireless PC
Tablet/ Smart-phone/ Mobile devices – Wireless and software free
Cloud Computing –
all data and applications stored remotely
1950s – 1960s: Mainframe Computers
70s and 80s:
The wired PC ?
SPEAKER: Brenda
As we look closer at how IT has progressed, we can see a clear parallel with the evolution of D&I. It is helpful to take a step back and look at this parallel evolution.
Back in the 1950s and 60s when IT was about mainframe computers, our country was struggling with how to ensure basic civil rights. One of the most important of those rights as you know, is equal employment opportunity, which focused on the rights of individuals to be hired for jobs for which they were qualified, without regard to their race, gender, religion, or national origin.
As we progressed into the 1970s and 80s when the IT community was beginning to change the work world through the introduction of personal computing, efforts to ensure workplace opportunity were expanded to protect rights on the bases of age and disability. These efforts tended to be focused on increasing the numbers of minorities and women and later to create greater understanding of differing racial and ethnical backgrounds through multiculturalism.
In the past 20 years, as IT has moved at light speed in changing the way we live and work through the Internet, wireless computing and amazing new devices like the smartphone, notions of workplace opportunity have also evolved greatly. While basic civil rights and EEO compliance are still important, we’ve recognized that maximizing individual workplace opportunity and maximizing the success of the organization as a whole are firmly interconnected – you can’t have one without the other.
And so today, with the NASA IT community moving toward the endless possibilities of cloud computing, we in the diversity and inclusion field are redefining the Agency’s efforts to create high-functioning work environments through inclusive policies and practices that truly engage all segments of our workforce.
Reaching out to all segments of the workforce is a critical part of NASA’s Diversity and Inclusion Framework, and the IT community is and will continue to play an integral role in that effort.
2000s-: The Business Case: Redefining Diversity and Inclusion
1970s: Affirmative Employment for EEO Groups
1980s: Multi-Culturalism
1990s: Diversity Management
1960s: Civil Rights Enforcement ?

5. How NASA Defines Diversity:
is the similarities and differences in the individual and organizational characteristics that shape our workplace.
Diversity
SPEAKER: Brenda
So let’s begin with how we define diversity. (read definition)
This definition is purposely broad to encompass all of the many characteristics of diversity we have shared with you.

6. NASA Tech Diversity NASA Mobile Devices SPEAKER: Brenda
To illustrate, one form of diversity that I’m sure you all can identify with is our workplace tech diversity. In this particular instance, we are talking about both our NASA workforce as well as our contracting workforce.
One-third of the NASA population uses a Mac for work (That’s roughly 22.3 thousand Macs on the NASA network, compared to 67 percent of P.C.s, that’s 45.7 thousand PCs)
Even within operating systems we have diversity. NASA offers at least 5 Windows PC and 4 Mac work station computer options.
We make many choices with regard to our tech preferences:
Number of NASA iPhones: 3358
Number of NASA iPads: 794
Number of NASA Black Berries: 4997

7. Geographical Diversity (Location of NASA Centers)
35%
10%
SPEAKER: Brenda
Another form of diversity for NASA is our geographical diversity.
We have our West Coast Centers (Ames, Dryden, JPL), our Center in the South-Southwest (JSC and White Sands), our Southeast Centers (Marshall, Stennis, NSSC, Kennedy, Langley) and our Northeast Centers (Glenn, Goddard, and HQ)
So just within the Agency there is a great geographical diversity – and each Center has its own culture, influenced to some extent by the region in which it is located, and by the work it does. We have aeronautics research centers and space flight centers.
The geographical diversity of our pool of talent is fairly broad, our challenge is to ensure that we are continually reaching all regions of the country.
Data: (out of 18,956 total NASA civil servants, data as of July 21, 2011)
West Coast – 1,818
Southwest – 3,404
Southeast – 7,126
Northeast – 6,608
18%
39%

8. NASA Workforce Diversity
Gender
Men: 65% Women: 35%
Age
20’s: 8%
30’s: 14%
40’s: 33%
Race
White: 74%
Black: 12%
Hispanic: 6%
Asian/Pacific Is.: 6%
Native American: 1%
Multiracial: 1%
50’s: 34%
60’s: 10%
70’s +: 1%
SPEAKER: Brenda
Here we depict another more traditional component of diversity, that is, demographic diversity. As we have said, diversity is much broader than gender, race, and age, but these internal characteristics are still an important component of diversity. As with other components of diversity, such as geographical or tech, we look at demographic diversity in our efforts to engage our total workforce.
Data:
Male – 12,270
Female – 6,686
White – 14,079
Black – 2,195
Hispanic – 1,176
Asian/Pacific Isl. – 1,244
Native American – 128
Multiracial – 134
20s – 1,534
30s – 2,522
40s – 6,097
50s – 6,589
60s – 1,948
70s - 240

9. Diversity of the IT Community: Demographics
White 
Black 
Hispanic 
Asian or Pacific Is. 
Native American 
Multiracial 
71%
16% 5% 6% 1%
Race:
Men: 54%
SPEAKER: Brenda
We also look at the demographic diversity for each of our major occupations. For example, in the government, we have an occupation called IT specialists. This slide shows the demographic diversity of the IT community at NASA.
Again, keep in mind however, that there is great diversity even within each of these demographic categories.
Data: (out of 415 total NASA IT civil servants, about 8% of total workforce)
Male – 229
Female – 186
White – 297
Black – 67
Hispanic - 22
Asian/Pacific Is. – 22
Native American – 3
Multiracial – 4
20s – 13
30s – 59
40s – 146
50s – 154
60 – 43
70 - 0
Under 20 
20's
30's
40's
50's
60's
70 or older  0% 4%
14%
35%
37%
10%
Age:
Women: 46%

10. NASA Occupational Diversity
Clerical: 4%
Professional Administration: 29%
SPEAKER: Brenda
We just spoke about our IT community, but it’s important to note that there is great occupational diversity at NASA. We have [200] different occupations employed at NASA, falling into these 4 major categories.
So although many people think NASA is all rocket scientists, in fact, there are many different occupational groups at NASA, from professional administrative, to clerical, to technical. The IT community is an important part of our Professional Admin. Community. In fact, as you can see, the vast majority of IT are in professional administration.
Data:
S&E – 11,664
Professional Admin (includes IT) – 5,452
Clerical – 714
Technical – 1,110
Wage - 16
Includes 99% of IT
Scientists and Engineers: 62%
Technicians: 6%

11. How NASA Defines Inclusion:
is the means by which we optimize the benefits to mission inherent in our diversity, for example, the policies, procedures, and practices that an organization puts in place to create more inclusive work environments.
Inclusion
SPEAKER: Barbara
Inclusion is about creating an environment that accepts, utilizes, accommodates and appreciates the talents, skills, abilities, perspectives and leadership styles of all employees including all aspects of their diversity, so that we all have a place at
the organizational table.
It’s about ensuring we all have equal access to sharing and using our skills and talents equally in, being a part of, and contributing to,
the organization’s work environment and delivery of NASA’s services.
It’s about taking deliberate steps (in policies, and practices) to welcome, accept and value all individuals.
As Brenda previously mentioned Diversity is the mix .
Inclusion is getting the mix to work well together.
It’s important to remember, INCLUSION can lead to diversity but diversity alone doesn’t necessarily create to inclusion

12. The Business Case: Why are Diversity and Inclusion beneficial to NASA?
The research literature on Diversity and Inclusion identifies factors that contribute to a competitive advantage.
Better technical solutions and problem solving,
Stronger critical analysis,
Greater innovation and creativity,
Deeper understanding of and greater effectiveness in organizational communication patterns,
Higher levels of employee engagement, and
Cultural shift toward valuing fairness and respect for individual contributions,
SPEAKER: Barbara
All organizations , including NASA, generally have a business case or organizational imperatives that form the basis for their D&I efforts - to attract a talented workforce; to mirror the our stakeholders and communities we serve; to
have diverse suppliers and to be more innovative with respect to products and services.
Another common driver is the need to remain competitive and maintain a competitive advantage for projects and for talent
Research studies from SHRM, University of Louisiana, Cornell and MIT indicates Diversity and Inclusion contribute to the competitive advantage by providing.....
Workforce Diversity =Diversity of Thought =Innovation =Competitive Advantage

13. The Business Case: Innovation in Problem Solving
Ability to fully leverage innovation and creativity
SPEAKER: Barbara
When some organizations are looking for the key to their future success they find that there is the need to unfreeze the organization-to get people to start thinking and interacting differently. If an organization identifies a need to start operating differently, they will need an organizational imperative that speaks to challenging the status quo and moving toward greater creativity, out of the box thinking, and innovation. Driving this imperative is recognition by the
organization of its need to get a full range of people's ideas and perspectives, and to encourage risk taking. A need for innovation does not necessarily mean an organization needs to hire new people, although in some instances it may. What often is required is the willingness and initiative to do things differently than what has been the tradition mode of operating, to re-structure or remove boundaries, to develop new rules of interaction, to establish new rewards, and to make sure that people's ideas will be heard and explored. Supporting and utilizing a range of opinions, talents, life experiences, and points of view creates
In 2001 this website was founded by Alpheus Bingham, a VP with Eli Lilly. The site was created for “seekers” – i.e., large pharmaceutical companies that had intractable problems that their huge R&D departments could not solve. The idea is that the seeker posts a problem to be solved on the site and they offer a reward to anyone who can come up with a viable solution. The potential “solvers” come literally from around the world.
NASA has just recently re-launcheded the collaborative program. is an internal collaboration platform that connects the collective knowledge of individual experts from all areas within the NASA organization via a private web-based environment supported by InnoCentive. The platform provides a venue for Challenge Owners, those looking for solutions or new ideas, to pose challenges to internal Solvers, those within NASA with the skill and desire to create enlightened solutions.
Employees rank NASA as most innovative agency according to a new report from The Partnership for Public Service and the Hay Group based on the average of three innovation-related questions posed in the Office of Personnel Management's annual survey of federal employee attitudes; the 2010 survey included more than 263,000 employees from 32 large agencies, 34 small agencies and 224 agency subcomponents.

14. The Business Case D&I impact on profit is key in the private sector
SPEAKER: Barbara
Example of D&I impact on business success
Diversity Inc’s top 50 outperformed
Dow Jones Industrial Average by 48%
NASDAQ by 47%
Standard and Poors by 23.5
This is not a “cause/effect” relationship. But it is a strong correlation. Some Diversity proponents would like to argue that Diversity is responsible for this improvement in performance. But identifying the cause of a successful organization’s success is complicated and is rarely attributable to one concept; one department; one major idea.
Nevertheless, this is a strong, impressive correlation between D&I and corporate financial success.
There are many other factors to measuring success in a large organization and the impact that D&I might have.

15. Diversity & Inclusion Foundation at NASA
Inclusion Survey
Agency Diversity &
Inclusion Plan
NASA Administrator
as Diversity Champion
Diversity &
Inclusion Partnership
SPEAKER: Barbara
The NASA Diversity and Inclusion Framework is designed to develop and sustain organizational environments Agency-wide that fully realize individual potentials and make optimal use of our differing backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. More specifically, the NASA Diversity and Inclusion Framework is designed to provide the Agency with a solid foundation, based on recognized principles, for fully integrating diversity and inclusion into NASA’s mission and strategic decision-making as well as for developing strategies and initiatives at both the Agency and Center levels.
A keystone in our foundation is the Administrator serving as the Agency champion- our next major fundamental driver is our Diversity and Inclusion partnership which is comprised of all our senior leadership and Center Diversity Champions

16. The Business Case: Recent NASA D&I Survey Responses
Understanding Diversity and Its Benefits
SPEAKER: Barbara
During the fall of last year NASA conducted it’s first Agency-wide D&I Culture Survey to measure the pulse of our workforce regarding diversity and inclusion. One area that we
Employee understanding of diversity and inclusion and their benefits.
Employee perceptions concerning the culture of diversity and inclusion at NASA, including how managers, supervisors, senior leaders, and Center leadership promote and practice NASA diversity and inclusion policies.
Employee perceptions relating to their personal work experiences at NASA.
Employee awareness of diversity and inclusion information and initiatives at NASA.
Employee perceptions of the overall effectiveness of NASA in creating a diverse and inclusive work environment.
While a large (75%) percentage of respondents agreed that having employees with diverse backgrounds is a source of business advantage, and
68% of respondents reported that diversity and inclusion led to innovative ideas,
Differences by subgroup, however, show females and younger respondents are more positive about diversity and inclusion leading to innovative ideas,
Only 41% disagreed with the statement, “At NASA diversity seems to be mostly about physical characteristics of people” (with 38% agreeing with this statement).

17. The Role of the IT Community: The Framework Principles
Demonstrated Leadership Commitment
Your IT Leadership is a key partner in this effort.
SPEAKER: David (start)
In identifying these principles we were looking for broadly stated propositions that had strong support in the D&I professional and practitioner literature.
The first of these was top level commitment that reflected inclusion of all Agency leadership body, that allowed for buy-in and ownership of all the major Agency organizations and communities, including the Office of the Chief Information Officer and the IT community.
In addition, top level commitment means
Agency Diversity Policy
Express inclusion of diversity and inclusion in the Agency Strategic Plan
Named Diversity Champions, i.e., highly visible, top Agency and Center
leadership who:
Articulate to managers and employees why diversity issues are relevant to NASA
and its mission.
Act as allies, advocates and full partners to make diversity a priority and a matter of policy and practice.

18. The Role of the IT Community: The Framework Principles
Employee Engagement and Effective Communication
Establish an Agency-wide system for communicating information to employees to effectively disseminate critical information
Utilization of traditional as well as innovative media.
SPEAKER: David
Examples: Widespread dissemination and sharing of information, e.g., critical team opportunities.
- A common language around diversity Agencywide (starting with a common definition).
- A work environment in which employees at all levels share knowledge, solicit and receive constructive feedback, and employ active listening techniques.
- Employees are encouraged to provide input into decisions and feel their input is valued, and once made, decisions are communicated clearly.
MSPB studies in particular have shown that agencies where employees believe opportunities, not just promotions but critical team assignments, are allocated fairly and widely disseminated and managers communicate effectively, especially about performance and individual development – productivity, moral is higher, absenteeism is lower
As we’ve said, IT plays a role in making sure critical information regarding workforce opportunities is appropriately conveyed. This is only one aspect of how the IT community is and will continue to play an important role in D&I.
For example, information on workplace opportunities (and the vast majority of information sent to employees either directly on D&I or related to the D&I Strategic Plan) will be through IT. We will need to work closely with the IT community on ensuring that this information is properly disseminated, and as we have said that it will reach ALL segments of the workplace.
What do we mean exactly by “fully” and “appropriately” disseminated. Well that actually means something very specific in the D&I context. What does full and appropriate dissemination to all segments of the workforce mean when the objective is to reach ALL segments of the workforce, not by leaving it to chance, not by assuming that one size will fit all, but by self-consciously looking at our workforce, really looking at it, to see both the similarities and the differences, and how each play a role in inclusive communications policies and practices.
Let’s take for example, the NASA IT community itself. What does it look like? Who are its members? If we wanted to reach out to all members of the IT community, what kinds of things would we need to take into consideration?
IT will play an instrumental role in developing a D&I Communication Plan based on:
• Consistent messaging;
• Phasing;
• Targeted audiences (internal and external);
• Scope (national and local);
• Appropriate venues;
• Leadership involvement;

19. D&I Survey Responses: Low Awareness of Diversity and Inclusion
Awareness of NASA policies and initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion
SPEAKER: David
The Agency Diversity Survey that we undertook for the first time last year showed that an area of opportunity for improvement was in showing the workforce HOW and WHY diversity and inclusion are beneficial to the Agency and its Mission.
Addressing that issue is part of what we are doing here today: by talking with one of our communities about the D&I business case for NASA, about how diverse opinions and viewpoints and the freedom to express them are just “nice” but really critical to coming up with the best technical solutions to the challenges NASA faces today. And that means the big challenges, the challenge of building a spacecraft and launch system that can take us into deep space, and deciding on where we’re going and what we’re going to do when we get there.
These challenges will require he broadest diversity of skills and talent, and appropriate consideration of many different viewpoints and perspectives.

20. The Role of the IT Community: The Framework Principles
D&I Education and Awareness
Establish a suite of managerial and employee training and development tools, particularly informal education and awareness utilizing innovative media.
SPEAKER: David
The organization has a continuous program built on ensuring that all employees have basic skill sets and advanced training and technical assistance opportunities are available.
Strategies (Examples)
Embed D&I education and awareness in Agency leadership to ensure that it is consistent with the Framework.
Establish more coordinated informal D&I awareness efforts with ODEO guidance e.g. learning circles, diversity dialogues, social media, and other vehicles as necessary.
Develop and disseminate toolkit to Diversity Champions for appropriate distribution, e.g., definitions, articles, points of contact, quick reference guides, etc.

21. The Role of the IT Community: The Framework Principles
Commitment to Community Partnerships
Assist in the creation of a high-tech clearinghouse for resources, best practices and sharing of ideas that link the Agency’s many outreach programs.
SPEAKER: David
This clearinghouse will reflect our efforts to
- Serve greater numbers of people on a wider geographic scale (moving beyond the traditional)
- Network with diverse professional organizations and community
groups in order to maintain liaisons, capacity building and have access to talent
Partner with local school districts, community development organizations and local colleges and universities
- Increase communications and outreach efforts to encourage and motivate students in underserved/underrepresented populations, such as rural areas.
A database of NASA POCs with higher education contacts and professional organizations
Metrics for evaluation of return on investment: are we getting more diverse candidate pools? Are we seeing increased diversity in our hiring and retention?

22. Q & A