Lockheed Martin Essay

Lockheed Martin business environment takes pride in innovation, inclusion, leadership and ethics. The company has a Full Spectrum Leadership model which has been apart of the organization’s culture since 2006. The five characteristics/imperatives of the Full Spectrum Leadership are Deliver Results, Shape the Future, Build Effective Relationships, Energize the Team and Model Personal excellence, Integrity and Accountability. These five characteristics/imperatives all have individual meanings. For example, energizing the team means that leaders should always have a positive, engaging work environment where all employees can excel. I believe these five imperatives show that the interaction that leaders have with not only other employees but with

customers and stakeholders should be a positive one. The leaders within the company have to ensure that the values of the company and the culture of the company is set to a high standard. The relationships that leaders have with employees and customers should be that of a strong and effective relationship. Therefore, the use of these imperatives will help the company to have a productive work environment.

An environment where leaders and followers can communicate effectively to get tasks completed. An environment where collaboration is possible. According to Lockheed Martin (n.d.), Rick Edwards who is the Vice President of Missiles and Fire Control states that, “Leaders have a responsibility to create an environment where all employees feel valued- an environment where employees feel at eas e and can bring their full selves to work every day.” The Full Spectrum Leadership is also aligned with the CARE Program. This program help leaders to be aware of the attributes they must have to be successful. There are also various leadership development programs. One of these programs include Communications. An applicant can grow their expertise in employee communications. This program will help employees gain expertise on how to communicate with others more effectively. These leadership development programs help to groom employees into effective leaders. Lockheed Martin groom’s leaders to cultivate an inclusive and supportive work environment. Lockheed Martin strives to have a company that is inclusive. This also helps employees to interact with

leaders. In 2016, the aeronautics department hosted an event called Connect and Engage Week. This allowed colleagues to get to know one another and it also gave them an opportunity to learn about different cultures, talents and hobbies. There are also Employee Resource Groups, Leadership Forums and Employee Networks where employees can interact and connect with each other.
Lockheed Martin has a culture that encourages collaboration and innovation. Therefore, collaboration is quite essential for the health of the work environment. When there is collaboration, innovation more likely takes place. Communication is also key. It is important that everyone not only communicate effectively but also listen to each other as well. There are a few examples where we can see firsthand how collaboration and communication play a role in the operations of the company. One of these examples include the collaboration and communication efforts amongst team members at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. There are times when the entire company has to work on projects. One of these projects is the Digital Tapestry. According to Watson (2015), “We know our teams perform best when they achieve “collective genius.” When we collaborate, we expand our range of ideas. Part of this comes from tapping into individual members’ different talents, perspectives, and experiences – so we must be inclusive” (para.6). Collaboration is also prominent because the different development teams from across the company all have to share information with each other. Communication skills are also vital. In order for everyone to collaborate, there must be effective communication. Everyone must be willing to share and exchange information and opinions with each other. Listening to each other on the job is also of equal importance. According to Watson (2015), “We try to put the emphasis on good listening. That means listening to customers to truly understand their needs, listening to each other as we suggest ideas or recount relevant experiences and listening to ourselves” (para.8). There are times when complex matters need to be discussed on the job. Therefore, communication is vital amongst employees and even customers.
Decision making often requires multiple levels of approval. Because the company has a Matrix Structure, decisions and information flow from the top to the bottom. However, there are five steps in the decision-making process. The first step is to recognize and define the problem. Then, identify and analyze alternative actions. Then choose a preferred course of action. After, implement the course of action and then evaluate results and follow up. I believe the company uses these steps when making decisions. According to Uhl-Bien, Schermerhorn and Osborn (2014), “Criteria used in making the choice typically involve costs and benefits, timeliness of results, impact on stakeholders, and ethical soundness” (p.190). In this company timeliness is important. Customers especially the military expect products to be made for a certain date. Therefore, decisions have to be made in regards to timeliness. The company takes pride in having an organizational culture that is very ethically sound. Therefore, decisions are also made in these regards. Despite leaders making decisions in the company, the company tries to have a diverse and inclusive culture. Therefore, employees can contribute ideas.
I believe the company resolves conflicts by using the integrative approach. According to Uhl-Bien, Schermerhorn and Osborn (2014),, “The integrative approach to negotiation is less confrontational than the distributive, and it permits a broader range of alternatives to be considered in the negotiation process. From the outset there is much more of a win–win orientation” (p.227). If we view the current situation with Lockheed Martin and the government in the battle of costs with the F 35, we can see that both parties want to win. President Donald Trump wants to pay less for the F 35. Therefore, Lockheed Martin had to negotiate with the president a suitable solution. Usually with the interrogative approach, both parties win. In this negotiation both parties did win. President Trump got what he wanted which was to save the government from spending billions of dollars on this defense program. Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin reducing the cost of the F 35s means that if the government place larger orders since the price is reduced, the company’s profits will boost. Lockheed Martin has also participated in Negotiation Training Institute for Win-Win Negotiations Training. In this training workshop, attendees learned various negotiation strategies to help them stay ahead of the negotiation process. According to Uhl-Bien, Schermerhorn and Osborn (2014),, “Risk management involves identifying critical risks and then developing strategies and assigning responsibilities for dealing with them” (p.195). Lockheed Martin has an Enterprise Risk Management strategy to identify and manage potential risks to the business. The process is guided by the Risk and Compliance Committee and corporate functions. According to Lockheed Martin Sustainability Report 2015 (n.d.), “We execute our ERM strategy through a continuous process to identify, assess, prioritize, mitigate and report on the most critical risks and their probability of achieving business objectives”. In order to have a risk transparent culture, Lockheed Martin uses risk management practices, core values and our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct. Action plans are also used for potential risks.
Team Building
Team building is also essential at Lockheed Martin. In order to have a collaborative environment and to improve innovation, team members have to learn how to work together. According to Uhl-Bien, Schermerhorn and Osborn (2014), “Real teamwork occurs when team members accept and live up to their collective accountability by actively working together so that all of their respective skills are best used to achieve team goals” (p.142). There are various team building activities that have been used to help improve teambuilding skills. For example, nine teams of engineers at the company participated in a duct tape competition. In this competition, co workers are given five minutes to tape their partners to the wall with one roll of duct tape. Afterwards, the blocks that the partner is standing on is removed from under their feet. The person who stays up for 20 minutes wins the challenge. According to Martin 2017, Engineer Manager Paul Mittan stated that “our engineers do a lot of challenging things every day and this is just a great opportunity to get together as a team and build some camaraderie, have some fun and solve difficult problems” (para.3). Employees also participated in a building block competition and a portable bridge challenge to improve their team work. These types of team building activities allow member to trust each other. It also improves task performance within the organization. As stated by Uhl-Bien, Schermerhorn and Osborn (2014), “With regards to task performance, an effective team achieves its performance goals in the standard sense of quantity, quality, and timeliness of work results” (p.142). It is important to have team building activities at Lockheed Martin because high team performance is very essential for the daily operations of the company. With teamwork, the best products can be produced. One person can not get the job done. It takes an entire team. I believe Lockheed Martin has stressed the point that teamwork is important and that team members should respect and learn to work with each other. When everyone work together, it drives innovation. It allows everyone to be creative and come up with new ideas.
Lockheed Martin has utilized training programs for its teams.

It has also utilized processes to improve team communication and decision making. The company has an Ethics Awareness Program that helps employees make ethical decisions in tough situations. The company has also been aware of when there are communication issues in the company. There was a situation in the past where engineering teams were not getting along on a program. Management did everything that they could but failed. Lockheed Martin turned to the Vanto Group to aid in the situation. Employees had to participate in various sessions. In these sessions they voiced their concerns and opinions. They developed solutions for the issues. At the end of the sessions, those who had participated in the Vanto Group Program had a more positive attitude. Productivity increased due to the fact that each team member was collaborating with each other. As a result of this program, not only did communication and decision making improve but the project that they were initially working on was

completed.
Change Management and Innovation Culture
I believe that Lockheed Martin should have more of an international presence. They should cater to international countries instead of being heavily reliant on the US government for revenue and profits. This change may not be moving at a quick pace due to constraints by the US government due to security reasons and regulations. I believe they have started to see that this is a much needed change. I believe they have to stay open minded about this and keep pressing forward. I believe this change could be manage using the three phase model of planned change. The Unfreezing phase is the first phase in this model. It is important that the company prepares