Decision-Making Dynamics in the Defense Industry during Work from Home Circumstances

Abstract

This article looks at the challenges and changes in the US Defense Industry's Project Management decision-making processes during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many industries implemented work from home (WFH) policies for all employees. For the defense industry, this became particularly challenging. The industry is an 'essential' function, and there was genuine concern for employee and community safety. Two streams are presented: (i) what decision-making changes were made across operational, tactical, and strategic circumstances, and (ii) how that affected the productivity and employee satisfaction. Using observational data, we examine what are the manifestation, consequence, and mitigation, through engineering employee and managerial level adjustments, in project and portfolio management business decision-making during this WFH period. We also present data from a qualitative survey related to how this affected productivity and employee sentiment. The findings show that the defense industry was unprepared for such an event. Productivity issues in operational decision-making, required line-management decision makers to be on-site. The lack of adequate team-sharing tools, especially for classified content, adversely affected productivity associated with tactical decision-making. Strategic decision-making was hampered by the industry's cultural preference for face-to-face meetings. Furthermore, we found that, as the WFH continued, employees showed a greater preference for continuing to work off-site. The article summarizes observed mitigation strategies to maintain productivity levels.