Lockheed Martin

A Brief Overview of Lockheed Martin

A global leader in aerospace, security, defense, and innovative technologies, Lockheed Martin is based in Washington, DC. In conjunction with the merger of Lockheed Corporation, Martin Marietta formed the business. It is one of the best businesses in its industry, and according to figures from 2014, it was the top defense contractor globally. The most lucrative services provided by Lockheed are contracting. Similar results were observed in 2009, when contracts with the US government and other nations accounted for 85% of the company’s revenue, or $38.4 billion, or 78% of the company’s total revenue. The company is also contracted by foreign agencies and still earns hefty amounts of revenue from them. The company’s main branches are; the Information and Global Solutions Systems, Space Systems, Missiles and Fire Control, Defence, Aerospace, Security, and Mission Systems and Training. The company has developed the best military equipment and has received recognition for most of them. In 2001, the company received six trophies for the X-35 and F-35 LiftFan propulsion system, and in 2006, the company received another award for the F-22 Raptor fighter jet development. The company has earned a great reputation and is now among the few companies that are contracted with developing equipment and software for special government programs such as the military and space exploration. It is currently the leading company in developing equipment and software for the USAF Space Fence. Besides developing technology solutions, the company is also known to invest in renewable energy systems, healthcare systems, compact nuclear fusion, and intelligent energy distribution. The company did not achieve these milestones by simple and normal work ethics. This paper will mainly focus on how the company has managed to achieve its milestones by creating a focus on its organizational environment and behaviour (Dickson et al., 197-217).

Organizational Behaviour

The company is currently headed by Marillyn A. Hewson. The company attributes most of its success to its leadership. According to the company, leadership is not just about achieving the company’s goals but also achieving them in the right way. Most companies in today’s society have success as the main agenda, and many at times some companies strive for this at the cost of ethical behaviour. This kind of business organization can only stand for a short period of time before the organization is faced with detrimental problems. According to Lockheed ethics, the leaders are expected to uphold and promote ethical behaviour, encourage diversity, and ensure the protection of the safety and health of all employees. The company holds in high regard each individual’s contribution to the company. The company controls behaviours and attitudes of employees by ensuring that the leaders set a good example and hence transfer of the good ethics all through the organization. From this organization’s behaviour, a corporate culture is developed. For every organization, culture is deeply woven into the fabric of the organization and it is the responsibility of the leaders to keep the culture in check and to also introduce new or do away with some old behaviour that will, in the long run, become part of the organization’s culture. The leaders have the power to shape the organization’s culture, in Lockheed this aspect is taken seriously and is expressed through a model they refer to as the Full Spectrum Leadership. Through this model, the company believes that it can create a distinct organization behaviour that will ensure that the company continues on its success streak and overcomes unforeseen challenges such as competition (Avolio and Yammarino 111-114).

Human Resources Management

Human resource management is a function in business organization that aims at maximizing the employee performance within the organization. The function aims at using policies and systems to ensure performance. Normally, organizations have human resource management department units that are tasked with different activities such as performance appraisal, rewarding, employee recruitment, employee benefits, and training and development. In some organizations, human resources management also covers industrial relations whereby there is the management and balance of organizational practices with the legal requirements in order to ensure compliance. In big companies such as Lockheed, human resource management is done by skilled professionals who set up different task forces who are in charge of various human resource functions such as strategic decision making.

Organizations

Lockheed derives most of its organizational behaviour from its leadership. As mentioned above, leaders have the power to dictate the culture and organizational behaviour. Using the Full Spectrum Model, the company promotes positive change in the organization. The Full Spectrum Model is mainly made up of five main aims namely; to deliver results, motivate and energize the team, shape the future, and develop and encourage individual excellence, accountability, and integrity. This model was introduced in January 2006 and since then the model has been attributed to the consistent high performance and the flawless ethical conduct among the employees and leaders of the company and since then the model has become part and parcel of the company’s organization.

Careers

In most companies, the head of the human resource department is known as the Chief HR Officer. This Chief HR Officer reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and can work with the Board of Directors when the CEO is being appointed. Moreover, in most cases the HR is divided into two categories namely the specialists and generalists. The specialists are tasked with one specific task. The generalists at the other hand are tasked with working directly with employees and answering their inquiries, grievances and also ensure that some projects are carried out and achievements attained. Because of this, the generalists require extensive knowledge of human resource management. Lockheed has integrated programs and services that have been tailor-made for each of the five branches. Each of these branches has their own HR department, the special about the department is that they integrate all the segments units with an aim of providing integrated human capital solutions to all kinds of company problems. The company’s main specialty is technology and innovation. The company depends on highly qualified personnel to come up with the best technological advances. This is where the Full Spectrum Model comes into play (Yammarino and Dansereau 13-60).

Decision Making, Strategic Negotiation, and Conflict Resolution

As mentioned above, the company is mainly made up of five major sections, each of these branches is headed by different executive officers. These executive officers manage each division and answer to the president or CEO who in turn answers to the board. All major contracts that are specific to a given department will be brought up to the specific Executive officer. For instance, if the company is negotiating a contract with the company on Aeronautics, Executive Vice President Orlando P. Carvalho will engage his team and provide recommendations on how the company should go about with the contract and if the company is up to the task to handle the contract. After the contract has been signed, it will be up to the Executive officer to ensure that the project is kicked off and runs smoothly. The board also plays a major role in the decisions on contracts.

Conflicts within the company are resolved by the Human Resource management. With the several departments, the company is able to effectively ensure that all the company’s programs are running smoothly. The departments are headed by representatives who are tasked with overseeing all the departments and in case there are issues that arise from the departments then the department representatives will bring the matters to their head executive officer and from there he or she will determine if the matter needs the attention of the Chief Executive Officer or the board (Spector, 13).

Human resource management is very important for the company to maintain an active and successful workforce. With the HR in place, employees’ grievances and concerns can be heard and dealt with effectively. If that is done, the employees will become motivated and can perform their duties better and with a sense of responsibility. The employees who perform exceptionally also need to be rewarded in front of the rest. Through this, the employees will strive more in order to receive the rewards. Human resource also provides the employees with required guidance on the organization’s functions. In the company, there is a department that is in place solely for training employees. Once an employee is hired, the employee needs to learn how the organization functions (Van et al., 5-12).

Conclusion

Lockheed Martin is indisputably a successful company. The company attributes most of its success to its core values. The company is big and requires the best organizational behavior in order to attain its goals and maintain its reputation. For a company that deals with huge government contracts, there is a need for the best ethical conduct and as core factors the company has carried out several sustainability management plan progress that includes; supply chain ethics, anti-corruption controls, supply chain management, privacy and, business code of conduct training. To maintain other company core values, the company has a working Human Resource management. Nowadays, companies that do not have HR systems within the organizations are seen outsourcing HR recruitment companies for professionals to come and set up the programs in their organization. The impact of HR management has been felt in the success or failure of companies. Successful companies can be seen seeking adaptive resilient, quick, and customer-centered programs. Because of this, people now can pursue productive careers in Human resource management and Lockheed Martin attributes its success to a workable team. Without human resource management, the Full Spectrum Model could not be viable. Leaders need a team that is involved and as mentioned before Lockheed depends largely on innovation and in order for innovation to be achieved the teams need to communicate and engage well, HR management enables that.

Works Cited

Avolio, Bruce J., and Francis J. Yammarino, eds. “Introduction to, and overview of, transformational and charismatic leadership.” Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2013. 111-114.

Dickson, Marcus W., et al. “An organizational climate regarding ethics: The outcome of leader values and the practices that reflect them.” The Leadership Quarterly 12.2 (2001): 197-217.

Spector, Bert. Implementing organizational change: Theory and practice. Prentice Hall, 2007.

Van Aken, Joan Ernst, and Georges Romme. “Reinventing the future: adding design science to the repertoire of organization and management studies.” Organization Management Journal 6.1 (2009): 5-12.

Yammarino, Francis J., and Fred Dansereau. “A new kind of organizational behavior.” Multi-Level Issues in Organizational Behavior and Leadership. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2009. 13-60.