August 17, 2023
The George Mason University School of Business' Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting and the Acquisition Innovation Research Center (AIRC) ran a two-part webinar series on Optimizing Incentives for Acquisition Innovation and Agility.
- Innovation for Digital Transformation and Policy Analytics, June 28, 2023. Information and the video.
- Incentives for Motivating Workforce Agility and Innovation, August 17, 2023
Each discussion was enriched by the research papers authored by AIRC. The panel for each session included a paper author and a representative from government and business.
Incentives for Motivating Workforce Agility and Innovation
This session focused on Incentives for Motivating Workforce Agility and Innovation. This report documents the pilot study conducted in partnership with the Air Force Installation Contracting Center and offers different approaches to motivating workforce agility and innovation. The goal of the webinar is to discuss the challenges faced by the workforce to increase acquisition innovation and agility and explore approaches to modify incentives to achieve desired outcomes. Questions raised during the session include:
- How do we understand system impediments to innovation and overcome them?
- How can conflict be harnessed to enable innovation?
- What roles are essential for innovation?
- How can we move from reactive problem-solving (fire-fighting) to proactive resilience (fire-proofing)?
- How do we counterbalance the advantages of a centralized system with decentralized empowerment and creativity?
- How do we deal with frequent staff turnover while still fostering an innovative culture?
- How can we incorporate user experience in policy-making?
SPEAKERS
Christopher Zember
Moderator and AIRC Fellow
Stevens Institute of Technology
Denyce Carter
President-elect
National Contract Management Association
Mike Rayo
Associate Professor of Cognitive Systems Engineering
The Ohio State University
Maj. Gen. Alice Treviño
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Contracting
US Air Force
Please visit the event website and explore the papers for complete information.