600F02037
ERA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
About ORD
The Office of Research and Development's (ORD)
mission is to conduct leading-edge research and fos-
ter the sound use of science and technology to fulfill
EPA's mission to protect human health and safeguard
the natural environment. By providing the scientific
foundation for the Agency's policies, regulations, and
programs, ORD provides EPA and the American
people with the knowledge needed to make informed
decisions about risks to human health and the envi-
ronment, and opportunities to mitigate or prevent
these risks. ORD accomplishes its mission by:
• Conducting experiments on the generation, fate,
and transport of pollutants, the exposure of flora
and fauna to these pollutants and its effects, and
the mechanisms available to prevent or mitigate
exposure or effects;
• Developing methods and techniques to reduce ex-
posure to pollution and prevent its creation;
• Sharing information on technical innovations to
protect people and the environment;
• Preparing health and ecological risk assessments
and making recommendations for sound risk man-
agement strategies; and
• Managing a vital extramural grants program en-
titled Science to Achieve Results (STAR), which
awards research grants to scientists in universities
and not-for-profit institutions, and supports fellow-
ships to promising young graduate students in en-
vironmental science.
1995
The Reorganization
Ii 1995, in response to a number of external reviews of EPA's
esearch programs, a Congressional directive that EPA ex-
amine its overall laboratory structure, and an internal desire to
strengthen and better focus the Office's research program, ORD
undertook the most sweeping reorganization in its history. Cen-
tral to this reorganization was adoption of the risk assessment/
risk management paradigm as the basis for the new structure.1
Using this organizing principle, ORD combined 12 existing
laboratories into three national laboratories, two national cen-
ters, and three headquarter offices (see ORD Organizational
Chart). At the same time, ORD enlarged and strengthened its
competitive extramural grants and fellowship program, which
partially displaced research formerly done in-house. The reor-
ganization created new lines of authority and reporting, new
managerial roles, and an expanded set of stakeholders and part-
ners. With the reorganization came new lines of authority and
reporting, new managerial roles, and an expanded set of stake-
holders and partners, as well as disruptions to long-established
working relationships among ORD staff. The changes associ-
ated with the reorganization, combined with new congressional
mandates, demanded greater accountability across the Federal
government, and the geographically dispersed nature of ORD's
facilities created considerable uncertainty about the future for
ORD's workforce and contributed to low levels of morale and
trust. In short, the business environment in which ORD oper-
ated was changing very suddenly and drastically, with little
opportunity for staff to digest the reason for and meaning of
these changes, much less become comfortable with the changes
associated with ORD's new circumstances.
'The risk assessment/risk management paradigm is a sequenced set of spe-
cific interrelated analytic steps that are employed in assessing environmental
risks and making decisions on how to reduce those risks. These steps in-
volve: (1) characterizing the nature and magnitude of human health or envi-
ronmental effects; (2) determining the magnitude and routes of exposure; (3)
combining these in an assessment of risk; and (4) evaluating sources and
implementing strategies or technologies to reduce the risk.
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ORD
Organizationa
Chart
1
Assistant Administrator
Deputy Assistant Deputy Assistant
Administrator Administrator
for Management for Science
Office of Resources
Management and
Administration
(ORMA)
National Exposure
Research
Laboratory
(NERL)
National Health and
Environmental
Effects Research
Laboratory
(NHEERL)
Office of Science
Policy
(OSP)
National Center for
Environmental
Assessment
(NCEA)
National Risk
Management
Research Laboratory
(NRMRL)
National Center for
Environmental
Research
(NCER)
Recognizing the impact that these changes were having on staff,
ORD senior leadership, under its Deputy Assistant Adminis-
trator for Management, committed to a multi-year organiza-
tional improvement effort to align staff and resources around
the new organization. A guiding principle of this improvement
effort from the outset was the broad participation of staff
throughout the organization in identifying issues, brainstorm-
ing solutions and changes, and leading the implementation of
specific initiatives and activities. ORD's leadership team rec-
ognized that it needed to engage all levels of the organization
in the improvement process and helped the people within the
organization transition from the way things were to the way
things are and needed to be.
1996 and 1997
Assessment and Experimentation
"D eflecting the belief that staff would be key to both identi
-Cxfying the challenges and crafting the solutions, the improve-
ment effort did not begin with any detailed plan other than to
listen and respond to what was heard. As a result, many of the
early activities were designed to assess the organization and
"hear the voices" of its employees. In 1996, ORD conducted
the first of five sequential, annual organizational climate sur-
veys and its first reinvention workshop, focusing on managing
change. The organizational climate survey was intended to
provide accurate and comprehensive data on the attitudes of
staff across a broad set of subjects including work environ-
ment, communications, trust, administrative processes, diver-
sity, and mission/strategy.
At the workshop, over 200 staff from all levels and locations of
the organization gathered for four days of intensive discussions
and priority setting. The workshop broke down organizational
barriers and provided a forum for all staff to listen to and share
information on what was working across ORD and where im-
provement was needed. Following the survey and workshop,
local and ORD-wide groups were established to address such
topics as career advancement and development, red tape, com-
munications, resources and infrastructure, and integrating sci-
ence with EPA's mission. In addition, in 1996, ORD updated
its strategic plan to reflect its new organization and formally
implement a research planning process based on comparative
risk—namely, evaluating and setting research priorities based
on reducing uncertainty about the potentially greatest risks.
In 1997, reflecting staff feedback on the first survey, ORD de-
veloped a custom organizational climate survey to better re-
flect ORD's structure, terminology, and issues. In addition
another workshop was held to review the work of the groups
established the previous year and to provide a new set of pri-
orities to guide subsequent continuous improvement activities.
Among the products coming out of these workshops in 1996
and 1997 were a new Diversity Action Plan and a Communica-
tions Strategy which, among other recommendations, called for
a large expansion of ORD's intranet as a means for sharing
information and coordinating the disparate activities of the or-
ganization. Specific reforms and changes related to resources
and infrastructure and administrative processes also were imple-
mented both within specific labs and centers and across ORD.
Various skip-level discussions were held in 1997 to continue
engaging the workforce and ensure that managers heard the
direct and unfiltered thoughts and concerns of staff throughout
the organization.
1998 and 1999
Traction and Results on Improvement Actions
By the 1998 ORD organizational climate survey, significant
improvement was already occurring on some high priority
issues. Survey results related to scientific resources and infra-
structure reflected high levels of satisfaction among staff. In
addition, according to the survey, overall morale and levels of
trust were improving in many parts of the organization. At the
same time, the survey also confirmed the impressions of par-
ticipants at the two workshops that a new vision and updated
mission statement were needed for ORD to reflect its evolving
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focus and to stay aligned with EPA's new Strategic Plan, which
was released in September 1997, as required by GPRA. Under
the Agency's Strategic Plan, all of ORD's extramural and in-
tramural research was carefully aligned to support the Agency's
environmental goals and strategic priorities, mostly under Goal
8 focusing on sound science.
As a result, a highly inclusive process was launched to develop
a compelling and clearly articulated vision to guide ORD into
the future. Based on the comments and participation of over
1,400 ORD staff, a new vision—that ORD's discovery and in-
novation revolutionize environmental decision-making—and
mission statement were put forth in February 1999. The vision
statement also provided a set of core values which represent
the behaviors and attitudes that ORD sought in its staff.
Immediately following the release of the new vision, ORD's
Executive Council, consisting of its senior leadership, commit-
ted to develop a new Strategic Plan to create a more specific
framework for implementing ORD's new vision. This Strate-
gic Plan, created with the extensive input of ORD's staff, key
customers in the Program and Regional offices, and external
stakeholders, sets forth five goals:
• Supporting the Agency's mission;
• Being a high-performing organization;
• Being a leader in the environmental research community;
• Integrating environmental science and technology to solve
environmental problems; and
• Anticipating future environmental issues.
As shown in ORD's Strategic Plan Goals, first and foremost of
these goals was supporting EPA's mission by providing high-
quality, relevant, responsive, and timely science. All other goals
relate to and complement this central purpose.
In addition to the vision and strategic planning activities, nu-
merous smaller scale improvement activities were occurring
during this period at various levels of ORD. The impact of
some of these activities, such as the work of the Diversity Ac-
tion Group, were felt across the entire organization. Other ac-
tivities, such as lab-, center-, and division-level initiatives met
initial success on a local level and then, where possible, were
shared as best practices with other parts of the organization
facing similar challenges or issues.
2000 and 2001
Focusing on Leadership and Performance
In order to clarify and focus the organization's direction,
ORD's entire management team met in Baltimore, in Febru-
ary 2000, to discuss leadership and management issues through-
out ORD. This event marked the first time
that all levels of ORD management met
together to provide input on the future of
the organization. Over the course of three
days, team members had the opportunity
to discuss a range of topics related to lead-
ership and management.
The Strategic Plan was released in January 2001 and imple-
mentation began immediately. The Strategic Plan complements
ORD Strategic Plan Goals
February 14-17, 2000
Baltimore, Maryland
the research planning process and serves as the roadmap for
how ORD will work together and organize its activities over
the next decade to more efficiently and effectively support EPA's
mission. Rather than concentrating on what research ORD will
do, the Strategic Plan sets the direction for how ORD will ac-
complish its mission. Concurrent with the release of the Stra-
tegic Plan, ORD established some high-priority actions from
the plan for implementation, including:
• Developing multi-year research plans;
• Continuing to improve workplace trust;
• Continuing the 360° feedback process;
• Creating a leadership development program;
• Leading the development of a national environmental
research agenda;
• Improving ORD's Web presence;
• Modifying the awards system to promote research
integration; and
• Developing one to three pilot projects on emerging issues.
Building on the sense of teamwork and unity created at the
management team conference, the administrative team met in
Baltimore in 2001 to discuss organizational issues within ORD.
Entitled "Partners in Excellence," this conference shared ORD's
future direction with the administrative staff, defined the char-
acteristics of a high-performing organization, and discussed the
key role that administrative staff play in
supporting ORD's scientific research.
The conference also demonstrated that
leadership can exist at every level and that
the administrative staff are valuable mem-
bers of the organization.
ORD Administrative Conference
Baltimore, Marybnd
ORD also has continued skip-level discussions, most recently
on the topic of diversity. As a result of these conversations,
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ORD is encouraging diversity awareness through training and
further listening sessions. Training has been introduced to
emphasize the value of a diverse workforce and listening ses-
sions are being conducted during which senior leaders go into
the field to listen to concerns of the workforce.
As a result of its improvement efforts over the last five years,
ORD now has a more robust planning process, better integra-
tion with a budget based on more extensive communication
with the program offices, higher levels of trust, a stronger and
more unified management team, and local success stories to be
shared and leveraged across the organization.
and
Next Generation ORD
~f T Thile much progress has: b.eej% made, in aligning people,
VV processes, and procedures to/the changes which reshaped
ORD in the mid-1990s; it i& too-eariy to.4eQla.re victory. The
achievements are many antfiiotable, including;' . ,
• A new Vision and Strategic Plan;
• A more robust planning process consistent with the risk
assessment/risk management paradigm;
• Higher levels of trust and continued high levels of overall
employee satisfaction with ORD;
• Greater delegation of authority and more robust levels of
infrastructure support;
• Improved openness and communications on key topics
including diversity and expectations for management and
leadership;
• Greater managerial accountability as a result of GPRA and
the organizational climate survey data; and
Trust at;0J^|||||^i|p;
Question 3: Staff trust management at the.... level
1898
• A new focus on teamwork and partnership across ORD's
dispersed facilities and diverse staff.
At the same time, there is still room for improvement. ORD
continues to pursue organizational improvement efforts. Spe-
cifically, ORD is focusing on:
• Improving communication and teamwork across all levels
of ORD;
• Enhancing managerial and leadership skills among ORD's
Management Team;
• Increasing participation of staff in local improvement
efforts; and
• Building greater trust throughout the organization through
better communication, follow-through, and openness.
ORD's Continuous Improvement Efforts
Making Progress.
1995-2001
| *'95 Reorganization
•Diversity Training
•'96 Survey
•'96 Strategic Ran
•Workshop 1
•WIN Core Groups &
Local Improvement .
Eft** : ' I"*'
Assessment
'97 Survey
''97 Strategic Plan ....'
Update ...-'••:
DrversityAcflonPIsi
•UOO Improvement
'•"
Improvement Actions Leadership and Performance
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