The Deepwater Program : a case study in organizational transformation inspired by the parallel interaction of internal and external core groups

This paper attempts to explain why the United States Coast Guard decided to undertake its most recent major capital asset replacement effort-the Deepwater Program-through the use of a systems approach. Several explanations are considered, but a series of interviews and a review of events during the 1996-2003 timeframe yield an explanation that points to bureaucratic politics and status dynamics as the most likely cause. In particular, the paper finds that the Coast Guard's low status (vis-à-vis other organizations within the Department of Transportation) combined with the Deepwater community's high status (vis-à-vis other communities within the Coast Guard) to produce a political environment that made the use of a systems approach almost inevitable. The paper closes by considering the policy ramifications of systems approaches used by relative weak organizations.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Political Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Mansharamani, Vikram, 1974-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Harvey M. Sapolsky.

• Political Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/16640

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/16640