Introduction to Labor Aerospace
Research Agenda (LARA)
 Sponsors: USAF ManTech, US
Department of Labor, and others
 Lead Partners: IAM and other
Labor Organizations in Aerospace,
LAI Member Organizations
 Principal investigators and
Research Team: Joel CutcherGershenfeld (Co-PI), Tom Kochan
(Co-PI), Betty Barrett, Lydia Fraile,
Adam Litwin, and other team
members
 Links to LAI: Organizations and
People, Knowledge Deployment,
Other Research/Product Teams,
and Curriculum Development
 Funding: ~$300K/yr
 Focus:
 Institutional infrastructure and
intellectual capital investments
associated with building the 21st
Century aerospace workforce
 Impact of instability on
employment and workplace
innovation in the aerospace
industry
 Methods:
 National random sample facility
surveys
 Individual surveys
 Case studies
 Collective bargaining contract
analysis
 Archival data analysis
 Conferences and working
sessions
“Right Skills, Right Place, Right Time”
Sample Publications
(available at http://mit.edu/ctpid/lara or at 617.253.5777)
Resource Guide:
Case Studies (cont.):


Collective Bargaining in the Face of
Instability: A Resource for Workers and
Employers in the U.S. Aerospace
Industry (2000)

Case Studies:

Strategies for Workforce Flexibility and
Capability (forthcoming)


Investing in Knowledge, Skills and
Capability in an Uncertain Business
Environment (2003)




Rockwell Collins and IBEW
Transformation Through Employee
Involvement and Workplace Training:
The Challenge of a Changing Business
Context (2001)

Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power and the
United Automobile Workers

Textron Systems
From Three to One: Integrating a High
Performance Work Organization Process,
Lean Production, and Activity Based
Costing Change Initiatives (2000)

International Association of Machinists
and Boeing Joint Programs
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group,
Wichita Division and the International
Association of Machinists
Fostering Continuous Improvement in a
Changing Business Context (2000)

A Decade of Learning (2001)


IAM/Boeing, St. Louis
Employing Activity Based Costing and
Management Practices Within the
Aerospace Industry: Sustaining the Drive
for Lean (2000)
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group,
Wichita Division and the International
Association of Machinists
Fostering Workplace Innovation and
Labor-Management Partnership: The
Challenge of Strategic Shifts in Business
Operations (1999)

Pratt and Whitney (UTC) and the
International Association of Machinists
Additional Research Output
Books and Monographs:


LARA Research is incorporated into Lean
Enterprise Value: Insights from MIT’s
Lean Aerospace Initiative (Palgrave, 2002)
Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Joel, Betty Barrett,
Eric Rebintisch, Thomas Kochan, and
Robert Scott, Developing a 21st Century
Aerospace Workforce. Policy White Paper
submitted to Human Capital/Workforce Task
Force, The U.S. Commission on the Future
of the Aerospace Industry (2002).
Scholarly Articles:


Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, “Lean
Transformation Across the U.S.
Aerospace Industry: Exploring the
Interdependence of Social and Technical
Systems” (working paper, 2003)
Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld and Eric
Rebentisch, “The Impact of Instability on
Complex Social and Technical Systems,”
(Proceedings from MIT Engineering
Systems Division Internal Symposium,
2002)
Practitioner-Oriented Articles (all in IRRA
Perspectives, 2003):

Instability in the Aerospace Industry: A
Core Strategic Challenge, by Joel
Cutcher-Gershenfeld

Counting the Global Aerospace
Workforce: Preliminary Findings, by
Betty Barrett, Kevin Long, Lydia Fraile,
and Adam Litwin

Labor in Aerospace: The Business
Perspective, by A. Bryan Davis

Losing Altitude: Employment in the U.S.
Aerospace Sector, by Steve Sleigh, Paul
E. Almeida, Faraz Kahn

Out of the Ashes: Options for Rebuilding
Airline Labor Relations, by Thomas
Kochan, Andrew von Nordenflycht,
Robert McKersie, and Jody Hoffer Gittell
Recent Conference Presentations:

Workforce Flexibility Session, International
Industrial Relations Association, 2003

Panel Presentations, Industrial Relations
Research Association, 2003 and 2004
National Meetings