An Investigative Study of Air Force Acquisition Management Work with the Intent of Identifying Its Nature and Required Tools
Abstract
This thesis attempted to broaden previous management work research by investigating the primary work activities of middle-level Air Force acquisition managers and the tools being used to facilitate acquisition work. Previous research has focused on directly observing civilian managers in actual work settings. In general, these studies have characterized managerial work as busy, fragmented, primarily linguistic, and comprised of numerous daily contacts. Managers often communicated via informal conversations. This preference for informal face-to-face conversation results from the manager's need to match a communication medium capable of conveying rich information to an uncertain work environment. It was hypothesized that Air Force acquisition managers worked in this type of environment. A questionnaire was used to survey a group of 100 Air Force middle-level acquisition managers. Most of the managers indicated they were working in a fast-paced environment characterized by a large number of daily contacts and work issues. Most of the managers worked long days and spent little time by themselves. The most common work activities were conversations with others, reading and writing. Keywords: Information systems, Communication networks.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA201510
Entities
People
- Mark C. Cerise
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology