# Presentation: 672514

## Report to the Center DirectorGoddard Space Flight Center

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- Report to the Center DirectorGoddard Space Flight Center

- Advisory Committee on Asian and Pacific American Employees (ACAPAE)

## Agenda

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- ACAPAE

**Agenda**

**Background**
**ACAPAE Mission and Objectives**
**ACAPAE Members**
**ACAPAE Benefits to Goddard**
**1998 Activities**
**Center Level Progress**
**Current Situation - Goddard Organizational Survey Results**
**Top Four Issues**
**Recommendations**

## ACAPAE Mission and Objectives

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- ACAPAE

**ACAPAE Mission and Objectives**

**Mission:**
**Provide advice and recommendations to the Center Director regarding the status, advancement, and career opportunities of Asian and Pacific American employees.**
**Objectives:**
**Raise the Center management awareness of issues affecting Asian Americans in the work force.**
**Address obstacles preventing advancement of these employees.**
**Recommend actions to assist individuals in dealing with those obstacles.**

## Membership
One or more representatives from each Directorate serving on the committee for three years.
1998 Members:
Maria So (Chair)		Code 710.2
Vic Untalan (Vice Chair)	Code 572.2
Harmohindar Singh		Code 224.1
Chi Yeh			Code 302
Hsiao Smith		Code 563
Angelita Kelly		Code 581
Dr. Cynthia Cheung		Code 631
Dr. Chung-Hsiung Sui	Code 913
Dr. Chopo Ma		Code 926

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- ACAPAE

**Membership**
**One or more representatives from each Directorate serving on the committee for three years.**
**1998 Members:**
**Maria So (Chair)****	****	****Code 710.2**
**Vic Untalan (Vice Chair)****	****Code 572.2**
**Harmohindar Singh****	****	****Code 224.1**
**Chi Yeh****	****	****	****Code 302**
**Hsiao Smith****	****	****Code 563**
**Angelita Kelly****	****	****Code 581**
**Dr. Cynthia Cheung****	****	****Code 631**
**Dr. Chung-Hsiung Sui****	****Code 913**
**Dr. Chopo Ma****	****	****Code 926**

**ACAPAE Members**

## ACAPAE Benefits to Goddard

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- ACAPAE

**ACAPAE Benefits to Goddard**

**Increase communication among Asian & Pacific American employees and senior management.**
**Solicit opinions, issues, and concerns from the Asian & Pacific American employees.**
**Communicate Center Management responses and initiatives back to the Asian & Pacific American workforce.**
**Promote vital and effective diversified workforce.**
**Improve teamwork.**
**Increase trust and raise morale.**
**Improve work environment and enhance effectiveness of Asian & Pacific American employees**
**Encourage reasonable balance between work and personal life.**
**Promote career development.**

## 1998 Activities

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- ACAPAE

**1998 Activities**

**Participated in the Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC) Conference.**
**Planned and organized the Celebration of Asian Heritage Month.**
**Demonstration of martial arts.**
**Cultural seminars**
** “****What can Chinese medicine do for you?”**
**“ ****Chinese musical instruments - demonstration and lecture”**
**Asian Indian luncheon.**
**Maintain ACAPAE website.**
**Continue to publish ACAPAE newsletter.**
**Broadcast job-related opportunities and other relevant information to the Asian & Pacific American civil servants and contractor employees via e-mail.**
**Lunch time career seminar series.**

## Center Level Progress

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- ACAPAE

**Center Level Progress**

**One Asian American was selected as a SES trainee, the only Asian American SES trainee at Goddard.**
**The Asian American Program Coordinator in the Equal Opportunity Program Office was selected; Mike Maroof now serves in that position.**
**Two Asian Americans (male and female) were selected to participate in the PMDE program.**

## Current Situation - Goddard Organizational     Survey Results

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- ACAPAE

**Current Situation - Goddard Organizational     Survey Results**

**Ethnic groups assigned significantly lower scores for the following categories:**
**58. Do the Center’s leaders actively foster diversity in management positions, special assignments, and other team activities? ****(3.5)(2.6) (0.9)***
**65. Do your Directorate’s leaders actively foster diversity in management positions, special assignments, and other team activities? ****(3.3) (2.5) (0.8)**
**46. Employees are treated fairly and equitably. ****(3.5) (2.8) (0.7)**
**37. Respect - employees recognize and capitalize on the diversity of the people who work at Goddard and their ideas as a means to fulfilling Goddard’s mission. ****(3.4) (2.9) (0.6) **
**44. Respect - employees recognize and capitalize on the diversity of the people who work in your Directorate and their ideas as a means to fulfilling Goddard’s mission. ****(3.7)(3.1) (0.6)**** **
**71. Achieve fairness and equity in selections, promotions, awards, and assignments****.(3.6) (3.0) (0.6)**
**76. Effectively deal with issues of discrimination and bias in your work unit. ****(3.6)(3.0) (0.6)**
**107. Do work group members value gender, racial, and ethnic differences. ****(3.7)(3.2) (0.5)**
**110. Is your supervisor open to discussing issues of discrimination and bias with work group members. ****(3.7)(3.2) (0.5)**
***(The first number is the non-minority score. The second number is the score for ethnic groups. The third number is the difference between the scores for non-minority and ethnic groups)**
**Our top four issues agree with these findings.**

## Top Four Issues

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- ACAPAE

**Top Four Issues**

**1. Low representation of Asian & Pacific American employees in management/supervisory, project management, and project scientist positions. **
**No Asian SES;  supervisory positions: 8.5% of Asians vs 16.1% of whites in GS13/14/15/GM/SES.**
**Lack of Asians in high level management training programs and key center activities, such as Source Evaluation Boards.**
**For example, in “Supervisory” training, only 7 out of 223 were Asian & Pacific American employees.**
**Asians are usually not selected to participate in key center management planning committees, such as the Center Strategic Planning Committee.**

## Top Four Issues (cont’d.)

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- ACAPAE

**Top Four Issues (cont’d.)**

**2. Low promotion rate, especially from Grade 13 and above.**
**Asian employees tend to stay in the same grades as they were first hired.**
**Average time in grade for Asian American males is longer than any other group (7.7 yrs compared to 6.2 yrs for promotion from GS14 to GS15).**
**Low promotion rate for Asian males to GS14 (1994-97: 9% vs 17% for white males).**
**Even lower promotion rate for Asian females (only one promotion to GS14, none to GS15 since 1994).**
**No real dual career tracks (management vs technical); a lot of discussion but very limited implementation.**

## Top Four Issues (cont’d.)

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- ACAPAE

**Top Four Issues (cont’d.)**

**3. Poor work force representation.**
**Very few Asian and Pacific American new hires in 1997-98 (3 out of 109).**
**The number of Asian & Pacific American summer interns or recent college graduates hired is not sufficient.**

## Top Four Issues (cont’d.)

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- ACAPAE

**Top Four Issues (cont’d.)**

**4. Lack of response from Center Management. **
**Issues previously raised by ACAPAE have not been resolved; no response to 1997 recommendations:**
**Commission a detailed study on promotion and hiring practices using the Human Resource database and conduct trend analysis.**
**Provide quarterly statistics to all the Advisory Committees so that the committees can recommend relevant actions.**
**Publish promotion criteria for each grade level.**

## Recommendations

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- ACAPAE

**Recommendations**

**Provide Asian & Pacific American employees at the GS13, 14, and 15 levels the opportunity to perform in management/supervisory and project management positions. **
**Select Asians to participate in key Center Management training programs.**
**Identify special assignments and key Center activities; select qualified Asian & Pacific employees to participate.**
**Ask senior management to provide semi-annual statistics to indicate the progress.**
**Establish accountable methods to ensure managers are held responsible for the accomplishment of diversity objectives.**

## Recommendations (cont’d.)

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- ACAPAE

**Recommendations (cont’d.)**

**Identify and publicize the features of the new promotion process that remove the biases of the old promotion system.**
**Apply resources to recruit Asian & Pacific Americans to the Goddard workforce. **
**Establish regular dialogue between Center Management and the Advisory Committee.**
**Commission a detailed study on promotion and hiring practices using the Human Resource database and conduct trend analysis.**
**Provide quarterly statistics to all the Advisory Committees so that the committees can recommend relevant actions.**
**Clarify promotion criteria of each grade level.**