bureaucratic organization!

[Bob Pastorello]

    For a very long time, I have wondered in a philosophical way, "Why change Pattern?"  When one considers the drop in/drop out rate (has anyone EVER collected the data?? I offerred several times to do data collection and analysis for exactly this issue, was rejected.  AMA IT folks said they couldn't abstract the Form 10's to provide the counts of contests, participants by class) it seems that a good question would be "WHY make broad changes to the first three classes?"
    The answers (if they were ever provided lucidly) was "we need a stepping stone approach to prepare fliers for  Masters/FAI " .... Of course, pattern fliers as a whole weren't ASKED if that was what they perceived the goals of the game to BE!!  Could have been a simple, one question survey =  "Is the intent of Precision RC Aerobatics to prepare participants for the challenges of the Masters/FAI classes?"
    Sort of like - "What is the PURPOSE of Precision RC Aerobatics?"  You can get a lot of definitions, and would, if that question was asked, I'd bet.  It's a personal thing, with a lot of variation.  Many likely would say "be challenged with requirements of the classes for my skill level, and have a lot of fun, lots of participants, enjoyable contests, and not go broke doing it"
    Maybe the NEXT NSRCA survey should have some of these more general questions to shape the future...before we haul off and reinvent patterns and sequences, change difficulty levels which have an unknown impact on participation, and add to the already bulging rule list, MAYBE - JUST MAYBE we should ask the simpler and more meaningful questions.

    Has anyone besides me EVER been curious to learn the REAL reasons behind people dropping out after Advanced????  Or Intermediate???  Those questions deserve some answers, and as an organization, we continue to ask INSIDE our group....what's wrong with that picture?
    Ask any marketing oriented person - to increase "customer base" or "customer satisfaction" - you ask those who AREN'T either a customer OR satisfied.  But once WERE.
    Maybe we could find a way to delve into that "why did you leave pattern?" question before making wholesale changes NEXT time round.

    Last comment - Low responses to surveys, whatever their purpose and content, is indicative of the relative importance to the consumer.  You can bet that if a person  A) really BELIEVED their response could make a difference and B) that the questions were meaningful to THEM, you'd see mailboxes bulging with surveys.    

Bob Pastorello
NSRCA 199, AMA 46373
rcaerobob at cox.net
www.rcaerobats.net


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Ferrell 
  To: discussion at nsrca.org 
  Sent: Friday, October 25, 2002 9:36 AM
  Subject: Re: bureaucratic organization!


  We are in a period of rapid evolution.
  The discipline we pursue (Precision Model Aerobatics) is enjoying a tremendous technical growth rate with new equipment and continuing refinement of the old.

  The organization is both benefiting and cursed by the close communications that the Internet provides. Everything has changed and it is a safe bet that thins are going to change more.

  Ther is a lot inertia involved in dealing with those changes. We are not going to simply sweep aside the legacy of things that have gone into history. Nor can we simply allow the "way we have always done it" to determine our future. 

  The nature of the "human condition" has not changed a lot though. Organizations either thrive on adversarial competition or they are destroyed by it.It is important that we develop these adversarial circumstances to assure that we have adequate leadership for the future and a growing root system.

  Cultivating the adversarial system is good, but it is essential that we recognize the conflict is in the family and all is lost if we go to war with each other.  
  John Ferrell 
  6241 Phillippi Rd
  Julian NC 27283
  Phone: (336)685-9606  
  Dixie Competition Products
  NSRCA 479 AMA 4190  W8CCW
  "My Competition is Not My Enemy"


   
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