The joy of working in a curious and innovative culture is the desire of many governmental organizations. Rules, regulations, and other bureaucratic procedures are often big-time barriers to change in governmental operations. Authorship and ownership of existing methods add to the resistance to change. Budget-conscious superiors often automatically discourage and discard ideas that require investing additional money up front. “If it isn’t made here, we don’t need it” and other syndromes cause the rank and file to continue doing things the same way they always have instead of “fighting city hall.” The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is an exception. There, winter maintenance research has developed beyond just being a program; it is a culture and a way of life. MnDOT is passionate about winter maintenance research. There are several key issues that are important to recognize in MnDOT. The passion resides at the maintenance worker level. Supervisors and top management provide encouragement, support, and guidance and are not stumbling blocks. Dedicated funding fuels innovation. New ideas that generate the most support are those that are customer focused and quality related because the customer is the common denominator that every level in the organization understands. It is hard not to support and fund new ideas that improve the effectiveness of products and services delivered to the end user. Finally, MnDOT has learned that providing opportunities for champions of innovation to share their accomplishments is an outstanding way to maintain and elevate even higher the excitement associated with maintenance research.


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    Title :

    Getting Passionate About Winter Maintenance Research


    Additional title:

    Transportation Research Record


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2001-01-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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