Perspectives on a Fast-Paced Public Project: Personal Reactions of MARTA Executives

Abstract

This article provides some perspectives on a fast-track public project. Our times urge growing mastery of the theme, if only because the enhanced productivity so commony demanded will come largely from working smarter-from anticipating and moderating the effects of an accelerated pace on people in organizations. Here, descriptions of fast-track impacts on people receive sole emphasis. Four foci dominate: personal health, individual learning and coping, and effects on organization dynamics and processes. Two other products derive from this project. A separate analysis is prescriptive-it will focus on the policies, procedures, and practices that seem useful for doing better the next-time-around. And a third report will track the longer-run consequences on careers and life-styles of executives in a fast-track effort. All materials come from interviews with executives from MARTA, or the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.' It provides a natural experiment involving a specific transition, from successful completion of major milestones to an uncertain but less-frenetic future. Data come from eight executives who had all been on-board for several years prior to the transition.