MAG-EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81-00261R000700020021-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 7, 2000
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: March 3, 1978
• Content Type: MF

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3 March 1978
25X1A
Advisor, DCI MAG
25X1A
Chairman, DCI MAG
SUBJECT : MAG-Ernployee Communications
25X1A
As described in the attached paper from , approval is requested
to begin an aperiodic MAG newsletter and also to establish either a MAG bulletin.
board or to use space on an existing bulletin board.
25X1A
Advisor, DCI MAG
DISAPPROVED:
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2 March 1978
SUBJECT: Hecorfunep_dations for Increasing nIAG-E~rployee
Communication
The bCI MAG has formed an Employee Liaison Working
Group to improve communications channels between 14AG
and Agency employees. The goals of this
effort., mended means for achieving these goals andpotetialo~l-
problems are outlined below.
1. To increase NAG's visibility among the employees.
Increased visibility, and an inc~easc? in employees' r.naer-
standing of NAG functions, would stimulate suggestions from
the employees for useful projects, and it should help to
identify employees who have the knowledge and motivation to
assist in the implementation of these projects.
2. To increase MAG` s ability to contribute to manage-
ment decisions. At times, N.iAG is tasked to provide its own
best judgment on subjects of interest to management. At
other times, it is expected to reflect general employee
concerns, attitudes and judgments. In order to better per-
form the latter function, NAG needs more systematic means of
communicating with the employees.
MEANS TO ACHIEVE GOALS
3. Communication to Employees
a. Ile recommend dissemination of an aperiodic NAG
Newsletter. The Newsletter will be used to disseminate
names of MAG-members, invite suggestions on topics of
current interest to MAGI solicit ideas for new projects,
and report on selected MAG activities and recommendations.
(Note: Many_MAG activities are undertaken in response
to tasking from management. In order to ensure the con-
fidentiality of the MAG-management relationship, such
subjects will not be mentioned in the Newsletter without
prior management approval. ('The Executive Secretary, Mr.
Evans, will be the point of coordination for the News-
letter.)
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b. It is recommended that copies of selected M.AG
reports be made available in a reading file in the library.
Availability of these reports will be announced in the
Newsletter.
4. Communication from Employees
a. To stimulate communication, it is recommended
that names-of MAG members be posted on Agency bulletin
boards. (Only first names and phone extension of those
under cover.)
b. It is recommended that: a mail routing designa-
tion be established for MAG in order that employee sug-
gestions may be securely and confidentially forwarded. to
MAG.
c. We believe there is a need for automated pro-
cedures for sampling and surveying employee views more
quickly and efficiently than is possible at present. We
are examining this now and will. make a separate recommend-
ation on this subject.
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS AND QUESTIONS
5. Confidentiality of the MAG-Management Relattionship.
Management can now consult with MAG on confidential proposals
that it does not yet want broadly discussed among the employees.
We would not want to do anything to undermine that confidential
relationship. The safeguards built into the above recommend-
at'-ions will ensure a continua-Lion of this confidentiality while
improving NAG-employee communication..
6. Relationship with Employees. Increased visibility
of MAG acid increased reporting to the employees on MAG
activities will. probably stimulate employees to take increased
interest in making an input to MAC recommendations. We welcome
this, as the feedback to MAC about. employee interests and con-
cerns will improve MAG's utility to management. At the same
time, we appreciate that MAG only reflects rather than repre-
sents employee concerns; we are not elected representatives
accountable to an employee constituency. MAG has no intention
of moving in the direction of an employee union or grievance
organization.
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7. Relationship with other MAGs. In order to avoid un-
necessary duplication of effort, the NAG Newsletter would be
open to contributions from the Directorate MAGs. Other pro-
cedures such as routing indicator, posting of names of NAG
members on bulletin board, and setting up reading file in
the library would also be open to coordination with the Direct-
orate MAGs.
8. Workload. The workload seems manageable. The News-
letter would be written only when there is something to say.
We will not be striving for any prescribed periodicity or set
length. Clerical support. can be handled as at present, either
by the Executive Secretariat or by co-opting our own secretaries.
25X1A
Chief, Employee Liaison Working Group
DCI NAG
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INTRODUCING THE MAG NEWSLETTER
This newsletter initiates a series of communications from
the DCI Management Advisory Group (MAC) to keep you informed
of our activities and our agenda of issues under review.
During a meeting with the Director of Central Intelli-
gence (DCI) in December 1977, he requested that MAG help him
focus on what recurring personnel management problems need to
be addressed. This is an area of priority interest to us all_,
and although MAG's only formal reporting responsibility has
been to the DCI, we would like to bring you up to date
on the organization and function of the group, advise you of
projects that are currently underway, and solicit your coopera-
tion and assistance.
Hopefully, through our mutual effort, we can identify
key issues of concern to Agency employees and, where feasible,
suggest possible courses of action to senior management during
the coming year.
MAG FUNCTIONS
The DCI MAG was established in 1969, at the direction of
the DCI, to render an advisory service in identifying and
making recommendations about issues and problems arising out
of the Agency's organization and practices. The DCI NAG pro-
vides direct vertical communication to the Director, outside
formal channels but in no way replacing the normal command and
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staff elements. We serve as a sounding board for management,
but also as a mechanism by which ideas, concerns, and recom-
mendations of working level personnel are explored, staffed
out, and presented to top management.
Some NAG efforts are self-generated, others are in re-
sponse to expressed interest or tasking from the DCI or DDCI.
Last year, in response to these requests, the DCI MAG undertook
the following projects: examined the relative benefits of
centralization versus decentralization of RD&E activities,
commented on the proposed transfer of Owl and OSI to the DDT,
commented on a draft statement of Agency goals, reviewed a
paper on personnel policies and procedures presented to the
Executive Advisory. Group by the DDA, and examined the feasibility
of a two-grade promotion policy for grades GS-7 through GS-ll.
On its own initiative, MAG explored the life insurance pro-
grams available to Agency employees and the adequacy of pro-
cedures to inform employees of the comparative costs and benefits
of the diverse programs, examined policies concerning homo-
sexuality and cohabitation as they relate to selection and
retention of employees, and commented on the proposed public
tours of the Headquarters area.
Copies of.MAG memoranda on these and other subjects are
appended to the DCI NAG Annual Report for the period 1 July
9-976 - 30 September 1977. This report is available for employee
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review in Room 1H1129, the Document Reading Room of the
Headquarters Library.
There are comparable Management Advisory Groups in each
of the Directorates, and a Secretarial/Clerical MAG has just
been formed. We have invited these other MAGs to contribute
to future issues of this newsletter.
ORGANIZATION AND MEMBERSHIP
The DCI MAG is composed of fourteen officers three
members from each Directorate and two from the DCI area, all
serving a one-year term. Members are selected by their own
Directorates and are chosen from GS grades 12 through 16.
Until recently, there were overlapping one-year terms whereby
every three months one-quarter of the membership was changed.
While this overlap provided some sense of continuity, on
balance it led to difficulty in establishing group cohesion
or identity. In December 1977 MAG recommended and the DCI
approved a new charter whereby IYIAG members now serve, concurrent
rather than overlapping terms. This change allows members to
get to know each other better, improves group dynamics and
leadership, and facilitates our developing and implementing
a coherent annual program. The term of the current MAG ex-
pires 30 September 1978. Current DCI MAG members are:
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 25X1A
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25X1 C
L5n"IU wide span of issues -- from
Personnel'Management Working Group is to respond to Adm_
Turner's request for our comments and recommendations on the
Agency personnel system. An overall paper outlining goals and
objectives for a CIA personnel system has already been pre-
pared and forwarded to the Director. We are now working on a
series of follow-on papers to flesh out details on selected
Concepts and recommendations. Employee suggestions concerning
changes in the personnel system,, or ways to ensure better
implementation of the existing system,'are desired. The
Personnel Management Working Group is also helping to staff
out an employee suggestion to establish a "hotline" to provide
confidential help to employees suffering from urgent personal
problems or stress and who, for whatever reason, prefer not to
use the existing Agency services.
The Operations Management Working Group is exploring some
of the many ramifications of the
as it affects
all the Directorates, not just the Operations Directorate. At
the present stage of this inquiry, interest ranges across a
to the Agency
telephone book problem. We are seeking to identify those
25X1C aspects of the - problem that are of greatest concern to
Agency employees and for which there do
seem to be feasible
solutions. The problems are rather clear, but the solutions
are elusive; again, your suggestions are welcome. This working
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group has also responded to a DDA request for comment on a
problem that'has arisen in the processing of parking violation s
in the Headquarters compound.
The Employee Liaison Working Group is seeking ways to
stimulate and harness the creative imagination and motiva-
tion of our employees to make this a more effective Agency and
a better place to work. NAG itself is one vehicle for this,
and this MAG Newsletter is intended to help make NAG a more
effective vehicle for generating and staffing out new ideas.
O.ther steps are establishing a mail address so that suggestions
may be routed to any of the MAG,;, posting names of all NAG
members on Agency bulletin boards, and making selected MAG
reports available to.employees in the Document Reading Room,
Headquarters Library.
PLEASE LET US HEAR FROM YOU!
We need your help. If you have a good idea whose time
has come, we will staff it out or help you to staff it out
and try to get it implemented! We need to know your concerns,
and we solicit your views and suggestions and ideas to improve
the quality of the Agency's performance. All MAG members will
welcome your seeking them out to talk with them. If your idea
concerns only one segment of the Agency, rather than the Agency
as a whole, it may be more appropriate for you to contact
your Directorate MAG or the Secretarial/Clerical MAG; the
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names of their members will be printed in a future issue of
the? newsletter.
Written communications to any of the MAGs may be sent
to Room 7E13 Headquarters Building. Address it to the DCI,
NFAC, DDO, DDA, DDS&T, or Secretarial/Clerical MAG, as seems
most appropriate. All communications will be kept confidential
if so desired.
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