Is Hiring University Graduates Rocket Science? Let's Learn From The Rocket Scientists.

• Author: Kosicek, P. Michael

INTRODUCTION

As World War II drew to a close, the Allies were extremely interested in capturing enemy technology and know-how. One of the greatest prizes was German rocket technology, as their program was the most advanced in the world and would be a defining technology for military strategy and national projection of strength for the coming decades. Werner Von Braun was the leading developer of German rocket technology. His team in Peenemunde realized that they were about to be in occupied Soviet territory. Von Braun had a meeting with his team and they decided that they would prefer to surrender to the Americans. His team of 500 scientists made their way west and famously surrendered to an American army private (Bower, 1987).

The Soviets too also realized the value of the German rocket program. They quickly began rounding up as many rocket scientist and technicians as they could and sequestered them. Their prize was largely the production scientists and most of the production equipment (Zak, 2003)

Shortly after the war, the Americans moved their scientists to the United States and kept the German Team intact. They were sent to the United States and eventually coalesced the team in Texas. The US military had them educate American Rocket scientists on German technology. Quickly the German/American teams refined German technology and the German scientists became integral members of the Unites States' military technology development team. Famously as the space race evolved, 140 of the German Scientist moved with Von Braun to Huntsville, Alabama and developed the US rockets that defined the space race in the 1960s and beyond (Bower, 1987).

As the Soviets moved the Germans to their facilities North of Moscow, they quickly broke up the German team. The Soviets showed very little trust in the German scientists. After an initial education of the Soviet scientists, the Germans were largely marginalized and by 1948, just three years after the war, most were sent back to Germany and had no involvement with the Soviet rocket program going forward. While the Soviets initially used the same cluster hiring strategy employed by the Americans, very quickly the German teams were dismantled (Zak, 2003).

Which strategy was more successful? Both the US and Soviets developed successful rocket programs. Early on, the Soviets led the technology race with firsts like Sputnik and making Yuri Gagarin the first man in space. However, ultimately the United States team of scientists, led by Von Braun and many of his German compatriots, won the race to the moon 50 years ago and went on to refine their technology into the most effective military and civilian space launch programs in the world. We posit that the cluster hiring of Von Braun's team and continued unity and nurturing of the team gave the United States a competitive advantage over the Soviet Union in the continued development of this advanced technology.

BACKGROUND

Human capital is becoming increasingly important for firms to execute their strategies and successfully compete (Colbert, 2004). Lepak and Snell (1999) first posited that companies could gain a competitive advantage if they developed a strategically superior method of recruiting talent. Such methods could convey a competitive advantage to firms (Newbert, 2007).

Teams have become increasingly important units in the workplace. Teams work independently to achieve a common objective...