Organizational Learning at NASA: The Columbia and Challenger Accidents (Public Management and Change)

253 Pages·2009·8.3 MB·English

by  Julianne G. Mahler

Organizational
Learning
NASA
at
PublicManagementandChangeSeries
BerylA.Radin,SeriesEditor
EditorialBoard
RobertAgranoff WilliamGormley
MichaelBarzelay RosemaryO’Leary
AnnO’M.Bowman NormaRiccucci
H.GeorgeFrederickson DavidH.Rosenbloom
TitlesintheSeries
ChallengingthePerformanceMovement:Accountability,Complexity,and
DemocraticValues,BerylA.Radin
CharitableChoiceatWork:EvaluatingFaith-BasedJobProgramsintheStates,
SheilaSuessKennedyandWolfgangBielefeld
TheCollaborativePublicManager:NewIdeasfortheTwenty-firstCentury,
RosemaryO’LearyandLisaBlomgrenBingham,Editors
TheDynamicsofPerformanceManagement:ConstructingInformationandReform,
DonaldP.Moynihan
TheGreeningoftheU.S.Military:EnvironmentalPolicy,NationalSecurity,and
OrganizationalChange,RobertF.Durant
HowManagementMatters:Street-LevelBureaucratsandWelfareReform,
NormaM.Riccucci
ManagingwithinNetworks:AddingValuetoPublicOrganizations,Robert
Agranoff
MeasuringthePerformanceoftheHollowState,DavidG.Fredericksonand
H.GeorgeFrederickson
OrganizationalLearningatNASA:TheChallengerandColumbiaAccidents,
JulianneG.MahlerwithMaureenHoganCasamayou
PublicValuesandPublicInterest:CounterbalancingEconomicIndividualism,
BarryBozeman
TheResponsibleContractManager:ProtectingthePublicInterestinanOutsourced
World,StevenCohenandWilliamEimicke
RevisitingWaldo’sAdministrativeState:ConstancyandChangeinPublic
Administration,DavidH.RosenbloomandHowardE.McCurdy
Organizational
Learning
NASA
at
The Challengerand ColumbiaAccidents
J U L I A N N E G . M A H L E R
with Maureen Hogan Casamayou
Georgetown University Press
Washington,D.C.
GeorgetownUniversityPress,Washington,D.C.www.press.georgetown.edu
(cid:2)2009byGeorgetownUniversityPress.Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybe
reproducedorutilizedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,including
photocopyingandrecording,orbyanyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem,without
permissioninwritingfromthepublisher.
TheimageusedforthecoverisoftheMissionControlCenter(MCC)FlightControl
Room1(FCR1)takenshortlyafterthelandingofSTS-30ShuttleAtlantis,May4,1989.
TheflightcontrollersshownareKevinMcCluneyandBobDoremus.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Mahler,Julianne.
OrganizationallearningatNASA:theChallengerandColumbiaaccidents/Julianne
G.MahlerwithMaureenHoganCasamayou.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-58901-266-0(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.UnitedStates.NationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministration—Reorganization.
2.Organizationallearning—UnitedStates. 3.Organizationalchange—UnitedStates.
4.Columbia(Spacecraft)—Accidents. 5.Challenger(Spacecraft)—Accidents.
I.Casamayou,MaureenHogan. II.Title.
TL521.312.M32 2008
658.4(cid:2)038—dc22
2008033982
(cid:3)(cid:3) Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepapermeetingtherequirementsoftheAmerican
NationalStandardforPermanenceinPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials.
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Firstprinting
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
FortheChallenger andColumbiacrewsand theirfamilies

Contents
Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Part One: Recognizing the Value of Organizational
Learning 1
1 UncannySimilarities:TheChallengerandColumbiaAccidents 3
2 IdentifyingOrganizationalLearning 17
PartTwo: AnalyzingtheCausesoftheShuttleAccidents 37
3 StructuresforProcessingInformation 39
4 ContractorRelations 78
5 PoliticalandBudgetaryPressures 100
6 OrganizationalCulture 140
Part Three: Institutionalizing Lessons about Public
Organizational Learning 161
7 TheChallengesofLearninginPublicOrganizations 163
8 LessonsfromNASAaboutOrganizationalLearning 196
References 217
Index 227
vii

Illustrations
FIGURES
3.1 ShuttleProgramManagementStructure 44
5.1 NASA’sBudgetasaPercentageoftheTotalFederalBudget 125
TABLES
5.1 NASABudget,1965–2004 124
8.1 RelationshipsbetweenLessonsandLearningProcesses 198
8.2 PuttingLessonsintoPractice 212
ix