Running head: THE CHALLENGER AND COLUMBIA SHUTTLE DISASTER
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THE CHALLENGER AND COLUMBIA SHUTTLE DISASTER
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The Challenger and Columbia Shuttle Disasters
Christina Becker
MGT351– Organizational Innovation and Change
Colorado State University – Global Campus
Professor Leroy Demuth
February 5, 2019
Abstract
This discussion will help bring to life the process and framework needed for effective and sustainable change management. In a time of consistent and expected change and transformation, there is possibly no better example of the impact leadership decision making has on change, than the cases of NASA’s Columbia and Challenger disasters. Through this discussion it will reveal the choices and impacts NASA’s decisions had on the conclusion as well as measure and compare their ability to incorporate basic change techniques into operation. Evidence has revealed that these disasters were impacted by both physical and organizational inputs. The organizational culture of NASA was deeply rooted in the program’s history and philosophies, including compromises, constraints, shifting priorities and the lack of clear vision or purpose.
Table of Contents
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The Challenger and Columbia Shuttle Disasters
Politics, budgets, schedule constraints and executive complacency are all extreme hurdles to overcome in any idea of change. These are not necessarily attributes that one would use to highlight and describe when discussing space disaster Challenger and Columbia but were identified as leading reasons to the catastrophe. These calamities surely had technical failures present but through this discussion we will review how the internal change management process at NASA influenced the tragedy and identify lessons learned that can be applied to any type of change infrastructure. We will review the images of managing change undertaken by NASA, as well as some of the challenges faced. Additionally, we will review how resistance impacted results and then finally how to sustain change.
Images of Managing Change
Prior to reviewing the images of change it is important to first visit the rudimentary events in the case study. This case study thoroughly details the Challenger and Columbia NASA space shuttle tragedies and the commission verdicts on the disaster as well as recommendations. Through this review it highlights NASA’s management team and the level of disconnect in priorities. James Begg, NASA’s head administrator was said to be far more concerned with lobbying activities and securing federal funds rather than safety precaution (Palmer, 2017). NASA’s operation was also geographically dispersed matrix which created several uneasy alliances of collaborations and rivalry. This hierarchy led to believe that loyalty to local leadership came before all and that any identified problems were to be firmly kept “in-house” (Palmer, 2017) and would be embarrassed publicly if one spoke out. NASA was being run with a political mind...
