Leadership and Negotiation

Lesson 11: Case Study Analysis Challenger DisasterFor your final activity of Unit 3, you will conduct a case study analysis of the
NASA Challenger Disaster and based on a portion of a published
article, Communication: The missing link in the challenger disaster.
There are five required elements to a successful case analysis. You and your
team will write a brief report with a header for each required section.
Reports should be in APA format (Times New Roman, 12 pt font; doublespaced, title page with team name, contributing member names, class and
section, etc. … for more help on APA style, see the Purdue University OWL
website: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/ap
a_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.htmlLinks to an external
site.).
The report should be about 5-6 pages.
The required sections are below with additional details to assist in your
preparation. You should have a header in your paper for each required
section.
Brief Organizational Overview
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In this section, you are to provide details about the organization that is
the focus of the case. Provide enough detail that someone who is
unfamiliar with the company would be able to understand the nature of
their business. You only need a paragraph or two.
Business Dilemma/Challenge/Critical Choice
•
In this section, you explain the issue that the company is facing – this is
the main problem(s) outlined in the article – in this case, it is laid out
quite well in the article … there are 3 main communication issues summarize those in a paragraph.
Business Circumstances
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In this section, you explain the business circumstances that led to the
dilemma, challenge, or critical choice that the focal organization faced your team will have to do some research and draw inferences from the
article to write this section – there has been plenty written on this
tragedy so there are ample resources available to you. This section will
have a few paragraphs.
Recommendations
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This is the meat of your report – here you write up recommendations
that you believe will result in the best outcome(s) for the organization.
You should have 1 substantial paragraph per recommendation
and multiple recommendations. Note any practical implementation
issues. Be sure to provide evidence-based support in the form of
material from the readings/videos and/or evidence-based practices in
other organizations that you have learned in this course and through
your own experiences. Be specific – for example, many techniques noted
by Carnegie are appropriate recommendations. Others will require
you to think outside the box. While this happened decades ago and
NASA has implemented a number of changes … I want you to focus on
what you have learned in this course to draw specific
recommendations for improving the communication failures noted. It
would be entirely appropriate to draw from the leadership units as
well.
Performance Measurement
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In this section (again, another key part of a case analysis), you suggest
specific ways to measure performance outcomes that demonstrate the
validity of your recommendations. This means you need to answer the
following questions for each recommendation:
o How will you know if your recommendation is working (i.e., what
metrics will show success)?
o What data will you need to collect to provide this evidence?
o How soon after your recommendation was put in place should you
collect the data?
o How often do you need to collect this data and why?
Related Resources for Completing this Activity:
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Source article: Communication: The missing link in the
challenger disaster (PDF) (Attached)
Assignment 2 (Final Assignment):
In this last component of the overall course, you will develop a consolidated set of personal
leadership maxims to carry forward in your life. You will use all of your work in the four
units of the course as the basis for these “summary” maxims. Instructions on how to do this
are included below.
Rubric and instructions are attached!!
12
COMMUNICATION: THE MISSING LINK IN THE CHALLENGER DISASTER
Vanessa Dean Arnold
John C. Malley
The University of Mississippi
On January 28, 1986, the explosion of the space
shuttle Challenger surprised the entire world. In the
aftermath of this highly publicized event, questions
were raised as to why the tragedy occurred. A
presidential commission popularly known as the
&dquo;Rogers’ Commission,&dquo; concluded that the launch
should never have been approved by management in
the first place. Three of the Rogers’ Commission’s
recommendations specifically addressed communication problems. One problem was the lack of effective
communication between the decision-makers-nontechnical people-and the technicians and engineers
who were painfully aware of operational problems as
the Challenger project progressed. The second
problem addressed by the Commission was the lack
of a formal communication channel which resulted in
&dquo;management isolation.&dquo; The third problem was attributed to &dquo;selective listening.&dquo;
The communication problems inherent in the
Challenger project are worth considering by business
communication teachers and practitioners as well as
by communication consultants.
REPORTING TECHNICAL
INFORMATION
While proper channels of communication are available to relay information up and down an organization, this does not guarantee that communication
occurs. For example, an engineer may inform an
upper level manager of safety problems, but these
problems may become lost in the maze of technical
jargon which the nontechnical manager may not understand. If the problem is defined in terms of sophisticated equations with technical explanations, a
manager may become confused and ignore the
problem altogether, perhaps not wanting to admit to
a lack of knowledge in the specific area. Moreover,
documentation by technicians may be worded as to
lead managers to a false sense of confidence that
problems have been solved or do not exist. In the case
of the space shuttle, documentation of the infamous
0-ring, which was a key factor in the Challenger explosion, was listed as &dquo;closed&dquo; in the safety review
reports. This led managers to think that the problems
with this component were solved when in fact it
required.2
meant that further testing for safety was
This confusion in word meaning between nontechnical managers and technical personnel diminished the
narrow margin of safety present on the launch pad.
It is clear from the report that there was no standardization of documented data which would produce
clear communication between the decision-makers
and the engineers. This lack of communication caused
management to miscalculate the significance of the 0ring problem and illustrates the difficulties that arise
in communication when technical personnel do not
tailor their writing to their audience. In this instance
(as in many others) the receivers of the report assigned their own definition to the information they
received and made decisions based on their inter-
pretation.
MANAGEMENT ISOLATION
The second communication problem addressed by
the Rogers’ Commission was caused by &dquo;management
isolation.&dquo; This isolation was intensified by the actions of the project managers who often directed their
reports to center directors at the Johnson, Kennedy,
and Marshall Space Flight Centers rather than to the
program manager who had the authority to order the
launch. In the Commission’s opinion, the isolation
was especially serious at the Marshall Center, resulting in the program manager and other key decisionmakers not receiving crucial information regarding
the poor performance of the joint design. For instance,
the Marshall Center had information that the joint
design was performing poorly, but this was never
brought to the program manager’s direct attention.3
The formal communication channel that should exist
in all organizations simply was not present in this
complex organization.
SELECTIVE LISTENING
Testimony during the investigation of the Challenger disaster revealed that Morton Thiokol engineers, designers of the booster rockets, warned
NASA officials that the launch pad was too cold to go
ahead with the mission. The recommendation not to
launch-to which a number of Morton Thiokol en-
Downloaded from bcq.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on December 5, 2012
13
a
overruled
by
agreed-was
gineers
management team that consisted of several
vice
presidents at NASA, including the
engineering vice president who was told to &dquo;take
off his engineering hat and put on his
management hat.&dquo;4 This &dquo;group think&dquo; decision
was a fatal blow to Challenger and its crew. The
tech-nicians knew of the impending danger but
their warn-ings were ignored by decision makers.
They chose not to listen.
standings can occur. At the minimum, there needs to
be some standardization of technical language so that
nontechnical managers understand the risks associated with each step in a decision process. The consequences of not doing so can be enormous.
Practice Effective Listening
It has often been said that one of the greatest faults
of managers is their lack of willingness to listen. In
programs involving design or product improvement
there has to be participation. This means establishing
a
two-way communication system where information
is actually drawn from the people involved. And when
this is the case, management must be prepared to be
displeased by some of what it hears. It is the nature
of two-way communication that what each side says
is not necessarily palatable to the other. A manager
who has a reputation for &dquo;killing the messenger&dquo; will
not get the kind of feedback needed for wise decision-
making.
Furthermore, managers must avoid selective listening. In selective listening receivers block out new
information, especially when it conflicts with what
they want to believe. In order to overcome this behavior, managers must make a conscious decision to
listen.
Implement an Information System
In organizations that use technical personnel to
design projects, there is a potential communication
&dquo;gap&dquo; between technicians and nontechnical
managers who have the responsibility of monitoring
and making decisions about the project. Closing this
potential gap involves communicating useful information clearly. Information systems are available
today which can provide a wide assortment of information to support the decision-making process.
Proficiency in this area could help reduce the communication gap between technicians and nontechnical managers. However, these systems are limited in
that they do not explain the risks associated with
decisions. They can, however provide supporting in-
formation.
Information systems used to support a decisionmaker should involve humans as information processors as well as computerized data bases. While data
bases provide a source of data which is easily accessed
and processed to give managers information on pertinent physical and financial aspects of a project,
managers must know whom to consult for assistance.
Face-to-face meetings between technicians and
managers are especially important when technology
Downloaded from bcq.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on December 5, 2012
BA 7150 – Instructions for the Final Project
The purpose of this exercise is two-fold: (1) to create a list of four maxims with the
most “power”, (2) demonstrate your passion & commitment to embracing leadership
maxims and to demonstrate your “presence” as you explain them.
General Instructions:
1. Select one (1) maxim from each unit (a total of 4)
For units 1 & 2, you can reuse a prior maxim as is or refine in based on feedback
and/or subsequent learning.
For units 3 & 4, you’ll need to write a new maxim that is consistent with the lessons
learned in those units.
2. For each selected maxim, tie it to the same standards as before: material, a specific
quote(s) from discussions, personal situation/experience.
3. For maxims from unit 1 and 2, specify why you selected this maxim over the others.
4. Be sure and pick a different book/material for each maxim. For example, do not use
EQ 2.0 as the source for all maxims.
5. Produce an artifact (document, “selfie” video, podcast, narrated slide presentation,
website, etc.) that helps communicate your commitment and passion to applying
those three maxims in your professional and personal life.
6. See additional instructions for each below.
7. Post the final artifact (or set of artifacts) to the course Dropbox called “Final
Project.” Note: if you have posted a media file (video or podcast) to an external site
such as Youtube, all may simply provide a document with a full URL to the location
of your materials.
Additional instructions for the various formats you may select:
Option A: If you produce a video:
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Make good eye contact –look at the camera, not yourself.
Have good sound and video. It does not have to be professional, but make it hearable
and watchable.
Write up some notes and tape them up where you can see them.
Do not talk too fast and practice thoroughly and/or re-record as needed.
Keep it no more than six minutes.
Provide an accompanying written artifact in the form of a full transcript, detailed
outline with key points, or first-person essay that parallels your video in spirit and
detail.
Post the playable file or a link to it in the final project dropbox.
Option B: If you produce an audio file:
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Consider developing a full transcript of what you will say (or at least a detailed
outline). Try to avoid “uhs” and pauses and keep it flowing well.
Ensure you have a good microphone ensure you produce a clearly narrated and
technically correct audio file.
Do not talk too fast and practice thoroughly and/or re-record as needed.
Keep it no more than six minutes.
Provide an accompanying written artifact in the form of a full transcript, detailed
outline with key points, or first-person essay that parallels your video in spirit and
detail.
Post the playable file or a link to it in the final project dropbox.
Option C: If you produce a narrated presentation:
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You may use any presentation tool you like that supports audio narration. In other
words, you are not limited to using Microsoft Powerpoint. Zoom also works.
Ensure that the content (“copy”) on the slides supports your key points with visuals
(pictures, quotes, book covers, whatever) that supports your point and visually
engages the viewer.
As with the video or podcast versions, make sure that it can be “played” around 5-6
minutes. •Please make sure it is technically clean. You might email it (or a link) to
someone you know and ask them to confirm it opens OK and is playable.
You may post a native Powerpoint, an exported MP4 version (supported by Office
2016), or a link to an external hosting location if you have used a cloud-based
presentation tool of some sort.
Option D: If you produce a standalone document:
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Be sure that your document is well-organized, grammatically clean, and thoroughly
articulates your major points and communicates your commitment to the selected
maxims and how you will apply them.
It can be written in first-person style, but make sure that you include sufficient
supporting narrative and supporting material from one or more external sources
(including our readings) to help support your point.
Feel free to be creative in how you convey points or emotions in a documented form.
Pictures, images, charts, and so forth are fair game to help make this more fun and
engaging.
There is no specific length for this, but a one-page summary of bullet points will not
be properly representative of your commitment to these maxims. On the other hand,
I’m not expecting a 20-page research paper.
Post in the dropbox the document itself and all supporting materials and/or any
links to external sites that are connected to your document.
Option E: : If you produce a website:
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Envision this as a blending of options C and D (presentation and document) where
you use web-based presentation tools to convey both content and commitment.
Organize it such that it is logical and intuitive and may be on a single page or
multiple pages.
Feel free to use a hosted web-tool of your liking including wikis, blogs, etc.
As with the others, be sure it is technically clean and can be accessed by someone
other than you.
Post in the dropbox a link to the website. Make sure it works!
BA 7501 Final Project Grading Rubric
Criteria
Excellent
Presence: eye contact,
inflection, video/audio
quality, good flow, etc.
Good
Average
Poor
No Credit
10 points
8 points
6 points
4 points
0 points
10 points
8 points
6 points
4 points
0 points
Evidence of incorporating
material from the module
including videos, reading,
10 points
exercises, direct quotes from
discussions
8 points
6 points
4 points
0 points
Maxims are concise,
10 points
understandable, & actionable
8 points
6 points
4 points
0 points
Demonstrates critical
thinking, application to
personal experience, and a
10 points
compelling reason why it’s in
the top 5.
8 points
6 points
4 points
0 points
Creativity and originality.
Care when into the planning
and execution of a final
project that reflects your
passion for the maxims you
chose.