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When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded
on January 28, 1986, millions of Americans became bound together in a
single, historic moment. Many still vividly remember exactly what
they were doing when they heard about the tragedy. In The
Challenger Launch Decision, Diane Vaughan recreates the steps leading
up to that fateful decision, contradicting conventional interpretations to
prove that what occurred at NASA was not skullduggery or misconduct but a
disastrous mistake.
Journalists and investigators have historically
cited production pressure and managerial wrong-doing as the reasons behind
the disaster. The Presidential Commission uncovered a flawed decision-making
process at the space agency as well, citing a well-documented history of
problems with the O-ring and a dramatic last-minute protest by engineers
over the Solid Rock Boosters as evidence of managerial neglect. But,
as Vaughan uncovers through her exhaustive research, a piece of the puzzle
has always been missing.
Why did NASA managers, who not only had all
the information prior to the launch but also were warned against it,
decide to proceed? In retelling how the decision unfolded through
the eyes of the managers and the engineers, Vaughan uncovers an incremental
descent into poor judgment, supported by a culture of high-risk
technology. She reveals how and why NASA insiders, confronted with
signals of danger about shuttle technology, proceeded as if nothing were
wrong when repeatedly faced with evidence that something WAS wrong.
They normalized the deviance, so it became acceptable and non-deviant to
them.
No safety rules were broken. No
single individual was at fault. Instead, the cause of the disaster
is a story not of evil but of the banality of organizational life.
No one has forgotten the astronauts or the shape of the billowing clouds
that recorded the final seconds of the Challenger flight.
Nonetheless, the loss of the Challenger has receded into history.
Normalizing signals of danger contributes to disastrous decisions by individuals
and organizations alike. Thus, the Challenger tragedy must be
reexamined, for this powerful work offers an unexpected warning about the hidden
hazards of living in this technological age.
Diane Vaughan is associate professor of
sociology at Boston College and the author of Controlling Unlawful
Organizational Behavior: Social Structure and Corporate Misconduct
and Uncoupling: Turning Points in Intimate Relationships.
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