Callahan Lectures on Leadership

At first we have to analyse environment and situation before the disaster happened. This is in particular related to organizations involved in the launch of Challenger. After that, deeper analysis of single factors that contributed to Challenger disaster will be provided.

There were four organizations engaged in this whole process: Morton Thikol. Inc. Marshall Space Flight Centre, Kenedy Space Centre, and NASA. Immediately can be noticed that there is increase in potential danger of failure if large number of organizations is involved in any kind of project, not to mention such high value and high importance project such was the Challenger launch. Each of these organizations has got its own organizational structure, organizational culture, management style and decision-making methods, relationships between employees and employer, informal groups' behavior, etc. But most of all, there is difference in their own interest in participation in certain project. Was it the reason of getting new contract with major customer (in case of Morton Thikol) or to avoid budgetary limitations (in case of NASA), the conclusion is the same. They have different interests and one common goal - success of the Challenger launching.

Going deeper into analysis, we can say that the problem with O-ring seals for solid rocket motors was indentified in timely manner. Almost six months before the tragic event, one of the main engineers in Morton Thikol, R.M. Boisjoly, has sent interoffice memo to senior management of the company. In the memo he has indentified the real problem, he has mentioned that unofficial team tasked to solve the issue is not really the solution and moreover, he has predicted what the outcome might be - loss of human lives. Unfortunately, his observations were not taken into account.

The fact that experts' opinions are not considered seriously is not an isolated case. Many organizations are not based on meritocracy and expertise. Generally,...