Submitted by: Submitted by auntiie
Views: 536
Words: 13161
Pages: 53
Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 05/25/2011 07:45 AM
REV: NOVEMBER 17, 2004
RICHARD M. J. BOHMER AMY C. EDMONDSON MICHAEL A. ROBERTO
At 9:12 a.m., a member of the Mission Control team received a phone call from someone who had just watched a televised news report that showed video of the Columbia breaking up during reentry. Mission Control began to follow a contingency plan that instructed the team to lock the doors to the room and archive all mission-related data. In August, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) presented its report on the causes of the accident. A loose piece of insulating foam—approximately 19 inches long by 11 inches wide and weighing 1.7 pounds—had punctured a large hole in the orbiter’s left wing shortly after launch. Because of this breach, extremely hot gases penetrated the wing during reentry and destroyed its structural support, ultimately leading to destruction of the wing and breakup of the orbiter. While the CAIB’s report detailed the technical causes of the accident, it also documented how managers might have behaved differently in the days leading up to the loss of the Columbia and stressed the organizational shortcomings at NASA that contributed to the catastrophe.1
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Professors Richard M. J. Bohmer, Amy C. Edmondson, and Michael A. Roberto and Research Associates Laura R. Feldman and Erika M. Ferlins prepared this case. This case was developed from published sources and interviews with outside experts. The quotes drawn from those interviews represent the individuals’ views and not the view of any agency, institution or collective body. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.
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