1/11/2006 Columbia's Final Mission Case Study

Columbia’s Final Mission

5 questions:
Why does American society tend to focus on results rather than people?
What causes people to downplay problems in an attempt to get greater gain?
How is NASA’s operations affected by having three different locations? Does this pose any real problem?
How can government agencies improve communication between themselves (i.e. NASA and Department of Defense)?
How can the problematic bottleneck in NASA’s bureaucracy be minimized?

5 insights:
While thinking about this case, I believe that many of the communication problems from the bottom of a bureaucracy to the top could be solved by replicating the Church’s system it has for missions, which are a slightly smaller bureaucracy. Companionships report to district leaders, district leaders to zone leaders, zone leaders to assistants to the president or the mission president. One of the advantages of this system is that anyone can bypass their direct superiors to talk with the mission president. This could have helped NASA because many of those who had concerns were quieted by their direct superiors and never brought to the attention of somebody higher.
A culture of fear will never eventually produce great results. It is true that they might improve for a time or increase profits, but in the end, problems will be covered up and perpetuated until a catastrophe happens.
Perhaps a better title for manager would be “problem manager” because this is what the majority of their job should entail.
More credit should be given to the rank and file. Some leaders assume that because they went to the best schools or are making the most money that they are also the ones who will create all solutions. Leaders should focus on synergy throughout an organization.
This insight is pure speculation. Today we live in a world that is harnessed in rapid communication, from cell phones to television to e-mails. Although there is a lot of priority placed on good communication, it seems the amount of communication cheapens all the communication we have. Because of this, things that should be important can be overlooked and ignored, such as the e-mails concerning the extent of the space shuttle damage.

While I was in the Ireland Dublin Mission, I experienced and perpetuated a culture of fear. I was serving as a district leader and constantly focused on the results of other missionaries and myself. I was often frustrated with myself and others when what happened wasn’t what I wanted to happen. It was discouraging, and everybody felt it. At one point, I was moved to a new area with a larger district. I decided to make a change in myself. When a companionship called me and instantly began to berate themselves for their lack of results, I would interrupt them and ask them to tell me a few good things about their day. I would ask them how they were doing. Rapidly, there was a more positive vibe in the district. I felt more energized and happy. Results improved very quickly as well. This is where I learned that in organizations, leaders need to be coaches, not referees.