Course Discussion: Mission Management Team Social Sciences Coursework

Topic/Question 1 (First week of the case study -- deadline Noon Monday)
Using the material covered in Lesson 11 respond to the following:
This discussion explores the Columbia’s final mission and the subsequent disaster from the perspective of six critical NASA managers and engineers. You have been assigned one of these six roles. So, each of you come to this Mission Management Team (MMT) meeting with only the information that you were privy to—your particular side of the story. So, Topic 1 is about getting a better understanding of what happened related to the Columbia Space Shuttle leading up to the MMT meeting. What do people know that you may not? Why have certain decisions been made? Why are things happening the way that they are? Topic 1 is about finding out information about each of the other critical characters impacting the space shuttle mission. There were some critical decisions made during this meeting about the foam strike that occurred at the beginning of the mission, but why were these decisions made? In Topic 1, you get the chance to describe what you know from the perspective of your assigned role, find out what the other five managers or engineers knew, how they behaved leading up to the meeting, how they behaved during the MMT meeting, and the role these six key characters played in the eventual disaster. So we start with an explanation of the behaviors of six NASA engineers and managers during the MMT meeting.
Primary response to the following questions is to be addressed from either your assigned role as a NASA manager or engineer: At the actual meeting, only Ham and McCormack spoke, Why did everyone else remain silent? Why did they (or you) treat the strike foam in such a cursory fashion? What’s your perspective? Do you have serious concerns about the foam? Why or why not?” Start your response by introducing your character and providing a description of your role.
Ask your peers questions to find out what their assigned character know about what happened to the Columbia Space Shuttle before the MMT meeting. You want to find the critical pieces of information possessed by each assigned character during the mission. You are trying the best that you can to create a complete picture of exactly what happened on the Columbia Space Shuttle mission in terms of the response to the strike foam. The information sought may include the rationale for critical decisions that were made and further probing the assumptions and beliefs by the top managers at NASA that impacted the decisions made. You want to obtain information that is not accessible solely from the perspective of your role.
APA Format: Use APA format to provide citations and referencing for all of the sources that you cited in this course discussion.
Topic/Question 2 (Second week of the case study - deadline Noon Monday)
Using the material covered in Lesson 11 respond to the following:
Topic 2 will allow you to further explore and take a deep dive into what happened with the Columbia Space Shuttle that resulted in disaster.
Questions to addressed from the perspective of what you have learned as a student who has participated in the case simulation:
Why did NASA downplay the Foam-Strike Threat? Additional questions that can be considered in addressing the downplay of the foam-strike threat: What impact did the lengthy record of past foam strikes have on people’s behavior during Columbia’s final mission?
Who should be held accountable/responsible for this tragedy? Additional questions that can be considered in addressing who is accountable: Why did engineers such as Rodney Rocha feel uncomfortable about expressing his views? What could have Linda Ham have done differently? Is there a problem with the systems (leader, follower/teams, organization) or culture of the NASA organization?
How can organizations, such as NASA, respond more effectively to ambiguous threats? Here, the discussion will focus on how NASA could have done a better job of encouraging dissenting views?
APA Format: Use APA format to provide citations and referencing for all of the sources that you cited in this course discussion.

Before participating in the discussion and during the course discussion:

• Read the Columbia’s Final Mission Case Overview in the Lesson 11 Canvas material
• Complete the simulation by: (1) viewing the Introduction video, (2) reading the NASA History Timeline, and (3) reading the Desktop material from the perspective of Don McCormack

Topic/Question 1 (First week of the case study )

This discussion explores the Columbia’s final mission and the subsequent disaster from the perspective of six critical NASA managers and engineers. You have been assigned the role of Don McCormack. So, each of you come to this Mission Management Team (MMT) meeting with only the information that you were privy to—your particular side of the story.

So, Topic 1 is about getting a better understanding of what happened related to the Columbia Space Shuttle leading up to the MMT meeting. What do people know that you may not? Why have certain decisions been made? Why are things happening the way that they are? Topic 1 is about finding out information about each of the other critical characters impacting the space shuttle mission. There were some critical decisions made during this meeting about the foam strike that occurred at the beginning of the mission, but why were these decisions made? In Topic 1, you get the chance to describe what you know from the perspective of your assigned role, find out what the other five managers or engineers knew, how they behaved leading up to the meeting, how they behaved during the MMT meeting, and the role these six key characters played in the eventual disaster. So we start with an explanation of the behaviors of six NASA engineers and managers during the MMT meeting.

1. Primary response to the following questions is to be addressed from your assigned role as Don McCormack NASA engineering manager: At the actual meeting, only Ham and McCormack spoke, Why did everyone else remain silent? Why did they (or you) treat the strike foam in such a cursory fashion? What’s your perspective? Do you have serious concerns about the foam? Why or why not?” Start your response by introducing your character and providing a description of your role.
2. Ask your peers questions to find out what their assigned character know about what happened to the Columbia Space Shuttle before the MMT meeting. You want to find the critical pieces of information possessed by each assigned character during the mission. You are trying the best that you can to create a complete picture of exactly what happened on the Columbia Space Shuttle mission in terms of the response to the strike foam. The information sought may include the rationale for critical decisions that were made and further probing the assumptions and beliefs by the top managers at NASA that impacted the decisions made. You want to obtain information that is not accessible solely from the perspective of your role.