Understanding the Challenger Disaster: Organizational Structure and the Design of Reliable Systems

C. F. Larry Heimann

American Political Science Review, 1993, vol. 87, issue 2, 421-435

Abstract: The destruction of the space shuttle Challenger was a tremendous blow to American space policy. To what extent was this loss the result of organizational factors at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration? To discuss this question analytically, we need a theory of organizational reliability and agency behavior. Martin Landau's work on redundancy and administrative performance provides a good starting point for such an effort. Expanding on Landau's work, I formulate a more comprehensive theory of organizational reliability that incorporates both type I and type II errors. These principles are then applied in a study of NASA and its administrative behavior before and after the Challenger accident.

Date: 1993
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