As I viewed the multimedia case for this week, I found it very interesting, and I couldn’t help but wonder (a la Sex in the City)…
Has NASA fallen into the “groupthink” trap?
Groupthink is an occurrence where by a group comes to a unanimous decision about a possible action despite the existence of fact that points to another correct course of action. By definition, “groupthink” happens when there is a strong, persuasive group leader, a high level of group cohesion and intense pressure from the outside to make a good decision. I think we’d all agree that NASA is under intense pressure, and I think we’ll find from our role plays on Saturday, that there’s a strong, persuasive leader.
To avoid groupthink, it is important to have a process in place for checking the fundamental assumptions behind important decisions, for validating the decision-making process, and for evaluating the risks involved. It is important to explore objectives and alternatives, encourage challenging of ideas, have back up plans, etc. This is very similar to the ways to avoid the common decision-making traps that we discussed earlier in the year. It also reminds me of the 6 hats method of thinking that we learned from Tony’s class.
To Ken’s point below… maybe this is a “root cause”?
How might NASA address groupthink? Perhaps someone could be assigned the role of “critical evaluator”, where their task is to look for alternative explanations and challenge assumptions (kind of like NoNo?). Maybe there would just be too much to evaluate with something as complex as a shuttle launch?
If you were a “critical evaluator”, what do you think you’d do with the foam tile data?
Great question! Instead of getting hung up on the data I'd keep my message simple, like the "this is your brain, this is your brain on drugs" approach.
ReplyDeleteShow them: this is foam, this is foam at the speed of sound as it blasts something into smithereens.
Even the most complex problems can be boiled down into something people can relate to. It's just most engineers aren't very good at that.
AND... the foam hit the leading edge of the wing... which, (I'm no engineer) I think is pretty important.
ReplyDeleteGreat thought!
ReplyDeleteTo Susan's point "group think" probably contributed to the overall issue of succumbing to their high pressure environment.
What might be helpful is to have the "critical evaluator" report to someone at NASA not persuaded by external political and financial factors that clouded their judgment. They mentioned several times the financial impact of not launching on time not to mention the pressure from political figures. Perhaps the issue is undue influence and needs to be removed.