...Columbia Space Shuttle Simulation (LINDA HAM) 1. How would you characterize the culture of NASA? What are its strengths and weaknesses? NASA was created in 1958 to give the United States of America a position in the “space race” after the Soviet Union launched the satellite “Sputnik” into orbit. The goal of NASA was to put a man into orbit before any other country and shortly after that was completed, the new goal was to put a man on the moon. NASA gained recognition from all over the world for it’s success in space exploration but soon, the pressure from the government caused changes would lead to major problems. Culture can be defined as, “a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or organization.” During the time of the Columbia Mission I believe NASA’s culture was very static meaning it hadn’t changed in a long time. NASA’s culture focused on major values such as, safety, schedule efficiency, integrity, and communication. But out of these values, schedule efficiency took precedence over the others, which led to disaster. There are many strengths and weaknesses of NASA’s culture but the weaknesses caused the organization to become counterproductive in the long run. The strengths of NASA’s culture are that the organization has a very “can-do” attitude when it comes to task achievement, they have a legacy of excellence and technological advancement, the organization is bureaucratic, and there is a strong sense of pride and teamwork at NASA. There...
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...English 101: College Composition 14 May 2015 The Columbia STS-107 Disaster: Why Did It Happen and Why Wasn’t It Prevented? At 9 a.m. on February 1st 2003 NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Space Shuttle, Columbia STS-107 disintegrated over the southern United States upon re-entry. There was some controversy surrounded this disaster, mainly how the Mission Management Team (MMT) (leader, Linda Ham handled the entire situation. Could this disaster been prevented? NASA could have prevented the issue with all the new age technology that they posses. How are teams like Debris Assessment Team (DAT) and MMT prepared now to take action against problems that arise in the future? This disaster should not have occurred but it did, why did it? Who is responsible? Will it happen again? If more time was spend of trying to rectify the issue before it got out of hand, maybe the crew of the Columbia would have landed safely as it was supposed to. The space shuttle Columbia STS-107 launched on January 16, 2003 from Kennedy Space Center. During the launch a briefcase-size chunk of foam insulation fell away from a bi-pod ramp on the ships external tank 81.7 seconds after liftoff (Harwood). The foam chunk with velocity smashed a hole in one of the protective shields panels that make up the left wing leading edge. Photos and video shows this happening very clearly. What you cannot see is where the foam actually hit. The only thing that is visible is when the foam explodes...
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...also research the aftermath and how this huge error could have been avoided. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created on October 1, 1958 by the President of the United States and Congress. It was to provide research into the problems of flight within and outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The main reason NASA was invented was due to World War 2. The United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a cold ward. During this time, space exploration become the one of the highest priority discussions. This became known as the space race. (American Psychological Association, 2011) The United States launched its first Earth satellite on January 31, 1958. It was called Explorer 1. Then the United States started several missions to the moon and other planets in 1950 and the 1960’s. It had 8,000 employees and an annual budget of $100 million. Nasa rapidly grew. They had three main laboratories. First, Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, Second, Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and thirdly, Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory. They also created two small testing laboratories. As NASA was becoming more and more successful, they eventually created even more centers. Today they have 10 across the country. They also conducted several large programs : ● Human...
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...TUI Module 5 – Case Resistance to Change- Columbia Tragedy Ronald Kroetsch 22 July 2014 Dr. McNaughton Resistance to Change: Overcoming Individual and Structural On 1st February, 2003, the Columbia space shuttle was expected to make its way back on earth without any mishaps. However, this never happened because the shuttle broke apart in the Texas skies. NASA had eagerly waited for the Columbia to bring back various important research results after completing its 16 day mission in space. NASA has faced three major crises that are well documented and accessible to the public. The first tragedy took place in 1967 involving the Apollo 1 Spacecraft. In 1986, exactly after two decades, the Challenger space shuttle tragically exploded off the Florida coast. The most worrying trend is that NASA has a well-documented history about the accidents and it was expected that they would have learned something from the previous crises. NASA has totally undermined its credibility with resistance to change. The Columbia mishap can be attributed to resistance to change the individual and structural culture of the organization. Individual and organizational sources of resistance The loss of lives and disintegration of the Columbia shuttle can be traced to the resistance of the NASA leaders to change. The cause of this accident can partly draw its roots to the policy environment that followed the turbulent post-Cold War era. In the period between 1960s and early 1980s, both the Soviet...
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...NASA’s built a habit of relaxing safety standards to meet financial and time constraints. The agency’s “broken safety culture” would lead to tragedy again unless fundamental changes are made. NASA has made a critical mistake in its culture the space agency’s attitude toward safety hasn’t changed much since the 1986 Challenger disaster, which also killed seven along with the Columbian disaster. NASA lacks “effective checks back to the basics of understanding their operation and does not have an independent safety program and has not demonstrated the characteristics of a learning organization, NASA fell into the habit of accepting as normal some flaws in the shuttle system and tended to ignore or not recognize that these problems could foreshadow...
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...who have taken trips out of this planet and details about their missions. On June 16, 1963, Valentina V. Tereshkova was the first woman to ever go to space. She was also the youngest woman to go into space at 26 years of age. The former Russian cosmonaut piloted Vostok 6. She completed almost three days in space and orbited the Earth forty-eight times. Tereshkova had no experience at all as a pilot, but she was accepted into the Soviet Space Program because of her 126 parachute jumps. She had 18 months of training along with 4 other women, out of the 5 she was the only one who went into space. The second...
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...What comes to mind when you hear or say the word NASA? Do you think of the first man on the moon, the Challenger or Columbia disasters, or how far they have made it when it comes to space? Do you think NASA is doing its job or do you think NASA fails to accomplish their goals? NASA had beat Russia in the space race to go to the moon and is still more technologically advanced than Russia. NASA in its whole carrier has had only two major disasters out of a total 135 space launches. Seven hundred and eighty nine astronauts have returned to earth alive out of 833(Space:Overview). NASA's Hubble telescope has reached and seen further than any telescope made for deep space exploration. NASA has a few upcoming events a new telescope build and a new...
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...critical success factors and the real issues, link into the organization's culture and processes, and clarify roles for the consultant(s) and employees. This is also the time to deal with resistance within the organization. A formal or informal contract will define the change process. 3. Assessment and diagnosis. In this case the president needed to sit down and process their main issues in order to avoid another strike.(Grusenmeyer,2009) The Challenger disaster occurred in the first moments of launch on an unusually cold January 28, 1986. Because of the cold weather, an O-ring seal between SRB segments leaked hot combustion gas, which quickly triggered the explosion that destroyed the vehicle. The dynamics of launch cause the joints between SRB segments to flex, and to prevent leaks the O-rings must be resilient enough to "follow" this flexure and maintain their seal. The cold O-rings were too stiff to follow the joint flexure. (Coffey 2010)The Columbia disaster culminated during reentry on February 1, 2003, after completion of the mission's on-orbit tasks. During launch the external tank had shed a large piece of foam insulation, which struck the orbiter's left wing, damaging its thermal protection system. Because of this unknown damage to the wing during launch, the heat of reentry destroyed the wing, leading to the breakup of the orbiter Coffey 2010).The Challenger ancient was an eye opening incident for NASA, its actions after Challenger were more constrained by the...
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...Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 128–142, 2004 ß 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. www.organizational-dynamics.com ISSN 0090-2616/$ – see frontmatter doi:10.1016/j.orgdyn.2004.01.002 Lessons in Organizational Ethics from the Columbia Disaster: Can a Culture be Lethal? RICHARD O. MASON ‘‘Houston We Have a Problem.’’ A Message Never Sent or Received. On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia, on its way to its landing site in Florida, blew apart in the skies of East Texas. Its seven-member crew perished. The $2 billion ship was lost; some destruction occurred on the ground, and considerable cost was incurred to recover debris scattered over several states. The disaster sounded an eerie echo from the past. Seventeen years earlier the shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into flight due to an O-ring malfunction. All seven crewmembers were also lost. And, about 11 years before that, the cabin of Apollo 1 burst into flames on its pad. Three crewmembers were killed. Within a day, as NASA policy requires, an internal investigation team of six ex officio members was formed. Harold Gehman Jr., a retired admiral who was NATO supreme allied commander in Europe, was appointed to chair it. A veteran of several military investigations, including the bombing of the U.S. Cole, Gehman, in an initially unpopular move, broadened the inquiry to include the agency’s organization, history and culture. Sean O’Keefe, NASA’s administrator, was incensed that the investigation...
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...Starbucks “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” This is the mission of Starbucks that leads to become one of the top coffeehouse chain shop in the world. Starbucks Corporation is an American coffee company. It was founded in Seattle, Washington in 1971. As of November 2016, it operates 23,768 locations worldwide, including United States, China, Canada Japan and South Korea .There is three founder of Starbucks which is Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker. The first Starbucks opened in Seattle, Washington, on March 31, 1971.Three partners who met while they were students at the University of San Francisco. English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher...
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...transnational media corporation (TNMC) from other types of TNCs, is that the principle product being sold is information and entertainment. The following paper is a case study analysis of the Sony Corporation; a leading TNMC in the production and sale of consumer electronics, music and film entertainment and videogame technology. There are two main parts to this study. Part I. examines the history and development of the Sony Corporation. It builds on the theoretical work of Schein, (1984, 1983), Morley, Shockley-Zalabak (1991) and Gershon (2002, 1997) who argue that the business strategies and corporate culture of a company are often a direct reflection of the person (or persons) who were responsible for developing the organization and its business mission. Second Part examines the Sony Corporation from the standpoint of business strategy. Special attention is given to the subject of organizational culture and strategic decision-making. A second argu- ment of this paper is that while Sony is a TNMC, the organization is decidedly Japanese in its business values. This is beginning to change in the face of global competition and the need to improve business performance. This study combines elements of historical and economic research in approaching the questions under investigation. Primary resource information includes company reports and 10-K filings with the US Securities Exchange Commission, internal memoranda and other documents pertaining to the management and function of the Sony Corpo- ...
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...transnational media corporation (TNMC) from other types of TNCs, is that the principle product being sold is information and entertainment. The following paper is a case study analysis of the Sony Corporation; a leading TNMC in the production and sale of consumer electronics, music and film entertainment and videogame technology. There are two main parts to this study. Part I. examines the history and development of the Sony Corporation. It builds on the theoretical work of Schein, (1984, 1983), Morley, Shockley-Zalabak (1991) and Gershon (2002, 1997) who argue that the business strategies and corporate culture of a company are often a direct reflection of the person (or persons) who were responsible for developing the organization and its business mission. Second Part examines the Sony Corporation from the standpoint of business strategy. Special attention is given to the subject of organizational culture and strategic decision-making. A second argu- ment of this paper is that while Sony is a TNMC, the organization is decidedly Japanese in its business values. This is beginning to change in the face of global competition and the need to improve business performance. This study combines elements of historical and economic research in approaching the questions under investigation. Primary resource information includes company reports and 10-K filings with the US Securities Exchange Commission, internal memoranda and other documents pertaining to the management and function of the Sony Corpo- ...
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...American Federal Government V3 March 26, 2012 Internet Assignment 1. Find out who your Congressmen (including your Senators and your Representative) are in the United States Congress. Keep in mind that you have two Senators and one Representative. You should be discussing no more or less than 3 people in your paper. The Congressmen representing my area are” Senator Marco Rubio (Republican) Senator Bill Nelson Representative John Mica (Republican) (Democrat) and 2. How long have they been in office? What is their party? What does their biography look like? Do they have children? What is their religious affiliation, occupation, education, etc.? Include any other information that you find interesting or relevant. Senator Marco Rubio was elected into Senate on Nov. 2, 2010 and is a member of the Republican Party. Sen. Rubio was born in Miami, and his parents are immigrants from Cuba. He is married and has 4 children. From 2007 until 2009 he served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. He attended a couple community colleges, before graduating from the University of Florida. After that he moved on to the University of Miami School of Law where he earned his Law Degree. Rubio follows the Catholic religion, and was confirmed and married in a Catholic Church. Senator Bill Nelson was elected into Senate in November 2000; prior to that he served 6 years as a member of the Florida Cabinet. Like Rubio, Nelson...
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...writer’s work to the existing body of knowledge. Thirdly, only through referencing can academic work gain credibility. | Summarises the structure of the essay. | This essay will discuss these three aspects of referencing in detail, examine their validity, identify how referencing affects a writer’s writing style, and show how referencing helps students to present their own ideas and opinions in assignments. | Engages with the first of the reasons for referencing: construction of arguments. The student draws on the work of a published writer (Becker) in support of the four points made.Note the systematic way the ideas are presented: ‘Firstly…; Secondly…; Thirdly…; Finally’.The writing is descriptive at this point in the essay. | Becker (1986) believes the...
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...What's the Supreme Court of the United States? The Supreme Court of the United States is headed by a Chief Justice and currently has eight associate justices; this number can be fixed by Congress. The Supreme Court has a mission statement that states "The Supreme Court is the highest tribunal in the nation for all cases and controversies arising under the Constitution or the laws of the United States. The Court stands as the final arbiter of the law and guardian of constitutional liberties." It is the highest federal court in the United States and has jurisdiction over all federal courts and state courts. Who are the current members? Provide a brief summary of each. John G Roberts Jr.; Chief Justice. From Buffalo, New York, and born on January 27 of 1955, thus making him sixty years old. He attended Harvard University; he received his bachelor's degree in 1976 and his JD in 1979. He has had much experience in law, from assisting law, associate to various presidents, such as Ronald Reagan, to the US Department of Justice. He was nominated by former President George W. Bush to be Chief Justice; he has currently been active since September 29, 2005. Antonin Scalia; Scalia was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He was born on March...
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