COLUMBIAS FINAL MISSION

Analysis of Linda Ham and Rodny Rocha character acc to

a) Fiedler's Contingency Theory b) Normative Decision Theory

By Ashitosh Gaikwad Roll-37, Sec-A, IM-17

Situation
Space shuttle Columbia, re-entering Earths atmosphere at 10,000 mph, disintegrates All 7 astronauts are killed $4 billion spacecraft is destroyed Debris scattered over 2000 sq-miles of Texas NASA grounds shuttle fleet for 2-1/2 years

Insulating foam separates from external tank 81 seconds after lift-off Foam strikes underside of left wing, breaches thermal protection system (TPS) tiles Superheated air enters wing during re-entry, melting aluminum struts Aerodynamic stresses destroy weakened wing

Linda Ham acc. to Fiedlers Contingency Theory

Chairperson of Mission Management Team (MMT) and Experience in 3 previous Space Program Integration Responsibilities and course of action Overall management and leadership of mission activities, monitor and surveillance Under pressure due to strict schedules for upcoming Node 2 launch Focus on flight rationale which she found lousy, required for turnaround which affects next mission MMT functioned in very centralized manner and Rule-oriented, protocol oriented Mission schedule prioritized over safety, as there was no way to salvage the situation NASA culture was bureaucratic and hard to navigate Organisational barriers seem to make her unapproachable ( Rocha did reach out to her as he was too low down) Space Shuttle procedures required daily MMT meetings, MMT met only 5 times during 16 day mission

Has been confirmed by Rochas draft email, and the fact that in the MMT Meeting on Day 6 McCormack was stopped in between by Linda Ham while he was making his briefing that he received from DAT. There are regulations, job descriptions and policies. But the culture of NASA had made the regulations ambiguous. This is confirmed by the fact that MMT did not consider the out of family problem of foam strike seriously enough. Also there was no procedural clarity on how to make a formal request to the DOD for getting Satellite pictures of the damage. Linda Ham had legitimate authority. Leader Member relations Leader Position Power Task Structure

Poor Unstructured Strong

Linda Ham had a TASK ORIENTED Leadership Style. Linda Ham should have had RELATIONSHIP ORIENTED Leadership Style (acc. To Fiedlers theory)

Linda Ham acc. to Normative Decision Theory

Question Is High quality decision required? Do I have enough information to make such a decision? Is the problem structured? Is it crucial for implementation that subordinates accept the decision? If I make the decision alone, is it likely to be accepted by my subordinates? Do subordinates share the goals that will be reached by solving the problem? Do subordinates disagree about the appropriate methods for attaining goals, so that conflict will result from the decision? Problem of Foam Strike Y N N Y Y Y -

Expected Leadership styles CI (consultative), GII (group decision). Although Linda Ham had group meetings, but problems were not shared in group. Each member in the group told their problem to Linda, and the decision was take by her unilaterally (Autocratic Style)

Rodney Rocha Fiedlers Contingency Theory

Task structure. The task before Mr. Rocha was highly unstructured. He was given the co chair of Debri assessment team, and the major hindrance was the requirement of imagery. The DAT has no charter, no specific chain of communication and reporting was not clear. The members of DAT are not active participants in MMT rather passive observers. The task was ambiguous, with unclear information, and no hard data and clear steps to carry forward.

Leader/member relations. The relations between Mr. Rocha and his management was more task oriented. His requests of imagery and outside agency help to his boss was unanswered .He did not speak up during the teleconferences and neither Linda Ham asked his inputs. Even during final report by DAT, the report was conveyed to the MMT by a person who is not part of Debri assessment team, with a pre conceived notion that the issue was not safety of flight issue and just a maintenance issue. Mr. Rocha even drafted his request in a final attempt to convey the seriousness of the issue but did not mail that to senior management and stuck to his chain of communication, as the culture of NASA was like that.

Positioning power. Positioning power measures the amount of power or authority a manager perceives the organization has given him or her for the purpose of directing, rewarding, and punishing subordinates. Mr. Rocha perceived he has limited power and tagged along his boss for every request like for that of outside help , imagery , option of mission team for space walk to inspect and so. He believed his superiors and management has the powers to make things done and decided to follow the chain of command rather than alerting the top bosses directly. He supported his own team for their findings of debris assessment and engaged team to get the results with limited inputs.

Leader Member relations Leader Position Power Task Structure

Good Unstructured Weak

Rodney Rocha should have had RELATIONSHIP ORIENTED Leadership Style (acc. To Fiedlers theory) Rodney Rocha had a RELATIONSHIP ORIENTED Leadership Style. His team (DAT) was able to point to the correct problem of Foam Strike.

Rodney Rocha acc. to Normative Decision Theory

Question Is High quality decision required? Do I have enough information to make such a decision? Is the problem structured? Is it crucial for implementation that subordinates accept the decision? If I make the decision alone, is it likely to be accepted by my subordinates? Do subordinates share the goals that will be reached by solving the problem? Do subordinates disagree about the appropriate methods for attaining goals, so that conflict will result from the decision?
Expected Leadership styles CI (consultative), GII (group decision). The team meetings of DAT were Group Discussion, and decisions were taken as a group together. For example, although there were mistakes done by DAT using Crater, the group together agreed on the fact that the findings were unsatisfactory and it required either a physical visit of the damaged place by astronauts OR a better imagery

Problem of Foam Strike Y N N Y Y Y -

Thank You