Multi-Party NegotiationFor the Unit VII Essay, you will explore the complexities that occur with multi-party negotiations and groupthink.Your essay will address the following points.· Describ

Space Shuttle Challenger

On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight. All those on the flight were instantly killed, including civilian passengers specially recruited for the trip. Subsequent investigations placed part of the blame for this tragedy on leaders at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) who failed to create a communication environment that allowed their subordinates to discuss openly potential technical difficulties. If communication had been more open, the Challenger might not have been lost.

In this book-length report on the Challenger disaster, Phillip Tompkins (1993) noted that workers at NASA knew their director did not like messenger.” Particularly when faced with technical information that might necessitate delays in the launch schedule. Consequently, his subordinates communicated with him in a passive, nondirective style. In the days prior to Challenger’s launch, engineers met to discuss potential technical difficulties with the flight based on the colder-than-usual weather. These technical professionals concluded that launching the Challenger might be dangerous in cold-weather conditions. However, because meetings at NASA did not generally promote open exchange of ideas and debate, the indirect warnings they issued were ignored. Some professionals testified after the accident that they were intimidated by senior administrators at NASA and did not feel they could bring problems to the table for discussion. Instead, they relied on hints and technical memos to try to get their message across without angering their superiors.

Tompkins wrote that one purpose of his book was “to point out the value of communication, the dangers of defensiveness and unwillingness to face open appraisal” (p.110). The Challenger disaster aptly demonstrates the tragedy that can strike if all members of a work team cannot speak openly in meetings and negotiations. Many who have studied this disaster have also pointed out that the dynamics Tompkins describes are dramatically similar to the characteristics of “group-think” (Janis, 1982).