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7/10/12

Morton Thiokols case

Objectives:

Explain the context of the managements decision to recommend the Challengers launch, and convince the jury that the decision was justifiable. Convince the jury that Boisjolys whistleblowing was inappropriate.

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Risks Involved

Potential Risks were assessed based on:

Criticality 1-Loss of Life or Ship Criticality 2-Mission Aborted

Criticality-1 risks were issued during previous mission but did not occur. O-rings, were classified under

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O-Rings and Risks Involved

O-Ring performance on low ambient temperatures was not clearly understood. Minimal quantitative data was gathered for such test condition. Thiokol recommended that the launch should only be allowed if the temperature does not go below 53 degrees Farenheit ( 12 C). Weather forecast did not show such conditions.
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Management Decision

The launch was rescheduled several times during the same year. Operational Expenses will outweigh the benefits . Cancellation will result to negative response from the public and the government.

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Boisjolys Whistleblowing

Richard De George argued that external whistleblowing becomes obligatory when five conditions are met, two of which follows:

3) one exhausts other channels within the corporation; 5) One has good reasons to believe that by going public, the necessary changes will be brought about to prevent the harm.

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Boisjolys Whistleblowing
Morton Thiokol is a company that has its underlying organizational structure. Risks and concerns should have been internally addressed and resolved through proper organizational procedures. There are management and administrative considerations that a simple Engineer inside the 7/10/12 organization may not be aware.

Boisjolys Whistleblowing
The result of the project should have been assessed within the company before it is released to the public. Boisjoly as part of the company, is first accountable to the management being one of the engineers who delevoped the o-rings.

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