1.

In doing what the agency is in business to do, do you think NASA managers deal
more with structured or unstructured problems?Explain.

That making consistently good decisions is imperative at NASA because equipment

costs millions of dollars, and people's lives can be at stake. It suggests that NASA
managers likely deal with both structured and unstructured problems in their
decision-making processes.

2.Would NASA's decision-making conditions be considered certainty, risk, or

uncertainty? Explain.

NASA is facing uncertainty over its purpose and budget. Additionally, NASA has had
some spectacular disasters that can be traced to errors in the decision-making
process. These events, including the Challenger and Columbia disasters, suggest that
NASA's decision-making conditions involve a high level of uncertainty.

3.What evidences of groupthink and escalation of commitment do you see in the

preceding story? How could these decision-making problems have been prevented?
What could other organizations learn from NASA's decision-making mistakes?

In the Challenger disaster, NASA's team refused to accept a conservative

recommendation against launching, and Thiokol's managers overruled the concerns
of their engineers. In the Columbia disaster, NASA's senior managers overlooked the
risk of foam shedding and debris strikes on the shuttle's thermal tiles. One
investigator wrote that "NASA had conflicting goals of cost, schedule, and safety.
Unfortunately, safety lost out." These decision-making problems could have been
prevented by encouraging open communication and diverse perspectives,
conducting thorough risk assessments, and maintaining a focus on safety over other
goals. Other organizations could learn from NASA's mistakes by implementing similar
measures to prevent groupthink and escalation of commitment in their decision-
making processes.

4.How could NASA managers best utilize the decision-making process as they shape
its post-shuttle future?

NASA managers face uncertainty over the agency's purpose and budget, and that
critics complain that the agency's space programs are too slow and too costly. NASA
managers could best utilize the decision-making process by conducting a thorough
analysis of the agency's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats,
considering alternative options for the agency's future direction, conducting risk
assessments, and engaging diverse perspectives and open communication in their
decision-making processes.

5. How might international cooperative space efforts and outsourcing certain tasks to
private contractors affect the decision making done at NASA?
The international cooperation and outsourcing certain tasks to private contractors are
possibilities being proposed for NASA's future direction. However, it does not provide
a direct answer to this question. International cooperation and outsourcing could
affect NASA's decision making by requiring the agency to consider additional factors,
such as political and economic considerations, and by requiring the agency to
engage in effective communication and collaboration with external partners.
Additionally, outsourcing could require NASA to develop effective contracts and
oversight mechanisms to ensure quality and safety in outsourced tasks.