A Case Study of NASA's Columbia Tragedy: An Organizational Learning and Sensemaking Approach to Organizational Crisis. Page: 65

                                
the goal of every team at NASA, the tension between risk and safety impacts teams differently.
However, what makes the process even more difficult is NASA's unique structure.
While organizations often are geographically spread out, NASA's rigid hierarchy and
dispersed locations often promotes a competitive atmosphere. As several respondents mentioned,
different space centers often compete for funding. Such competition can be harmful to the
organizations long term goals and can be counterproductive to the organization (Lobuts &
Pennewill, 1989). NASA's original structure established several barriers that hinder
organizational change. To understand why NASA's organizational culture is resistant to
changes, scholars must first understand the organization's origins.
When attempting to describe how the organization is similar to another organization, one
respondent mentioned brought up a literary illusion. The respondent stated, "It's like you are
blind man reaching out and holding on to an elephant." The parable of the blind man and the
elephant describes the perplexing nature of NASA and emphasizes how many individuals'
perceptions of NASA may not be correct. NASA is such a unique organization that members
cannot fathom the size and complexity of the organization. Such a complex organization is
naturally going to have a hard time re-positioning itself after remaining static for such a long
period of time. However, scholars looking at a comprehensive review of NASA's structure and
reorganizing knowledge management techniques could aid in overcoming certain obstacles to
organizational learning. One respondent claimed that some centers are ahead of the other centers
in terms of knowledge management. The fact that each center is at a different place in terms of
technology and systems management is troublesome. NASA should position itself to promote a
collective organizational learning environment through more centralized and open-sharing
systems.

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