Organizational learning, especially in public organizations, is an idea that is often promoted but seldom studied in detail. This comparative study of two space shuttle accidents offers insight into organizational learning -- and what makes such learning difficult in public organizations. The 1986 Challenger accident left important lessons, yet NASA did not sufficiently institutionalize these lessons, which might have prevented the Columbia accident in 2003. Julianne G. Mahler also suggests factors overlooked by both ...
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Organizational learning, especially in public organizations, is an idea that is often promoted but seldom studied in detail. This comparative study of two space shuttle accidents offers insight into organizational learning -- and what makes such learning difficult in public organizations. The 1986 Challenger accident left important lessons, yet NASA did not sufficiently institutionalize these lessons, which might have prevented the Columbia accident in 2003. Julianne G. Mahler also suggests factors overlooked by both accident commissions and proposes broadly applicable hypotheses about learning in public organizations.
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