From the Earth to the Moon

BackgroundIn the late 1950's the Russians launched Sputnik, which resulted in a race to the moon with the United States. NASA considered various methods and spacecrafts for lunar exploration, deciding upon the design of a 2-part spacecraft; one spacecraft would be used for landing on the lunar surface and returning to lunar orbit to dock with the second spacecraft, the command module ("lunar orbit rendezvous"). The landing spacecraft, the lunar module, would be built by a design team from an outside company. The company awarded the contract for building the lunar module was Grumman, who built helicopters, planes, and other aircraft. This contract included a $500,000,000 budget that increased to well over a billion dollars and a 7-year deadline (1962-69) to complete and test the lunar module. The first module to be built, Spider (LEM 3), would be tested with Apollo 9 in 1969 in Earth orbit. Eventually, lunar module Eagle, would land on the moon with Apollo 11 in 1969.

Movie Context

When the movie clip begins, the engineering design team at Grumman is waiting to hear if they have been awarded the contract to build the lunar module. Please watch this 12-minute movie clip and answer the following questions. As you watch this clip, consider the following:

1. How do the Grumman and MTI teams compare?

2. How does the Grumman team reflect an environment of openness, honesty, and divergent thinking (i.e., a place where people are not afraid to express a concern, report a problem, or communicate opinions or ideas "outside of the box")?

Managing Crises

• 1. What did the “slight miscalculation error” cost the design team at Grumman?

  2. What do you think the staff engineer expected to happen when he reported the bad news to his superior? Why do you think this?

  3. What did the staff engineer do that was right?

  4. How did his superior respond? Why?

  5. Would disciplinary action, even job termination of the staff engineer, have been an unreasonable response from the manager? Would it have been justified? If so, why? If not, why not?

  6. How did the manger handle the situation (beyond his decision, how did he communicate with his employee)?

  7. Why was it important to the manager that information be reported honestly, accurately, and promptly?

  8. Did the manager's decision and response carry any risks? If so, what were they?

Encouraging Work Ethic and Innovation

• 1. What factors influence a work environment that fosters innovation and a strong work ethic (or what factors discourage these)? Consider how the manager encouraged innovation and work.

  2. How did the engineers help their manager "see" their idea?

We have a responsibility not only to report what we know accurately, effectively, and promptly, but also to encourage others in the workplace to do likewise (especially when we occupy positions of influence, such as in management): How will YOU communicate with those who report to you that honesty is welcome or even rewarded in your workplace?