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Inside NASA Howard E. McCurdy (American University)

Inside NASA By Howard E. McCurdy (American University)

Summary

Changes imposed to accomplish the lunar landing-along with the normal aging process and increased bureaucracy in the government as a whole-gradually eroded NASA's original culture and reduced its technical strength.

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Inside NASA Summary

Inside NASA: High Technology and Organizational Change in the U.S. Space Program by Howard E. McCurdy (American University)

Inside NASA explores how an agency praised for its planetary probes and expeditions to the moon became notorious for the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and a series of other malfunctions. Using archival evidence as well as in-depth interviews with space agency officials, Howard McCurdy investigates the relationship between the performance of the American space program and NASA's organizational culture. He begins by identifying the beliefs, norms, and practices that guided NASA's early successes. Originally, the agency was dominated by the strong technical culture rooted in the research-and-development organizations from which NASA was formed. To launch the expeditions to the moon, McCurdy explains, this technical culture was linked to an organizational structure borrowed from the Air Force ballistic-missile program. Changes imposed to accomplish the lunar landing-along with the normal aging process and increased bureaucracy in the government as a whole-gradually eroded NASA's original culture and reduced its technical strength.

Inside NASA Reviews

McCurdy is surely on the right track. His valuable book makes the literature on organizational cultures accessible and reveals new ways to look at high-technology agencies. Nature

About Howard E. McCurdy (American University)

Howard E. McCurdy is professor of public affairs at the American University. He is the author of The Space Station Decision: Incremental Politics and Technical Choice, also available from Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: NASA's Organizational Culture
1. Building Blocks
2. Root Assumptions
3. Breaking Barriers
4. Becoming Conventional
5. Losing the Technical Culture
Conclusion: Governmental Performance and Cultural Instability
Appendix: NASA Culture Survey
Essays on Sources
Notes
Index

Additional information

CIN0801849756G
9780801849756
0801849756
Inside NASA: High Technology and Organizational Change in the U.S. Space Program by Howard E. McCurdy (American University)
Used - Good
Paperback
Johns Hopkins University Press
1994-10-27
232
Winner of Society for History in the Federal Government Henry Adams Prize 1995 (United States)
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Inside NASA