Introduction"The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster", or the 25th mission of NASA's shuttle program, on January 28, 1986, caused an explosion just 73 seconds after liftoff of the shuttle which caused the death of 7 crew members, is considered a tragedy and disaster rather than a simple accident because an accident could have been avoided, as former Morton Thiokol seal expert Roger Boisjoly stated "We could have stopped it. We initially had it stopped. And then the decision was made to move forward anyway" (Sources "A Major Malfunction" the story behind the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Volume 1, the case study by Mark Maier, Ph. D. State University of New York. York at Binghamton) This case study is a good example of organizational behavior because we can see how NASA's organizational culture contributed to the disaster, the many unethical events that took place, the aggressive and bureaucratic leadership that caused the disaster . The shuttle disaster was due to both a technical and organizational failure, a technical failure of the O-rings in the booster rocket failed to seal securely due to the freezing temperature before liftoff, also due of poor decision making that encouraged the launch and caused the death of 7 crew members.1-How did NASA's organizational culture contribute to the disaster? Organizational culture is the basic pattern of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that are considered the correct way to think about a problem. (Mcshane Chp.16,pg456) An organization's culture is one of three factors that can influence organizational ethics, in addition to leadership and personal commitment to ethics. This is why there is a strong relationship between ethics and leadership, and in this case of closure... half of the document... Ion system. Level I, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC Represented by Jesse Moore, Associate Administrator for Space Flight SOURCES: Challenger: The Path to Disaster (Teaching Note) by Mark Maier, PH.D. Organizational Leadership Program. College of Lifelong Learning. Case Research Journal, Winter 1994 .14(1), p.1-49" A Major Malfunction," the story behind the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Volume 1, Case Research by Mark Maier, Ph. D. The State University of New York at Binghamton) Canadian Organizational Behavior by Steven L. McShane - Fifth Edition. “Leadership” chapter 14 and “Decision Making” chapter 10.Reading Organizational Theory, A Critical Approach to the Study of Organizational Behavior and Structure, by Jean-Helms Mills, Albert J. Mills, and Tony Simmons. Chapter 2 "Understanding bureaucracies."