The informal organization
NPR this afternoon reported on the flurry of emails among “low level” NASA engineers about disaster scenarios a few days prior the the Columbia event. According to the report, the emails never surfaced beyond the mid manager level.
The story resonates with the notion that honest conversations are more likely and possible in the informal organization, and how when the head of the formal organization is disconnected from the heart of its informal organization, preventable crises are the rule of the day and unplannable innovations go unsupported and unfulfilled.
