Sunday, April 20, 2008

Ethics Research Reflection...

My ethics research was more difficult than I thought it would be. I had a tough time finding an ethical lapse until I received some much needed help.

The ethical lapse that I will discuss is the one involving Roger Boisjoly and The Challenger Disaster. Mr. Boisjoly had written a memo to his superiors about the effectiveness of the solid rocket boosters, specifically their O-Ring malfunctions. He strongly believed that this issue needed to be addressed. Specifically: "...The "O-Rings" were two rubber rings that formed a seal between two sections of the Solid Rocket Boosters. The rings never functioned according to design. They were supposed to sit in a groove and seal the joint between the sections of the booster. It was found, however, that the pressure of the burning rocket fuel caused the joints in the SRB's to flex during launch, opening a gap through which rocket exhaust could escape. As the joints flexed, the rings would come out of their groves and move to a new position in the joint, a process called extrusion. The extruded ring would form a seal in this new position, but during the time it took for the ring to shift, the joint was unsealed and hot gasses could escape, a process called blow-by. These hot gasses would cause damage to the rings until the seal was achieved.What Boisjoly's investigation showed was that the amount of damage to the O-Ring depended on the length of time it took for the ring to move out of its groove and make the seal, and that the amount of time depended on the temperature of the rings. Colder temperature made the rubber hard and less flexible, meaning that extrusion took more time and more blow-by took place. He determined that if the O-rings were damaged enough they could fail..." He was completely ignored and his theories became reality when both o-rings failed during the shuttle launch, just 73 seconds after take-off.
Mr. Boisjoly was later shunned and forced to resign from the company after being a main witness called by the Presidential Committee to review the disaster. He later became a workplace ethics speaker, he still stands by his theories.


References:
Roger Boisjoly and the Challenger disaster. onlineethics.org. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.
Boisjoly, Roger
. Ethical Decisions - Morton Thiokol and the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster: Telecon Meeting. onlineethics.org. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.

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