Gregory Pierce has written about the importance of “making the system work” as one of the disciplines of Workplace Sprituality. Beth Dickey reports on NASA's attempts to make the system work by changing an organizational culture that, by NASAs own admission, contributed to the Columbia shuttle disaster. Institutions, like persons, tend to persist in denial of unpleasant realities until confronted with a disaster. NASA, knowing that this change will be difficult, has let managers know that they must get with the program or get out. It proposes to do “interventions” with managers who are experiencing difficulty in communicating safety related information. Coaching will be available to those who must learn new interpersonal skills.
From my perspective, NASA is doing the right thing. Pierce lists on-going personal change as one of the ten disciplines of workplace sprituality. I wonder, however, if NASA knows how tough the job will be. Sometimes personal change is so difficult that a spiritual awakening is required. When this happens, the individual may lose control over the direction of the change. I wonder if this is what NASA has in mind.
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