When Politeness is Fatal

Abstract

Severe icing on the space shuttle Challenger's launch pad should have halted the launch on the morning of January 28, 1986. One Rockwell International manager told his subordinates to be sure NASA knew that Rockwell thought a launch was not safe. When the Rockwell subordinates spoke directly to NASA managers, however, they used politeness strategies like those enumerated by Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson to blur the directness of the Rockwell manager's message. The NASA managers interpreted the politeness of the Rockwell subordinates as meaning it was safe to launch. The Rockwell subordinates did not mean it that way, but the Challenger was launched.