Week two discussion question three

The ethics involved in group decision making is very interesting to me. The book told the story about the O-ring engineers warning their superiors about the problems that may arise if the Challenger shuttle launched in cold weather. Their warnings went unheard and they did not challenge their supervisors on the decision.

The decision to challenge authority is a very hard one to make and often comes at great personal cost. The engineers may have lost their jobs if they went to the press or over their managers heads to be sure they were heard. If they had done this it is possible the challenger shuttle could have been saved. The engineers were obviously afraid of negative repercussions if they challenged authority.

In a perfect world ethical decision making would be based on ones intention to always do the right thing.  Sometimes the difference between the “right” thing and the thing that benefits one the most is so close it hardly makes a difference. Other times the cost may be huge but the benefit minimal.