> We informed the foam technicians at our plant in Michoud Louisiana that they were the cause of the loss of Columbia and then worked them overtime in training
> I flew to New Orleans within a few days, and called an all hands meeting where I publicly apologized to the foam technicians. They had not caused the loss of Columbia through poor workmanship.
I don't understand that assigning of blame in the first place. Without negligence, why was blame so important? Reasons, explanations, understandings, certainly, but laying that kind of thing on their heads, even if the original assessment was correct, would solve nothing. It's "the beatings will continue until morale improves," leadership-style. And if blame is mandatory...[1]