The article posted by another classmate is titled “Mangalore Air Disaster Learning from Organizational Leadership” by Biswas (2017). The article is an evaluation of the Mangalore plane accident that led to the death of 152 passengers, two pilots, and four cabin crew. The captain and the first officer were experienced, both of them had logged many hours and had over ten years experience. From the article, it appears that the trap is the rigid hierarchical organizational structure that guided the interactions in the cockpit. The first officer warned the captain about the danger they were in and offered an alternative solution that could have saved lived, but the captain did not listen; hence the disaster occurred.
A hierarchical structure is self-limiting, and it can lead to deadly accidents that could have been avoided as seen in the Mangalore situation. In a hierarchical structure, individuals holding senior positions are the ones in charge, and they are in charge of the decision making. In such as system, the senior and subordinate employees tend to pull in separate directions; thus moving farther away from organizational goals (Meadows, ). In the Mangalore accident, the first officer had a better assessment of the situation, and yet the captain failed to pay attention because he thought he was in a better position to address the problem.
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The trap can be removed by altering the organizational ecology by getting rid of a rigid hierarchical structure. The hierarchy in the cockpit was a reflection of the organizational culture. If the organization encourages partnership among actors, the senior employees will be obligated to take into consideration the output of the junior employees (Lawson & Price, 2003). The captain failed to ‘go around’ as the first pilot suggest because it was the norm for the captain or rather employees in senior positions to make decisions. The leader must come up with an inclusive plan that takes into consideration the role and perspectives of all the actors before coming up with the best way to implement change. The leader must communicate the reason behind the change, and model change if he/she wants others to adopt the change.
References
Biswas, M. (2017). Mangalore Air Disaster: Learning for Organizational Leadership. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations , 27 (1).
Lawson, E., & Price, C. (2003). The psychology of change management. McKinsey Quarterly , 30-41.
Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer . Chelsea green publishing.
