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.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
1992-07-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651992006003001
Open Access
Closed
Topics

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (9)

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 9 →
  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Rhetoric Review
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (4)

  1. Written Communication
  2. Written Communication
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Written Communication
Also cites 5 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1177/108056998805100404
  2. 10.1016/0378-2166(88)90020-3
  3. 10.1080/10510978609368213
  4. 10.1080/10510978609368214
  5. 10.1109/47.7814
CrossRef global citation count: 18 View in citation network →