Roger Boisjoly at MIT 1989 - Engineering Ethics: Constructive Responses to Difficult Situations

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[@WorldOfRock4U]

This man is an American Hero, and a brilliant scientist. In loving memory of Rojer Boisjoly.

[@christianlofaro5578]

A very good Man, with a french name!

[@Tramseskumbanan]

He was a great man. Even though he probably would’ve denied that, himself.

[@timtec3000]

This is what honesty and decency looks like.

[@jeffreybanner4144]

Honorary eighth crewman of STS 51-L. RIP, Roger Boisjoly.

[@ethanweeter2732]

What is bad, Boisjoly was alive when Columbia happened, so he got to witness 2 tragedies involving space shuttles just 17 years apart.

[@jainayak666]

Most definitely is a shame that this video has only 1695 views. 1695. I always wonder how differently or quickly the world would've progressed if a proficient employee was heard and empowered more often than not.

[@pstefanics]

As of December 2022, this still only has 14000 views. It's so good (and still so relevant 33 years later) that it should be mandatory viewing for high school and college graduation and for onboarding in corporations. The man is the epitome of decency as well as ethical and professional behavior.

[@ethanweeter2732]

There are ethics books written based on this man’s testimony. I was at University when this man’s story was brought up in an ethics class. He is the reason arguably we now listen to engineers when they complain about safety in space shuttle and most other aircraft related issues.

[@kyleparker733]

All future and entry level engineers need to see this. This man speaks facts! Heed his advice

[@matthewgrissop9408]

Roger Boisjoly had a natural intuition, and he was a very good man. To me he is a Hero. God Bless this man. Rip Mr Boisjoly

[@kyleparker733]

God bless this man. RIP, Roger. He was truly an outstanding and compassionate engineer and person. Would have loved to have had an opportunity to have met him in person!

[@onmymind5132]

Great advice !

[@darthwader4472]

I can't help but wonder how he felt when he heard about 107...

[@brentortman99]

I'm not an engineer but I find his lessons invaluable in my own work in a government institution

[@dks13827]

Ethics in America ? In 2020 ? YGBSM !!!!

[@M_Lopez_3D_Artist]

ive watched this video a lot of times, is there a way to contact the archive from MIT video would I email them?

[@michaelschwartz9485]

You're a hero Mr. Boisjoly!! God Bless you and your family! I wish you were with us!

[@stevendegiorgio3143]

Roger is totaly correct from the beginning.And his last comment is correct in what's going on in companies to this very day.Its profit over quality and safety of the end user.I run into this very fact in all the jobs I've had in the last 20 years.Everything from aerospace to automotive manufacturing.

[@ethanweeter2732]

Which makes little sense in aeronautics and space Engineering where minutia is amplified because of the inherent dangers. It is the same in nuclear engineering I could easily argue, so ignoring minor details is incredibly dangerous in those 2 fields.

[@mattjones5987]

The only thing difficult about his situation was people placed in a position above him on the ladder cared more about money and future contracts.

[@ethanweeter2732]

And political optics as well. The State of the Union address was not worth 7 people’s lives. The likely damage caused by the aftermath in the Cold War and our standing in the world was exacerbated by their deaths. Imagine had they never happened, we might still have space shuttles and Columbia maybe never happens because the space shuttle program does not lose 3 years because of the investigation. In a field like aeronautics and space engineering, 3 years is a lifetime in improvements. Especially when shuttles would need the latest tech unlike some commercial aircraft that can maybe use 30 year old planes and tech for a while. Old planes even are okay. Outdated shuttles cost people their lives with Columbus arguably, since the foam used was fixed for later flights.

[@petercyr3508]

I have had a very similar career including my GPA (ha, ha) and work on solid rocket motors starting in 1979. Just not so many jobs, and frankly no major ethical dilemmas. BSAE from Ga Tech. Still at it 43 years later developing software for the space station (since 2001). Kids, I always find the assholes eventually go away. Just wait them out if you like the company. Hmmm. Combover Guy seems a little woke.

[@InAMinMaths]

58:58 unfortunately still a modern day tactic

[@kevinjones238]

Ethical behavior “shouldn’t” have to be introduced to young adults via text. Children should be taught the differences between right and wrong at an early age. Well, it just so happens that government has a strong say in the way that parents raise their kids today and this is the end result. The Challenger disaster most definitely could’ve been avoided.

[@ChrisGWGreen]

Boisjoly is an example for all engineers to learn soft skills. You can be the best engineer on the team and be right about a problem, but you can't "win friends and influence" people with a know-it-all attitude. Though I know NASA was riddled with issues regarding management and timescales; however one could argue Boisjoly made the situation worse with his approach.

[@invernessity]

It is true that some managers bristle and fail to listen to an aggressive or brusk employee like Boisjoly - or, in case of the Columbia shuttle, an engineer who raised concerns about the foam strike with management whose words were discounted because those managers described him as "excitable." Even Boisjoly's other coworkers suggested he use a "softer" approach. But this is a failure solely of management, not of the employee seeking to be heard. It is natural for anyone who is worried to become emotional and, in the case of both shuttle disasters, engineers who truly understood the danger had cause to worry and become stressed, brusk and/or excitable. It is solely management's responsibility to listen and ask probing questions to gain a full understanding of the issue particularly when an employee is emotional and/or cannot explain themselves well. Someone should not be in a management position if they are unable to work effectively with employees who do not use "soft" approaches. And the simple fact is that the most innovative employees, and those who often know their fields best, tend to be individuals who do not conform to accepted standards or those who can generally be described as "not working well with others." Yet these same people also tend to be the most valuable to any company, and management must take the extra time and effort to understand and work with them - including those who become, like Boisjoly, a loud 'broken record.' One key issue to be learned from both shuttle disasters that I rarely hear discussed is that, in both cases, engineers who feared failure brought forth their concerns only to management in their direct chain of command. As one head engineer at NASA said after Columbia, there is a strict ethical engineering code to stay within the specified line of command. Boisjoly also accepted this, which is why he often later said that he never spoke up when asked by NASA if there were any who disagreed with management's recommendation to launch because he had expressed his views to his managers and it was their position to use his input as they saw fit. Ethics courses fail when they do not teach when to step outside one's chain of command - or when and how to take unorthodox steps to protect lives (including both human lives as well as those of the business). Employees often face deeply personal conflicts when faced with these choices and, if they do act outside the expected norm, they often become whistleblowers like Boisjoly, McDonald and others involved with the Challenger o-rings. It can be very difficult to take this step but business and industry thrive when, instead of branding such employees whistleblowers, they embrace these individuals and both listen and act on their information. Recent examples of potential benefits of this approach include not only the astronaut lives which could have been saved, but also the financial crisis of 2008 which closed so many financial institutions and devasted so many families or, more recently, physicians ostracized and/or fired when promoting the use of proven medications in the recent pandemic which could have saved so many more lives. Examples of this abound. I firmly believe that one key reason why there has been a significant decline in US innovation and invention is because both social and corporate culture in recent years has weeded out such individuals. And, so-called 'cancel culture' has taught everyone else to conform, and accept the status quo. In contrast, employees before the turn of the century were truly supported when working independently and encouraged, in a way most are not today, to offer divergent opinions and ideas. In fact, good managers - like those at GE - would appoint 'devil advocates' when there was too much consensus between their employees.