Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Sims
The "normalization of deviance" is a slippery slope. NASA got burned and so will the airlines and FAA (and the flying public) if they fail to take strong measures to arrest the the tendency to cut corners. Flying is very safe because of all the redundancies - they should be jealously defended; not rationalized away.
From a US Navy operational lecture on the topic:
The loss of the shuttles Columbia and Challenger all too clearly illustrate how these natural tendencies can become disastrous. The Navy can learn a lot from these events to prevent future catastrophes. Both the shuttles were vulnerable because of a sinister phenomenon called "normalization of deviance," which occurs as individuals or teams repeatedly accept a lower standard of performance until that lower standard becomes the norm. Usually, this occurs because the people are under pressure (e.g., budget or schedule) and perceive it will be too hard to comply with the original higher standard. They may intend to revert to the higher standard when the stressful period passes. However, by getting away with the lower standard, it is likely they will do the same thing when the same stressful circumstances arise again. Over time, they stop seeing their actions as deviant or hazardous.
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Thanks, Jim, for the most salient post on this thread.
If the applicable regulations are too strict, there are avenues through which they can be changed. Here we see a classic case of a large business in knowing violation of some fairly important regulations, seeking forgiveness after the fact. The old adage "it's easier to seek forgiveness than permission" is at play.
It was purely a financial decision on their part. Weighing the cost of compliance against potential fines, they made the very cynical decision to pay the fines when they got "caught". Then, predicting leniency (another calculated business gamble), they elected to turn themselves in. It seems to have worked.
$10.2 million dollars??!!! For a business the size of Southwest Airlines? What a freakin' joke. Damn good thing (for them) Max Mosely doesn't run the FAA... Southwest needs to be fined enough to make it really hurt. Enough so it is no longer a "business decision" as to whether they comply or wait for a slap on the wrist fine. Enough to possibly drive them out of business... And make other airlines sit up and take notice... All we see accomplished here, from this fine, is to encourage other airlines to make the same decisions.