Riding Rockets

I wasn’t about to be found at my desk reading anything with McGuire’s name on it, so I put the document in my briefcase and took it home. That evening I popped a beer and began reading. “One of the more operationally practical ways of viewing personality subdivides the population into six basic clusters of characteristics that define distinct personality types….” Yawn. I felt like I was back in high school readingMoby-Dick (a book I’m convinced nobody has ever completed). But as I read further I realized McGuire did have an extensive knowledge of what was happening in the astronaut corps.

“In the last eight years or so, the dissatisfaction level relative to management style has risen significantly, if I am to judge from all the unsolicited comments offered by astronauts and their spouses. The level of dissonance is much higher than I experienced in my military career as a flight surgeon-psychiatrist working almost exclusively with pilots and their families. Nor have I seen its equal with the elite flying units or special projects air crew for whom I was a long-term consultant…. Though they are exceedingly careful about the setting in which they [astronauts] give voice to their dissatisfaction, there is no doubt that the current managerial style constitutes an important morale issue with the astronaut community and, for many, has a stultifying effect on creativity and open discussion.”

The writing was couched in scientific mumbo jumbo and not a single manager’s name was mentioned. The opening paragraph implied it was nothing more than a technical paper. “This is a background document on leadership as it relates to the astronaut group, more specifically, on the impact of various leadership styles upon the morale, creativity and productivity of the astronauts.” But much of the remainder of the work focused on a particular leadership style as it related to astronauts—the autocratic power merchant. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see the similarities between that style, as described by McGuire, and the way Abbey operated:

“Like a good Pavlovian psychologist, he has learned not only that rewards and punishments reinforce behaviors, but also that there are times when an inconstant system of incomplete rewards can evoke even stronger adherence to desired behaviors than a predictable full-scale reward system. This second approach also lowers his predictability and keeps people off balance.”

“…No one in the cadre is allowed to know all parts of the grand plans the power merchant may have.”

“Inconsistency, ambiguity, silence, evasion…all have their place in his studied unpredictability.”

Later in the document, McGuire makes the point, “The autocratic managerial style is the most antithetical to the needs of the astronaut corps, a group who in most settings would be chiefs rather than indians [sic]. Though calculated to be the least effective, if the autocrat is open, non-devious and fair, he can still be acceptable to the prototypical astronaut. But if he is the type of leader who is oriented toward the accumulation of personal power for power’s sake, rather than for the good of the company, his impact on the corps will be destructive. Men of such inclination are drawn by nature toward the autocratic style. So I have gone to special pains to identify the hard-core autocratic power merchant because, of all leadership approaches, it has the greatest potential for negative impact not only on personnel clusters such as the astronauts, but also within the total institution….”

He continued, “For many years astronaut morale has been, I believe, considerably below its potential. Many of the fine men who have moved on from its ranks to other endeavors have told me of the negative role astronaut management has played in their decision to leave. As is so often true, the most capable men, those with more options and more confidence, are the most at risk to depart NASA for new challenges. Usually they elect to leave with as little surface disturbance as possible, out of deference to NASA as an organization. In my several decades of association with NASA, I have never seen a more propitious time to institute change, nor a time in which the morale-boosting effects of realistic positive change would be more welcome.”