Arguing that the issue of organizational decision making and bureaucratic responsibility in the use of technologies with potential for creating social harm should concern everyone, this paper explores the ethical issues raised by organizational decisions concerning the launch of the space shuttle "Challenger." The paper first describes a theoretical approach to organizational deviance--factors that cause people to act in deviant ways--then uses this perspective to develop a model for understanding organizational deviance. The major portion of the paper applies this model to the "Challenger" tragedy, observing that while the technical cause of the explosion was the failure of a pressure seal, the more important cause was the flawed decision-making process at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The paper concludes with a list of six general observations concerning the making of ethical decisions: (1) the effects of an individual's actions, communication, or failure to communicate can be assessed as a means of making ethical judgments; (2) persons who accept major decision-making roles must be held to standards that represent careful, rational, and objective decision-making processes; (3) the responsibility of assuring that information will flow in an organization is largely that of top management; (4) an ethic of "care" mandates that persons in authority be concerned about the effects of their actions on human beings; (5) sensitivity to and awareness of ethics should be increased; and (6) whistle blowing and bypassing the usual channels of communication are ethical decisions and put a heavy weight of responsibility on persons who do not speak out. (Forty-five references are included.) (FL)