Guiding the Space Age from the ground up: Pan Am,Cold War and guided missiles

Abstract

This article analyses the role of Pan American Airways (Pan Am) in the shaping of the ‘Space Age’. The study arises out of our interest in the role of the organization in the development of discourse (Foucault 1979). While much has been written on discourse (Phillips and Hardy 2002) there have been few applied studies, and they tend to focus on the reproduction of discourse (e.g. New Public Management) within organizations (Thomas and Davies 2004) rather than on the role of organizations in the production of discourses. Pan Am was studied because of its role in the development of the US space program; its prominence as a major international company; and the availability of an extensive archive of company materials. Using critical hermeneutics (Prasad and Mir 2002), discourse analysis (Phillips and Hardy 2002), and archaeo-genealogical historiography (Rowlinson 2004), we examined the implications for organizational management and the study of organizational and management history. We conclude that the study of organizations as sites of discourse production is a fruitful area for further research; drawing attention to the implications for change by revealing the importance not only of the ‘localized’ aspects of discourse but also the discursive character of analyses of ‘the past’.