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The local laws about the desired mix of minority owned and female owned firms involved
in public works contracts was flagged as being very inflexible given that BAE was forced
to change its working structures to conform.
In addition, the researchers noted that the airport Chief Engineer, Walter Slinger, seemed
to be something of a champion of the project and the one who was convinced by BAE
that it was indeed possible. It seems that Slinger was also instrumental in making the
actual construction work of the project operate - 'He had a lot of autonomy and could
get things done'. The researchers have interpreted this statement as meaning that Slinger
was able to make substantial decisions directly related to the project alone and without
reference to higher authorities. This was changed when Slinger died and his job was
taken over by Gail Edmond who was stripped of that autonomy by the Denver City
Council and forced to validate all her decisions with them.
By this stage of the hermeneutic cycle, the researchers had created two new texts and
were evaluating their contributions to the understanding of this case. It was becoming
evident that the next text, to be developed during the fourth cycle, would reveal even
more, and enable an even deeper understanding, of the whole from its component parts.
As a reflection it was at this point of the investigation, during the creation of this second
derived text, that the first researcher suddenly realised how important Walter Slinger
was to the whole project. The fact of his death, previously overlooked, now had a pro-
found impact from this point onwards on the investigation. What was now becoming
clearer was that Slinger's autonomy and flexibility died with him because Edmonds did
not inherit these managerial freedoms.
Fourth cycle
This cycle examined the decisions identified in the case study document. Along with
these decisions, the individuals making the decisions, the decisions themselves, and the
outcomes were documented. Table 6.3 shows what the decision documentation table
resulting from this cycle looks like. Surprisingly, the actual number of documented de-
cisions by the case study's authors numbered only 23.
This hermeneutic cycle revealed quite forcibly that Denver started building the airport
before any airline had officially committed to it. United, in fact, committed to the project
in December 1992, at the same time as they commissioned BAE to build their own baggage
handling system. It would appear that when both Continental and United committed to
the project, there was sufficient flexibility available to make major construction changes
to airport design.
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