More Ethics, + the Challenger Disaster

Communication Failures Contributing to the Challenger Accident: An Example for Technical Communicators—Dorothy A. Winsor
Two important factors:
1. Managers and engineers viewing the same facts from different perspectives
• not only see facts, but interpret themshared information=shared interpretation (easy when communication happens between people with the same role, difficult when coming from different points of view)
2. The general difficulty of either sending or receiving bad news, particularly when it must be passed to superiors or outsiders
• People are less likely to believe bad news than good
• Working in partnerships (NASA, MTI, Marshall Space Center), communicators saw others as outsiders—don’t air your (or your organization’s) dirty laundry
Physical Cause of the Accident
o Failure of a rubber seal in the solid rocket booster
o O-ring anomalies present in 1984, two years before the Challenger disaster
Early Responses to Bad News: Disbelief and Failure to Send Upward
o MTIMarshall: no communication that there were serious problems with O-rings
o MarshallMTI: willing to admit there was a problem, as long as it was MTIs fault
o Marshall hid problems with optimism
Continued Bad New Rejection Despite Contradictory Evidence
o Cast a positive light on the O-ring issue, blaming it on the cold flights
o MTI was ignorant of an imposed launch constraint, Marshall kept the bad news to itself, not communicating to NASA
Internal vs. External Communication of Concern From MTI Engineers
o MTI engineer Roger Boisjoly to a R.K. Lund (superior)—I thought this memo communicated effectively, but it was kept too private to make a difference
o Russell’s letter written to outsiders—conveys a much different message. No cohesiveness, they sent a mixed message
The Split Between Managers and Engineers
o Those in charge have different objectives and goals than those who have no managerial power. If managers don’t listen to their employees, they could be in serious trouble!
Conclusion
o First, no one at MTI or Marshall wanted to admit serious O-ring problems
o Then, once MTI engineers accepted the seriousness of the problem, they didn’t effectively communicate to their superiors
o Engineers and managers at MTI did not want to give bad news to outsiders (it would make them look bad?)

How to Lie with Statistics—Darrell Huff
-The sample with the built-in bias
-The truncated, or gee-whiz, graph
-The souped-up graph
-The well-chosen average
-The insignificant difference or the elusive error
-The one-dimensional picture
-The ever-impressive decimal
-The semiattached figure
-The unwarranted assumption, or post hoc rides again
Comparative advertising: Two KFC chicken breasts are “healthier” than a BK Whopper?

Determining the Ethics of Style—Dan Jones
What is ethics? –“Ethics is the study of right and wrong conduct,” “The discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation,” “a set of moral principles or values,” “a theory or system of moral values” or—just a guiding philosophy
Ethics and Technical Prose
o Ask yourself questions: Are you doing your best to communicate honestly and accurately? Are you omitting anything on purpose? Can your unclear or imprecise instructions cause harm to others?
o What makes someone unethical? What if they can’t help it? (Time constraints, might lose a job)
Ethics and the Professions
o Computer Ethics Institute published ten commandments
o Also, Society for Technical Communicators has ethical guidelines
- Legality, Honesty, Confidentiality, Quality, Fairness, Professionalism

Legal and Ethical Issues in Editing—Carolyn D. Rude
Legal Issues in Editing
o Intellectual Property
- Copyright
- Permissions and “Fair Use”
- Copyright and Online Publication
- Trademarks, Patents, and Trade Secrets
- Product Safety and Liability
- Libel, Fraud, and Misrepresentation

Letters, letters, letters! Just be polite!

The Basics of a Cover Letter—Steven Garber

- Resumes and cover letters are a marketing tool. Attract the employers attention by creating an effective sales pitch.

- Format—employers can make judgments about you simply by looking at the appearance of your cover letter

o The Parts of a Letter

§ Return address, date, inside address, salutation, length (3-4 short paragraphs)

o Paper Size

§ 8.5x11

o Paper Color and Quality

§ Use quality paper in a conservative color (white); match envelope, cover letter, and resume

o Typing and Printing

§ No handwritten letters, serif fonts are easier to read

o Envelope

§ Mail everything in standard, business-sized envelope that matches stationary, type your envelopes

- Content—try to determine the correct person to send your application to if not specified, much depends on size of company and who usually does the hiring

o Mapping it Out—Important to know what the company is all about and communicate in first few sentences why you have an interest in the company

§ First paragraph- state the position for which you’re applying and mention the source

§ Second paragraph- indicate what you can contribute and show how your qualifications will benefit the company, don’t talk about what you can’t do, and keep it brief

§ Third paragraph- mention accomplishments and awards, cite any projects you’ve worked on with excellent outcomes—prove that you are an exceptional candidate, not just a good one

§ Fourth paragraph- you look forward to hearing from them, thanks or their consideration (don’t ask for interview—thoughts on this?)

§ Complimentary close- Sincerely, Emily (don’t forget to sign the letter!)

- Tips for Successful Cover Letters

o What Writing Style Is Appropriate?

o Tone: Reserved Confidence Is Always in Style

o Emphasize Concrete Examples

o Use Powerful Language

o Avoid Catchphrases

o Mention Personal References?

o Proof with Care

- Avoid

o Unrelated career goals, comparisons and clichés, wasted space, form letters, inappropriate stationary, “amusing” anecdotes, erroneous company information, desperation, personal photos, confessed shortcomings, misrepresentation, demanding statements, missing resume, personal information, choice of pronouns, tone trouble, gimmicks, typographical errors, messy corrections, omitted signature

- Other Letters

o Cover Letters for Special Situations

§ Haven’t had a paid job in a long time

o Response to a “Blind” Advertisement

o Like on craigslist? (you don’t know the company)

o Cold Letters

o Broadcast Letters

o Letter to an Employment Agency

o Letter to an Executive Search Firm

o Networking Letters

o Thank you letters—write one! Short and sweet, send promptly

Your Resume on the Internet—Margaret Riley Dikel and Frances E. Roehm

- The Myth about the Internet Resume

o You do not have to have a print resume and an e-resume. When done correctly, one will suffice.

o Same resume, different formats: 1. Designed, hard copy version, 2. Scannable version, 3. Plain-text versions, 4. E-mail version

o PDF file?

- Rules for Responding Online

o Include a cover letter

- E-Resumes are not just for E-mail

o Can post resumes online on places like Monster.com

- Preparing a Perfect Plain-Text Resume

o Tips for plain-text formatting—is this necessary?

- Where, oh, where should that Resume Go?

o 1-2 large online databases

o 1-2 target resumes databases

**Protect yourself, internet privacy and safety

- Resume Blasters: The Wave of the Future or a New Form of Spam?

- Help with Resumes and Cover Letters

- Online Guides and Guidance

o Purdue OWL—very useful! Especially for grammar and formatting questions

Follow-Up Letters—Karl Weber and Rob Kaplan

- Networking Interview Follow-up Letters

o Open by thanking the person for taking the time to talk to you, comment on the discussion you had (compliment the person), close with a promise to be in touch and a request for the person to send job leads your way

- Job Interview Follow-up Letters

o Very important!

o Opening, The Pitch: “Why Me?”, The Pitch: “Why You?”, Closing

- Job Acceptance Follow-up Letters

- Job Turndown Follow-up Letters

- Job Rejection Follow-up Letters

Resumes

General Comments
- There is no one way to write a resume or cover letter—consult as many experts and strategies as possible, but use common sense in the end. Don’t blindly follow one model.
- The purpose of writing a resume and cover letter=securing an interview!

Writing Resumes and Letters in the Language of Employers—John L. Munschauer
Employers think: “What can the candidates do for us?” If you don’t sell the message that you can do something for an employer, then they don’t care.
- Why Use a Resume?
o Many conflicting opinions—don’t get distracted from conveying the message
o It’s like courting, sometimes you don’t need to put everything out there. Don’t confuse employers by “flaunting things that don’t speak to their needs.” Good advice!
- Giving Your Message
o Spend time on writing a letter, not just your resume. They see the cover letter first, so isn’t it just as/more important?
o Know the field you’re applying for. That way, you will be able to relate your experiences to the specific requirements of the job, even I you haven’t had a similar job in the past.
- Letters of Application
o Employers get so many applications, how do you separate yours from the pack? DUH! Be professional! (Is it really that difficult? Really?)
o Effective:
1. First paragraph states who the writer is and what he/she wants
2. Second paragraph (sometimes third) indicates why the writer wrote to the employer and mentions areas of interest, special talents, and other factors relating to qualifications
3. Final paragraph suggests a course of action
o Hard work and attention to detail make for a good letter
- Resume Preparation
o What? Why would you include your stats on a resume?
o Is involvement in a religious organization a turn off to all employers? It indicates that you care for something, not everyone is a zealot.—Reading further, don’t emphasize where you did it, but what you did. Ok, makes sense.
o Job objective—On one hand, I’ve been told that it is a good thing to include. I’ve also heard the “Isn’t the objective of submitting a resume to get a job? Isn’t that redundant?”
o One page or two?—As a college student entering the work force for the first time, I would never dream of making my resume longer than one page. If I was an employer, that would really annoy me. However, I can see why someone with much more experience who is applying for an academic position would include a second page.

Last piece of advice—test it out.

Ethics Questions

I think another good example of "Good" technical writing that is unethical is the communication of the tobacco industry. When tobacco executives misconstrue data about the harmful effects of smoking, it is similar to the idea of the Nazi's using misleading language in memos.

Also, health care is a HUGE issue right now in America. There are many studies (including this one: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan04004/efan04004g.pdf) that prove the negative effects of obesity on our economy. I think this is a good example of technical writing, as well as a topic of a discussion on ethics.

Nazi Records

Wow. I was initially surprised that Dombrowski chose Nazi documents to use as examples in this chapter, but they certainly make a good case for being ethical in technical communication. I appreciated his early reasoning on why such arguments are made, and I read the chapter without offense. I like this quote especially: “ …Some of the values embedded in the scientific frame of mind can be carried to extremes—with terrible consequences” (Dombrowski 82). The scientific frame of mind he refers to is something I can relate to, as I’ve been struggling to adopt a different writing style in this class.

Origination, Dissemination, and Use of Information

Nazi Past

- Nuremburg trials—Nazi leaders put on trial for war crimes against civilians and soldiers

o Shocking revelations—institutionalized abuse of people in the name of scientific/medical research

o Emotional distance—victims of abuse not human

- Genocide—term created for the Nazi crimes against humanity and Jewish people

Controversy in the Present

Through their research, the Nazi’s actually did acquire useful scientific and medical information. Is it ethical to use their studies?

- Medical Specimens

o Skeletons and other medical specimens came from Nazi prison camps—quite obviously no consent

o Israelis vs. Germans—1989

- “Research” Information

o Nazi hypothermia experiments

o The New England Journal of Medicine (1990)—it doesn’t matter what they learned, they didn’t use scientific methods to obtain their results, the ethics issue can be ignored because the lack of science fails the experiment before it is to be called into question

Values in Nazi Medical “Science”

- Traditional View

o “The healer became the killer, and healing became killing”—what I take from this is that the Nazi’s lied their heads off and passed it off as truth, and that was okay

o Justified killing—It was legitimate because the establishment says it was? It seems to me that human life is not something governed by a regime, but absolute and concrete laws of humanity (Dombrowski does a smart thing here—he keeps saying “Lifton says” to reinforce that this is not his view)

o Euthanasia—“mercy killing”

o Inversion and evasion

- Nazi Antiscience

o Intrinsic inhumaneness and unethicalness of science—critics who perceive that Nazi’s took underlying issues in medical field to an extreme

§ Is science an enemy of basic human values? Uh-oh!

Research in the United States

- Nazi dilemma of ethics + law

- Inadmissibility principle—Nazi medical experiments, African-American patients in US in 1940s

Nazi Technical Memorandum

- Wow—chilling! Dombrowski asks some good questions on page 100—When do you first realize what the subject of the document is?

- I’d like to go over these in class and see what everyone thinks—talk about misleading!

Ethical Appraisal

Aristotle

Kant

Utilitarianism

Feminist and Ethics of Care

Nazi Records

Wow. I was initially surprised that Dombrowski chose Nazi documents to use as examples in this chapter, but they certainly make a good case for being ethical in technical communication. I appreciated his early reasoning on why such arguments are made, and I read the chapter without offense. I like this quote especially: “ …Some of the values embedded in the scientific frame of mind can be carried to extremes—with terrible consequences” (Dombrowski 82). The scientific frame of mind he refers to is something I can relate to, as I’ve been struggling to adopt a different writing style in this class.

Origination, Dissemination, and Use of Information

Nazi Past

- Nuremburg trials—Nazi leaders put on trial for war crimes against civilians and soldiers

o Shocking revelations—institutionalized abuse of people in the name of scientific/medical research

o Emotional distance—victims of abuse not human

- Genocide—term created for the Nazi crimes against humanity and Jewish people

Controversy in the Present

Through their research, the Nazi’s actually did acquire useful scientific and medical information. Is it ethical to use their studies?

- Medical Specimens

o Skeletons and other medical specimens came from Nazi prison camps—quite obviously no consent

o Israelis vs. Germans—1989

- “Research” Information

o Nazi hypothermia experiments

o The New England Journal of Medicine (1990)—it doesn’t matter what they learned, they didn’t use scientific methods to obtain their results, the ethics issue can be ignored because the lack of science fails the experiment before it is to be called into question

Values in Nazi Medical “Science”

- Traditional View

o “The healer became the killer, and healing became killing”—what I take from this is that the Nazi’s lied their heads off and passed it off as truth, and that was okay

o Justified killing—It was legitimate because the establishment says it was? It seems to me that human life is not something governed by a regime, but absolute and concrete laws of humanity (Dombrowski does a smart thing here—he keeps saying “Lifton says” to reinforce that this is not his view)

o Euthanasia—“mercy killing”

o Inversion and evasion

- Nazi Antiscience

o Intrinsic inhumaneness and unethicalness of science—critics who perceive that Nazi’s took underlying issues in medical field to an extreme

§ Is science an enemy of basic human values? Uh-oh!

Research in the United States

- Nazi dilemma of ethics + law

- Inadmissibility principle—Nazi medical experiments, African-American patients in US in 1940s

Nazi Technical Memorandum

- Wow—chilling! Dombrowski asks some good questions on page 100—When do you first realize what the subject of the document is?

- I’d like to go over these in class and see what everyone thinks—talk about misleading!

Ethical Appraisal

Aristotle

Kant

Utilitarianism

Feminist and Ethics of Care