Revision as of 21:53, 10 April 2008

3040 Main Page

Honesty

It is important to always be honest in technical writing. Being honest means always telling the truth.

Legality

Privacy

Quality

Teamwork

Avoiding Conflict of Interest

Social Responsibility

Professional Development

Advancing the Profession

Case Studies

Situation 1 Proposal Personnel

You are bidding on a proposal to install and maintain a network for a school district. You know that the only way you will win this proposal is if you bid your top project manager, Carla Smith. You also know that your top project manager is so busy there is no chance she will be able to work on this bid if you win it. You write the proposal so that your language, and choice of resumes, makes it sound as though Carla will certainly lead the project, although you are careful not to specify a leader in the proposal terms.

Is this approach ethically sound? Does your decision change if you are bidding on a job that has a safety-critical component, such as an emergency response system, or a piece of health-care equipment?

Situation 2: Therac-25

You have worked with a team of developers to engineer and program a radiation machine that is used to regulate the amount of radiation given to treat cancer. As the final step in the project, you are writing a user manual. You know there are error messages programmed into the machine that were used during development to alert the programmers when the radiation machine reached a dangerous level due to a system overload. Your boss assures you that the user will never see these messages because the radiation machine has been completely de-bugged. You still wish to include the errors in the user documentation. Your boss tells you not to, because he thinks it would scare the users and make them think the machine is not safe. What should you do?

Situation 3: Just say …?

As the company’s best proposal writer (you haven’t lost one yet!) your boss has asked you organize the writing of a major formal proposal. It is a very large contract, and if you win it, you will take home a large bonus. The problem is that the company who issued the RFP provides a product or service that you find ethically or politically appalling. What do you do?

Situation 4: A rose is a rose is a …?

You have been hired as an independent private consultant to study and report on the condition of the software system that regulates Springfield’s sewer supply. A copy of your report will go to both the city counsel and Springfield Water and Waste department. You find several areas where the programming is faulty, and under certain conditions, could lead to a major environment disaster. It is customary to show a draft of the report to the company under examination before submitting the final report. After reading the draft, the director of Water and Waste asks if you could rephrase the problems to emphasize that they are only possible problems that would occur under very particular circumstances. He asks you to replace one of the charts you used with a chart that shows the same data, but de-emphases the possible risk. He reminds you that he is not asking you to change any of your findings, but just to report them using a different tone in your writing and graphics. What do you do?

Situation 5: Fits like a …?

Your company has a pre-packaged software data management system for small health clinics. A rural hospital approaches you about using this software. You know that although many aspects of the software could be used without customization, there will be many areas that will require substantial customization. In the proposal you emphasize all the ways that the software is perfectly suited for the client. Are you also ethically obligated to mention that there are several areas that will require substantial revision?

Situation 6: Letter of ….?

As the manager of a department in an IT company, you have to lay off one of your team members due to lack of work. It is easy to decide who to lay off: Alex, although easy to get along with, lacks necessary technical skills, and his work ethic is somewhat “casual” (he often arrives to work late and when he is at work, doesn’t seem to get much done.) Alex tells you that his wife is expecting a baby and that he really needs a job. He asks you to write him a letter of recommendation, explaining that he needs a letter from your company because he has worked there for the past five years. What do you do? If you decide to write the letter, outline what the letter will contain.

References

[1] Jules Harcourt, "Buddy" Krizan, and Patricia Merrier, Business Communication, 3rd ed. (Cincinnati: Southwestern Educational Publishing 1996), 83.

[2] Lori Allen, Dan Voss, Ethics in Technical Communication: Shades of Grey, (New York: Wiley Computer Publishing 1997).