Chapter 2 Instructor Resources

Suggested Responses to Additional Exercises and Cases for Chapter 2: Understanding Ethical and Legal Obligations

Suggested Response to “Identifying Misleading Language”

It would be unethical (although, at this time, legal) to claim that a product containing monoglycerides was fat-free because the claim would be misleading. Consumers, rightly or wrongly, assume that fat-free means healthy, and ethical technical communicators would take that assumption into account. Successful responses will refer to principles discussed in the chapter to support the writer’s claims.

Suggested Response to “Finding a Code of Conduct on a Website”

Responses will vary according to which website students select. Successful responses will show where the code is on the site (for example, in a prominent section on ethics or in a less-prominent section on community relations), explain how its location and context suggest the importance of ethics to the company, and offer preliminary comments on the length and comprehensiveness of the code.

Suggested Response to “Evaluating the American Chemical Society Code of Conduct”

The ACS code suggests that chemists’ obligations to the public are more important than their obligations to the profession itself or to the success of individual chemists. Although the code lists many kinds of ethical dilemmas chemists are to avoid (such as conflict of interest), the code is brief and does not discuss any of them in significant detail. In addition, the code does not discuss enforcement.

Suggested Response to “Evaluating the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators Code of Conduct”

The ISTC code is relatively lengthy and specific, covering in some detail many of the professional issues that concern technical communicators. Perhaps because of the nature of the technical-communication profession, the code focuses less on issues of public welfare and safety than do the codes of engineering and science organizations. The code does mention enforcement, describing a range of penalties for those members found to be in violation of the code. However, the ISTC code does not provide information about what penalties have been applied in the past. Many students will successfully organize their findings using the comparison-and-contrast organizational pattern (see Chapter 6).

Suggested Response to “Analyzing Engineering Ethics Cases”

Responses will vary depending on the cases students select. Successful responses will consider several cases and provide a detailed analysis of the ethical options. Students may draw upon their own experiences in the workplace and at school.

Suggested Response to “Contrasting the Quality of Two Ethics Sites”

Responses will vary depending on the sites selected. Successful responses will refer to the principles and concepts discussed in the chapter and will address each of the bulleted questions in the exercise.

Suggested Response to “Irritating Insulation”

As is often true when ethical problems are discussed—especially when crucial information is unavailable—this case can yield a number of different responses. Therefore, no single “correct” answer is provided. In thinking about the case and defending their recommendations, students might consider a number of different questions.

When discussing what Susan Taggert should do, students might address the following:

whether Taggert is justified in blowing the whistle or is obligated to do so
whether Taggert is obligated to warn consumers about the risks of using the product
whether Diversified or Taggert’s profession has a code of conduct and whether she is obligated to follow such codes
whether Diversified’s customers have a right to a reasonably safe product
whether Taggert owes care and consideration to Diversified’s customers as well as her family, her fellow employees, and the larger Acton community
whether Taggert’s duty to communicate her findings extends beyond notifying Bill Mondale
whether Taggert has a duty to follow Mondale’s recommended course of action

When explaining the ethical implications of Taggert’s recommended course of action, students might raise the following issues:

the potential financial hardship for laid-off workers and the economic effect on the town of Acton if the product is delayed
the fact that the product is in compliance with all applicable federal guidelines
whether the health problems of three of the seven technicians working with the product represent a large enough sample to suggest that the new product is unsafe (for example, perhaps such minor health problems are standard for this industry and for similar products)
whether Mondale’s recommended course of action means covering up negative information or misleading customers

Suggested Response to “Playing the Name Game”

Sample research strategy:

From: josh_lipton@informatics.com

To: denise_mcneil@informatics.com

Subject: Researching Crescent Ideas

Denise,

Below I outline a strategy for finding out if Crescent might act prejudicially against non-Arab and female-run vendors.

1. Read Crescent’s annual report and check the websites of Crescent’s branch offices to see if the company employs non-Arabs and females in professional, managerial, and executive positions at the branch offices.

2. Search business-publications databases to learn what has been written about the company. The articles might give us some insight into their business practices and decision-making process when it comes to selecting vendors.

3. Search the Internet using keywords “Crescent Petroleum” and combinations of keywords such as “business practices,” “vendors,” “prejudice,” “non-Arab,” and “female” to locate relevant sites, blogs, and discussion-group postings. If we run across any relevant information, we could contact the author and ask some follow-up questions.

4. Review Crescent’s public documents to learn the names of vendors with which the company has done business. We might also run across the names of companies that bid on Crescent projects but lost.

5. Check the vendors’ websites and annual reports to learn if any have non-Arabs and females in professional, managerial, and executive positions. We might be able to spot a trend.

6. Interview current vendors and people who have done business with Crescent, especially non-Arabs and females.

If you’d like me to do some of the research I’ve outlined above, let me know.

Regards,

Josh
Sample memo to instructor:

TO: [your professor’s name]

FROM: [your name]

DATE: April 12, 2016

SUBJECT: Recommendations for Denise McNeil

This memo presents my recommendations for Denise McNeil. This is a challenging situation for Denise because she cannot be certain that Crescent Petroleum would act prejudicially if the company were aware of the ethnicity of the lead engineer or the sex of the company’s founder and many of its employees. For all Denise knows, her company has already been eliminated from contention simply because she is female. By deciding to submit a proposal, Denise is betting that any prejudice by Crescent has not already eliminated her. She now has to decide the appropriate amount of accommodation to make to the culture of Crescent.

If I were Denise’s mentor, my advice would be for Denise to use a first initial rather than a first name to disguise the sex of her employees, and it is appropriate for her to “remove” herself from the boilerplate history of her company. My reasoning is that neither of these actions involves lying. Rather, these actions involve withholding unnecessary information.

By disguising the sex of her employees and eliminating the story of her involvement with the company, Denise is choosing to offer less information than she traditionally offers, but she is not providing false or misleading information. What is most important, she is not giving in to what she perceives as a prejudicial attitude by being prejudicial toward her female employees. In other words, she is not firing her employees or making them less valuable at the company. If Crescent were to explicitly ask her about the sex of her employees or inquire about why her last name is the same as her company’s name, she should tell the truth. However, it would be inappropriate for her to tailor Mark Steinberg’s last name to disguise his ethnicity. Doing so would be lying. In this case, lying would be inappropriate because it would represent too great an accommodation of what she perceives as a potentially prejudicial reaction by Crescent. She would in effect become Crescent’s accomplice.

Alternatively, if Denise has a person other than Steinberg available to run the project, it would be ethically permissible to assign this other employee, so long as doing so does not hurt Steinberg in his professional career. Before making such a decision, she should discuss the matter with Steinberg to learn his feelings about being replaced. If he objects—that is, if he wants to be included in the proposal even if that would decrease the company’s chances of winning the contract—Denise should comply with his request. In this case, following Steinberg’s wishes would be the right thing to do (from the care perspective), as well as the smartest business decision. Maintaining his trust is more important than winning this one contract, if he has given McNeil no reason to doubt his professional competence and character.