Dorothy Winsor, “Communication Failures Contributing to the Challenger Accident: An Example for Technical Communicators”

Dorothy Winsor thinks there were two reasons why communication failed or why the engineers were not able to convince the managers:
a. Managers and engineers viewing the same facts from different perspectives
b. The general difficulty of either sending or receiving bad news, particularly when it must be passed to superiors or outsiders
Knowledge is not simply getting facts but interpreting facts which varies in terms of the vantage points through which the same facts are seen. “Communication is not just a shared information but a shared interpretation.” In the world of technical communication, many of the times, people do not have same culture and same way of interpreting. The second reason is that bad news is not that easily shared with people from upper level or the outsiders. So, the NASA engineers and later managers were reluctant to share their bad image or failure to other organizations like Marshall or MTI.
Physical Cause of the Accident
a. a rubber seal in the solid rocket booster failed to seal
b. there were similar failures before too
Early Responses to Bad News: Disbelief and Failure to Send Upward
There was a tendency to hide or not to expose the problem to the upper level or to the other organizations. MTI did not communicate that the problem was serious and Marshall knew that the problems were serious but did not communicate that to NASA as long as it was MTI’s fault. Both showed optimism instead of highlighting weakness.
Continued Bad New Rejection Despite Contradictory Evidence
Even if the engineers had found that significant erosion had taken place on the secondary ring too, they ignored it blaming it on the cold flights. Then tendency to keep the bad news was there in all levels.
Internal vs. External Communication of Concern From MTI Engineers
MTI engineer Roger Boisjoly found a serious problem. He communicated it to the management that the problem may be disastrous. However, it was kept private and was not brought out. However, when the same message was sent to Marshall, its tone was completely different, it was more objective and so confusing.
• The Split Between Managers and Engineers
Though the engineers have different views from that of the managers, they have difficult time communicating their views to the managers. And different goals of the managers and engineer may have been the problem. And the Challenger event shows that if the managers don’t listen to their employees, they could be in serious trouble.
Conclusion
So, this shows that the major problem behind the disaster was that of effectively communicating the “problem” or the bad news. Neither those in MTI nor those in Marshall could wanted to communicate the seriousness of the problem to the other organizations. The engineers at MTI identified the problem and its seriousness. But they failed to effectively communicate it to the upper level. Major problem was that they did not want to give bad news to outsiders.

How to Lie with Statistics—Darrell Huff
• The sample with the built-in bias: The nature of sampling determines whether the researchers present facts with honesty or not. It’s very easy to manipulate statistics through sampling 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?

Cover letter and resume

Steven Graver’s article deals with the mundane rituals of cover letters. I did not find anything really new or striking in his piece. However, I later realized that cover letter is all mundane and is intended to be so. Graver’s article, though seems to be very prescriptive with some strict rules, works as a useful reference to find answers to some common questions about cover letter. It clearly mentions what should be the elements of format and content in a cover letter.
Parts of a cover letter:
Return Address
Date
Inside Address
Salutation
3/4 body paragraphs
Complementary close
Paper and print quality should be good.
Content:
a. Paragraph 1: just mention that you are applying for a certain post.
b. Paragraph 2: show that you qualify
c. Paragraph 3: show how you not only qualify, but also go beyond the qualifications
d. Paragraph 4: Closing
The most important suggestion is “don’t use clichés” and “avoid general statement” and use concrete and specific examples or your accomplishments. Focus on only one or two rather than saying you know this and that.
Burton Jay Nadler
“Your E-Resume”
Nadler advises us to think about the format and content of the resume and focus basically on projecting yourself as a goal-oriented and qualified candidate for the job.
Uploading Your Resume
Choose appropriate file format. Mostly, the companies specify what kind of file format to use. Normally “Microsoft Word,” PDF, and Web page input are used.
Check everything thoroughly before uploading.
• Make sure your resume file can be opened and formatted correctly.
• Name your file correctly.
• If filling in a Web form, take time to carefully enter your information.
Keywords Are Essential
When employers seek candidates for their vacant jobs, the first step is to review resumes by certain software that sorts out resumes in through key word search. So, while preparing resume, we need to be careful to use important key words used in the field we are applying. It’s a good idea to keep an inventory of keywords.
Emailing your E-Resume
a. Email message is your cover letter and attach your resume. Be very direct and short in your email cover letter. Be polite but not stuffy.
E-Mail Etiquette
Proper file format and simple and short.
Make a google search.
Vistas for the E-Job Search
• See state job bank
• Check the websites of companies of your field
• Use a web search engine to find big headhunter sites.
• Check your local newspaper
Reactive and Provocative E-strategies

Creating Slideshow

I was struggling really very hard to export slideshows to my website. I tried with more than half a dozen softwares. Each one had some sort of problem. But at last I have now found a very simple and easy to use software, which also seems to be free. Try this one: Flash Slideshow Maker Professional.

Resumes

The writer does not present any formulaic way to write a resume or cover letter. The main purpose of the resume is to get the interview. It needs to focus on message rather than on the rituals. Some of the things resume can include are the candidate’s computer skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, professionalism, and specific other skills.
1. Focus on message rather than the rituals
2. Think from the manager’s perspective; not what you want, but what the manager needs. Try to know more about the company you are applying so that you can refer to specific aspects of it to impress the employer.
3. Also think of the appearance, your letter should stand out in the heap of resumes and cover letters. Make it look more professional than fancy.
4. Focus on details in your cover letter. Provide what experience you have received with concrete details. You also need to relate to what you have done with what you are now required to do. You can also show your enthusiasm by saying that you want to and can do beyond what is required.
5. Managers are busy people. They only scan your resumes. So, be careful about formatting. You need to make the most important things stand out. Use necessary ways to make them appear in a glance. You can use more white space around important things. You can also use other methods like highlighting.
6. You also need to mention objective. You may write “career interest” instead of “job.”
7. The idea of length is difficult to say. The point is it needs to be precise and short. But at the same time it needs to be somewhat detailed in terms of important points.

Ethics in the Nazi Example

The writer is basically talking about the application of the theories of ethics in practical situation of technical communication. How technical communicators should act? What is their role? Is it only to transmit information “objectively”? There are such questions that he/she needs to be careful about.
They need to be careful about the context and the consequences of their writing/communication.
Nazi example shows that “over-emphasizing objectivity as a positive value of technical communication can obfuscate ethical issues.” It shows how so called scientific research led to mass murder and holocaust. The point is that technical writers are also partly responsible. They should think beyond the mechanical act of writing. They should think of human values before scientific ideas. Science should not be thought of as an good in itself. F. precedents pertaining to Nazi experiements. (IRB)
So, the point is to take nothing for granted and to think of every knowledge as socially constructed. This is why Carolyn Miller worries about objectivization (treating people as objects).

How to create a simple webstie

The Ethics Tradition

This chapter discusses different theories of ethics from the Greeks to the present and divides them into four major categories:

1. Aristotlean Ethics

2. Kantian Ethics

3. Utilitarian Ethics

4. Ethics of Care: Feminist theory of Ethics

Aristotle:

Aristotle considers virtue and personal character to be the basis for ethics. His approach is both pragmatic and philosophical. He is aware about the human imperfections and at the same time believes that we have some divine spirit that helps us determine what is good and what is bad. Ethics for Aristotle involves the intentions and goals to be good rather than the actions themselves. Here, one should be able to go beyond the circumstances and determine what are the good intentions and intrinsic rightness of the behavior. Aristotle's notion of ethics is based on reason. The difference of Aristotle's theory of ethics from Plato's is that it is not idealistic like Plato's. For Aristotle, science deals with the absolute and therefore is not a matter for ethical consideration. This view of Aristotle has been criticized in the present days as science and technology are also though to be rhetorical.

Kant

Kant's focus is on duty based on universal principle that is an extension of an individual's sense of ethics. This is because he believes that every individual has an inherent moral principle. So, for his ethics is not concerned with divine principle, nor with utilitarian notion of the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Since he believes in the universal principle, his notion differs from Feminist notion of ethics of care. But his focus on universal principle that every individual has seems to be similar to what Plato would believe to be divine. Kant's is not a relativist notion of ethics.

Utilitarianism

Here, the guiding principle is not universal principle of what is right or wrong. It is nor the idea of divine principle. For utilitarians, the basis for ethical decision is the greatest happiness for greatest number. So, they calculate benefits and costs.

Feminism

Feminism shares major postmodern tendency of challenging all notions of absolute truth and universal principles. That is why feminists reject Kantian notion of ethics as masculinist. Feminists also disagree with the idea that science and technology deal with the absolute and the inherently right. Scientific method avoids contextual and interrelationships of different variables. Feminists believe that language and social values thought to be neutral are themselves gendered.

Feminist principle of ethics believes that "women generally emphasize caring concern, relationship, and the flexible application of values depending on the particular person and circumstance in rendering theri ethical judgments, whereas men generally emphasize justice through inflexible application of abstrct principles regardless of the person or the relationship" (63).

Other Views

Confucianism is based on the idea of collective good and merit. Confucian ethics is based on "immediate realities rather than in immutable, timeless absolutes." It focuses on subduing individual egos for the greater good of the society. So, it is collectivist rather than individual. Similarly, virtue does not depend on abstract principles, rather it is related to the concrete episodes and events.

Levinas

He is postmodern thinker. So, for him ethics is concerned with the particular situation rather than an abstract principle. Ethics results from our awareness of the other. So, it is a recognition that there are other people who think differently than us. So, he rejects any pretension of universal reason or morality. Consider "the other" even more important that you.

Gert

His focus is on avoidance of evil rather than on seeking good.