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CASE 1: The Promising Chemist Who Buried His Results

Bruce, a research chemist, buried important findings about an effective new insecticide in a dense report about chemical compounds. Seven years later, the same oil company discovered Bruce's overlooked results and that one of the compounds was a safe, economical insecticide they had been searching for. Bruce had since left the company because he felt his research was not appreciated.

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5K views1 page

CASE 1: The Promising Chemist Who Buried His Results

Bruce, a research chemist, buried important findings about an effective new insecticide in a dense report about chemical compounds. Seven years later, the same oil company discovered Bruce's overlooked results and that one of the compounds was a safe, economical insecticide they had been searching for. Bruce had since left the company because he felt his research was not appreciated.

Uploaded by

AnanyaRoyPratihar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CASE 1: The Promising Chemist Who Buried His Results

Bruce, a research chemist for a major petro-chemical company, wrote a dense


report about some new compounds he had synthesized in the laboratory from
oil-refining by-products. The bulk of the report consisted of tables listing their
chemical and physical properties, diagrams of their molecular structure,
chemical formulas and computer printouts of toxicity tests. Buried at the end of
the report was a casual speculation that one of the compounds might be a
particularly effective insecticide.

Seven years later, the same oil company launched a major research program to
find more effective but environmentally safe insecticides. After six months of
research, someone uncovered Bruce’s report and his toxicity tests. A few hours
of further testing confirmed that one of Bruce’s compounds was the safe,
economical insecticide they had been looking for.

Bruce had since left the company, because he felt that the importance of his
research was not being appreciated.

1. Define the rhetorical situation: Who is communicating to whom about


what, how, and why? What was the goal of the communication in this
case?
2. Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use
of inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting of
information? Other?)
3. Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.
4. Identify possible solutions or strategies that would have prevented the
problem, and what benefits would be derived from implementing
solutions or preventing the problem.

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