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Subject: 
Re: Art Debate Was: [Re: Swearing?]
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Wed, 19 Jan 2000 20:56:44 GMT
Viewed: 
2337 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
<3885C764.F1AF855@eclipse.net> <FoLCpu.CzB@lugnet.com>
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James Brown wrote:

Yup, that was clear.  I don't quite get "the chain of management...follow" -
are you saying that the boss(es) of the scapegoat should also get punished?

In many (but not all) cases - yes.

That's exactly it.  Even in this fairly simple scenario, responsibility
diffuses fast.  What you're talking about (seems to me) is punishment WAY
out of proportion to the crime.  If make a typo in a training document,
that might have lead to somebody getting killed down the road, I should get
thrown so far in debt I can't ever climb out?  Even more extreme, I'm
getting the message here that my proofreader, who missed the typo, should
get tossed down there with me.  And my manager, who didn't hire someone
that doesn't make typos. (Just to be clear - if my typo DID lead to someone
getting killed, well, yes, I should get thrown so far into debt my head
spins - but that's it.  MAYBE my proofreader, if it can be shown beyond
reasonable doubt that they are also negligent, but that's it.)

OK, I'm in your scenario now.  People dying as a result of _anything_ is
pretty serious.  Your typo is a problem.  You should be punnished
reasonably, but maybe not so much that your head spins - in this case.
Your proofreader who must have been negligent is similarly responsible.
In this specific case, I think that whoever designed a system by which a
typo could lead to death - or allowed the working system to degenerate
to that point should get the big bill.

Yup, I agree, but you missed the phrase "might have lead".  If there's no
clear indicator as to where the responsibility lies, how can it be arbitrarily
assigned?  That just screams "WRONG" to me.

<snipped bits about the Pinto>

Yes, I agree with this instance - Individuals at Ford made decisions - very
clearcut.  I have a problem with the arbitrary assigning of responsibility
when the lines are blurred.

Punish the company, yes.  Punish the people shown to be responsible *beyond
reasonable doubt*, yes. But punish everyone who might have had something to
do with it?  That last seems to be what you're advocating, and I can't get
my head around that.

I think that my examples in the note probably bring our views closer in
line.  Is that so?

Sort of.  At the very least, we're understanding each other better.

James
http://www.shades-of-night.com/lego/



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Art Debate Was: [Re: Swearing?]
 
<3885C764.F1AF855@eclipse.net> <FoLCpu.CzB@lugnet.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit (...) In many (but not all) cases - yes. (...) OK, I'm in your scenario now. People dying as a result of _anything_ is (...) (25 years ago, 19-Jan-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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