TO:         Gregory J. Stratman, Ph.D., Department of English, University of Missouri-Rolla
FROM:     Bo Bayles
DATE:     21 May, 2005
SUBJECT:     Technical Writing in Real-World Fields Interviews

McNeil Informatics Proposal Problem
Denise McNeil of McNeil Informatics has an ethical dilemma in her decision to apply for a contract to construct an intranet with the Saudi Arabian company Crescent Petroleum. She fears Crescent may discriminate against her company because of its employment of women in top positions and the ethnic surnames of some of its employees. Denise wants to withhold some data about her company in the proposal for the contract, since the project would be beneficial to McNeil Informatics.

Summary of Recommendation
Denise McNeil should carefully consider what is in the best interests of her employees and company before making a decision on how to proceed. She wants to remove the fact that she started McNeil Informatics from her proposal, replace the first names of top female employees with their first initials on the project team resumes, and is considering changing the name of or replacing a network engineer. Denise should first evaluate the importance of the contract. If the benefits to McNeil Informatics justify putting up with possible discrimination, she should submit the proposal that gives McNeil the best possible chance at winning it. Before doing so, she should consult the involved employees to make sure that they are comfortable working for Crescent Petroleum, and most importantly, make sure that these employees will be safe if they get the contract.

Altering Company Historical Data
Denise McNeil should be reluctant to withhold any data about her company from a potential client. In this case, the information she wants to take out of her company's standard boilerplate text is is company history, specifically that it was founded by a woman. This information is not relevant to her company's ability to perform the jobs in the contract; it's just a historical note, not a statement on her company's past performance. If she were leaving out a history of poor performance by her company, that would be unethical, but that's not the case here. Therefore, she is justified in her decision to leave it out, but only if she feels comfortable doing so. If she feels that landing the contract is important enough to her company to warrant dealing with prejudice, she should give her company the best chance at the contract that she can.

Changing Disclosed Names
Denise McNeil thinks that not disclosing first names of top female employees in her company might make her proposal more likely to be accepted by Crescent Petroleum's administration. Again, the decision to withhold any information from a potential employer should be considered carefully. In this case, the first names of the employees have no bearing on their abilities and experience, so omitting them is not deceptive. While the decision is Denise's, ethically, she should ask the employees who will be involved if they object to having their first names excluded. Also, if she is going to remove some employees' first names and replace them with first initials, she should do the same for all the involved employees.

Also, she must be careful about this decision and do some research. According to the data about the contract, most of the work will be done in Riyadh. This means that if her proposal is accepted, and her employees go to work, the women in her company might face discrimination or danger while they are in Saudi Arabia. Denise should research Crescent Petroleum to see if it has had problems with discrimination against women in the past, or to see if there is have ever been complaints with how it treats foreign contractors. If possible, she should ask colleagues and contacts in her own industry if they have ever done work for Crescent, or if they can point her to someone that has. Again, Denise should consult with the her employees that would be involved in the project, and see if any of them have objections to or reservations about working for Crescent. Wanting her company to do well and get the proposal is a good thing, but Denise's first priority should be the safety of her employees.

Engineer Selection
When consulting with her technical writer, Denise McNeil came across another potential prejudice issue in the Crescent Petroleum contract. The engineer who has done most of the networking work for her company in the last year, Mark Feldman, has a last name that could evoke prejudice from the Saudis in Crescent's administration, jeopardizing McNeil's chance at the contract. Denise is considering two options – changing Mark Feldman's name on the project team resumes, or using a different engineer for the project. Ethically, she should consult with Mark Feldman before deciding. As above, it is possible that while working in Riyadh, Mark Feldman could experience discrimination or a dangerous situation due to his ethnicity, so Denise's highest responsibility is employee safety. Again, Denise should research Crescent's past as thoroughly as possible to ensure security. If Mark is the most qualified employee at McNeil Informatics, he should be asked about the job before she assigns someone it to someone else. Denise should ask Mark if he would be comfortable having his name changed on the project team resumes, and if he has any objections to working in Saudi Arabia. If Mark does have a problem, Denise should respect his wishes and only then consider using another (possibly less experienced) engineer for the project. In that case, she should only advertise that employee's experience in her proposal, not Mark Feldman's.