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Decision Point Four

15 January, 2016 - 09:08
Available under Creative Commons-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/05c97be4-3ad0-47f2-b5a7-a75d0ad90ab7@3.72

Decision Point Four

  • A few months after Margaret Gooderal started her new position, she was presented with a difficult problem. One of the "girls" (the women and men in Environmental Testing at Hughes), Lisa Lightner, came to her desk crying. She was in tears and trembling because Donald LaRue had forcefully insisted that she pass a chip that she was sure had failed the test she was running. Lightner ran the hermeticity test on the chips. The chips are enclosed in a metal container, and one of the questions is whether the seal to that container leaks. From her test, she is sure that the chip is a "leaker" — the seal is not airtight so that water and corrosion will seep in over time and damage the chip. She has come to Gooderal for advice. Should she do what LaRue wants and pass a chip she knows is a leaker?

Dialogue

  • Construct a dialogue in which Gooderal advises Lightner on what to do
  • Consider these issues in constructing your dialogue:
  • Should Gooderal and Lightner go over LaRue's head on this issue?
  • If not, how should they confront LaRue?

Debriefing for Decision Point Four

  • Each drama point revolves around one or more conflicts. What is the conflict in your drama point. How did you play this conflict out through your dramatization?
  • Your drama takes place over a socio-technical system. Look at the above table. What are the key values at play in the Hughes STS? How did these values enter into your dramatization? For example, did a value conflict drive and confrontation between characters in your dramatization? Think, in this section, about how the STS and its values enter into your dramatic portrayal of the events in this case.
  • What kind of narrative form did your drama take on? Was it a tragedy? A comedy? A story with a happy ending? Something else? What is it about the case that led you to pick the narrative form that you did?
  • Finally, did you learn anything about the case by constructing and acting out your drama? What was it? What is different about these dramatic rehearsals in comparison with other learning activities you have undergone this semester?