Mile Island and the Billion Essay

Statistics and regulations are in most cases likely to influence business individuals in ignoring them, feeling that a message containing them is related to a standard procedure.

It is laudable that the Plant Performance Services Section manager wrote the actual message he intended to send in a succinct manner. However, he compensated this through the fact that he inserted it at the end of the message and by filling the rest of the memo with information that did not convey a clear significance.

Considering the seriousness of the situation, the memo should have involved a meeting proposal between the two managers, as one could not possibly expect a simple memo to resolve the whole state of affairs. The Nuclear Services Section manager did not even propose a deadline for the condition, seemingly considering that the problem did not need to be solved urgently and that it depended solely on the Plant Integration manager whether or not they would engage in dealing with the circumstances.

Not only did the Nuclear Services Station manager had the mission of sending a report to the Plant Integration manager, as he was also in charge of coming up with efficient techniques of influencing the memo's receiver in solving the problem. It seems that the memo's writer got lost while trying to devise the text, since the report was more than obvious and one should have encountered little difficulties in managing to send it further to the individuals in charge of preventing the incident.

In spite of the fact that one can believe that the memo's sender was initially confused because of the text directly put his job at risk, the importance of the condition should have influenced him in doing the right thing-that is, stopping a forthcoming nuclear accident. One of the first steps in creating a memo is that of describing its purpose, so as for the reader to understand it from the very first paragraphs.Given that the Three Mile Island memo was a report, it is not unnatural for the sender to involve their personal recommendation in the situation (writing@CSU). The fact that the Nuclear Services Section manager chose to have his recommendations evident from the first lines of the memo proves that he was more interested in following the rules than in stopping a disaster.

While it is natural for one to want to wait for more advises from individuals in other departments when trying to deal with conditions that regard their companies entirely, the Nuclear Services Section manager failed through the fact that he did not act immediately and urged the Plant Integration manager to take action before it would be too late. Such conditions require little formalities, given that working at a nuclear plant makes it likely for one to be aware of the consequences of a nuclear core meltdown.

The Three Mile Island nuclear accident proved how a poorly-written memo can produce devastating aftermath. Whether it was because of conflicting interests, poor judgment, or simply because the Nuclear Services Section manager was unaware regarding the standard form of a memo, the accident happened and it demonstrated how erroneous thinking can sometimes be catastrophic.

Works cited:

Griffin, C.W. "Three Mile Island and the Billion Dollar Memo."

"Audience and Purpose." Retrieved October 21, 2010, from the Owl Purdue Online Writing Lab Website: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/590/01/

"Writing Guide: Writing Memos." Retrieved October 21, 2010, from the California State University Website: http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/documents/memo/index.cfm

Griffin, C.W. "Three Mile Island and the Billion Dollar Memo.".....