Diamandis Incident Report
Writing
Read Chapter 16: “The Report That Changes Things.”
Chapter 16 The Report That Changes Things.pdf
You work in the Human Resources department of Diamandis Publishing House, and you have been told to write an incident report about something that happened on October 15, 2018. Here is the background, and a description of what occurred:
Vince Chamberlain is Editor-in-Chief of Humanities Magazine. This means he is in charge of all written content in the magazine except for advertisements. He has held this position for the past 5 years; before he was promoted, he worked for 10 years as writer for the magazine.
Charles Parkhurst is Publisher of Humanities Magazine. This means he is in charge of selling advertising. He has been Publisher for 10 years; prior to being promoted, he worked for 10 years as a sales rep: 5 years as Sales Representative and 5 years as Senior Sales Representative.
Chamberlain and Parkhurst tolerate each other, but just barely. Six years ago, Chamberlain and his wife, Martha Foster, were divorced. Two months after the divorce was final, Martha Foster married Parkhurt. As a result, there is bad blood between the two men. In 2010, soon after Chamberlain learned that his ex-wife had married Parkhurst, the two men got into a verbal altercation in the company cafeteria. Witnesses said that Chamberlain threatened to kill Parkhurst. Both men received official reprimands but, because of the personal nature of the grievance, Human Resource personnel persuaded the company’s President and CEO, Jacob Diamandis, not to fire either man. Since then, the two men speak to each other only when absolutely necessary, usually relying upon underlings to convey messages to each other.
In the October 2018 issue of Humanities Magazine, Chamberlain published a short memoir by Jane Malcolm titled, “My Father: The Drunk” in which she discusses how her family was destroyed by her father’s alcoholism. He also published a long poem by Timothy Barker titled, “Booze Nearly Killed Me.” Chamberlain saw the final layout of the magazine, which included everything including advertisements, and approved the layout. Parkhurst had no input into layout.
When the issue came out, Parkhurst was furious to find that an advertisement from his biggest account, Jack Daniels, had been placed between the memoir and the poem. Jack Daniels Company was insisting they be reimbursed the entire cost, both production and advertising fees, for the ad because of the terrible placement.
Parkhurst went to Chamberlain’s office. He flung open the door and barged inside. The two men yelled at each other for at least 10 minutes, until someone threw a punch and a fistfight ensued (Parkhurst said Chamberlain started the fight; Chamberalin said it was Parkhurst).
Now the entire magazine is in an uproar.
Your job is to write up the incident report, which will be submitted directly to Jacob Diamandis. [For this assignment, if you wish, you may make up witnesses and/or other material and information.] Make sure to use Chapter 16 as your guide.
