Vital Work Venture Varies with Vickie’s Values

 

Vickie was on the horns of a serious dilemma. It had almost made her miss the brilliant orange and red colors of the setting sun.

A chilly breeze and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee from the pantry prompted Vickie to take a break. As she sipped on the steaming brew, her mind rewound events of the past few hours.

Vickie was a successful senior project manager with a mid-size marketing firm in Nevada. She had been asked to lead a marquee client’s high-priority multi-million-dollar new product promotion campaign across radio, television, and multiple social media platforms. On most days, she would have been delighted and immediately accepted this project for its high career prospects. However, today, she had asked her manager Dominic for some time. He was surprised and not too pleased, but had reluctantly given her a couple of days to decide.

Thinking long and hard, she still couldn’t decide.

Why?

The new product was from a company which sought to seize the opportunity of recreational cannabis being recently made legal in Nevada.

Right from childhood, her parents had taught her the dangers of drug abuse. At college, Vickie had volunteered to help students avoid and deal with drug addiction. She now volunteered with a local hospital which helped people recover from the effects of addiction.

Leading the project to success would accelerate her career. However, a recreational marijuana marketing project went totally against her long-held values!

Realizing she needed help, Vickie reached out to Rishi, a favorite professor from college. He had taught her several courses in her Ethics minor. The professor immediately responded to her request for a call in the evening.

Over Skype, Vickie explained her dilemma in detail. After patiently listening to her, Rishi asked:

1. Were her values against drug abuse strong enough for her to quit her job if forced to lead the project?
2. If she quit, how easily could she find another position?
3. Was she governed by any professional Code of Conduct?

Vickie replied that she felt very strongly against drug abuse and addiction. She wasn’t sure about the other questions and promised to get back to Rishi the next day.

Soon after, she recalled that, as a PMI member, she needed to follow the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. She realized that she had a responsibility to her employer to perform assigned work provided it was legal. She had to honestly disclose her moral conflict. Vickie’s manager needed to respect her strongly held values.

Was there a way she could work with Dominic to find a fair solution?

Speaking to Rishi the next day, Vickie explained her thought process. Was she thinking on the right lines?

Rishi felt that if she agreed to lead the project, it would be virtually impossible to completely ignore her deep-rooted beliefs. As professional as she tried to be, her subconscious bias could certainly to affect her leadership. Her team would perceive this, and the project would suffer.

He suggested that she openly express the dilemma to her manager and explain the consequences to the project. She could request that the project be led by a peer. The best outcome would be if her manager agreed. If not, she would have to make a difficult decision. The professor also asked her to also consider other win-win options.

That evening, Vickie explained to her manager how her strong beliefs about drug abuse could subconsciously affect the project. Dominic appreciated her honesty but said that she’d been specifically chosen for her project management skills. No one else in the firm had that level of expertise, and so the project would still suffer!

Vickie suggested that instead of leading the project, she would be happy to contribute her technical expertise by actively assisting and mentoring another project manager.

The win-win option was readily accepted. Vickie worked hard to support Ivonne, the new project manager.

Fast-forwarding to eleven months ahead: The marketing project achieved all objectives, and was declared an unqualified success!

Have you faced a similar dilemma?

How did you handle it?

Do you agree with Vickie’s strategy?

Would you have done anything differently?

Please share your experience and views in the comments section!

Note: You can find a a rich set of Ethics resources such as the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Ethical Decision Making Framework, Ethics-related Tools, etc., in many world languages at http://www.pmi.org/ethics