No Good Options – Now What?
From the Ethics Bistro Blog
by Tara Leparulo,
Shenila Shahabuddin, Juan Posada Toro, Yannick Arekion, Albert Agbemenu, Kannan Ganesan, Ming Yeung, Laszlo J. Kremmer MBA, CSPO®, CSM®, PMP®, Stelian ROMAN, Witold Hendrysiak
We all tackle ethical dilemmas. Wrong decisions can break careers. Which are the key challenges faced? What are some likely solutions? Where can we find effective tools? Who can apply these and why? Dry, theoretical discussions don't help. Join us for lively, light conversations to learn, share and grow!
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Shenila Shahabuddin
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Albert Agbemenu
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Laszlo J. Kremmer MBA, CSPO®, CSM®, PMP®
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Witold Hendrysiak
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Petra and Tracy are former university classmates and friends. After graduation, Petra became a philosophy professor and Tracy went into construction project management. In recent years they have taken a long walk each morning before starting their days. Sometimes they talk about life and family, and sometimes about work. Today, Tracy was clearly troubled and needed Petra’s perspective.
“I’ve got a problem and I don’t know what to do,” she said. “You’re the ethicist, maybe you have an idea!”
“Please go on, my child” replied Petra with a smile (she is all of 12 days older). “How can I help?”
“You know I’ve been given the JKL Tower project, right? It’s the biggest project in the city right now, and I’m wondering if I’m up to it. The architectural team has defined certain required tolerances for the building – the specifics aren’t important – but they far exceed what is required by the relevant regulations.”
“Well, that makes sense,” interjected Petra. “Sort of a belt and braces approach, right?”
Posted
by
Bryan Shelby
on: June 02, 2022 12:10 PM |
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Comments (12)
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Luis Branco
CEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, Ldª
Carcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear Bryan
The topic that you brought to our reflection and debate is very interesting.
Do you think that, nowadays, people make decisions based on what their conscience dictates and/or a code of ethics and professional conduct?
Or... do we live in times when ethics is elastic or, in other words, do people override their interests to principles?
Stéphane Parent
Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker
Prince Edward Island, Canada
Tracy needs more information. Tracy needs to understand why the architects' specifications are stricter than required by regulations. Tracy needs to understand what are the client's stake in meeting these specifications. If possible, have all affected parties meet to present their side.
Bryan Shelby
Retired| Retired and volunteering, having left "employment" behind!
New York, Ny, United States
Good suggestion Stéphane -- more research and/or communication is almost always a good idea, as long as time permits. Suppose however that there is no time for additional research because it is time for the work to begin -- then how can Tracy decide?
Bryan Shelby
Retired| Retired and volunteering, having left "employment" behind!
New York, Ny, United States
Luis, thank you for your thought-provoking question. Sadly, it does seem that there are always those who cut corners in order to further their own interests, but that is hardly new -- there are stories of this that are literally thousands of years old. It's my opinion that conscience and principles should over-rule short-term interests. The challenge here is that someone's interests could be harmed by either choice, so how can she decide which way to go?
Luis Branco
CEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, Ldª
Carcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear Brian
I am convinced that it is an issue that has to be decided by the owner of the work (project sponsor).
If a request to change the schedule and budget is accepted and if the impact of these changes is acceptable, I believe that the work can be carried out in accordance with what was defined by the architectural team.
Md Rahman
Project Manager| The Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade)
Sydney, Nsw, Australia
I agree with Luis's last comment that the project sponsor should be the deciding factor. However, Tracy should articulate both options to facilitate the sponsor's decision.
Gretta Kelzi
Operations Manager/Ethics Insights Team| Esri Lebanon/PMI
Jdeidet Al Maten, Al Maten, Lebanon
A great story Bryan that we face on daily basis, as project managers, maybe with different amplitude. The project manager's responsibility and their honesty in dealing with critical situations are the pillars to take the right decision. It is the project manager's duty to take ownership for the decisions made of fail to make, by acting in a truthful manner both in communications and in
conduct.
A great and contemporary situation Bryan. The responsibility is on the project manager to be ethical and follow ethical guidelines so as to ensure the trust between stakeholders is not broken. Its not about the result or a path or an approach as much. It is more about the relationship that is a part of the engagement.
Thanks for the story.
Thanks Bryan for this great topic.
Welcome to my world. These are some of the situations I find myself having to deal with my project teams almost on a daily basis. Decisions we make have consequences and as Project Managers, we need to take full responsibility for our actions and inactions.
I am currently working on a tower project here as well and also happens to be amongst the largest in town. The architects are just having wild thoughts that of course will only get us out of cost and time. The question is, What did the client ask for? What are the regulatory requires? The client's budget and timelines to occupy the facility are extremely important and should override the architect's wild creative imaginations. The PM must be firm and take full responsibility in the interest of the client (the Employer).
Thanks for bringing this to the fore...
This kind of decision cannot be under the responsibility of only one individual, in my opinion. Agree with the suggestion of Mr. Parent on the calling to the same table the stakeholders linked to the subject to define a better way to the case together. Even if there's no time, the impact of this decision may represent a greater creep to the schedule once involve regulations. Beside of that, I believe that the configuration management for the project would help align the changes, if necessary. Good case. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Bryan for sharing it.. This is the situation I face every day mostly at work but from the cyber security perspective where its very important to analyze the facts and make the right decisions and own it.
Latha Thamma reddi
Sr Product and Portfolio Management (Automation Innovation)| DXC Technology
Mckinney, Tx, United States
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