You are the project manager responsible for a proposal for new work for your company. The competition is tough and your company really needs the business or else 50 people will be without work resulting in a reduction in staff. The business manager tells you we need to win at all costs. She pronounces, “I don’t care what it takes—we need the win”. In fact, your own job depends on whether you win or not. You are on an airplane and sitting behind one of the competitor teams. You overhear their technical and cost strategy and it is tempting to use that information. After all, no one knows that you heard it.
How do you proceed? Saving Changes...
Valerie Denney Associate Professor| Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University- WorldwideCleveland, Sc, United States
Thanks John for posting such a great discussion. My first reaction is that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Using the Ethical Decision Making Framework (EDMF) is a great way to step though a complex multidimensional problem.
I feel that this would violate the Fairness value in our Code of Ethics even though the information was communicated in a public setting without an obvious attempt made to conceal what was being said.
If I use the Ethical Decision Making Framework to assess this situation, the question of "Could you make your decision public and feel good about it?" would likely be the deciding factor to not use this information to my and my company's advantage.
Kiron
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2 replies by John Watson and Luis Branco
Oct 10, 2019 7:29 PM
John Watson
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@Kiron, thank you for your insightful comment and for referencing and using the EDMF-Ethical Decision Making Framework. I wish that more project managers would utilize that resource when facing a potential ethical dilemma which can be found at pmi.org/ethics
An inadvertent disclosure certainly creates an ethical problem. Ideally, if I realized that someone was disclosing privileged information in public that I am not supposed to have, I would caution them that they should probably have a private discussion. They could even be violating multiple laws such as export violations without even knowing it.
If I overheard the information, I would be responsible for disclosing that to my ethics or legal department. Failure to do so could also get me fired. If my employer decided to fire me for not committing an ethics violation to benefit the company, they could be subject to a lawsuit and possibly legal penalties.
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1 reply by John Watson
Oct 10, 2019 7:42 PM
John Watson
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@Keith Novak, thank you for your insightful comments, which now bring honesty and responsibility into the conversation
Great point about advising the folks the important private discussion they thought they were having was very public conversation. In regards to disclosing what you overheard to your ethics or legal department, which is probably a good idea, would you say anything to them about your boss who was pressuring you and encouraging you to do whatever it takes to win?
I feel that this would violate the Fairness value in our Code of Ethics even though the information was communicated in a public setting without an obvious attempt made to conceal what was being said.
If I use the Ethical Decision Making Framework to assess this situation, the question of "Could you make your decision public and feel good about it?" would likely be the deciding factor to not use this information to my and my company's advantage.
Kiron
@Kiron, thank you for your insightful comment and for referencing and using the EDMF-Ethical Decision Making Framework. I wish that more project managers would utilize that resource when facing a potential ethical dilemma which can be found at pmi.org/ethics Saving Changes...
An inadvertent disclosure certainly creates an ethical problem. Ideally, if I realized that someone was disclosing privileged information in public that I am not supposed to have, I would caution them that they should probably have a private discussion. They could even be violating multiple laws such as export violations without even knowing it.
If I overheard the information, I would be responsible for disclosing that to my ethics or legal department. Failure to do so could also get me fired. If my employer decided to fire me for not committing an ethics violation to benefit the company, they could be subject to a lawsuit and possibly legal penalties.
@Keith Novak, thank you for your insightful comments, which now bring honesty and responsibility into the conversation
Great point about advising the folks the important private discussion they thought they were having was very public conversation. In regards to disclosing what you overheard to your ethics or legal department, which is probably a good idea, would you say anything to them about your boss who was pressuring you and encouraging you to do whatever it takes to win? Saving Changes...
Whether to report on a manager for pressuring people to act unethically can a much more complicated question. It can be your word against theirs, and most businesses don't have the luxury of a whole ethics and legal department.
If there is a formal process to investigate such reports and they don't agree that you sufficiently proved inappropriate pressure, you may have a very tense working situation afterwards. I would document a pattern of behavior unless you are certain you can substantiate your claim. A single event could be a misunderstanding. A written record of multiple events is going to carry a lot more weight than a verbal description of one single discussion from memory. Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear John
Very interesting your question because it makes us think
Thank you for placing it
Whether we like it or not, (consciously or unconsciously) we will use the information we may occasionally obtain.
What is the most appropriate behavior?
Ask to be removed from the project? Saving Changes...
Priya PatraDelivery Director| Capgemini India Technology Services LtdMumbai, India
Thank you for introducing me to Ethical Decision Making Framework - I will leverage it surely Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Oct 10, 2019 5:41 PM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
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John -
I feel that this would violate the Fairness value in our Code of Ethics even though the information was communicated in a public setting without an obvious attempt made to conceal what was being said.
If I use the Ethical Decision Making Framework to assess this situation, the question of "Could you make your decision public and feel good about it?" would likely be the deciding factor to not use this information to my and my company's advantage.
Luis,
Thank for your interest. The link you reference is to one of our many articles
The links below have a variety of ethics related content. The second link is a deeper dive than the first one and takes you to some tools which offer self and project team assessments, as well as an ethical decision-making workshop, and project bully identification. I encourage you to test drive them and we welcome and appreciate your feedback. The third link takes you directly to the Ethical Decision-Making Framework you were inquiring about
Enrique CappellaPartner| Grupo Sinergia & Personal Strenths LatinamericaSabana, San Jose, Costa Rica
Dear John:
Thank you for your contribution. This scenario may happen to anyone at any time. IN all our actions we need to invoke our personal and ethical values. Generraly speaking people need a motivation to behave and there is a difference about behaving motivated by the short term and the future. When we think about the future and the impact of our decisssions (there is always a consequence) we also need to answer the question: Can I live with this decission? Hence I strongly believe that the DMFprovides practitioner with a solid decission making framework to help us to become a better me.
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1 reply by Luis Branco
Oct 11, 2019 11:13 AM
Luis Branco
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Dear Enrique
What is the most appropriate behavior, in your opinion, under the circumstances described by John?
