O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L   C U L T U R E BUSINESS ETHICS Occasionally a business situation poses an ethical challenge to one of our consultants. In the field consultants have to rely on their judgment to do the right thing. Below we have a situational quiz that presents five ethical dilemmas. Following the quiz is our ethics field test, a series of questions that can be applied to difficult situations. How would you balance ethics and business? Nancy, the client's project manager, wants to learn Microsoft Access but her department won't pay for a copy of the software. She asks if you will copy Access from your laptop onto her personal computer. You tell her— "Sure." "Of course not! That would be stealing." "Why on earth would you want to learn Access?" 1. A. B. C. The client asks you if CDG could bid on some enhancements to the project you're working on. You know that what the client is asking for is in fact already included in CDG's bid. You realize the client thinks his company must pay extra for these "enhancements" and is willing to do so. You say— "We'll be happy to prepare a bid." "It's extra work for us, but you're such a great client we'll do it for free." "We already planned to do it and it's included in our bid." 2. A. B. C. Agatha, the client's project manager, has made some bad decisions that are going to result in missing an important deadline. Sam, the client's number-two person on the team has just been fired for making racially offensive remarks. Agatha tells you that she is going to write a false report to management putting the blame for the missed deadline entirely on Sam. Knowing that the next phase of the project is coming up soon and that Agatha has a major say in whether CDG will be asked back, you tell Agatha— "No problem. This has nothing to do with CDG. Whatever you say to your manager is your business." "Sam was a jerk, but if you file a false report blaming Sam for things he didn't do, I will be forced to tell your boss." "It's not that simple." 3. A. B. C. While having lunch with Alice, a programmer that you've been working with, Alice reveals that she is gay. You did not ask her about this and wish she hadn't told you. A few days later the client's project manager Jack, who is also Alice's boss, tells you that he thinks homosexuality is immoral, he suspects that Alice is gay and that he is going to fire her. He then looks you in the eye and asks if you have any reason to think Alice is gay. You reply, "Jack, you're a bigot." Thinking that Alice has been way too blatant and that this is her own fault, you tell the truth, that she has admitted being gay. Tell Jack that this is not something that you can discuss with him. 4. A. B. C. Max is a fellow CDGer on your project. Max is having a very hard time financially through no fault of his own. His wife has recently died, leaving him with two small kids (one of whom has a serious birth defect) and piles of debt. You discover that one of the client's employees is paying Max to help her falsify expense reports. You confront Max and he says his personal problems temporarily overwhelmed him, but that he's told the other person he will not help her anymore. Max tells you he's sorry he did it, that he's never done anything like that before, and he begs you to say nothing. You— Tell him that you are going to report his conduct to CDG regardless. Tell him you need to think about it, knowing that in fact you intend informing both CDG and the client immediately. Tell him that you will keep quiet for now, but if you see any further evidence of wrongdoing, you will tell both CDG and the client. 5. A. B. C. ANSWERS   CDG ETHICS FIELD TEST Does what you are considering feel right? Is it legal? Does it comply with our values? If you do it, will you feel bad? How would it look in the newspaper? Would a good person do this? What if everyone in your circumstances did this? Does it feel right? If you know it's wrong, don't do it! If you're not sure, ask. Keep asking until you get an answer.
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