ITCM 120 -301 Ethical Scenarios

1. A supplier sends a basket of expensive foodstuffs to your home at Christmas with a card:
"We hope you and your family enjoy the 'goodies.'". What action(s) might you want to
take?

2. The purchasing manager for a large company agrees to give you an order (their first),
expecting you agree to make a $200 donation to his favorite charity, a local youth sports
team. How do you respond?

3. A large, prospective client calls you and asks about a competitor's reputation. One of
your long time customers had a very bad experience with this competitor. What
information do you share with the prospect? How do you respond to the prospect call?

4. As department manager, you are hosting an informal celebration in the office. The food
budget is $200. Your next door neighbor has just started her own catering business and
asks to supply the food. Since she is just starting out, she'll do it at cost and provide extra
items at no charge. What might you want to consider.

5. You are in a head-to-head battle with your arch competitor, Evil Enterprises. One of your
co-workers approaches you. He has recently joined your company after having worked
for a second competitor for several years.
He suggests, "I made notes on all of Evil's bids when I could get the data. They use some
clear cost standards. Would you like me to bring my notes to the office tomorrow and let
you look through them?" How do you respond?
6. SDX Alliance is a large company that sells computers, computer components, and
software. Ralph is hired as an entry-level software engineer at SDX Alliance. His first
project was to assist in writing the code for SDX Alliance’s new hard disc controller. He
had previously worked on a similar system interning at a start-up and had written a code
which greatly enhanced the performance of their product. Ralph quietly re-uses this same
code in the SDX Alliance product, and does not think to tell anyone that he has used the
code from his last job. His manager is thrilled with the speed improvements this code
brings to the product.
Before the product is released, it has to undergo a four-month long quality assurance
process review. During the review of the product, it was found the code which Ralph
developed had been copyrighted by the startup he had previously worked for. Even
though Ralph had developed the code, his previous company still owned the intellectual
property rights to it.

When his manager informed Ralph of the problem, Ralph admits he did not realize he
had made a mistake because he was not familiar with copyright laws. Ralph then goes on
to explain that the start-up he used to work for is now out of business and is unsure if
SDX Alliance would be able to get in contact with the owner of the copyright. If SDX
Alliance can’t use Ralph’s code, then it will have to rewrite the entire code of the
product, delaying its release by many months.
What should they do?
7. Kara has been working as an environmental engineer at a consulting firm for over
twenty-five years. Well-known for settling disputes between her corporate clients before
litigation must be pursued, Kara often analyzes technical data, particularly distributions
of solid particle pollution, presented by disputing parties to help them reach a
compromise on the cost of environmental cleanup. For example, two parties may be
separated from one another by a strip of land; however, each party must fiscally
contribute in keeping the land free from pollutants.
One day, Kara was contacted by a journalist to talk about her experiences at the firm.
Kara spoke about how she often encountered cases where companies did not accurately
depict levels of solid particle pollution occupying the companies’ respective
surroundings. Instead, technical experts, who are mostly engineers, would misrepresent
data in order to make it seem that minority parties were responsible for a greater part of
the contamination. At the end of the interview, Kara emphasized the necessity of
engineers taking ownership and being honest about the presentation of data.
At what point does an engineer’s interpretation of data move from sound technical
reasoning to misrepresentation? How should engineers deal with the pressure to come up
with data that may indicate favorable results for their employers?
8. Sarah was recently promoted to a managerial position at her industrial engineering
company. With her new position, she is now responsible for overseeing the company’s
production factory, meaning approximately 50 factory workers now report to her.
Although Sarah previously worked as an engineer and does not have any experience
running a factory, she is excited to begin her new position.
At the end of her first day, Sarah is confused to see her factory workers continuing to
work well past the end of their 8-hour shift. She then goes to the factory supervisor (who
reports to her) to express concern because the factory does not have the budget to pay so
many workers overtime. The supervisor smiles at Sarah and explains that the factory
meets production goals by making the factory workers work off the clock. The workers
are well aware of this expectation and went along with it in order to keep their jobs. Sarah
is shocked to learn this illegal practice had become part of the company culture, but the
supervisor explains that the company’s CEO (who is Sarah’s boss) is well aware of this
expectation.
What should Sarah do?

9. Dr. Naseer is a chemical engineering professor at the University of Eastlands.

Traditionally, various professors from diverse institutions would visit Eastlands to learn
about research conducted by the University’s scholars as well as explore potential
collaboration. Last month, Dr. Naseer discovered that his department would be hosting a
famous chemical engineering professor, Dr. Alston.
During his three-month visit, Dr. Alston observed various group meetings presented by
Dr. Naseer and his students. More importantly, he learned a great deal about the research
that Dr. Naseer was doing in the field of reactor design. At the conclusion of his stay, Dr.
Alston returned to his institution without mentioning any plans for collaboration.
A few months later, Dr. Naseer was ready to publish a paper he had written on his topic
of research. However, through an online resource, he discovered Dr. Alston had
published a recent paper that used identical theorems, background information, and
results Dr. Naseer had written in his work. The paper did not make any acknowledgments
to Dr. Naseer.
The Eastlands’ professor was angry and felt betrayed. During his visit, Dr. Alston did not
mention that he was conducting research or about to publish on the same topic in reactor
design.
Dr. Naseer’s colleagues expressed disappointment in Dr. Alston’s actions, and in the field
of higher academia in general. They urged Dr. Naseer to take action, but, since it was not
common practice, there had not been a non-disclosure agreement between the two parties
in conflict.
What, if anything, should Dr. Naseer do?
 10. Ramona is an intern at an up-and-coming power electronics startup. On her first day of
work, she was shown around a laboratory where she would complete most of her projects.
During this time, she was also introduced to nine male interns who would be sharing the
same lab space. Since the lab could only accommodate five interns at a time, a vote was
held to determine who would work in the lab during the day (e.g. 8am to 4pm) and who
would work at night (e.g. 4pm to 12am) during certain days of the week. The morning
shift was a popular
option for a majority of the interns; Ramona was fortunate to be selected for four (out of
five) morning shifts.
Weeks passed. Ramona had been enjoying her work and almost completed one of her
projects. However, one day, a fellow intern asked how she was doing. Ramona
commented that she was “good but tired.” The intern replied that Ramona had “no reason
to be tired because [she was] working mostly day shifts.” Ramona was offended, but
chose to ignore his comment.
The next day, she ran into several interns, one of whom was the one she encountered the
previous day. At some point in group’s conversation, the same intern made a remark
about how Ramona “always got her way [in the workplace] because she was a girl.”
Ramona was upset; however, because she did not want to cause a scene, chose again to
ignore his remark.
During the following weeks, Ramona tried to avoid the intern who made the
inappropriate comments. However, certain settings forced her to interact with him and, in
those times, he made a point to make Ramona feel guilty and trivial. Because she did not
observe him behave condescendingly towards the other interns, Ramona speculated that
her colleague held a prejudice towards female engineers.
How should Ramona respond?

Ethical Scenarios Responses

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