Question

1.F): Understanding of ethical and professional responsibilities

William, an engineer working for an established engineering firm, is working after normal business hours to finish an important and urgent on-going bid. He realizes that he is missing data that had been sent to his coworker Mike. William had inadvertently observed Mike typing his password several days ago and decides to log into Mike’s computer and resend the data to himself. Upon doing so, William sees an email sent from Mike’s account in which he shares sensitive information about details of the ongoing bid with some of Mike’s golf friends, people he knows from his previous job at a competing engineering firm.

William knows he should report this, but in doing so, he would have to admit violating the company’s information technology regulations by logging into Mike’s computer. If he warns Mike to stop sharing confidential information, he would also have to reveal the source of his information.

What does William do in this situation? (Consider the rubric below in your answer)

Area / Score	4 - Exemplary	3 – Acceptable	2 – Marginal	1 – Unacceptable
Identifies the issues	Describes the dilemma in detail having gathered pertinent facts. Ascertains exactly what must be decided	Identifies the dilemma, including pertinent facts, and ascertains what must be decided	Has a vague idea of what the dilemma is and is uncertain what must be decided	Does not recognize the dilemmas and does not identify what has to be decided
Considers Stakeholders	Determines who should be involved in the decision making process and thoroughly reflects on the viewpoints of the stakeholders	Determines who should be involved in the decision making process and accurately identifies all the stakeholders	Is unsure as to who should be involved in the decision-making process	Does not recognize who should be involved in the decision-making process
Outlines the options	Clarifies a number of alternatives and evaluates each on the basis of whether or not there is interest and concern over the welfare of all stakeholders	Clarifies at least two alternatives and predicts their associated consequences in detail.	Begins to appraise the relevant facts and assumptions and identifies some alternatives.	Does not appraise the relevant facts and assumptions
Evaluate the arguments	Formulates an implementation plan that delineates the execution of the decision and that evidences a thoughtful reflection on the benefits and risks of action	Formulates an implementation plan that delineates the execution of the decision	Has difficulty identifying and appropriate course of action from among alternatives	Does not identify an appropriate course of action from among alternatives

Answer 1

1. Identifiaction of the issue - William has found an evidence of vital information about the company's project being leaked to the competitors by one of his colleagues.The information has been received by unauthorisedly logging into his email account. The ethical dilemma in the situation is that Williams needs to prevent the damages caused by the leakage, but for this he will have to disclose, how he got the information. The way of getting the information is a crime in law. If he keeps silent, his act will damage the prospects of his company. If he tell the truth behind the information, he is likley to be liable for breach of privacy.

2. Stakeholders in the situation are Williams, Mike, Company they work for and the law enforcement authorities.

3. The options before Williams are

(a) to confront Mike and ask him about the leaks and tell him how he got the information.

(b) To look for more clues that may lead to revelation of Mike's actions.In this case he runs the risk of the bid going to other party.

(c) To keep silent and let the things happen as they are.

4. Williams should take into confidence his immediate senior in the company and tell him /her the situation, and try to look for other clues leading to revelation of issue. He must take mitigative steps to prevent the bid from going to other party by making suitable plan changes and keeping them confidential, sharing them at last moment with Mike, when it may cause least damages.