CASES ON PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

CASE-1

Satomi works in a research facility that provides statistical results for the
bioengineering firm Tech Cure

. She is one of four interns expected to go through hundreds of samples per day. At
her first week on the job, her supervisor informs her that all blood samples are to
be completely anonymous. No testing can be done if personal information is
revealed—meaning, the samples must be properly disposed of if opened, or
returned to the physicians if unopened to be re-anonymized.

For the first five weeks, most of the new interns follow procedures to check that
samples were anonymized before testing occurred. However, one of the interns,
Max, failed to verify whether the samples were anonymized. Halfway through the
testing, Satomi discovers the non-anonymized samples. She considers whether they
should tell their supervisor, but the other interns ask her not to speak up so that
they won’t get in trouble. One of the interns argues that as long as they remove the
information from the non-anonymized samples, the batch would otherwise be fine.
Max is hesitant to go to their supervisor as it is his fault, but Satomi can see that
neither does he like the idea the other interns are suggesting.

What should Satomi do?

CASE-2

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?

CASE-3

Tony works for a small company that tests electronics products before they are
released to the market. The company performs independent quality assurance tests
to certify that the products meet all government regulation standards.

Toni’s company signs a contract with a large cell phone company; this contract is
the first major contract the company has received and has the potential to greatly
increase their revenue. Tony is then assigned to conduct all the tests on the cell
phone company’s latest product.

Tony conducts all the tests and finds that the phone is up to regulation on almost
all tests. However, the product fails to meet the regulation requirements for
interfering noise transmittance. Tony knows that this test is not always reliable and
repeats it a couple more times.

While he is repeating the test, the president of the phone company visits Tony in
the lab to see how the testing is going. When Tony tells him that the product is
consistently failing one test, the president proceeds to tell him, “There are
hundreds of people whose livelihood depends on the release of this new product.”
Additionally, he tells Tony he has worked as a test engineer and knows the test is
not always accurate, and it would be in everybody’s best interest if Tony could
approve the phone.

Tony is shocked that the president would come up to him in lab and imply that he
should falsify data. He is unsure of what to do and knows that if he stands up to the
president, his company could lose out on the large phone company’s business. But
if the product is not certified for release, hundreds of people could lose their jobs.

How should Tony handle this situation?

 CASE-4

Sherry has been working at a computer hardware company for over 25 years. In
recent years, many recent college graduates (approximately 100 per year) have
been hired into the company. This year, 3 new hires were introduced into her
group.

Occasionally, Sherry must train these hires by leading technical workshops and
giving one-on- one advice. However, she feels that, instead of growing from
within, the company has spent a lot of resources finding young and talented
employees to increase its development of new products. Although she is not a
manager, established employees, like her, must often assume responsibility for
these hires. Sherry is unhappy because she feels that the time used to train these
new employees could have been spent completing her projects.

Sherry wants to bring her concerns up to her manager or ethics department, but is
unsure if it is necessary. What should she do?