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Ethics and Responsibility Question

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TaoPhoenix:
I'll add that it's not enough "not to have a position", you should be careful of "proprietary info" termination contract clauses. It's easy to get into hot water on those.

Renegade:
I don't think that you're really asking a question about professional ethics. The question seems broader than that to me.

Graphic: Ethics? In a financial institution?


Longer explanation of fraud in finance...I have a rather long series on the topic of fractional reserve banking that illustrates exactly how and why it is fraud.

http://cynic.me/2012/05/28/frackin-reserve-the-mechanics-of-fractional-reserve-banking-1-6
http://cynic.me/2012/05/28/frackin-reserve-what-is-money-2-6
http://cynic.me/2012/05/28/frackin-reserve-how-fractional-reserve-banking-creates-money-and-why-it-is-fraudulent-3-6
http://cynic.me/2012/05/28/frackin-reserve-run-on-the-banks-or-run-on-the-people-4-6
http://cynic.me/2012/05/28/frackin-reserve-compound-interest-as-invisible-slavery-5-6
http://cynic.me/2012/05/28/frackin-reserve-summary-and-additional-resources-6-6

Part 3 has the "punch".

So, it's pretty much a given that they are criminal enterprises that have managed to make their crimes "legal".

How could it be any wonder that they're involved in criminal activity elsewhere? They're corrupt from the get go.


But practically, would reporting lead to a prosecution? It's second-hand information, so, that's debatable. It might be an idea for the hypothetical consultant to have a hypothetical conversation with the district (or crown) prosecutor.

It would be easier for the prosecutor to take things forward if they had some kind of evidence (files, etc.) drop into their laps, even if it were from an anonymous source. But they really do need something to start taking action.

The reality is that illegal activity is par for the course in business now because it's just a cost of business. If you can make more money than you'll get fined, then it's "ok". e.g. Vioxx made $12 billion, but incurred fines and penalties of almost $1 billion, making the almost 30,000 deaths that it caused well worth it.  :-\

I suppose that the question is whether or the hypothetical consultant believes that he/she can make a difference. If yes, then there's a pretty compelling moral/ethical case to do something.

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

Commonly: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
-Edmund Burke
--- End quote ---

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.
-Mahatma Gandhi
--- End quote ---

However...

Motivational graphic

IainB:
The OP presents a typical poser of the sort that HP used to pose in their "business ethics and responsibility" training programme. All new hires had to undergo online induction training in this. The ethics programme may have had little real benefit for HP though, as the organisation seems to have suffered from serial ethical execution errors from the top executive down, over a number of years.

Golden rule #1 - Operate from the basis of principled action. Formulate some ethical principles, and stick to them.
The principle here is clear communication upwards of any areas of ethical concern.
A general rule-of-thumb I was taught in consulting in the UK Defence/SS sector is to always report upwards in writing any instances or circumstances of actual or suspected fraud or unethical practice in a client account or in your own organisation. Your opinion is irrelevant, and your job is not to sleuth out the truth or otherwise of the matter - it will be out-of-scope of the Terms of Reference for the project you are engaged in. Just the facts and salient points as you know them is all you need to communicate.
You would usually do this as an email to your staff manager and CCd to the account/commercial manager, and would ask the former (in that email) for advice as to what action (if any) he/she may require you to take other than reporting the matter.

Golden rule #2 - Paranoia.

* (a) Always ensure that at least two (2) people are sent the email, but address it to one only (CC the other), so as to focus responsibility for action. Also CC a Central Corporate File, if your company operates such a thing.
* (b) Make sure you retain a personal copy of the email. You could forward it (do not Bcc it) to your private email address, and then delete the forwarded email from your outgoing email store, or (safer) print the email off and retain the hardcopy at home or somewhere else safe, but not in the office anyway. Scan it to a document image.
This achieves:

* 1. Monkey-handling: The removal of the monkey from your back and the placement of it on 2 of your superordinates' backs. They would generally be expected get on with discussing an appropriate action between themselves, and you would be entitled to the courtesy of a written response from your staff manager, answering your Q and telling you what their approach is to be.
* 2. CTAM (Cover-The-Ass-Method): as an insurance/protection of your own career. You can be certain that, "when push comes to shove" or if the SHTF, no-one else will be interested in protecting it for you, as they will be too busy protecting their own hides.
If you receive a verbal response from either of them, whether in a formal meeting discussion or just in passing, then send them both an email confirming your understanding of the discussion.
Repeat and rinse: same paranoia and CTAM as above, with this email and any others.

Golden rule #3 - Just remember to always keep it in writing.

The proof of the pudding:
This training has served me well over the years as a sort of Teflon coating. It has enabled me to survive unscathed several serious attempts by defective, unscrupulous or politically-motivated characters - in my own organisation or a client or associate organisation - to drag me down, or get me out of the way, or associate and tarnish me with blame for their own and/or someone else's unethical/corrupt or otherwise unprofessional practices or mistakes.
I have felt obliged to leave some companies where I could not be bothered continuing to work in such dysfunctional organisations, but in each case I have been paid a lot of exit money ($$$) to keep my mouth shut, and in two of the most egregious examples I was later invited back by senior management, to find that the defective people had been fired with prejudice in my absence and there was a saner working environment.

wraith808:
@Renegade - I think you hit the nail on the head- it's more a combination of the two.
@Iain - More good stuff.  I was assuming this was the hypothetical in the sense of 'hypothetical', but perhaps its as he says, and it was in a workshop for the consulting firm.  I didn't think that companies did this, but I guess its possible.

And thanks for the replies, all.  When he asked, I just couldn't come up with the correct answer for this, especially considering the financial crisis and how much suffering it has caused.

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