Running head: OGL 321 MODULE 6 PAPER

OGL 321 Module 6 Paper

Rachael E. Lohnes

Arizona State University

Author Note

Rachael E. Lohnes is a student at Arizona State University studying Organizational Leadership.

Contact: rlohnes@asu.edu
OGL 321 MODULE 6 PAPER

OGL 321 MODULE 6 PAPER

This week’s module looks at ethics in project management. Focusing on practicing

schedule compliance, demonstrating the ability to make trade-offs when project targets are

unrealistic, and identifying what constitutes the international standard in project management

ethics and professional conduct. Using "Why Ethics Should Matter to Project Managers" from

Kliem’s Ethics in Project Management, PMI’S Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct,

PROJECT-MANAGEMENT.COM’s blog posts “The Five Stages of Project Team

Development” and “Types of Risk in Project Management”, and Scenario E of “Project

Management Simulation: Scope, Resources, Schedule V2” we explore the dimensions of this

module’s focuses.

“Poor communication is one of the most prevalent soft ethical issues.” (Kliem 2011: 31).

When analyzing schedule compliance, one of the biggest factors to influence project success and

project manager reputation is communication. “Why Ethics Should Matter to Project Managers”

states that “project managers communicate 90 percent of their time with stakeholders. . . it is

quite clear that project managers should do nothing to hurt their credibility.” (Kliem 201: 31).

Scenario E of “Project Management Simulation: Scope, Resources, Schedule V2” showed us that

communicating a change in the project schedule early in the project is beneficial to project

success. This minimizes the project team’s stress level. Along with that, honest communication

allows upper-management and stakeholders insight on the project and allows them to make

necessary changes when it comes to announcing and promoting the project. “Honest and open

communications, short of privileged information, should be a cardinal rule. Project managers

who lose credibility will lose the project.” (Kliem 201: 31).
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In my early experiences working as a barista at Starbucks, I have had managers who

withhold information and lose their credibility. There was a time when one of the shift managers

at my first store would wait until the last minute to tell the closing baristas about extra tasks that

needed to be completed. We would have to rush to get things done and sometimes even stay late

to complete the tasks. There were several times where the tasks would not get done because we

could not stay late. The shift manager who withheld the information from us told our store

manager what we just chose not to complete the tasks. When the store manager asked me why I

chose not to complete the tasks, I had to tell her that I was not informed that the tasks needed to

be completed until it was too late in the evening and we had to clock out because we could not

risk going into overtime. This hurt the credibility of the shift manager because he had failed to

communicate with the baristas and then lied to the store manager about it, thus hindering our

ability to comply with the schedule by getting all our work done on time.

Demonstrating the ability to make trade-offs when project targets are unrealistic was the

second focus of this week’s module. This focus was primarily demonstrated during Scenario E

of “Project Management Simulation: Scope, Resources, Schedule V2”. Two of the main types of

risk encountered during this scenario were schedule risk and cost risk. Schedule risk is the risk

that activities will take longer than expected, and cost risk is the escalation of project costs due to

poor cost estimating accuracy and scope creep (PROJECT-MANAGEMENT.COM 2018b).

During the scenario, I found that with communicating a change in schedule helped to keep the

teams stress level down as well as keeping our cost as close to the intended budget as possible.

Padding and low-balling are ethical issues that are associated with changing the project schedule

and budget. “padding is not based on sound reasoning and can lead to overcharging the customer

or client for work that is not really done.” (Kliem 2011: 27). On the other hand, low-balling is
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“getting a contract with a customer by deliberately underbidding to get the contract and then

jacking up costs once the contract has been signed.” (Kliem 2011: 27). Padding and low-balling

are not illegal, but they can have unethical implications for the project, per "Why Ethics Should

Matter to Project Managers". The stage of development that a team is in can influence whether a

team will resort to low-balling or padding. A team that is in the storming phase may “have

different opinions on what should be done and how it should be done” may be more likely to

succumb to lowballing a project estimate due to their lack of the ability to solve problems as a

team (PROJECT-MANAGEMENT.COM 2018a). In comparison, a team that is in the

performing stage is “highly motivated to get the job done” and they can “make decisions and

problem solve quickly and effectively” (PROJECT-MANAGEMENT.COM 2018a). The team

in the performing stage is likely to avoid the ethical issues of low-balling and padding as means

of meeting unrealistic targets.

“Honesty is our duty to understand the truth and act in a truthful manner both in our

communications and in our conduct… We do not engage in dishonest behavior with the intention

of personal gain or at the expense of another.” (Project Management Institute n.d.). In my

personal experience, one of the biggest effects on honesty and ethics in the workplaces stems

from conflicts of interest. "Why Ethics Should Matter to Project Managers" defines conflicts of

interest as something that “challenges an employee’s allegiance to an organization” (Kliem 2011:

26). An experience I have had when it comes to conflicts of interest involves two the other

managers at my Starbucks dating. My coworker, we can pretend his name is Jack, asked me to

switch shifts with him. I would take his Tuesday shift and Jack would take my Friday shift.

While I held up my end of the bargain, Jack called off for the shift he took from me. He said that

he was throwing up and had to call an ambulance. The only options for people to cover this shift
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were myself and my coworker, we can pretend her name is Sarah. Because I had planned on

being off during this time, I had made a doctor appointment. After several attempts to get ahold

of Sarah over the course of almost 6 hours, I had to cancel my doctor appointment and go into

work. By the time I had gotten to work my store manager had figured out (thanks to some

insight from several of the baristas) that Jack and Sarah were dating. Jack had called off my shift

and Sarah had ignored our texts and calls asking her to cover the shift all so the two of them

could spend the day together at a convention that was taking place. This is an example of a

conflict of interest because now Jack and Sarah have an allegiance to each other rather than to

the organization. When looking at the code of ethics, this is a violation of honesty. Not only had

Jack and Sarah lied about their relationship, they had lied to get out coming to work.

The use of "Why Ethics Should Matter to Project Managers" from Kliem’s Ethics in

Project Management, PMI’S Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, PROJECT-

MANAGEMENT.COM’s blog posts “The Five Stages of Project Team Development” and

“Types of Risk in Project Management”, and Scenario E of “Project Management Simulation:

Scope, Resources, Schedule V2” have assisted in the exploration of the dimensions of this

module’s focuses. This module helped us to gain an understanding and appreciation of

practicing schedule compliance, demonstrating the ability to make trade-offs when project

targets are unrealistic, and identifying what constitutes the international standard in project

management ethics and professional conduct.

OGL 321 MODULE 6 PAPER

REFERENCES

Kliem, R. (2011). "Why Ethics Should Matter to Project Managers". In Ethics and Project

Management(pp. 21-45). Auerbach Publications.

Project Management Institute. (n.d.). PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct[PDF].

Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc.

PROJECT-MANAGEMENT.COM. (2018a, October 16). The Five Stages of Project Team

Development. Retrieved March 28, 2019, from https://project-management.com/the-five-

stages-of-project-team-development/

PROJECT-MANAGEMENT.COM. (2018b, October 16). Types of Risk in Project Management.

Retrieved April 4, 2019, from https://project-management.com/types-of-risk-in-project-

management/