HSS 41001

ETHICS
Chapter 2
Why Ethics Should Matter to
Project Managers
(page 21 – 45)
 Unique Circumstances

1. Project manager has responsibility without

corresponding authority
2. Unreasonably tight schedules
3. Unexpected long-term consequences of short-term
decisions
4. Temporary relationships during the project
5. Working in different environments
6. Rapid change in global business environment,
political & economical conditions
 Hard and Soft Ethical Issues

1. Hard ethical issues

legal & financial complications
apparent in transgression issues

2. Soft ethical issues

legal & financial complications
difficult to recognize & handle
 Hard Ethical Issues

1. Legal noncomplience
2. No due diligence & due care
3. Arbitrary employment at will
4. Lack of employee rights
5. Inadequate employee health and safety
6. Breach of contracts and agreements
7. Bribes and kickbacks
8. Conflicts of interest
 Hard Ethical Issues

9. mischarging
10. Padding and low-balling
11. Insider trading
12. Substandard quality
13. Inaccurate reporting
14. Unfair competitive advantage
 Soft Ethical Issues

1. Unbalanced short- and long-term perspectives

2. No commitment, responsibility & accountability
3. Repressive culture
4. Extreme behavior
5. Dysfunctional motivation
6. Performance pressure
7. Competing priorities
8. Poor communication
Consequences of Ethical Failure

1. Tarnished reputation
2. Tarnished credibility
3. Hindered careers
4. Legal consequences
 Cloudy Perspective

Issues that can affect Ethical consequences

1. Prejudices
2. Internal & external pressures
3. Misinterpretation of information
4. Importance of judgement
5. Frame of reference
 The Ethical Dilemma

 A Situation when the project manger has to

make and a decision & action against an
ethical issue
 All options in decision making has positive and
negative consequences
Option 1. Taking action that resolves a potential
ethical situation
Option 2. Deciding not to take action to deal with
a potential situation
Two Key Considerations for Ethical Dilemma

1. Sensitivity of Issue
2. Intensity of Response
 Both play an integral part in assessing &
dealing with ethical failures
 3 Approaches for Judgement
• Minimum approach
• Balanced approach
• Maximum approach
Two Key Considerations for Ethical Dilemma
Factors to be considered in deciding
sensitivity of ethical issue & intensity of
response
1. Magnitude of issue
2. Scalability of issue
3. Context of occurrence
4. Ramification of actions
5. Control over the situation
6. Accident or design
Factors to be considered in deciding
sensitivity of ethical issue & intensity of
response
7. Facts and data
8. Impact to stakeholdres
9. Consequences
10. Assumptions
11. Causes
12. Impact of response
 Ascertaining Sensitivity of Issue

1. Does the ethical issue really exist?

2. Determine sensitivity of issue
3. Who are involving in the issue?
4. Conduct inquiry for facts finding
5. Decide whether outside help is necessary
6. Find out the cause of issue
 Steps for Intensity of Response
1. Meeting with stakeholders who are involved in
the ethical issue and finding out a solution
2. Developing a plan that will rectify the issue
and prevent repetition of similar issue
3. Implementation of the plan
4. Evaluation on effectiveness of the solution and
the implemented plan and taking follow-up
actions if necessary
Assignment
1. Read the Chapter 2 together with notes
2. Study the “Getting started checklist
3. Why is ethics important for a project manager?