Ethical dilemma

[SandyDown]

Suppose one is aware that the consultancy one works for are doing something wrong, for example involved in some kind of a cover-up (covering mistakes by making changes to documents without the knowledge of the client), and suppose one tried gently to tell them that the cover-up approach is not ideal, honesty openness is a better policy in the long run, but one did not get anywhere !!


Which of the following options should one choose to act upon?
1- As long as you are not involved in the cover-up , keep your mouth shut – none of your business.. you get paid whatever happens
2- Blow the whistle, go to the most senior person in both the consultancy and the client and inform them of what you know
3- The cover-up is way too risky, keep calm, find another role, and leave quietly smelling with roses


Discuss??

[Dundeegeorge]

Well I would guess that one

should report to the most senior person of the consultancy, and tell them you will be informing the client if they don't know, when your contract ends.

Of course, since it's you, you'll probably try to blackmail the consultancy into constant renewals which you service, 'working from home'.

[sasguru]

Suppose one is aware that the consultancy one works for are doing something wrong, for example involved in some kind of a cover-up (covering mistakes by making changes to documents without the knowledge of the client), and suppose one tried gently to tell them that the cover-up approach is not ideal, honesty openness is a better policy in the long run, but one did not get anywhere !!


Which of the following options should one choose to act upon?
1- As long as you are not involved in the cover-up , keep your mouth shut – none of your business.. you get paid whatever happens
2- Blow the whistle, go to the most senior person in both the consultancy and the client and inform them of what you know
3- The cover-up is way too risky, keep calm, find another role, and leave quietly smelling with roses


Discuss??

No 2. But don't speak to the client.

[eternalnomad]

In the past I found myself in a similar position

My relationship was with the consultancy and although the client was being shafted it was none of my business (I did howver let my consultancy lead know that I knew the score)

I made sure i was VERY careful I could not be implicated in any of the shady practices that were taking place.

[threaded]

Whenever I have found shady goings on, and I've even come across things that were criminal to my eye, I have kept schtum and left the contract ASAP.

I have only once mentioned to my manager that I had concerns, and that taught me to never, ever, even mention to anyone the possibility that I could maybe see such things. Also that putting as much distance between myself and the perps as possible was a really really good idea.

Life is way too short to be a whistle blower.

[Denny]

This happened to me on one assignment for a outsourced wing of well known consultancy I'd only just started working at and had worked for before very successfully. I had only been there a week and had to write an article for the in-house magazine viewable by thousands of staff globally and at all levels of the organisation, including partners and other senior bods. The editor wanted the article to go in my own name not some senior client or project bod or even my line manager's as was first thought to be the case. I suggested first to my line manager and then to the editor that I spruce the article up with some quotes from ground level staff using the new IT system that was being implemented and was the focus of the article.

My line manager seemed pleased at first with this arrangement but then when I asked her who I should approach for quotes and permission to interview etc. she merely dismissed my efforts and told me to 'invent the quotes' as I had no time to get genuine user accounts of the system being trialled.

I told her as dipolomatically as I could that this was not a good idea. In whose names would these quotes go in? Anyone reading the article may well be a departmental head who supervised the 'quoted interviewee' or some other reader might want to invite a 'quoted interviewee' to a meeting to explain the benefits of the system to their own team (in the UK). My line manager simply dismissed my objections by telling me that I needed to 'change my communications approach.' I was furious. It led to a total breakdown of my relationship with her and I ended up sending her an e-mail implying to her in no uncertain terms that her treatment of me (and the client audiences) was contemptious and stupid and potentially detrimental to the Programme Director who would ultimately be responsible for such dishonest communcation that blatently breached the communcation strategy she herself had written and I had read which clearly said that stakeholder communication was 'honest, open, concise and accurate.'. I ended up leaving shortly after. She had already lied to me about something else on my first day there too which resulted in my having to let down another private client who I'd planned to work for 1 day during that first week.

Then the crunch came. She contacted the employment businesses 'supplying me' and tried to give the impression that the fault was all mine and tried to sever without notice pay because I hadn't aligned with her strategy and team.' What bollocks! Luckily I'd opted in this time, not out. The recruiter contact challenged her account of matters and in the end I got paid a full four weeks notice period without being on site, plus the time I was on site.

I don't think I was wrong to challenge this line manager. She was blatently contemptious of the client audiences and my own reputation within the consultancy would have been on the line if I had complied with her stupid suggestion. No doubt I would have been terminated anyway, eventually, if I'd complied and got found out because I doubt that my line manager would have put her hand up to claim responsibility for asking me to do this, particularly when the article was in my own name.

I was clearly in a no win situation but at least I got a full 4 weeks notice paid without being on site so no overheads (which were around £250 per week for the time I was on site), no travel hassles to and from Bucks. So I guess that was some sort of justice.

[privateeye]

I guess for me it depends what is wrong and what the effect of the cover up would be. If it could seriously damage the client I would find some way even anonymously of letting the client know - I can't stand by and let innocent people suffer. If it meant some poor person being lumbered with the blame for something they did not do - I would let them know how to find out this information for themselves and it is in their best interest not to blow my cover as this would stop me finding out more.

I did blow the whistle once on a government project that was going nowhere, for a demonstration to MP's I was orderred to fudge the application to make it look like it worked so more funds could be asked for as the project looked successful - I said during the demo that these were prototype screens and not functionally working which prompted the correct questions for the MP's to discover for themselves the cover up. I got offered an extension on another project and the project managers contract not renewed.

[BlasterBates]

Hi Sandy

Well my advice would be to say nothing at work and sell your story to a newspaper.

[Denny]

I guess for me it depends what is wrong and what the effect of the cover up would be. If it could seriously damage the client I would find some way even anonymously of letting the client know - I can't stand by and let innocent people suffer. If it meant some poor person being lumbered with the blame for something they did not do - I would let them know how to find out this information for themselves and it is in their best interest not to blow my cover as this would stop me finding out more.

I did blow the whistle once on a government project that was going nowhere, for a demonstration to MP's I was orderred to fudge the application to make it look like it worked so more funds could be asked for as the project looked successful - I said during the demo that these were prototype screens and not functionally working which prompted the correct questions for the MP's to discover for themselves the cover up. I got offered an extension on another project and the project managers contract not renewed.

That's what I would do if I knew a cover up not implicating me was being done. However, in my example above, there was no way I wouldn't have been implicated.

A lot depends on what sort of role you have. In my line of work I am privvy to a lot of documentation not usually seen by the usual techie bods but I am unlikely to know before its too late the ins and outs of the sort of problem you were confronted with.

[Francko]

Hi Sandy

Well my advice would be to say nothing at work and sell your story to a newspaper.

To the Sun for Page 3?