It is now time to review a case study that focuses on ethical behavior.
Access the Open APM’s ethics case study resource provided below to read a scenario concerning ethics in projects.
Can you pinpoint a few instances of professional conduct highlighted in this scenario? Reflect on the skills employed to integrate ethical considerations into the decisions made by the individuals involved. Can you recognize them?
Share your responses in the discussion section below.
After posting your comment, proceed to the next step, where you will find some potential answers provided by APM for these questions.
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In XYZ firm, the issues identify there was lack of communication, zero team work, trust issues
The skills that was used the save the situation was good communication, mapping out the risk, online research, collaborating with colleagues or teammates
You’ve identified some key issues and ethical solutions from the case study:
Issues:
1. Communication issues between John and William
2. differences between William’s work culture and John’s work practice.
3. Karen’s initial inability to criticize the report due to loyalty to John
4. John’s initial difficulty in adopting flexibility
5 internally deriven adversity of Williams trying to beat time to compromise value.
Ethical solutions:
1. John’s ethical leadership by listening to Karen’s concerns and adapting to find a solution
2. Collaboration and teamwork between Karen and John to find a solution that upholds the company’s reputation
3. Karen’s critical thinking and commitment to ethical practices by speaking up about her doubts on the report
The importance of effective communication, cultural awareness, adaptability, and ethical leadership in project management is paramount. By recognizing and addressing these issues, project managers can develop strategies to overcome them and achieve successful project outcomes.
Rose Matarise
From this scenario professional conduct issues sited include;
a. Integrity of the field survey and data results. Karen is concerned that they seem too perfect. They may not be a true indicator of actual results
b. Conflict of Interest- William has close ties with thepolling institute that conducted the survey.
Skilleds used by the people in this scenario include;
Critical thinking by Karen to question survey results
Problem solving John and Karen wok together to identify the risks of using the results as they are and formulate strategy to obtain an independent assessment
Communication and collaboration between John and Karen to work as a team
The issues of professional conducts were:
1. Lack of communication,
2. Zero teamwork, lack of transparency.
3. There was absolutely no trust.
4. They was no common goal shared between them.
5. Karen and William alienated John partially through the entire project.
6. William had abit of Ego as well.
The skills used to bring ethics into the decision making were.
1. They made research e.g karen going online, partnering with researchers who faced similar problems on a projecf before.
2. They collaborated with other colleagues in the field.
3. They communicated clearly their fears, thoughts and possible solutions to solve the problem at hand. This is what karen and John displayed.
4. Commitment to solving the project at hand despite the obstacles.
5. Accountabilty: karen and John were accountable to themselves with actions taken and they would also be accountable to their company XYZ.
6. Great feedback from colleagues, researchers and they themselves.
From the XYZ organization there were issues with conflict of opinion, lack of proper communication whereby William chose to use a shortcut without following the right procedures and lack of proper coordination.
skills used to solve the issue were;
1.Research
2.Negotiation skills
3. Honesty
4. creating proper communication channels and a good environment
Some professional conduct highlighted include:
1) inconsistency of professional value/ culture displayed by Williams by forcing decision on John.
2) lack of effective communication in the case of Karen not able to criticize the report and exercising fear
3) lack of insensitivity by Williams
4) lack of collaboration by Williams to other stallholders
Some of the skills the use
1) developing and effective way of communication: kareen had to talk to John separately during a coffee
2) Honesty
3) ) Research
4) Feedback
5) collaboration
1. John and Karen maintained the firm”s reputation and its culture despite the challenges faced in getting the right engagement to identify the material hurdles for the next sage of project.
2. Effective communication skill
The clear and calm communication between John and Karen made the collaboration easier to figure out the right channel to get the right engagement.
3. Leadership skill
John was a good listener to lead Karen in achieving their goal in first stage of the project.
Williams failed to follow proper procedure of Discussing things through first before proceeding to act.
Karen withheld her observations of possible red flags until they Led to bigger Issues.
They had issues Of poor communication, integrity And honesty
Open communication, Seeking opinions of other team members, and collaboration with other firm helped to salvage the situation
Oluloro Olufemi Oluwaseun Team 8
Issues included
No Communication, no team work.
Karen acted unethical by thinking she was newbie to give her own input.
Skills used to bring ethics includes Critical Thinking
Research
Communication between team members and
teamwork between John and Karen to finally resolve the issue
Okeke Uchenna Ifeyinwa Team 7.
The issue with XYZ firm is that the team members exhibited:
1. Lack of communication and
2. Lack of collaboration
Williams assumed things can be done with helps of friends outside without communicating with John who at the other hand have to map out a careful procedure of getting feedback on the project.
Karen displayed unethical behaviour by seeing herself has been new in the firm and would not want to criticise John’s report.
Skills that were used to bring ethics into decision:
Critical thinking, research, communication and teamwork which Karen and John later used in getting the results needed.