Risk of Speaking Up Versus Accepting the Ethically Dubious Task
In the case study, Follow Dubious Orders or Speak Up?, intern Susan Kim faced a difficult dilemma when her manager asked her to pose as an MBA student when reaching out to direct competitors “for information on products, services offered, customers, sales, and other data.” While she was uncomfortable with this task, she also knew that not following her manager’s requests might cost her her job.
I believe that this specific scenario is a great example of the exact risks most folks weigh when their manager asks for favors outside of their morals. Putting myself into the shoes of not just Susan, but anyone in this type of situation, if I do not follow my manager’s requests, I risk my compensation (such as minimizing a performance bonus), my reputation (I look unreliable, unhelpful, and unwilling to “do my job”), and in extreme scenarios, my job. However, if I follow my manager’s unethetical requests, I risk my won self-respect (weakening my backbone by not standing up for what I care about) and, most obviously, am contributing to something that I deem wrong.
Speaking up with a Three-Step Plan
If I were Susan, I would
- Realize the psychological weight of speaking up. Simultaneously, though, I would remind myself of the risks of not speaking up, and treat those as my goals—ensuring that I am not misrepresenting myself or being untruthful and maintaining my own self-respect.
- Lessen the social threat, such as damaging my relationship with my manager, that speaking up can create. One way to achieve this would be to frame the issue as one which mot only affects me, but also should matter to my manager. We have teh same best interest for the company in mind, and fabricating this identity can risk Zantech’s reputation, too.
- Make a plan about the medium I will address my concerns with Mr. Moon, how I will phrase it, if HR should be looped in. Then, I would execute and alter my approach based the response it receieves.
