When you speak up to your boss, you risk their perception of how easy you are to work with. If you refuse to accept an ethically dubious task, for example, your boss may easily decide to not give you a return offer at the end of your internship (if they decide on keeping you as an intern in the first place).
On the other hand, accepting an ethically dubious task means risking a lot — both personally and for the company. If Susie carries out the task as Mr. Moon told her, she’ll likely experience a lot of cognitive dissonance afterwards which compromises her mental health. She was uneasy about “faking” her identity to gain access to competitor knowledge from the start; carrying out that task will likely weigh on her and cause her to question her values over time or think that she’s simply supposed to do whatever is expected of her, regardless of ethics. Beyond personal values and mental health, accepting the task also risks Irene’s reputation if it ever gets leaked.
In context of the company, accepting the ethically dubious task means risking the company’s brand and reputation. Any stain on the company’s reputation can grow into an explosive scandal that repels both present and potential customers, and thus must be avoided whenever possible.
If Susan were to follow the 3-step plan from How to Speak Up When It Matters, she needs to
- Reflect on and understand how important it is to speak up.
- Lessen the social threat that speaking up creates by framing everything in a positive context; “focus on the risks to the company as a whole, not simply her own feelings.” As Josh Berson writes, her email could say, “[…] I’m concerned that if we don’t disclose the fact that I’m working for Zantech and the word leaks out, it will reflect poorly on the firm.” This shows that Susan is keeping the company’s best interests in mind (while also secretly aligning with her own personal values), which prevents her boss from viewing her as “difficult to work with” or a business reliability.
- Susan’s plan should include steps to take before directly confronting her boss. Ruwan Weerasekera writes that Susan should “suggest a workaround” — aka present a potential solution to the problem she’s encountered, instead of simply bringing up the problem alone. Potential solutions include: talking to people at Zantech’s most loyal clients, since customers love being providing input and being valued; talking to third-party firms like IBM, PwC, and analyst firms that evaluate competition, etc.
