The situation presented in the case study between Susan and Mr. Moon is certainly a difficult one. As an intern, it is often the expectation that your job is to simply *********do the job, *****no questions asked. For most tasks, this is probably okay, as you and your boss are aligned with each others expectations. When it gets tricky is when these expectations don’t align. Susan was not expecting to lie directly to other people in order to “get the job done,” or allow her company to succeed. The people around her telling her that this was normal and just the way the real world works may or may not be telling the truth. There are risks to both as well: speaking up to your boss would risk how they feel about your commitment to the company. Accepting an ethically dubious task would put your career at risk through the interactions.
Then, what’s the plan? I firmly believe that standing by your own beliefs and values is the most important thing, and there is a way to respectfully bring this up to a higher-up. The risks of completing the task as told are more than the risks of at least expressing your concern. I would approach this by coming up with an alternate solution that I’d be more comfortable with, like doing field research through accessible means or setting up meetings with people who use the products or who might be from the company but are willing to talk. I would present this to my boss as an alternative and ask to allow me to try it and bring results back to him. I would also express that I’m just not comfortable with the original idea and will be unable to do it that way. If they keep pressing, I should consider my decision to stay at the company, or with this team.
