RE: Ethical Question

["Ruiter, Vicki" <Vicki_Ruiter -at- sra -dot- com>]

Very well put.

Vicki Ruiter
SRA International  

-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel_Hall -at- trendmicro -dot- com
To: TECHWR-L
Sent: 9/29/03 12:38 PM
Subject: Ethical Question


Interesting discussion you've started...

I had a very similar situation at the last place I worked. There was an
employee (lets call him Dolt) who had a very similar problem. Dolt took
"telecommuting" days where nothing was accomplished. Since there was a
policy that sick days were not accounted for unless you took more than
three in a row (yep, no count of sick days was kept) he frequently
worked three- and four-day weeks. He was assigned to a web design
project for the corporate web portal, where he "appeared" to be working
for eight months, but at the end of that time Dolt had literally nothing
to show. When Dolt was assigned to a project, it was bound to come out
worse than it started. My frustration over all this peaked when he was
assigned to participate in a project I was leading and he brought to the
table a bunch of nonsense ideas that were basically strung together bits
of things he had read in magazines (imagine 30 then-current buzzwords
strung by a four-year-old and you'll get the idea). Dolt was terminally
incompetent; it just hadn't killed him yet. When I talked to management,
it turned out that they were aware of everything - they just hadn't
gotten enough documentation to fire Dolt yet.

My thoughts on your situation:

There are (at least) two sides to this:

First, the friendship: you'll have to decide if you are indeed this
person's friend, and/or if you want to remain so. Think about how you
would want this handled if you were in her shoes... perhaps she has some
way (rightly or not) of justifying this to herself. Perhaps she has
management's approval. Perhaps she doesn't understand the time-tracking
system. Until you talk to her, you can't know. Also realize that talking
to her directly (in a non-threatening, non-confrontational manner)
without involving management is the "right" thing to do, but if she
doesn't offer a valid explanation, or if she's merely offended by your
"nosiness" (very likely, IMO), you've eliminated the possibility of
going to management without her knowing that you were the one who
"betrayed" her. Try and weigh the value of your friendship and your
sense of injustice. Don't expect that this person will necessarily
appreciate your intervention (no matter how you decide to handle it.)

Second, the work situation: think about how much this is really
affecting you. If you can, it might be best to ignore it and let the
chips fall where they may. This may mean that you continue to
(occasionally) be frustrated by the injustice of a coworker getting paid
to do nothing. It might mean waiting several months (or even years)
until this person is found out and fired. It might even last until one
of you moves to a different job. If it's the kind of thing that's really
a problem for you, and is causing problems for projects that you share,
you may have to (anonymously or not) pass this information along to your
supervisor. If your own time accounting is accurate, you have nothing to
worry about.

Finally, try and keep perspective. Remember that this is just one small
drop in the ocean of life. Having been in a similar situation, I know
how you're feeling - and I sympathize. Keep in mind that in three years,
this will be an amusing story that you share with coworkers at a new
job. In ten, it will be an anecdote you tell your subordinates when you
explain why you carefully check your department's time accounting. :-)

Best of luck,

Dan

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can.
That is the only secret of style. -- Matthew Arnold


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