In my work experiences, I have encountered situations that have presented ethical dilemmas to me. A case that easily comes to mind, is of a situation when I was a member of a project team at the NHA Group. The primary role of my team was to perform annual valuations for target companies. In the course of my work, I discovered a mathematical error in several of our client’s year valuations where their incomes had been overvalued.
The figures failed to add up and, therefore, did not make sense. On further investigation, I realized that two analysts in my team had made the mistake by adding termination income a onetime income, into the regular annual income, which had resulted in a huge overvalue of the incomes of the affected companies. Unfortunately, by the time I discovered the errors the valuation containing the mistake had already been provided to the board.
In this scenario, I had several possible courses of action. I could inform my team and the company boards of the said mistake; I could inform the team but keep the company in the dark, or I could ignore the mistake altogether. The ethical dilemma arose from the fact that depending on which option I took. I could harm the reputation of the company and my colleagues or affect our clients.
A little background research revealed that our analysis team did not discuss how to define the termination fee income, and it was an acceptable one time mistake for the staff. Despite this, the company’s affected could end up making bad decisions from the misinformation. If I chose to take no action, I would limit the short term consequences such as the harm to the team relationship. However, I would expose myself and my company to long-term consequences, such as a breach of trust by the companies’ boards.
With these considerations, I decided to inform the team leader and one board member with who I have a personal relationship about the mistake. This action enabled the company to avoid potential damages, and the team leader recognized the mistake. Besides, the mistake allowed me to demonstrate to my team the importance of counterchecking our work. This solution was best since it took care of the interests of our clients as well as strengthened the relationship of the team members.