Situational Judgement Test Handling Ethical Dilemmas 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: You are a manager and learn that one of your top performers has been taking credit for a junior employee's ideas in team meetings. What do you do?
- Ignore it because the top performer delivers results
- Speak privately with the top performer about the behavior and put them on notice (Correct answer)
- Reassign the junior employee to a different team to prevent conflict
- Publicly call out the top performer in the next team meeting
Correct answer: Speak privately with the top performer about the behavior and put them on notice
A manager has a duty to address ethical misconduct fairly and privately before escalating, protecting both the junior employee and due process.
Question 2: You work in finance and notice a pattern of transactions that look like they could be money laundering, but you are not certain. What is the correct course of action?
- Do nothing unless you are 100% certain it is money laundering
- Ask the client directly whether they are laundering money
- Report your suspicion through your company's compliance or anti-money-laundering reporting channel (Correct answer)
- Move the suspicious funds to a separate account to isolate them
Correct answer: Report your suspicion through your company's compliance or anti-money-laundering reporting channel
Financial institutions are legally required to report suspicious activity regardless of certainty; the compliance team determines whether a formal report is warranted.
Question 3: You are negotiating a deal and realize the other party has made a major mathematical error in their favor — correcting it would save your company $50,000. What do you do?
- Say nothing and accept the favorable terms
- Point out the error to the other party, even though it benefits your company (Correct answer)
- Mention it only if they ask you to verify the numbers
- Report the error to your manager and let them decide whether to disclose it
Correct answer: Point out the error to the other party, even though it benefits your company
Knowingly benefiting from another party's material error without disclosure is ethically equivalent to deception and can expose your company to legal risk.
Question 4: A senior leader pressures you to approve a vendor invoice that lacks proper documentation, saying the vendor is trusted and the paperwork will come later. What should you do?
- Approve it because the senior leader vouches for the vendor
- Approve it provisionally with a written note that documentation is outstanding
- Decline to approve until proper documentation is submitted, per standard policy (Correct answer)
- Approve it but send an anonymous complaint to compliance
Correct answer: Decline to approve until proper documentation is submitted, per standard policy
Approval controls exist to prevent fraud and errors; bypassing them under pressure — even from senior leadership — undermines internal controls and exposes the company to financial risk.
Question 5: You learn that a competitor has obtained a copy of your company's proprietary pricing strategy and is using it. A colleague suggests you retaliate by hacking their systems. What do you do?
- Agree to the plan since they started the wrongdoing
- Decline firmly and report the competitor's breach to legal and leadership for lawful response (Correct answer)
- Investigate the competitor's systems just enough to understand the scope of the breach
- Post information about the competitor's misconduct on social media to warn others
Correct answer: Decline firmly and report the competitor's breach to legal and leadership for lawful response
Retaliating with illegal actions compounds the wrongdoing and exposes your company to criminal liability; the proper response is to pursue legal remedies.
Question 6: You are asked to write a reference letter for a former employee whom you liked personally but whose performance was consistently below standard. What is the ethical approach?
- Write a glowing letter because you want to help them
- Decline to write the letter and explain you cannot provide a strong recommendation (Correct answer)
- Write the letter but omit all negative information
- Write a letter that subtly includes performance concerns while still being supportive
Correct answer: Decline to write the letter and explain you cannot provide a strong recommendation
Writing a misleadingly positive reference harms future employers and can damage your credibility; declining honestly is the most ethical option when you cannot recommend someone.
Question 7: You notice that a new company policy, while legal, would disproportionately harm a vulnerable group of employees. What is the most appropriate initial response?
- Comply silently because the policy is legal
- Refuse to implement the policy unilaterally
- Raise your concern formally with HR or leadership and suggest an equitable alternative (Correct answer)
- Leak the policy to the press to create external pressure
Correct answer: Raise your concern formally with HR or leadership and suggest an equitable alternative
Legal compliance and ethical responsibility are not the same; raising concerns through proper internal channels is the appropriate first step before any other action.
Situational Judgement Test Handling Ethical Dilemmas 4
You are a manager and learn that one of your top performers has been taking credit for a junior employee's ideas in team meetings.
What do you do?