Situational Judgement Test Handling Ethical Dilemmas 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: You are on a team that just won a large contract, but you know that a key promise made during the pitch is technically possible but extremely unlikely to be delivered on time. What should you do?
- Stay quiet because the deal is done and you need to make it work
- Raise the delivery risk immediately with leadership so expectations can be reset with the client (Correct answer)
- Blame the sales team publicly if the deadline is missed
- Make up a mitigation plan to present to the client that sounds reassuring
Correct answer: Raise the delivery risk immediately with leadership so expectations can be reset with the client
Proactively flagging delivery risks allows leadership and the client to adjust expectations or plans before commitments become irreversible problems.
Question 2: You discover that your organization has been non-compliant with an environmental regulation for over a year, and your manager wants to quietly fix it without notifying regulators. What is the ethical course of action?
- Follow your manager's instructions since the issue is being fixed anyway
- Consult your legal or compliance team about disclosure obligations before agreeing to stay silent (Correct answer)
- Immediately contact the regulator yourself without telling your manager
- Document the violation and do nothing further
Correct answer: Consult your legal or compliance team about disclosure obligations before agreeing to stay silent
Many regulatory violations carry mandatory self-disclosure obligations; your legal and compliance team must determine the correct path before any decision is made.
Question 3: A long-time client asks you to bend the truth slightly on an insurance claim form to ensure their claim is approved. They argue they deserve the coverage based on the spirit of the policy. What do you do?
- Help them because you value the relationship and believe their claim is fair in spirit
- Refuse to submit false information on the form regardless of the client's reasoning (Correct answer)
- Submit the form as they ask but note your disagreement in an internal file
- Submit the form only if the misrepresentation is very minor
Correct answer: Refuse to submit false information on the form regardless of the client's reasoning
Submitting false information on an insurance claim is fraud, which is illegal and professionally unacceptable regardless of the client's justification.
Question 4: You are a supervisor and an employee comes to you with a workplace harassment complaint against another supervisor who is your peer and close friend. How should you handle it?
- Investigate it yourself and handle it informally to protect your friend
- Dismiss the complaint because the accused is a trusted colleague
- Immediately escalate to HR to ensure an impartial investigation takes place (Correct answer)
- Ask the complaining employee to resolve it directly with your friend
Correct answer: Immediately escalate to HR to ensure an impartial investigation takes place
A personal relationship with the accused creates a conflict of interest that disqualifies you from investigating; HR must handle it to ensure impartiality and legal compliance.
Question 5: You are reviewing a job application and notice the candidate's name suggests a non-Western background. A hiring manager jokes that the team 'prefers a cultural fit.' What should you do?
- Agree because cultural fit is a legitimate hiring consideration
- Say nothing but rank the candidate lower to avoid confrontation
- Challenge the comment immediately and ensure the candidate is evaluated on objective qualifications (Correct answer)
- Report the hiring manager after the process is complete
Correct answer: Challenge the comment immediately and ensure the candidate is evaluated on objective qualifications
Using perceived ethnicity or cultural background as a hiring criterion is discriminatory and illegal; you must challenge the bias in the moment and protect the integrity of the process.
Question 6: Your company is releasing a software update that you believe has a security vulnerability, but your security concerns were overruled by product leadership due to launch deadlines. What should you do?
- Defer to leadership since they accepted the risk
- Privately document your concern and escalate through your chain of command or a compliance channel (Correct answer)
- Leak information about the vulnerability to the press to force a delay
- Patch the vulnerability yourself without telling anyone
Correct answer: Privately document your concern and escalate through your chain of command or a compliance channel
Documenting and escalating a security concern through appropriate internal channels creates a record and gives the organization the opportunity to reconsider before harm occurs.
Question 7: A close colleague confides that they plan to leave the company and start a competing business, and asks you to share confidential client lists before they resign. What do you do?
- Share the lists since you trust your colleague and want to help them succeed
- Refuse firmly and explain that sharing confidential data would breach your duty to your employer (Correct answer)
- Share a partial list that omits the most valuable clients as a compromise
- Agree but ask your colleague not to use the data for six months
Correct answer: Refuse firmly and explain that sharing confidential data would breach your duty to your employer
Sharing confidential client data with a future competitor is a serious breach of your fiduciary and contractual duties to your employer, regardless of personal loyalty.
Situational Judgement Test Handling Ethical Dilemmas 5
You are on a team that just won a large contract, but you know that a key promise made during the pitch is technically possible but extremely unlikely to be delivered on time.
What should you do?