Trying to push the discussion of ethics in this communication situation one step

Question

Trying to push the discussion of ethics in this communication situation one step further.

Discussion

If she needs this contract to keep her company going, could she ethically disguise her own name? Could she disguise Mark's name or even remove him from the project? Or is her only ethical choice refusing to pursue the contract even if it costs her the company? And to push that idea a bit further, does she have any ethical obligation to her employees to pursue the contract in order to protect their livelihoods?

Background

Crescent Energy, an oil-refining corporation based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for constructing an intran et that will link its headquarters with its three facilities in the United States and Europe. McNeil Informatics, a networking consulting company, is considering responding with a proposal. Most of the work will be performed at Crescent’s headquarters in Riyadh. Crescent Energy was established 40 years ago by family members related by marriage to the Saudi royal family. At the company headquarters, the support staff and clerical staff include women, most of whom are related to the owners of the company. The professional, managerial, and executive staff are all male, which is traditional in Saudi corporations. Crescent is a large company, with revenues in the billions of dollars. McNeil Informatics is a small firm (12 employees) established two years ago by Denise McNeil, a 29 year old computer scientist with a master’s degree in computer engineering. She divides her time between working on her MBA and getting her company off the ground. As a result, the company is struggling financially, and she realizes th at it must get the Crescent contract to meet its current financial obligations. Her employees include both men and women at all levels. The chief financial officer is a woman, as are several of the professional staff. The technical writer is a man. Denise traveled to New York from her headquarters in Pittsburgh to attend a briefing by Crescent. All the representatives from Crescent were middle aged Saudi men; Denise was the only woman among the representatives of the seven companies that attended the briefing. When Denise shook hands with Mr. Fayed, the team leader, he smiled slightly as he mentioned that he had not realized that McNeil Informatics was run by a woman. Denise did not know what to make of his comment, but she got a strong impression that the Crescen representatives felt uncomfortable in her presence. During the break, they drifted off to speak with the men from the other six vendors, leaving Denise to stand awkwardly by herself. Once back in her hotel room, Denise was still bothered by the Crescent representatives’ behavior at the meeting. She thought about the possibility of gender discrimination but decided to bid for the project anyway, because she believed that her company could write a persuasive proposal. McNeil Informatics had done seve ral projects of this type in the past year. She phoned Josh Lipton, the technical writer, to get him started on the proposal. “When you put in the boilerplate about the company, I’d like you to delete the stuff about my founding the company. Don’t say that a woman is the president, okay? And when you assemble the résumés of the project team, I’d like you to use just the first initials, not the first names.” “I don’t understand, Denise. What’s going on?” Josh asked. “Well, Crescent looks like an all male club, very traditional. I’m not sure they would want to hire us if they knew we have a lot of women at the top.” “You know, Denise, there’s another problem.” “Which is?” “I’m thinking of the lead engineer we used in the other networking projects this year.” “Mark Steinberg,” she said, sighing. “Do you think this will be a problem?” “I don’t know,” Josh said. “I guess we could use another person. Or kind of change his name on the résumé.” “Before we commit more resources to this project, we need to find out if Crescent would act prejudicially. We need more information. Do you have any ideas?” “Let me think about this a little bit. I’ll email you tomorrow morning.” After hanging up with Josh, Denise decided to phone her mentor, Jane Adams. Denise explained what had happened at the meeting with the Crescent representatives and asked, “If I conceal the gender and ethnicity of my employees and never mention I am the company’s founder, am I condoning the same types of prejudice that led me to start my own company in the first place, or am I just being a practical businesswoman?” Jane avoided responding immediately to Denise’s question and instead asked for more information: “Besides what happened today, do you have any other evidence that suggests Crescent won’t do business with you if you disclose such information in your proposal?”“I don’t know yet. I’ve asked one of my employees to come up with a research plan. But what if we find out they do business only within the Saudi version of the good old boy network?” “What if you find no signs of antiwomen or ethnic prejudices?” Jane countered. After a long pause, Denise said, “Either way, I’m not sure what to do.”

Explanation / Answer

After going through the case, it gives the impression that though at this point of time Denise is not sure about ethically disguising her own name. Because while discussing the matter with her mentor she mentioned that she is not sure that in either case what she would do. However, in my opinion she will not ethically disguise her name, because she is aware that if she hides the gender and ethnicity of her employees, she will be supporting the same prejudice as the Saudi, Crescent representatives. Denise doesn't sound confident about changing Marks’s name on resume, or even use another person for this project. However, if she does so she it will be unethical and she wont be able to morally justify this act of her. Being ethical is the right way of performing business. However, in this case there are chances that she might loose project if she works on ethical grounds. But there is no need for her to refuse to pursue this contract. She should at-least bid for the contract. Crescent Energy also have few women working at their headquarters as support staff and clerical staff. Therefore, in my opinion if they find the bid suitable, they might give the contract to McNeil Informatics without acting prejudicially. Being the owner of the company, Denise has the ethical obligation towards her employees, in order to protect their livelihoods. However, I believe that to pursue the contract at the stake of being unethical is not the only way. First they should research about the plans of Crescent Energy and than decide what is ethically and morally correct for the McNeil Informatics and then go ahead wit the plan.

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