Occidental Engineering: An Ethical Dilemma Case Study and Analysis

This case study examines the ethical issues within Occidental Engineering, specifically focusing on a software project for an air traffic control system. The case highlights the dilemma faced by a software engineer, Wayne Davidson, who discovers critical flaws in the system's prototype. Despite the identified issues, the company's management pressures the team to meet a strict deadline, potentially compromising the system's safety and integrity. The analysis identifies key ethical issues, including prioritizing business interests over public safety and the potential for employee overwork, alongside potential breaches of PMI ethical standards. The report identifies the potential consequences for stakeholders, including the government and the client, if the deadline is missed. Recommendations include adhering to the Australian Code of Ethics (ACS) and seeking management support to resolve the ethical dilemmas and improve the organization's ethical conduct.

Running head: OCCIDENTAL ENGINEERING
Ethical Issues: Occidental Engineering Case Study
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:

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Executive Summary
Wayne Davidson is software engineer into “Aerospace Division of Occidental Engineering”. The company
has got funding to design system for all aircrafts. The project is based on building next generation air
traffic control system. The job of Wayne is to test the system. There was completion of prototype and
extensive simulations are run on it. At the time of testing the version of system’s prototype, Wayne finds
out that there are some problems. The issues are that when there are many aircrafts within the system,
there are losing track of one or more than one of them. Wayne worked with his colleagues to prevent
the problem to understand errors into the allocation of memory and reuse of system. They ensure that
they will able to fix the problem but it takes time to redesign code and test. When Wayne talks with his
boss related to the matter, then she tells that they do not have so much time to fix the problem. It is
also stated that if Occidental misses the deadline, then the government would take strict decisions
against it. In order to deliver the software on deadline, Wayne certifies that it would be safe and there
are no problems to come up with it.

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
2.0 Analysis of case study- Occidental Engineering.....................................................................................3
2.1 Identification of ethical issues in Occidental Engineering case study................................................3
2.2 Identification of potential consequences to stakeholders accept the bids and risks.........................4
2.3 Identification of potential breaches of PMI ethical standards by project team.................................4
2.3.1 Examination of PMI code and identification of requirements in the case study.........................4
2.4 Recommendations to resolve of ethical dilemma.............................................................................5
3.0 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................6

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1.0 Introduction
The study is based on description of ethical issues that employees of Occupational Engineering
are suffered due to bidding to get Operation Safe Skies Project. The project is based on facilitating air
traffic control into US. The study discusses the ethical challenges that both project manager as well as
testing engineer faces due to issues into Occidental. Due to identified issues, they are concerned with
development of the software which would track the air traffic system. In this report, the ethical issues
are identified; potential consequences are identified to the stakeholders, potential breaches of the PMI
with the ethical standards. The identified ethical dilemma is resolved and recommendations are
suggested to the organization.
2.0 Analysis of case study- Occidental Engineering
2.1 Identification of ethical issues in Occidental Engineering case study
Following are the ethical issues which are identified into the case study of Occidental
Engineering:
1. As per the ACS (Australian code of ethics), it is required to provide first priority to the
public interest as compared to business interest. However, in this case, it does not meet
with the ethical conduct. Occidental Engineering is not concerned about effect of
software product they build (Drumwright & Murphy, 2014).
2. The employees of Occidental Engineering are working for more than 18 hours a day
each day which is against the ethical rules (Warren & Burmeister, 2017). The employees
are forced to work for more than their shift time. It is taken as an ethical issue.
3. The organization is not taking into consideration the financial situation; therefore it
affects the ethical integrity of workers very badly (Harriss & Atkinson, 2015).
4. There is no promotion of healthy as well as safety rules of the organization; therefore
the employees are affected by the working environment of the organization. Health and
safety standards are not maintained properly.

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2.2 Identification of potential consequences to stakeholders accept the bids and risks
In case if the software engineer, Wayne Davidson missed the deadline to fix the issues, the
government should take possible steps against it. It is caused due to some unavoidable circumstances. If
the deadline is missed, then the client faces various issues such as it will firstly affect the client’s
reputation. The existing issues into the air traffic control system harms integrity of the client towards the
current stakeholders (Braswell, McCarthy & McCarthy, 2017). As there is no raise of project fund,
therefore it affects the efficiency of the proposed system. It is stated that it was bad decision to accept
lower bid to get the air traffic control system. It is due to the reason that the organization does not
consist of financial resources to support the proposed project. Due to accepting of aggressive bid, it
affects the organizational culture. It affects the view of workers towards the organization.
2.3 Identification of potential breaches of PMI ethical standards by project team
There are two types of breaches into PMI ethical standards such as confidentiality as well as
conflict of interest. Confidentiality breaches are occurred when the professional leaks the information
about the project related information, design and business deal (Reamer, 2015). On other hand, conflict
of interest is occurred when there are some misunderstanding and communication gap among the test
engineer and project manager.
2.3.1 Examination of PMI code and identification of requirements in the case study
Following are the PMI code which added value to the ethical conduct for the profession of
project management.
Honesty: Wayne Davidson is working properly with their co-workers to meet the project
deadline (Pollock, 2014). The issues are being identified regarding realistic agreement of the project.
Responsibility: It is the responsibility of project manager to deliver final software on deadline
into the contract. It is also responsibility of test engineer to test the software products and analyze the
testing results (Reamer, 2014).
Respect: Wayne Davidson as well as other workers have right to treat each other with respect.
Wayne has taken a knowledgeable and informed stance into the organization. Each of the workers is
responsible to take stance against one who will not follow the PMI codes (Leicester, 2016).
Fairness: It is the issues regarding meeting the deadline, but the workers are trying hard to
complete it on time with delivering of proper software (Warren & Burmeister, 2017).

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2.4 Recommendations to resolve of ethical dilemma
Following are the recommendations for Occidental Engineering to resolve their ethical
dilemmas:
Follow ACS code of professional conduct: The organization should follow this particular code to
resolve the ethical issues. The first code is to provide first priority to public interest than business
interest. The second code is that the employees should work for 8-9 hours in a day into the organization.
The third code is that the workers should be honest and fourth is to maintain a better working
environment with stakeholders. The fifth is that the occidental engineering should develop company
along with the staffs and sixth is stakeholder’s satisfaction associated with project development.
Management support: The employees of Occidental Engineering should discuss their problems
and ethical issues with various administrators and management level on top level so that they can take
it at highest priority to solve it on time.
3.0 Conclusion
It is concluded that both test engineer as well as project manager are concerned with
development of software used to track the air traffic control system. The test engineer identified that
there are some issues into the system due to presence of huge number of aircrafts. The project has
consisted of limited resources as well as time to complete it on scheduled time. The report discussed the
ethical issues along with consequences of the issues on the stakeholders. The result of bidding is also
discussed with lower cost which affects the reputation of the company. It is recommended that the
organization should follow of ACS code of professional conduct to resolve the ethical dilemmas. The ACS
code of ethics should help the Occidental Engineering to follow the code so that the organization should
success into maintaining a reputation.

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References
Braswell, M. C., McCarthy, B. R., & McCarthy, B. J. (2017). Justice, crime, and ethics. Taylor & Francis.
Drumwright, M. E., & Murphy, P. E. (2014). Ethical Issues of Social Marketing and Persuasion. The
Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing [3 volumes], 175.
Harriss, D. J., & Atkinson, G. (2015). Ethical standards in sport and exercise science research: 2016
update. International journal of sports medicine, 36(14), 1121-1124.
Leicester, N. (2016). Ethics in the IT Profession: Does a Code of Ethics have an Effect on Professional
Behaviour?.
Pollock, J. M. (2014). Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice. Nelson Education.
Reamer, F. (2014). Ethical issues and challenges: Managing moral dilemmas. Conservative Christian
beliefs and sexual orientation in social work: Privilege, oppression, and the pursuit of human
rights, 233-256.
Reamer, F. G. (2015). 18 Ethical Issues in Social Work. Social workers' desk reference, 143.
Warren, M., & Burmeister, O. K. (2017). Research on Applied Ethics involving emerging ICT
technologies. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 21.