BN205: Analysis of Ethical Issues in Project Management

This report provides an in-depth analysis of ethical issues within the context of project management, using a case study involving a trainee accountant facing an ethical dilemma. The report begins with a scope statement outlining project details, followed by a discussion of risk identification techniques, and identification of key stakeholders. The core of the analysis applies PMI ethical values (Responsibility, Respect, Fairness, and Honesty) to the case, highlighting specific ethical breaches and their consequences. The trainee's situation, involving conflicting demands and a lack of support, is examined in detail. The report concludes with recommendations for both the trainee and senior management, emphasizing the importance of open communication, support, and a revised timeline to ensure work quality and ethical conduct. The report underscores the need for integrating ethical standards into project management processes and organizational strategies.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF THE ETHICAL ISSUES
ANALYSIS OF THE ETHICAL ISSUES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Section 1:
1) Details to be included in the scope statement:
In order to write a proper scope statement proper strategy is required [2]. The following details will be
included:
 An exact description of the business case
 A detailed description of the project objective defining the goals of the project clearly”
 The deliverables of the project that will be provided
 Details included and also details that are not included in the report
Example scope statement:
In order to meet the growing demand for the simple, an easy to use and effective online taxi
service, and the taxi service project will be developed for the android platform.
The goal of the project is to design and develop a simple yet effective taxi service system to provide
a comprehensive online taxi service to a wide range of consumers.
The project will deliver a functional taxi booking application with the following components:
 Main server
 Android Client application for customers
 Android Client application for taxi drivers
The report will not provide details like what to do when the app does not work correctly and how
to resolve consumer dispute if any regarding the service. However a comprehensive overview will be given
that discuss about the various functionality as well as working procedure of the application for easy
reference to the project and the product delivered in the project.
2) Technique/approach authors have used to identify the risks associated with this project
 Interviewing: to interview key project stakeholders including application development manager,
team leader of the developer team consisting of programmer, software tester, interface designers
and system architect.
 Assumptions Analysis: analysis of the assumption made about the project risks with reference to
the project scope and objective [1].
 Delphi Technique: to gather remote feedback of the consumers and analyze demand for specific
project features and identify project risks as well.

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 Brainstorming: to gather opinions of clients, programmer, software tester, interface designers and
system architect for identifying project risks [1].
 Checklist development: to list the project risks along with its impact on the project [1].
3) The key stakeholders who will benefit from this project:
 Organization developing the project:
If the project is successful it provide market recognition and financial benefits as well.
 Consumer:
If the project development is successful as per the project scope and objectives, then the
consumers will get an online taxi service application to book online taxi easily for comprehensive
online taxi service.

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Section 2:
Executive summary
In this paper an ethical analysis has been conducted on the provided case study and some ethical issues
have been identified as well. Here some of the standard guidelines of the PMI such as Responsibility,
Respect, Fairness and Honesty has not been followed properly. Hence there is scope for improvement and
some recommendation has also been provided to improve the management issues with reference to
professional ethics and values. Hence this should be followed properly for integrating ethical standard with
the organizational strategy.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:..........................................................................................................................................6
Ethical analysis of the case:...................................................................................................................6
Overview of the ethical issues:..........................................................................................................7
The consequences if the quality of the work is not up to the standard:...........................................8
Key duties towards this company:.....................................................................................................8
The actions that could potentially lead to breach of PMI code of ethics:.........................................8
Recommendation:.................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion:..........................................................................................................................................10
Reference:...........................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction:
A trainee accountant who has been enrolled in a small practice for accounting training is right now
in the second year of his training. He is due to go in a study leave. However the problem is that a trainee
accountant who has more experience than him, is absent due to sick leave. Now the senior management
wants him to take the responsibility of the accounting work and wants him to finish the reconciliation work
before he goes on the study leave which creates ethical dilemma for him as he finds it difficult in deciding
whether to compromise work quality to agree with the management decision or not follow the instruction
which might leads to his termination from the training.
In order to analyse the case study first the case study is properly reviewed to form a basic overview
of the facts being talked about. Then a more in-depth study is conducted to identify the root causes of the
issues so that the description of the issues as well as recommendation is proper with reference to provided
case study.
Ethical analysis of the case:
In this section, a discussion has been made to apply the PMI values to case study and analyse them
with respect to that.
The PMI code of ethics and Professional Conduct recommends four values for maintaining highest
ethical standard in the work place [9]:
 Responsibility
 Respect
 Fairness
 Honesty
Now this four principle of ethical values will be analysed with respect to the case study to identify
the ethical issues in accordance with the PMI guidelines:
Overview of the ethical issues:
Responsibility not properly acknowledged:
It is the responsibility of the higher authority to provide the necessary support to the employees
when they need it for executing their work properly [5]. However in this case, this has not been ensured in
various context:
 A senior trainee went for sick leave without ensuring alternatives so that the work flow process is
not interrupted
 Although the manager wants the junior trainee accountant to execute the assigned role, but they
has not extended their support even when there is a requirement for that

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Respect has not been given to the decision of the junior trainee accountant:
When the management ask him to execute the assigned responsibility, the trainee thinks that not
only the time schedule is poorly designed, it is out of his expertise too. Hence he wants some expert advice
to complete the task with proper quality to which the manager has no positive response [4].
Although the trainee mentions that he does not have the required experience to conduct the
responsibility assigned to him, the senior manager does not respect his views and instead of wants the
trainee to follow the instruction provided to him.
Fairness not ensured:
The management is well aware of the fact that the demand to deliver a quality service within the
set timeframe is not proper as it is not possible for the trainee. Not only the task is complex but he is not
having the required experience. Hence they should have provide him the assistance as he has demanded
for that. Not providing resources and still asking for quality work from a less experienced trainee is not
expected and it is not fair at all.
Now the main problem is that the higher authority is not ready to compromise with the quality and
if he fails to meet the desired quality, he might face some repercussions when he returns from the study
leave. Hence he is feeling immense pressure as he does not know what he is supposed to do in this matter
as he need to balance between speed, accuracy and quality in the assigned role.
The consequences if the quality of the work is not up to the standard:
If quality was compromised, both the trainee and the stakeholders would have been affected [8].
As a result the accounting work done by the trainee would have been of law quality which might lead to
financial loss to the company. Then the organisation could easily accuse him leading to termination and at
the same time the organisational value would have been compromised as well.
Key duties towards this company:
 Provide respect to organizational culture and value and being polite to the seniors and higher
authorities while communicating with them [6].
 Being loyal to the organization [3].
 Not to support or indulge in any activity that affects the organizational value [7].
 Ensure honesty in executing the assigned responsibility [10].
The actions that could potentially lead to breach of PMI code of ethics:
Violation of Honesty:
As the trainee accountant is about to go to a study leave, he had the opportunity to complete his
work without thinking about the quality. However he has not done this. He had been honest in expressing

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his inability to compete the work within the assigned schedule and also communicated that to the senior
management. Hence he has showed honesty for doing professional work with adherence to the code of
ethics for executing professional work.
Not thinking about quality:
If the trainee had not paid attention to fact that executing the assigned work as per the
management requirement would compromise the quality of the quality of the work which will affect the
organisational work and it would be inappropriate as per the PMI code pf ethics.
Recommendation:
The following recommendation is suggested for the senior manager as well as for the trainee:
Talk to the senior management:
The trainee accountant should talk to the senior management even though the manger is firm to
his decision. He should specially communicate his issues in more details. Even required he should talk to
the management that it is not possible for him to conduct the work and if he thinks that there is any
procedure available for his assistance, he should clearly communicate that.
Provide assistance to the junior trainee:
The trainee accountant should request the senior management to review their decision and ask
them to listen to the issue he thinks relevant. He should also remind the manager politely that having
quality work is more important than to prove his authority and power to retain his decision. It not about
showcasing what authorities they have over the trainees, it is more about ethical employee management
and quality assurance in the way organizational activities are being managed.
Review the timeline:
The trainee accountant should request the senior management to consider modification of the
initial timeline and whether it is possible for them to wait for the senior trainee. Because if they want to
complete the work with the junior trainee accountant, it is clear that he will not be able to finish the
assigned work and that too with proper quality. Hence considering the modification in the timeline might
be more effective than to assign the work to the junior accountant for assuring quality in the work.
Conclusion:
From the analysis it is concluded that there is various issues in the way the employee management
is being implemented. Various activities like not to provide assistance to the trainee accountant when there
is a demand and requirement, designing timeline poorly and asking for quality work are some of the main
issues in the management style which need to be reviewed with respect to the ethics and professional
conduct. Hence the PMI guideline for ethical standard has not been integrated in the management process.

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Hence improvement should be done according to the strategies that have been recommended in the
report.

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Reference:
[1]K. Bakker, A. Boonstra and H. Wortmann, "The communicative effect of risk identification on project
success", International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, vol. 6, no. 12, p. 138, 2014.
Available: 10.1504/ijpom.2014.059749.
[2]W. Sumrall and K. Sumrall, "Classic Lessons 2.0: Project- and problem-based learning and
assessment", Science Scope, vol. 042, no. 04, 2018. Available: 10.2505/4/ss18_042_04_84.
[3] S. Boral, “PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct,” Ace the PMI-ACP, pp. 333–340, 2016.
[4] A. West, “Accounting Ethics (Including the Profession’s Code of Ethics and Commitment to the Public
Interest),” Encyclopaedia of Business and Professional Ethics, pp. 1–5, 2018.
[5] “Duties,” Communicating Ethically, pp. 37–60, Mar. 2017.
[6] “Directors’ duties and employment issues,” Rights and Duties of Directors 2017/18.
[7] Professional ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
[8] T. Schneider and S. Sachs, "The Impact of Stakeholder Identities on Value Creation in Issue-Based
Stakeholder Networks", Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 144, no. 1, pp. 41-57, 2015. Available:
10.1007/s10551-015-2845-4.
[9] "Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct", Pmi.org, 2019. [Online]. Available:
https://www.pmi.org/about/ethics/code. [Accessed: 02- Jan- 2019].
[10] M. Dutelle and R. Taylor, Ethics for the Public Service Professional. Milton: Taylor and Francis, 2017.