I was doing a lecture on business ethics and I asked my students this…
“If you were working for MIT and your spouse for Virtusa, and your company had come up with a unique recipe of creating a world class application would you share it with your family over dinner?”
To my surprise most of the students said that they wont. This proves that good people are still around. (Debatable) However the real debate started when the argument arose as to whether the spouse is more important than the company or vice versa. I guess the answer to which we may never know…
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4 comments:
A couple of points to ponder...
1. what if a 'unique recipe' equates to something that the whole S/W industry (or even the whole of humanity) will benefit from? is it ethical to withhold it from the rest of the world? What would have happened if Newton kept his Theory of Gravitation a secret? An extreme example, but the fundamental question is whether it is right to withhold knowledge, even if a contract is in effect. ponder on ethics , not on legality.
2. It is easy enough to say "No I won't say a word". But, my experience is, that if you are personally involved in a discovery then you cannot stop talking about it(in circles that would understand what you are talking about, ofcourse). Yes, I know that this is wrong if you are under an obligation of confidence. The question is how capable are you of holding your tongue?
3. At the dinner table you interact with your 'spouse' not an 'employee of Virtusa'. So anything you say is to your spouse and not to an employee of Virtusa. Therefore it may be up to the spouse to not blab dinner conversation at the workplace.
Hey, Why did u take that comment off?
It is an interesting dilemma involving conflicting interests; one that these people would be facing on a daily basis.
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