Situational Judgement Test Handling Ethical Dilemmas 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: You discover that a colleague has been falsifying expense reports for small amounts over several months. The colleague is well-liked and supports a family with medical bills. What should you do?
- Report the falsification to HR or your manager, regardless of personal circumstances (Correct answer)
- Confront the colleague privately and give them a chance to self-report
- Ignore it because the amounts are small and the colleague has hardships
- Anonymously tip off HR without speaking to the colleague first
Correct answer: Report the falsification to HR or your manager, regardless of personal circumstances
Expense fraud is a policy violation that must be reported to the appropriate authority; personal circumstances do not override organizational integrity obligations.
Question 2: Your manager asks you to present data in a way that omits unfavorable results to make a project look more successful to senior leadership. What is the most ethical response?
- Comply to keep your manager happy and avoid conflict
- Present the data as requested but add a footnote about missing results
- Refuse and explain that presenting incomplete data could mislead decision-makers (Correct answer)
- Report your manager to senior leadership immediately without discussing it first
Correct answer: Refuse and explain that presenting incomplete data could mislead decision-makers
Presenting selectively omitted data to leadership is deceptive and can lead to poor decisions; you should push back and advocate for complete, accurate reporting.
Question 3: A client offers you a gift card worth $150 as thanks for your excellent service. Your company policy prohibits accepting gifts over $25. What do you do?
- Accept it since it was genuinely offered for good service
- Accept it but don't tell anyone
- Politely decline, explaining your company's gift policy (Correct answer)
- Accept it and donate the excess value to charity
Correct answer: Politely decline, explaining your company's gift policy
Company gift policies exist to prevent conflicts of interest, and you must follow them regardless of the intent behind the gift.
Question 4: You overhear two senior colleagues making discriminatory jokes about a minority group in a private break room. Neither is your direct supervisor. What is the best course of action?
- Say nothing because it was a private conversation not directed at anyone
- Join in to avoid social friction with senior colleagues
- Speak up in the moment and/or report the behavior to HR (Correct answer)
- Tell other coworkers about the incident to build awareness
Correct answer: Speak up in the moment and/or report the behavior to HR
Discriminatory conduct violates workplace policies and ethical standards regardless of whether it is 'private,' and should be addressed directly or through HR.
Question 5: You realize mid-project that you made an error in an early calculation that has affected all subsequent work. Fixing it will delay delivery by two weeks. What should you do?
- Quietly fix as much as possible and hope no one notices the delay cause
- Disclose the error to your manager immediately and propose a corrective plan (Correct answer)
- Deliver on time by patching the error superficially without a full fix
- Blame the error on unclear requirements from the client
Correct answer: Disclose the error to your manager immediately and propose a corrective plan
Transparency about mistakes allows the team and stakeholders to make informed decisions and is essential to maintaining trust and project integrity.
Question 6: A vendor you work closely with invites you to an all-expenses-paid weekend trip that has some business agenda but is mostly recreational. What should you do?
- Accept because the vendor values the relationship
- Accept but offer to pay for the recreational portion yourself
- Decline and consult your company's conflict-of-interest policy before any future invitations
- Consult your manager and company policy before deciding, and decline if prohibited (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Consult your manager and company policy before deciding, and decline if prohibited
Lavish hospitality from vendors can create real or perceived conflicts of interest, so you must check company policy and get managerial guidance before accepting.
Question 7: You are on a hiring panel and realize that the strongest candidate on paper is a close personal friend. What is the most ethical way to handle this?
- Advocate strongly for your friend since they are objectively the best candidate
- Disclose the relationship and recuse yourself from evaluating that candidate (Correct answer)
- Say nothing and score your friend lower to compensate for bias
- Withdraw from the entire hiring panel to avoid any appearance of bias
Correct answer: Disclose the relationship and recuse yourself from evaluating that candidate
Disclosing conflicts of interest and recusing yourself from the affected decision is the standard ethical protocol for managing personal relationships in professional settings.
Situational Judgement Test Handling Ethical Dilemmas 2
You discover that a colleague has been falsifying expense reports for small amounts over several months.
The colleague is well-liked and supports a family with medical bills.
What should you do?