Case Study: Engineering Ethics in a TechnologyStartup

Introduction

A business’s reputation and brand name depend upon the behaviorand values of that
business. Businesses should be socially responsive, fair and just,with a positive
reputation for business conduct. Engineering entrepreneurs mustconfront ethical
challenges such as engineering design reliability and salespeople’sethical standards.
Ethical decisions in sales include: intentionally misrepresenting afaulty product,
economic tradeoffs, short-term v. long-term gain. In general, acompany’s beliefs and
values matter, along with business conduct and the representationof facts to customers
and investors.
This case study attempts to identify the specific ethical issuesand obligations of an
entrepreneur and his employees in making decisions for his startupcompany.
The Case
Tina is a new hire at a startup company that produces veryexpensive security cameras
primarily for large organizations. Tina is hired to engineer andtroubleshoot
malfunctioning cameras.
One day, one of its Fortune 500 customers reported to Tina that anumber of the cameras
out of its last big shipment were not functioning properly. Thecustomer also informed
Tina that the serial and revision numbers on these units weredifferent from the rest of the
units.
Tina’s technicians inspected the cameras. Based on the results oftheir inspection, Tina
realized that her company sold units that were from a bad batch.Tina wanted to tell the
customer why the units failed but recognized that if she disclosedthis information, the
customer would be eligible to receive replacement units at noadditional cost. On the
other hand, if she blamed the failing units on something else, suchas improper care, her
company would be able to charge the customer for replacementunits.

As a recent hire, Tina decided to discuss the case with David,the owner of the startup.
David told her that she should minimize his company’s losses. Tinais concerned with her
job security. But she also wanted to be honest with this majorcustomer.

Questions:
1. What are the ethical issues in this case?
2. Who are the actors and what is their obligation in thiscase?
3. Would the issue in the case have occurred if the actors followedthe IEEE code of
ethics(https://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/governance/p7-8.html)?
4. What sections of the IEEE code of ethics would have beenrelevant in this case?
5. Should Tina’s personal beliefs play a role in this case? Whatabout the personal beliefs
of David?
6. What should Tina do? Does she have a moral obligation to obey ordisobey the owner?
Why?