When must we say “no”? /u/MooseHoofPrint CSCQ protests reddit

I’ve been thinking about workplace ethics and I’d love to hear your perspectives.

We all know that executives have a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value, which introduces moral hazard, which can lead to questionable decisions.

But how far is too far? And what kind of requests should we consider unreasonable to make? Are there orders we should flat-out refuse to follow, or even attempt to sabotage?

Here are some examples (both real and hypothetical) that I’ve seen or heard about:

1. Laying People Off During Record ProfitsThe company is posting its best numbers in years, yet leadership moves forward with large-scale layoffs to further boost margins. As a manager, you’re asked to identify your lowest performers so they can be let go. Should you do it?

2. Dark Patterns in Games/Social MediaDesigning features that nudge or trick users into spending more time, revealing private info, becoming unhealthily addicted to the platform, or wasting money. How do you decide what features are ethically okay to work on?

3. Deadly ProductsI can imagine working for a company like Toyota, Volkswagen, Boeing or Tesla, and being asked to design systems more quickly than can be done safely, or forego a best-practices quality process. Let’s image you work for Tesla, they’re trying to meet a quarterly deadline and they tell you to skip writing unit tests for the system that determines whether or not it’s safe for the car to accelerate. Do you do it?

4. Replacing Local Staff with Offshore TeamsSometimes it makes business sense to hire cheaper labor overseas. But what if your company asks you, a manager, to lie to your subordinates so they’re more willing to train their own replacements, who will eventually take their jobs? At what point does cooperating with the process cross ethical lines?

5. Misleading the WorkforceMaybe leadership is pressuring you to misrepresent the stability or future of a project, or to conceal potential hazards (like budget cuts) so that employees stay motivated or keep quiet.

I’m sure there are countless more, but these are the situations that came to mind first. Note that all of these are hypothetical. It’s easy to argue that some are “unrealistic,” but they’re only intended as examples in a discussion around professional ethics.

Where do you personally draw the line between “just doing your job” and taking a principled stand? If you’ve ever refused to comply with an order you felt was unethical, how did you do it? And what were the consequences for your career, and your conscience?

I’ve been thinking about workplace ethics and I’d love to hear your perspectives.

We all know that executives have a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value, which introduces moral hazard, which can lead to questionable decisions.

But how far is too far? And what kind of requests should we consider unreasonable to make? Are there orders we should flat-out refuse to follow, or even attempt to sabotage?

Here are some examples (both real and hypothetical) that I’ve seen or heard about:

1. Laying People Off During Record ProfitsThe company is posting its best numbers in years, yet leadership moves forward with large-scale layoffs to further boost margins. As a manager, you’re asked to identify your lowest performers so they can be let go. Should you do it?

2. Dark Patterns in Games/Social MediaDesigning features that nudge or trick users into spending more time, revealing private info, becoming unhealthily addicted to the platform, or wasting money. How do you decide what features are ethically okay to work on?

3. Deadly ProductsI can imagine working for a company like Toyota, Volkswagen, Boeing or Tesla, and being asked to design systems more quickly than can be done safely, or forego a best-practices quality process. Let’s image you work for Tesla, they’re trying to meet a quarterly deadline and they tell you to skip writing unit tests for the system that determines whether or not it’s safe for the car to accelerate. Do you do it?

4. Replacing Local Staff with Offshore TeamsSometimes it makes business sense to hire cheaper labor overseas. But what if your company asks you, a manager, to lie to your subordinates so they’re more willing to train their own replacements, who will eventually take their jobs? At what point does cooperating with the process cross ethical lines?

5. Misleading the WorkforceMaybe leadership is pressuring you to misrepresent the stability or future of a project, or to conceal potential hazards (like budget cuts) so that employees stay motivated or keep quiet.

I’m sure there are countless more, but these are the situations that came to mind first. Note that all of these are hypothetical. It’s easy to argue that some are “unrealistic,” but they’re only intended as examples in a discussion around professional ethics.

Where do you personally draw the line between “just doing your job” and taking a principled stand? If you’ve ever refused to comply with an order you felt was unethical, how did you do it? And what were the consequences for your career, and your conscience?