Suppose you are the CEO of a company that manufactures specialized electronic equipment used by a government department. You have submitted your bid for the supply of this equipment to the department. Both the quality and cost of your offer are better than those of the competitors. Yet the concerned officer is demanding a hefty bribe for approving the tender. Getting the order is important both for you and for your company. Not getting the order would mean closing a production line. It may also affect your own career. However, as a value-conscious person, you do not want to give bribe.

• A lot is at stake personally for the manager. And the temptation of paying the bribe is high.

• However it is temptations such as these which have contributed to this "culture" of bribe-paying.

• Paying the bribe is unethical on the following considerations:

  • Paying bribes worsens the "culture" for everybody. The people like the octroi inspectors, will see it is so easy to extract bribe and there is no fear of punishment. This will make things worse for everyone in the country and thus the utilitarian and the common good approaches disapprove of it.

• Then it is our duty to be honest while doing our work and thus even deontology approach holds it unethical to bribe.

• Instead we should find a solution which not only punishes the inspector in this case but also creates a deterrent for others. And in the case our shipment is delayed, it should also not affect the manager adversely.

• Also, the manager should keep his superiors in loop.

• Perhaps what we need is to publicly shame the inspector. For this we will need some kind of evidence. Maybe we can have a meeting with him where he asks us for the bribe and discusses it and we record it on a hidden camera.

• Once we have a prima facia

evidence of his guilt, we can file a police complaint against him. We can also call a press conference and present the evidence. We can contact any political parties and NGOs which work against corruption and present the case against the inspector. We can upload the video on youtube and other social networking sites.

• This will have following effect: • The inspector would be punished. • The expose would act as a deterrent for other bribe seekers. It would also inspire other oppressed people to employ similar techniques. More exposes would come and fear would set in the minds of bribe seekers. • We would also be arranging the documents asked. If the equipment is still not released in time, the positive publicity would outweigh the loss. In the meantime, we can talk to his boss, explain the situation and request the venue to be shifted out of Pune