Ramesh, a very hardworking person, is the sole bread earner in his family. He has worked with an oil company's local affiliate for several years, and has established a strong, trustworthy relationship with Suresh, manager of the local facility. Suresh has recently recommended Ramesh to be recruited as the corporate consulting engineer for the company, which would be a position of greater responsibility along with a stable income. During a casual conversation, Suresh mentions an incident in the 1960s wherein 10,000 gallons of a petrochemical was leaked into the local environment by the company due to negligence, though at the time no damage was found, and no mention of this leak was made to the press. When Ramesh mentions that the state law requires him to report all spills, Suresh reminds him that no harm had been done and reminds him that the company can't have a consulting engineer who does not value loyalty and respect confidentiality. (a) Identify the ethical issues involved in the given case. (b) What are the options available to Ramesh in this situation? Evaluate each of them. (c) Had you been at Ramesh's place, what would have been your course of action? Give reasons for the same.

(a) Ethical Issues involved are (i) Loyalty vs. disclosure (ii) Professional integrity vs. Personal ethics. (iii) Conflict of interest (iv) Responsibility towards society (v) Breach of trust

(b) Options available to Ramesh (i) Ignore and join the Suresh's company. Pro -

• Increase in income.
• will earn Suresh's loyalty and lead to speedier professional growth in new company. Cons -
• Compromising with personal values.
• Neglect one's responsibility towards society.

(ii) Ignore the issue and not join Suresh's company. Pro -

• Upholding personal values. Cons -
• Chances of better job and pay gone.
• Neglecting one's responsibility towards society.

(iii) Persuade Suresh to report the issue to local authority. Pro -

• Upholding personal values and responsible to one's duty towards society.
• Might earn respect in Suresh's eye and he might offer a better job. Cons -
• Suresh might get offended.
• He might cancel the job offer.

(iv) Report the issue to Authority. Pro -

• Upholding personal ethics and responsibility towards society
• The authorities can themselves check if there was any damage and take necessary step
• Government might reward him for his proactiveness Cons -
• It will be a breach of trust. As Suresh trusted him and thought he would keep it to himself.
• Suresh company might get closed and might get arrested.
• Better job prospective for Ramesh would be gone.

(c) The best course of action is to persuade Suresh to come out clean on this and report this to authority himself. Since there has been no damage, it might actually improve his & his company's image. In case of damage, the authority might take appropriate action.