To Be, or Not To Be, That's The Question: Vijay's Dilemma (A)

To be, or not to be, that’s the question:
Vijay’s Dilemma (A)1

As Vijay held the improved version of The T Company Code of Conduct on the morning of
March 3, 2008, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. This was the moment when he finally felt
vindicated. He turned to the page that was titled “Conflict of Interest” and felt a sense of
satisfaction. He then took a look at the medal of appreciation on his desk from the felicitation
ceremony held earlier in the day and his thoughts sailed back in time…
It was the morning of July 13, 2006 when Vijay finally heard the good news. His manager
announced that beginning the following month, he was going to be promoted to the role of
Senior Procurement Manager (refer Appendix 1). Vijay had joined The T company three years
prior and had been working as Assistant Manager in the manufacturing department. He had
never failed to deliver and thus had secured an ‘Exceeds Expectations’ rating in all of his
appraisal cycles. He had also received the award of ‘Most Promising Employee’ in the
company’s annual felicitation ceremony that year.
Vijay came from a middle class family and took care of his mother and unmarried sister in
addition to his wife. During the time when applications were being accepted for the Senior
Procurement Manager position, he had been facing financial troubles on the home front as his
1
Developed by Professor Manish Singhal and Ms. Paridhi Jain, XLRI - Xavier School of Management. The
authors wish to thank Dr. Mary Gentile and Ms. Debra Wheat for their constructive comments and
suggestions.
This case was inspired by interviews about actual managerial experiences, but names and other
situational details have been changed for confidentiality and teaching purposes. The case has been
prepared as a basis for class discussion rather than to serve as endorsement, source of primary data, or
illustration of effective or ineffective management.
This material is part of the Giving Voice to Values curriculum collection (www.GivingVoiceToValues.org).
The Aspen Institute was founding partner, along with the Yale School of Management, and incubator for Giving Voice to Values (GVV).
Now Funded by Babson College.
Do not alter or distribute without permission. © Mary C. Gentile, 2010
1
mother was in need of a knee transplant and his wife was pregnant. At such a critical time, when
funds were constricted, his job was very crucial for sustenance. Vijay had applied for the
promotion in order to be able to support his family more comfortably.
He remembered his first week in his new role. The T Company had an extremely strong focus on
training and development and so it was not a surprise for him that the first week had been
devoted to orientation. He went through many modules of relevant domain knowledge sessions,
managerial leadership development sessions and a highly detailed session on the company’s
Code of Conduct (refer Appendix 2) and the policies associated with it. The T Company had a
very strong “Zero Tolerance Policy’’ with regard to compliance on its Code of Conduct.
After the orientation, on his first full day on the job, Vijay met with his new manager Ramesh.
He was the Chief Procurement Officer and was therefore mainly responsible for maintaining
vendors and ensuring uninterrupted supplies. Ramesh had been in the company for seven years at
that point, donned several hats in various departments and as a result was well versed in the
company policies and processes. Vijay was received well by his new team and they all helped
him find his ground during those first weeks.
In this new role, Vijay was mainly responsible for checking the quality of supplies coming in
from various vendors. He had been strictly instructed by his manager to blacklist a vendor if
they failed to comply with the required quality specifications or delivery schedule requirements.
The first few weeks went by smoothly. Vijay inspected the supplies from the vendors as they
came in and then submitted a report to Ramesh on each of them. Next, the reports were
submitted to the VP and the payments were processed.
One evening, Ramesh asked Vijay to deliver a vendor report to the VP. Being a diligent
employee, he wanted to ensure that he had not made any errors and opened the folder as he
walked towards the VP’s office. As he browsed through the pages of the report, he was shocked
at what he saw. In the report that he had submitted to Ramesh, he had highlighted how the
vendor had an excellent track record of on-time delivery of zero-error consignments. However,
the report he held in his hand noted that the vendor had sent supplies with multiple defects
repeatedly over a long period of time. The report continued to give a recommendation that the
vendor should be blacklisted and an alternative supplier should be contracted. Since Vijay knew
that he had been the one to submit the original report he surmised that there must have been
some mistake and that perhaps the vendor name had been inadvertently confused with a different
vendor due to some clerical error. Vijay hurried back to Ramesh’s office and reported this
discrepancy.
The answer he received changed the dynamics of his role. Ramesh said, “This is the only
authentic report that you have made about this vendor, Vijay. I hope the message is clear to you.
Keep in mind that your next appraisal cycle is just three weeks away.” Vijay was speechless. He
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could not understand the rationale behind his manager’s behavior. To add to Vijay’s confusion,
Ramesh added, “Also, now that you are aware that we may have differences in opinion about
vendors’ performance, kindly consult me before writing any reports. It will save me a lot of
avoidable re-work.”
Vijay left the office perplexed. He could not put the pieces together. He knew that something
was wrong in the system, but he could not quite put his finger on it. Vijay became very
uncomfortable with what was happening and was desperate to get to the bottom of it.
The next morning, Ramesh walked up to Vijay’s desk and returned another report he had
submitted on a different vendor: Godavari Suppliers. He asked Vijay to incorporate corrections
to his original report that showed how Godavari Suppliers had, in fact, delivered supplies of
excellent quality. Further, Vijay was being directed to change his recommendation to read “all
further supplies of rods should be sourced through the Godavari Suppliers.” The truth, however,
was just the opposite: Godavari Suppliers had not been delivering excellent supplies and his
original recommendation was to avoid using them until their process and quality control had
been improved.
Vijay tried to confront his boss and ask for the rationale for this drastic change in assessment.
Ramesh replied, “You are a high performing employee, Vijay. You have a lot of potential for
growth in this organization. I would hate to see you leave.”
For a few days, Vijay followed the orders of his manger without discussing it with anyone else.
With an unfavorable family condition, he could hardly afford to lose his job. However, the
cognitive dissonance was too much to bear and he was ridden with constant guilt. So, he tried to
talk to his peers about it. They all responded in shocked tones as though they were not aware of
any such happening and could not believe Vijay would make such claims.
Vijay continued to be uncomfortable with what was happening and after another few days he
decided to try to figure out what was behind Ramesh’s behavior and the discrepancies with
vendor reporting. He set-up meetings with the vendors in question telling them he needed to
conduct further reviews. During his interactions with the vendors, he tried to understand their
relationships with Ramesh. Through a bit of probing and digging deeper, he identified something
that left him stunned. All the vendors that were recommended by Ramesh had been taking
consultancy services from his wife’s consulting firm and all the vendors that were blacklisted
had refused to sign up for this dubious deal!
Vijay was deeply disturbed and felt increasingly guilty. Ramesh had clearly been facilitating
these deals and taking undue advantage of his official position for personal gain. He immediately
went up to Ramesh and declared his awareness of the unethical practices. Vijay reminded
Ramesh of the Zero Tolerance policy as outlined in the T Company’s Code of Conduct. Ramesh
had a good loud laugh and said, ‘’Nobody even knows of my wife’s consulting firm. I am not
3
obliged to reveal what she does for a living. You concentrate on keeping your job, Vijay. Let me
care for the company.”
Vijay knew that he had to use alternative ways to resolve this issue. He then remembered the
orientation session on ethics given by the Ethics Counselor, Rekha. She had shared her contact
details with the employees and had promised that every incident of reporting would be dealt with
full confidentiality and given her full support.
That night as he was having dinner with his wife, he shared his concerns with her and she
became highly paranoid. She said, “The other day I was having a conversation with your
colleagues’ wives about your new boss. I was shocked at what they had to say about him. Your
efforts in trying to report him would be futile. Another officer who tried to do something similar
two years back was severely victimized and his performance ratings were downgraded. He could
not even apply for a job outside of the T Company due to such bad recommendations from
Ramesh. Furthermore, your colleagues will not be forthcoming in supporting you in this
endeavor because they are all aware of the dire consequences they would face if they supported
you over Ramesh.” She advised Vijay to not report this incident to the Ethics Counselor since his
job would be at stake. She reiterated how they could not afford to lose their only source of
income at this point in time.
After a sleepless night full of conflicting thoughts, Vijay walked in to his office the next morning
and scheduled an appointment with the Ethics Counselor. He knew that his integrity was more
important to him than the cost to be paid for any cover-up. His most cherished value was honesty
and if he had let this continue, he would lose all of his self-respect.
The meeting with the Ethics Counselor was comforting. She understood the issue and promised
to render full support to him. What was needed was sufficient documented evidence such that the
matter could be shared with the higher authorities.
Vijay immediately got down to the task. He needed enough evidence to prove that Ramesh had
been asking his juniors to manipulate the reports for his personal gain. For this he knew he
needed to gain his peer’s support. Vijay had multiple meetings with his team members and tried
to take them into confidence. They were fearful of losing their jobs and hence, not ready to
provide anything in writing.
Meanwhile, Ramesh became aware of Vijay’s covert operation. He was furious. He was not
going to let some junior ruin his neat business-on-the-side. He used the very next opportunity to
prevent this operation from being a success. The appraisal cycle was here. Vijay saw the worst
ratings of his professional career. As a result, he did not get the bonus amount that would have
otherwise been awarded to him. His salary amount was barely enough to sustain the family
financial obligations. Ramesh also recommended that Vijay be moved away from his current
4
role, citing how he did not even deserve the promotion in the first place and failed to meet the
expectations of the role.
The news of Ramesh’s reaction and the lack of bonus created further issues at home and Vijay
felt even more pressure from his wife.
The other team members got increasingly scared of losing their jobs and they resisted Vijay’s
requests for support.
Vijay felt trapped. He was at a crossroads of conflicting responsibilities. He knew he wanted to

report his findings but did not know how to go about it without putting his or his colleagues’ jobs
at risk. He knew he needed his colleagues’ cooperation in order to build a suitable case. How
could he report his findings and to whom? How could he garner the necessary support?
5
Appendix 1:
Organization Structure
Vijay
6
Appendix II:
Company Values Statement
The T Company has always been a values driven organization. The core values driving the way
we do business are:
1. Excellence - We strive for high quality of goods and services we provide and in
development of our employees.
2. Integrity – We are an organization for the public. We must work ethically, fairly, with
honesty and transparency.
3. Understanding - We must care, show respect, compassion and humanity for our
customers around the world, and always work for the benefit of the society.
4. Unity - We must work cohesively with our colleagues across the group and with our
customers and partners around the world to build strong relationships based on tolerance,
understanding and mutual co-operation.
5. Responsibility - We must continue to be responsible for our actions and sensitive to the
countries, communities and environments in which we work.
The T Company Code of Conduct
CLAUSE 1: Equal opportunities employer
The T company shall provide equal opportunities to all its employees and all qualified applicants
for employment without regard to their race, caste, religion, colour, ancestry, marital status,
gender, sexual orientation, age, nationality, ethnic origin or disability.
Human resource policies shall promote diversity and equality in the workplace, as well as
compliance with all local labour laws, while encouraging the adoption of international best
practices.
Employees of The T company shall be treated with dignity and in accordance with the T policy
of maintaining a work environment free of all forms of harassment, whether physical, verbal or
psychological. Employee policies and practices shall be administered in a manner consistent with
applicable laws and other provisions of this Code, respect for the right to privacy and the right to
be heard, and that in all matters equal opportunity is provided to those eligible and decisions are
based on merit.
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CLAUSE 2: Quality of products and services
The T company shall be committed to supply goods and services of world class quality
standards, backed by after-sales services consistent with the requirements of its customers, while
striving for their total satisfaction. The quality standards of the company’s goods and services
shall meet applicable national and international requirements. The T company shall display
adequate health and safety labels, caveats and other necessary information on its product
packaging.
CLAUSE 3: Corporate citizenship
The T company shall be committed to good corporate citizenship, not only in the compliance of
all relevant laws and regulations but also by actively assisting in the improvement of quality of
life of the people in the communities in which it operates. The company shall encourage
volunteering by its employees and collaboration with community groups.
Employees are also encouraged to develop systematic processes and conduct management
reviews, as stated in the T ‘corporate sustainability protocol’, from time to time so as to set
strategic direction for social development activity.
The company shall not treat these activities as optional, but should strive to incorporate them as
an integral part of its business plan.
CLAUSE 4: Shareholders
The T company shall be committed to enhancing shareholder value and complying with all
regulations and laws that govern shareholder rights.
CLAUSE 5:
Ethical conduct
Every employee of The T company, including full-time directors and the chief executive, shall
exhibit culturally appropriate deportment in the countries they operate in, and deal on behalf of
the company with professionalism, honesty and integrity, while conforming to high moral and
ethical standards. Such conduct shall be fair and transparent and be perceived to be so by third
parties.
Every employee of The T company shall preserve the human rights of every individual and the
community, and shall strive to honour commitments.
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Every employee shall be responsible for the implementation of and compliance with the Code in
his / her environment. Failure to adhere to the Code could attract severe consequences, including
termination of employment.
CLAUSE 6: Regulatory compliance
Employees of The T company, in their business conduct, shall comply with all applicable laws
and regulations, in letter and spirit, in all the territories in which they operate. If the regulations
are below that of the Code, then the standards of the Code shall prevail.
Directors of The T company shall comply with applicable laws and regulations of all the relevant
regulatory and other authorities. As good governance practice they shall safeguard the
confidentiality of all information received by them by virtue of their position.
CLAUSE 7: Concurrent employment
Consistent with applicable laws, an employee of The T company shall not, without the requisite,
officially written approval of the company, accept employment or a position of responsibility
(such as a consultant or a director) with any other company, nor provide freelance services to
anyone, with or without remuneration. In the case of a full- time director or the chief executive,
such approval must be obtained from the board of directors of the company.
CLAUSE 8: Conflict of interest
An employee or director of The T company shall always act in the interest of the company, and
ensure that any business or personal association which he / she may have does not involve a
conflict of interest with the operations of the company and his / her role therein.
An employee, including the executive director (other than independent director) of the company,
shall not accept a position of responsibility in any other non-T company or not-for-profit
organization without specific sanction.
The above shall not apply to (whether for remuneration or otherwise):
a) Nominations to the boards of the company, joint ventures or associate companies.

b) Memberships/ positions of responsibility in educational / professional bodies,
wherein such association will benefit the employee / The T Company.
c) Nominations/memberships in government committees / bodies or organizations.
d) Exceptional circumstances, as determined by the competent authority.
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Competent authority, in the case of all employees, shall be the chief executive, who in turn shall
report such exceptional cases to the board of directors on a quarterly basis. In case of the chief
executive and executive directors, the Group Corporate Centre shall be the competent authority.
An employee or a director of The T company shall not engage in any business, relationship or
activity which might conflict with the interest of his / her company.
A conflict of interest, actual or potential, may arise where, directly or indirectly.

a) An employee of The T company engages in a business, relationship or activity with
anyone who is party to a transaction with his / her company.
b) An employee is in a position to derive an improper benefit, personally or to any of his /

her relatives, by making or influencing decisions relating to any transaction.
c) An independent judgment of the company’s best interest cannot be exercised.
CLAUSE 9: Citizenship
The involvement of an employee in civic or public affairs shall be with express approval from
the chief executive of his / her company, subject to this involvement having no adverse impact
on the business affairs of the company.
CLAUSE 10: Integrity of data furnished
Every employee of The T company shall ensure, at all times, the integrity of data or information
furnished by him/her to the company. He/she shall be entirely responsible in ensuring that the
confidentiality of all data is retained and in no circumstance transferred to any outside
person/party in the course of normal operations without express guidelines from or, the approval
of the management.
Last Revision: 12/4/13
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To Be, or Not To Be, That's The Question: Vijay's Dilemma (A)

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To Be, or Not To Be, That's The Question: Vijay's Dilemma (A)

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To be, or not to be, that’s the question:

Vijay’s Dilemma (A)1

Vijay felt trapped. He was at a crossroads of conflicting responsibilities. He knew he wanted to

Company Values Statement

The T Company Code of Conduct

CLAUSE 1: Equal opportunities employer

CLAUSE 3: Corporate citizenship

CLAUSE 6: Regulatory compliance

CLAUSE 7: Concurrent employment

CLAUSE 8: Conflict of interest

The above shall not apply to (whether for remuneration or otherwise):

a) Nominations to the boards of the company, joint ventures or associate companies.

A conflict of interest, actual or potential, may arise where, directly or indirectly.

b) An employee is in a position to derive an improper benefit, personally or to any of his /

c) An independent judgment of the company’s best interest cannot be exercised.

CLAUSE 10: Integrity of data furnished

Last Revision: 12/4/13

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