Conflict of Interest

Submitted by faustino on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 13:15

Hi all,

PMP Scordo's Question:

You have been asked by a relative to submit his resume for a job opening at the company where you work as a project manager. You know that this position will also be utilized as a resource on your project. What do you do?

  1. Submit the resume and notify the appropriate management and stakeholders that you are a relative of the person.

  2. Advise your relative it is a conflict of interest for you to submit the resume.

  3. Ask another coworker to submit the resume.

  4. Submit the resume but do not disclose that you are a relative.

A - Submit the resume and notify all appropriate management and project stakeholders that the candidate is a relative. Once they have been advised of the circumstances, they can best determine how to proceed. PMI's Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct mandates that project managers refrain from participating in any decision making process where there is a possible conflict of interest. [Reference - PMBOK 4th Edition, page 225 & PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Page 4] [Prof. Responsibility]

 

To me B was better, I've read a lot of questions about that and in case of conflict of interest always the best thing is to decline the request. Why in this case is different?

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cnppmp

Thu, 06/13/2013 - 14:47

You as project maanger submitting the resume of your relative and informing appropriate management & other stakeholders would refer to being Fair and Honest. So this may refrain yourself from selection process. If he gets through on merit he may get into your project. But that would be different issue altogether, then again you should be applying the Code of Ethics rule while working on your project giving fair treatment not considering your relative.

There could be a chance that  your relative takes help of some one else to send his resume you would be still in same position and you need to disclose your relationship to your management.

Many companies have referral program run very effectively. what we do in that case si,we refer the candidate but never ever influence the interview panel or anyone to get our friend or relative in the organization

 

So A would be best option to select I guess

Regards

CN Patil

MANOJ RAMRAOJI ...

Thu, 06/13/2013 - 16:05

 

Option A is according to PMI code of ethics and Professional conduct Fair,  Responsibility, Respect and Honesty. Just because of relation you can prevent getting one's equal opportunity. After informing the appropriate management and stakeholders, it's their responsibility to evaluate candidate further and take decision. And this is practical approach too.

 

 

sanskrit

Fri, 06/14/2013 - 02:11

CNPPMP explanation is complete, only thing I will add is that as per PMI ethics guidelines, It says in case of any apparent conflict of interest YOU MUST maintain TRANSPARENCY. So the best way to maintain transparency is you should voluntarily disclose any apparent conflict of interest.