Case Study 2 – Conflict of Interest

Michael is the IT manager in a government department with more than 500 staff members and six

branches across Australia. His department has decided to acquire an enterprise resource planning

(ERP) system. A request for proposal (RFP) for the procurement of the software has been advertised

in a number of Australian newspapers. Two local companies have responded to the advertisement

and have sent their offers to the department.

When Michael has examined the offers, he has found that Company A’s offer is slightly better than

that of Company B. To his surprise, Company B’s offer has been made by Steven, who is his best

friend, and the general manager of Company B.

Although the initial cost of Company B’s software appears less than that of Company A, Company B’s

software may require some modifications which could eventually increase the total cost.

To complicate matters, Michael has received a phone call from Steven, urging him to favour his offer

as he needs this work.

Discuss briefly how Michael’s friendship with Steven causes an ethical problem. Follow your brief

discussion with a recommendation on this issue. Be sure to support this recommendation with

reasons informed by your research and thinking on the ethical issues identified in your discussion.

PE_Assignment1_Set 3 - May 2015

Assignment Task

From what you have learned during Week s 3 and 4 of your Professional Environments Course,

discuss ethical, professional and legal issues which you consider arise from this scenario. Make some

recommendations of actions which could be taken to resolve the situation and/or to minimise the

chance the scenario may recur. Support your answers with relevant references (as well as the Codes

and Laws).

Things to Consider in Your Assignment:

 You should list at least 3 clauses from the ACS Code of Ethics and up to 5 clauses from the

ACS Code of Conduct and Professional Practice, you think are specifically relevant in

deciding how to resolve the situation. Make sure that you refer to the most up to date ACS

Codes which are available on the ACS website – www.acs.org.au.

 You should also list any relevant Australian legislation that you think applies to this scenario.

 Your analysis, discussion and recommendations should use the framework you selected in

Week 3 – Solving an Ethical Dilemma.

Your assignment should be 400 -500 words in length (excluding your code lists, legislation list and

references).

You may need to undertake a small amount of research, however, most information you will need is

available via the seminars and their references. Also,

• use a cover page – as per the suggested template,

• use in‐text referencing,

• use complete Harvard Notation, submit in “Word” format or equivalent format that can be

readily opened in MS Word, keep your formatting simple: Arial 11pt, 10pt after paragraph,

single line spacing, headings in bold, maximum 2 indent levels/bullet levels. Do not use page

borders, word art, page backgrounds or similar extraneous decoration

• Your uploaded file name should identify you as part of its name – e.g.

PE_Assignment1_William_Smith.