Chapter 14. Professional responsibility: Making good choices

It’s not enough to just know your stuff. You need to make good choices to be good at your job. Everyone who has the PMP credential agrees to follow the Project Management Institute Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, too. The Code helps you with ethical decisions that aren’t really covered in the body of knowledge—and it’s a big part of the PMP exam. Most of what you need to know is really straightforward, and with a little review, you’ll do well.

Doing the right thing

You’ll get some questions on the exam that give you situations that you might run into while managing your projects and then ask you what to do. Usually, there’s a clear answer to these questions: it’s the one where you stick to your principles. Questions will make the decisions tougher by offering rewards for doing the wrong thing (like money for taking a project shortcut), or they will make the infraction seem really small (like photocopying a copyrighted article out of a magazine). If you stick to the principles in the PMP Code of Professional Conduct regardless of the consequences, you’ll always get the answers right.

The PMP exam categorizes ethics and professional conduct as part of a project manager’s cross-cutting knowledge and skills. This means that there will be questions about ethics and professional conduct scattered throughout the exam alongside questions about each of the process groups. You should expect to see questions about specific ethical situations for each of the process groups. When you come across a question about ethics and professional conduct, you’re likely to see it in the context of initiating, planning, executing, or monitoring and controlling a project.

The main ideas

In general, there are a few kinds of problems that the code of ethics prepares you to deal with:

1. Follow all laws and company policies.

2. Treat everybody fairly and respectfully.

3. Have respect for the environment and the community you’re working in.

4. Give back to the project management community by writing, speaking, and sharing your experience with other project managers.

5. Keep learning and getting better and better at your job.

6. Respect other people’s cultures.

7. Respect copyright laws.

8. Always be honest with everyone on the project.

9. If you find that another person has done something to damage the PMP credential in any way, you must report it to PMI.

   Note

   So if you find out that someone has stolen questions from the PMP exam, cheated on the PMP exam, falsely claimed to have a PMP certification, or lied about anything related to the PMP certification process, then you MUST report that to PMI.

Ethics and professional responsibility questions make up 10% of the exam. That’s good news because these questions are really easy if you understand the ideas behind the PMP Code of Professional Conduct.

Being a PMP-certified project manager means that you know how to do your job and that you will do it with integrity.

It might seem like it doesn’t really matter how you will handle these situations, but think about it from an employer’s perspective for a minute. Because of the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, employers know that when they hire a PMP-certified project manager, they are hiring someone who will follow company policies and do everything aboveboard and by the book. That means that you’ll help to protect their company from litigation and deliver on what you promise, which is actually pretty important.

So you should definitely expect to see questions about ethics and professional responsibility on the exam. Not only that, but you won’t necessarily see them as straightforward, black-and-white questions, either. Since the questions on this topic are combined into the other questions for the process groups, you’re likely to get questions about situations that might occur on real projects. A question about ethics or professional responsibility might look at first like a question about, say, a particular tool or technique in planning. Keep your eye out for “red herring” questions that turn out to be about ethics and social responsibility. They’ll lay out a situation that sounds like a normal project management problem, but requires you to use one of the principles in the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

Brain Power

Can you think of some situations where you might need to make decisions using these principles in your own projects?

Keep the cash?

A lot of ethics questions on the PMP exam concern bribery. It is never, under any circumstances, OK to accept a bribe—even if your company and customer might benefit from it somehow. And bribes aren’t always cash. They can be anything from free trips to tickets to a ball game. Any time you’re offered anything to change your opinion or the way you work, you must decline the offer and disclose it to your company.

Note

In some countries, even though you may be “expected” to pay a bribe, it’s not OK to do it–even if it’s customary or culturally acceptable.

Fly business class?

Any time there’s a policy in your company, you need to follow it. Even if it seems like no harm will be done if you don’t follow the policy, and even if you will be able to get away with it, you should not do it. And that goes double for laws—under no circumstances are you ever allowed to break a law, no matter how much good it “seems” to do you or your project.

Note

And if you ever see someone in your company breaking the law, you need to report it to the authorities.

New software

When it comes to copyright, it’s never OK to use anything without permission. Books, articles, music, software…you always need to ask before using it. For example, if you want to use some copyrighted music in a company presentation, you should write to the copyright owner and ask for permission.

Shortcuts

You might see a question or two that asks if you really need to follow all of the processes. Or you might be asked by your boss to keep certain facts about your project hidden from stakeholders or sponsors. You have a responsibility to make sure your projects are run properly, and to never withhold information from people who need it.

A good price or a clean river?

Being responsible to the community is even more important than running a successful project. But it’s more than being environmentally aware—you should also respect the cultures of everyone else in your community, and the community where your project work will be done.

Note

That means even though languages, customs, holidays, and vacation policies might be different from country to country, you need to treat people the way they are accustomed to being treated.

We’re not all angels

We know that the choices you make on your project are not always black and white. Remember that the questions on the exam are designed to test your knowledge of the PMP Code of Professional Conduct and how to apply it. A lot of situations you will run into in real life have a hundred circumstances around them that make these decisions a little tougher to make than the ones you see here. But if you know what the Code would have you do, you’re in a good position to evaluate those scenarios as well.

Now, go read the PMP Code of Professional Conduct before you take these exam questions. Go to this URL and you can download the code from PMI.

Note

Seriously, it’s a quick read—and it’ll help you on the exam.

https://www.pmi.org/about/ethics/code

Exam Questions

1. You read a great article over the weekend, and you think your team could really benefit from it. What should you do?

   1. Photocopy the article and give it to the team members.

   2. Type up parts of the article and email it to the team.

   3. Tell everyone that you thought of the ideas in the article yourself.

   4. Buy a copy of the magazine for everyone.

2. You find out that a contractor that you’re working with discriminates against women. The contractor is in another country, and it’s normal in that country. What should you do?

   1. Respect the contractor’s culture and allow the discrimination to continue.

   2. Refuse to work with the contractor, and find a new seller.

   3. Submit a written request that the contractor no longer discriminate.

   4. Meet with your boss and explain the situation.

3. You’re a project manager at a construction company that’s selling services to a client. You are working on a schedule and a budget when the CEO at the client demands that you do not produce those things. Instead, he wants you to begin work immediately. What the BEST thing that you can do?

   1. Meet with the CEO to explain why the budget and schedule are necessary.

   2. Stop work immediately and go into claims administration.

   3. Don’t produce the schedule and budget.

   4. Ask the buyer to find another company to work with.

4. You’re working on a project when the client demands that you take him out to lunch every week if you want to keep his business. What’s the BEST thing to do?

   1. Take the client out to lunch and charge it to your company.

   2. Refuse to take the client out to lunch because it’s a bribe.

   3. Take the client out to lunch, but report him to his manager.

   4. Report the incident to PMI.

5. You are working on one of the first financial projects your company has attempted, and you have learned a lot about how to manage the project along the way. Your company is targeting financial companies for new projects next year. What’s the BEST thing for you to do?

   1. Talk to your company about setting up some training sessions so that you can teach others what you have learned on your project.

   2. Keep the information you’ve learned to yourself so that you’ll be more valuable to the company in the next year.

   3. Decide to specialize in financial contracts.

   4. Focus on your work with the project and don’t worry about helping other people to learn from the experience.

6. You find out that you could save money by contracting with a seller in a country that has lax environmental protection rules. What should you do?

   1. Continue to pay higher rates for a environmentally safe solution.

   2. Take advantage of the cost savings.

   3. Ask your boss to make the decision for you.

   4. Demand that your current contractor match the price.

7. You overhear someone on your team using a racial slur. This person is a critical team member and you are worried that if he leaves your company it will cause project problems. What should you do?

   1. Pretend you didn’t hear it so that you don’t cause problems.

   2. Report the team member to his boss.

   3. Bring it up at the next team meeting.

   4. Meet in private with the team member and explain that racial slurs are unacceptable.

8. You’ve given a presentation for your local PMI chapter meeting. This is an example of what?

   1. A PDU

   2. Contributing to the Project Management Body of Knowledge

   3. Donating to charity

   4. Volunteering

9. You are about to hold a bidder conference, and a potential seller offers you great tickets to a baseball game for your favorite team. What should you do?

   1. Go to the game with the seller but avoid talking about the contract.

   2. Go to the game with seller and discuss the contract.

   3. Go to the game, but make sure not to let him buy you anything because that would be a bribe.

   4. Politely refuse the tickets.

10. Your company has sent out an RFP, and your brother wants to bid on it. What’s the BEST thing for you to do?

    1. Give your brother inside information to make sure that he has the best chance at getting the project.

    2. Publicly disclose your relationship with him and excuse yourself from the selection process.

    3. Recommend your brother but don’t inform anyone of your relationship.

    4. Don’t tell anyone about your relationship, but be careful not to give your brother any advantage when evaluating all of the potential sellers.

Exam Answers

1. Answer: D

   You should never copy anything that’s copyrighted. Make sure you always respect other people’s intellectual property!

2. Answer: B

   It’s never OK to discriminate against women, minorities, or others. You should avoid doing business with anyone who does.

3. Answer: A

   This is a difficult situation for any project manager. But you can’t cut corners on the project management processes, and you certainly can’t tell the client that you’re refusing their business. The best thing you can do is meet with the CEO to explain why you need to follow the rules.

4. Answer: B

   The client is demanding a bribe, and paying bribes is unethical. You should not do it. If your project requires you to bribe someone, then you shouldn’t do business with that person.

5. Answer: A

   You should always try to help other people learn about managing projects.

   Note

   This is called contributing to the Project Management Body of Knowledge.

6. Answer: A

   You should never contract work to a seller who pollutes the environment. Even though it costs more to use machinery that doesn’t damage the environment, it’s the right thing to do.

7. Answer: D

   You should make sure that your team always respects other people.

8. Answer: B

   Any time you help share your knowledge with others, you are contributing to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, and that’s something you should do as a certified project manager!

9. Answer: D

   You have to refuse the tickets even if the game sounds like a lot of fun. The tickets amount to a bribe, and you shouldn’t do anything that might influence your decision in awarding your contract.

10. Answer: B

    You have to disclose the relationship. It’s important to be up front and honest about any conflict of interest that could occur on your projects.