AN INTERN’S DILEMMA

VAIBHAV ARORA , MEGHNA DAS, NALIN AGGARWAL , ACHALA

MISHRA , SANYA SACHDEVA.
 Mark Yang is an MBA(2011) from HBS .

Intern at European Tech Security Firm for his

BACKGROUND Summer Internship .

His task was to conduct market research , help in

assisting product development and maintaining
customer relationship.

Ethical dilemma arises when he was asked to

misrepresent himself to obtain sensitive information.
QUES1. WAS THE CONCERN OF ETHICAL ISSUE OF MARK YANG OF
UNDERTAKING THE MARKET RESEARCH PROJECT AS INTERN OF AN
EUROPEAN-BASED TECHNOLOGY REPRESENTING HIMSELF AS HBS STUDENT
GENUINE? SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER WITH LOGIC AND BASED ON CONCEPTS
DISCUSSED IN THE CLASS.
 Yes, the concern of ethical issue was genuine .
 Yang didn’t find this to be ethical because he felt that he will have a bad reputation for himself , as
well as bring defame to the prestigious HBS. This shows Yang Collectivism Approach.
 He also imagined how he might feel if he was lied to , to obtain sensitive data.

 As discussed in the class that Values are stable , long lasting belief that guide our preferences
about what is important in variety of situation . They guide our decision and actions.
 Even if he would have accepted to follow the unethical approach , he would not
have been satisfied with himself as this would mean violation of his morals and
value.

 As Yang saw misrepresenting himself as an ethical issue , it can be related with the
Principle of Ethics under which we can relate it with individual rights
.
 Yang believed that everyone has an entitlement to act in a certain way and
certain individual right may conflict others .

 Trait of ethical sensitivity , that enabled Yang recognise the presence and
determine the relative importance of an ethical issue.
QUES2. WAS THE APPROACH TAKEN BY YANG TO DEAL WITH THIS
CONCERN ON ETHICAL ISSUE WAS APPROPRIATE? WHY OR WHY NOT?
COULD HE HAVE TAKEN ANY OTHER APPROACH?
In our opinion the approach which yang choose was appropriate .
 According to him an unethical approach would be an offense to him . He wants to
be transparent at his work and remain honest to himself and the company he
would work for.
 The reason behind this is that he didn’t find any other approach to be ethically
correct. There was a fear that taking any other approach which was unethical would
bring disrepute to his image.
 He could have negative professional consequences, company could revoke the
internship offer , impacting future requirement and career opportunities.
 This above approach would land him an internship and cut short his chances of
being unethical.

 After conveying his message to the head of this office about his disinterest in
misrepresenting himself .

 He inclined his interest in changing the project which would not render him
unethical.

“ Taking a stand for himself” was an appropriate approach.

 Directly addressing his concern fetched him a different project which

allowed him to stick with his morals and ethics .
QUES3. EXPLAIN THE ACTIONS TAKEN BY YANG IN TERMS OF
THE CONCEPTS DISCUSSED IN THE ARTICLE “UNDERSTANDING
HUMAN BEHAVIOR: SITUATION VERSUS CHARACTER”
 Yang action in terms of the concept discussed in the article “Understanding Human behaviour:
situation versus character “

 Yang chose “ character “over the situation . Not acting unethical in the situation made
him believe that he had many traits which he believed that he had not witnessed before .

 In Language of rational choice , Character is a stable system of preferences that shapes a

person’s choice in different situation. To explain this Yang chose being moral and ethical and sticking to
his values .

 When we thing of human behaviour as moral perspective , we often thing in terms of character.
 The first character trait is ability to recognise the ethical aspect of situation . This
ethical sensibility is more than just emphatic feeling for others .

 According to the article what yang could articulate is that, he saw misrepresenting
himself as a possible consequence of violation of its truthfulness and integrity.

 Greed ,desire , fear of criticism ,etc did not deviate yang from remaining ethical .
He took a stand to discontinue these unethical approach by resolving his
ambiguity with the boss.

 Yang addressed the Asia office about their unethical approach to where they
agreed to change his project

 Mark Yang withstood with his character skill , because he was true to his values
and didn’t do any unethical work and was an epitome of a great leader that was
true to its moral and principles of life .
Conclusion :
 Mark Yang's Ethical dilemma made him realize how strong
willed he actually was .
 He realized his priorities of being a person who is ethical and
who stands by his values in any situation how challenging or
risk bearing it might be .
 As Mark stuck to his priorities at a time when he was just an
intern in a new company unlike others who give into the
hierarchical pressure and do what they are told , but Mark did
not do so and he was recognized by his superiors for his
quality of work and his ethical nature and honesty to his work .
Presented by :
Group 8