During my Industry Attachment (IA) at Grand Hyatt as a Sales Coordinator, I was forced to make a tough decision. Working in a department that has highly sensitive information, I was made to sign a non-disclosure (NDA) agreement with the company. During my course of IA, I was given a set of confidential information from my sales manager in which, she told me to not disclose this to anyone. The information involves a set of data, including sensitive information about discounts and other non-pricing concessions of our company. However, my aunt who was working in a competitor company called me up for a meetup. Upon her arrival, she passed me an expensive timepiece. Looking confused, I had an extremely bad feeling about this. Afterwhich, she went on to ask me about some of the confidential information about the company that I am working at.
At that time, I was in a dilemma as my relationship with my aunt was extremely close and the timepiece was tempting as well. However, I have made decisions to reject the tempting offer and even told my sales manager what happened based on my ethical principles – Integrity and Honesty. The stakeholders involved at that point were my sales manager, my aunt and, myself.
If I had accepted my aunt’s offer, I could have received the expensive timepiece and foster a stronger bond with her. Furthermore, she may buy me even more expensive gift in the future. However, by disclosing the information to my aunt, I would be violating the NDA agreement. If the information is leaked and is known by my sales manager, my contract with the company would be terminated immediately and if things were to escalate, I might have to face legal consequences.
As my manager knew that I have declined the offer, my ethical behaviour would reflect a positive image on me, gaining his trust as an intern. Therefore, I have never once regretted my decision.
(305 words)
Teo Pei Ling 
Dear Peiling,
After reading your post, i believe you must have had a very hard time as you were put in an uncomfortable spot. However, I am glad that you were able to stay professional and segregate your professional and personal life. Kudos to you!
Best regards,
Jun Wei
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Dear Pei Ling
I am proud to know that you have made the right decision despite being placed in an uncomfortable position. Your professionalism will definitely inspire your colleagues in this industry to work harder. Additionally, your management team can review such matter to revise it’s SOP. Nonetheless, good job to you Pei Ling ! 🙂
Best Regards
Jack Wong
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Hi Peiling,
I am glad to hear that you chose the right thing to do. Despite having blood relations with your aunt and being placed in a tough position, you chose not to disclose confidential information and succumb to the tempting bribe.
I hope that you will continue to display these ethical values in everything that you do!
Regards,
Brandon
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Dear Pei Ling,
This was a tough situation indeed. You have presented the situation well and identified the stakeholders. But I think you may need to analyze the pros and cons in greater detail to clearly justify your decision. The decision is right but how do people arrive at tough decisions such as this? Your scenario is a great source to explain this.
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