To Take a Vacation - Or Not?

Step 1:

What should Dan do?

 

 

Step 2:

What do you think of Ed's position on this matter?

 

 

If Dan had known Ed's position when he was at Boulding, would it have been all right for Dan to leave early?

 

 

Step 3:

Dan has no doubt that Jerry is now quite capable of handling the remaining two installations. In fact, he believes that Rancott has been engaged in "overkill" by having Rancott engineers oversee all installations. All anyone has to do is follow the very clearly stated instructions--a task that is easily manageable by engineers like Jerry. Furthermore, Rancott is not required by law or contract to supervise installations. Given this, and given what Ed has said, would it be all right for Dan to leave for his vacation?

  1. Yes, as long as he is quite certain that Jerry will do the job right.
  2. No, he does not have official approval by Rancott.
  3. Other.

Explain your choice.

 

 

Step 4:

Dan decides to leave for his vacation. However, he tells Jerry that he will stop at Boulding on the way back for a final check. Although he won't be able to check all points of the installation (since this would require some dismantling of the units), he can give the units a general check-over. "When I return," Dan says, "we can sign the papers, and everything will be set." "Sign the papers?" Jerry asks. "Yes," Dan replies, "the papers verifying that I've supervised the installations." Does Dan's signing of the papers raise any ethical questions?

 

  How about Jerry's signing them?

 

 

Step 5:

Suppose the reason Dan wants to leave before the installations is that he will be late for his next assignment if he does not leave early. A late start on the next assignment will result in failure to meet the contractual deadline of a major customer who is very insistent on having the work completed on time. If Dan's phone conversation with Ed is essentially the same as in III above, should Dan leave early?
  1. Yes, Dan should leave early.
  2. No, Dan should not leave early without Ed's official approval.
  3. Other.
Explain your choice.

 

 

Step 6:

Although the probability of things going wrong if Dan leaves early is quite low, the improbable can happen. If he does leave early and something does go wrong, what evaluation of Dan's decision should be made? If nothing ever goes wrong, would you make a different evaluation? [That is, does the appropriateness or inappropriateness of Dan's decision depend on the actual outcome of his decision or the possible outcomes of his decision?]

 

 

Last updated 2001/02/13
© J.A.N. Lee, 2001.