Describe an ethical dilemma you have experienced and discuss how you handled the situation.
While working as a salesperson, I once faced an ethical dilemma: I could secure an export market by providing a commission to a local official or simply let the opportunity go away. For our company, it was a substantial market (5% of our annual exports) and if I had accepted the market, I would have exceeded my own annual objectives by over 30%. On the other hand, if I refused, our main competitor had a unique chance to break into a market where we were traditionally strong. My superior gave little advice in my choice and clearly stated that he did not want to know how I was proceeding as long as I was meeting my sales objectives. Bribery was quite common in this country and even considered by many as a part of business culture...
We certainly did not want to go into expensive and probably useless litigation. Taking into account my personal interests, the company policy and the impact on the company's reputation, I decided that it was not appropriate to pay such a commission. As expected, we lost this market opportunity. It was illegal, but also would have introduced disreputable behavior in the organization. In the long run, it would have harmed the company, the client, my position and the reputation of the company in the market place.
