Case Study in Programming Ethics?

[Mike555]

A situation happened today at work which made me feel strange. The long and short of the story is basically this:

My manager came to me the other day and asked if I could create a program that took data from 2 different applications and placed it into Excel. The program was needed to convert raw data into easy-to-read, user-friendly data. I was told that it was needed for both our company and our parent company. So I worked on it on and off for about a week, and after about 200 coffee breaks and half-a-dozen tek-tips postings in the Visual Basic forums , the program was finally finished. The completed program, I was told, was estimated to save both companies 10-15 hours each week in futile data lookups and manual data calculations.

I should mention that my job description has nothing to do with programming. But my manager knew that I had worked with this stuff before, so he asked me to give it a shot. As I mentioned above, I was told that the program was going to be used by both our company and our parent company (who is a few thousand employees larger than us).

Today I went into his office to see if everyone was satisfied with the new program. At that time he informed me that he and another manager were going to use my program as a "bargaining chip". Apparently for some time there has been some longstanding issues between the 2 companies, which I've never been aware of. Something to do with mainframe file layouts or something, which are totally unrelated to this program. Basically my manager wanted to use the program as bait to get our parent company's attention, and then ask that they change some stuff in their mainframe systems if they want to benefit from this program.

Upon being told this, I was totally confused and didn't know what to think. First, I felt somewhat betrayed by my manager. He had asked me to create this program which was to help both companies. And now he's using it for the sake of getting something totally different in return. Could this be, to some extreme degree, a type of blackmail? I wrestled with the idea that maybe this type of thing is a normal business transaction -- The old "I help you, and then you help me" deal which benefits everyone. But then I thought to myself "Does it even matter what you think about the situation?" My job was to create the program. Does it matter to me what happens to the program, so long as it works correctly? Since I don't work in programming, I'm not sure exactly what to think. Even if I do think this is wrong, I can't go tell my manager this, because he and the other manager involved carry a lot of weight within the company. Questioning their judgment could have negative consequences for me.

What should I do?

Thanks.

--
Mike

Why make it simple and efficient when it can be complex and wonderful?

 

[edfair]

You probably were misled about the parent company using it as you wrote it. If they are on mainframe their data isn't going to be exactly like yours.
Now the boss is going to attempt to get the parent to change their storage to small machines to save money and make a name for himself.
Sounds like you have just become an unknown, unnamed participant in a "turf war".
I would ignore the problems that may come up. If the boss succeeds in getting the change he'll come back to you for support. If he fails, it is not your problem.



Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[SemperFiDownUnda]

Go have another cup of coffee and don't worry about it.
Your manager is responsible for your time.
He/she asked you to do something. The fact that he didn't tell you the complete truth is pretty common practice.
You did you job. If you did really good make sure your review reflect that.

I wouldn't get to worried about it.

 

[theoxyde]

Have another cup for me while you are at it. The company owns the code, they can do with it what they like. You were unaware that it would be used in that way. If it rocks their world, be vocal about claiming credit for it. If it flops, you can say it wasn't even your job, you were just trying to be a "team player".

You are in a win/win situation... and those don't come along very often.

 

[MakeItSo]

Hi Mike!
"Basically my manager wanted to use the program as bait to get our parent company's attention, and then ask that they change some stuff in their mainframe systems if they want to benefit from this program"

I think you're worrying too much here. Of course, your manager wasn't quite honest with regard to not telling you the entire truth - but he's your manager, he doesn't have to! If he thinks, he can put pressure on your parent co. - let him believe it!
There's a company policy which is called balanced scorecard. Part of it is, that every employee contributes to the quality improvement process. And that includes e.g. file handling programs. If your parent co. uses this policy and if your program has advantages over what they have been using so far, they will implement it and - if necessary do some changes to their own process.
But they can also ask you to adapt your program to their file structure, which is what I think is going to happen.

In my company, such things are nothing special. We constantly adapt our tools - and sometimes we adapt our processes to enable us to create more efficient tools.

I'd say: Take it easy. ;-)

 

[Mike555]

Each of you make very good points. You all bring up things I hadn't thought about.

edfair, You hit the nail on the head about my boss coming back to me for support.

SemperFi, I'll be sure my review reflects these efforts!

theoxyde, I certainly see what you're saying about the win/win situation, and I hadn't thought of this before.

MakeItSo, I certainly see the possibility of the parent company coming back to me to modify the program. My boss had already said that they might call me after the meeting.

Thank you all for the replies!

--
Mike

Why make it simple and efficient when it can be complex and wonderful?

 

[Georgi1chuikov]

I hate to inform you Mike555... your manager is not obligated in any way to use your program in the way you intended. (I am still wondering why people are calling an omission a lie)If I understand you, he is taking your good work and showing it off to the holding company for your entire company's benefit. Actually, if I where you I would be very happy to even be included in this discussion about the "extra use" your efforts have garnered. This means your manager trusts you implicitly and thinks you can be a "goto" person in your company. Also, could the finished product have impressed them so much that they thought "Hey, this is so good I bet the holding company would actually give us a break because of this" after actually seeing how good it is? Would you have programmed this differently if you knew in advance it was going to be used for intra-company politics? Personnaly, I would have found it more stressfull to make this product if I was told it was a bargaining chip. This brings up my last thought on this subject. All of the companies I have worked in, the "Subordinates" are on a "need to know" basis. You simply did not need to know this extra info to get your job done, and from your post I believe it would have affected your final product (Like it would have for me if I where in this situation) I would not worry about this situation, conversly, i would see this as an oppourtunity as you are getting included in the discussion.

 

[CajunCenturion]

With respect to programming ethics, the only issue is whether or not the program in question is doing anything unethical. For example, do you not have "permission" to view and/or manipulate the data from the two applications. It doesn't sound like this issue is in play, and so I don't see a problem here.

I understand that you were told that the program would reap these time savings, but that is only if the program is being used. It's quite possible that your manager has to "sell" this concept to the parent company before it can be put into play, hence the negotiations. I can easily see your manager saying to the parent company, "We have this utility (your program) that can do this and that and reap these benefits, but to take advantage of it, this is what you need to do. And in return, this is how we'd like to be compensated (not necessarily direct money) for making this program available to you, as in addressing some of the long standing issues. Your manager likely has some sort of profit/loss requirements, possibly mandated by the parent company, and to use your program as an asset to help the bottom line is part of doing that job, perhaps streamlining some tasks or in other ways to reduce expenses, or increase productivity, especially with respect to how your company must deal with the mainframe.

Looking at the big picture, I don't think your manager betrayed you. Your program may very well save the 10-15 hours, but not necessarily directly through the use of your program. Your program may be used as part of establishing a framework to make all parties more efficient on several fronts.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[Mike555]

Georgi1chuikov, I very much appreciate the fact that my manager looked to me as the "goto" for this project, and that the program is getting extra use. I've thought about what you said about the project being more stressfull if I knew everything from the the start. This never crossed my mind. Thinking about it, knowing everything could have very well added an extra degree of un-needed stress.

Cajun, No ethical issues with regards to the program. I many times lack the ability to see things from a management perspective, but I can certainly understand the scenerios you've depicted. These things just never crossed my mind.

I've come to agree with you all - I was not betrayed in any way and I shouldn't worry about this. My first impression of the situation was that my work was being used by our company to strong-arm the parent company into making unneccessary changes. But the fact is that there could be 1 of 1,000 situations playing out in which my manager is using the program in an effort to help both companies. And in the end, I've gained a little recognition for the work.

--
Mike

Why make it simple and efficient when it can be complex and wonderful?

 

[Onyxpurr]

Okay, maybe it's just me (I'm such a darn optimist), but could it possibly be, given the benefit of the doubt, that your manager had no intentions of using this as a bargaining chip until AFTER he saw your program?

Maybe it seemed a good idea at the time for initial reasons given, then when he took a look at it, decided it would be a great bargaining chip?

Heck, that's how I got my job. I started creating databases and my boss said, "Okay keep creating them and we'll show the parent company we NEED you on permanently."

My $.02

Either way, good for you!! I agree with all the smart cookies above.