Ethics of Progress Reports

Background

You are the chief technician for United Paper Company, an Oregon manufacturer of paper and paper products. The company has decided to replace two of its older rolling machines with newer models, each of which will cost more than $300,000. Last month, you formally proposed to your supervisor that you be permitted to visit two of the leading manufacturers of this equipment to study their products; your proposal was approved. You have carried out more research and are preparing your first progress report on this project. You have described the two competing machines and explained how each would fit in your company’s manufacturing processes, and you have completed arrangements for visiting the two companies. With a budget of $6,000, next week you will visit American Equipment in Hawthorne, California, and Consolidated Industrial Equipment, in Newark, New Jersey. Your supervisor had balked a little at the cost of the two trips, but he agreed that they were necessary, given the importance of the new machines to the company.

Studying your papers in preparing your progress report, your heart sinks. You discover that you made a serious omission in your proposal: there is a third manufacturer, Southern Printing Equipment, in Atlanta, Georgia. You look back through your materials and discover that Southern’s equipment is fully competitive with that of the other two manufacturers. You remember that when you wrote the proposal you were having some problems at home. Your spouse had been laid off, and with your oldest child beginning college next year, you had spent some sleepless nights.

Your Assignment

You realize now that adding Southern to your itinerary would delay the completion date, and you would have to request an increased budget. What would be the costs and benefits to you and to the company of explaining the oversight to your supervisor? Of not explaining it? What should you do? If you think it is best to explain the oversight, write a memo to your supervisor. If you think it is best not to mention it, write a memo to your instructor, explaining your thinking.