Choose best/worst actions in workplace ethics scenarios
Company: Google
Role: Software Engineer
Category: Behavioral & Leadership
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Take-home Project
You are taking a situational judgment test (SJT). For each scenario below, the test presents **four possible actions**. You must select:
- **Most likely / best** action (what you should do)
- **Least likely / worst** action (what you should not do)
Assume you are a software engineer at a large tech company. Answer based on professional ethics, confidentiality, conflict of interest rules, and respectful workplace behavior.
## Scenarios
1. You proposed what you believe are strong product/UI ideas for YouTube, but your manager did not adopt them.
2. You are responsible for buying a company tool. A close friend’s startup sells a similar tool, and your friend’s company may fail soon without a large customer.
3. A newly joined PM is struggling to keep up technically and is being mocked by coworkers.
4. A friend working at a competing company that is close to bankruptcy asks you to share important customer information.
5. During annual performance review season, you discover the company system mistakenly attributed a coworker’s achievements to you, and you are barely meeting expectations.
6. During annual performance review season, a customer verbally promised to buy your product, and you need this deal to hit your goal.
7. A new teammate is not fitting into the culture and is being mocked by coworkers.
8. A customer offers you an expensive gift.
9. Your deadline is near. A coworker asks you to use code they wrote at their previous employer (a competitor) to finish faster.
10. You need to discuss a confidential report with a coworker, but they are on vacation and only have their personal computer.
11. A deadline is near. You need your manager’s approval to send confidential information to a customer, but your manager is already offline.
12. While you are at a coffee shop, your manager wants to discuss confidential information over the phone.
13. A competing company sends you a full-time job offer while you are still employed.
14. While traveling with a friend, they ask to borrow your work laptop to check their personal email.
### What to provide
For each scenario:
- State the **best** action and the **worst** action (even though the original test shows four options).
- Give 2–4 sentences of reasoning referencing principles such as: protect confidential data, avoid conflicts of interest, integrity, anti-harassment, and proper escalation.
Quick Answer: This question evaluates workplace ethics, confidentiality handling, conflict-of-interest recognition, anti-harassment awareness, integrity, and escalation judgment for software engineers.
Solution
## How to approach SJTs (what they are testing)
Most SJTs at large tech companies evaluate whether you:
1. **Protect users/company data and confidentiality** (no shortcuts, no “just this once”).
2. **Act with integrity** (correct errors that benefit you; avoid misrepresentation).
3. **Avoid conflicts of interest** (especially procurement and vendor selection).
4. **Maintain respectful, inclusive behavior** (stop harassment; support new teammates).
5. **Escalate appropriately** (use manager/legal/security/compliance channels when needed).
6. **Follow process under time pressure** (deadlines never justify policy violations).
A good rule: if an action could create **legal risk, data leakage, IP theft, bribery, or retaliation**, it’s usually the “least likely” choice.
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## Recommended best/worst choices by scenario
Below are strong “most likely” vs “least likely” patterns you can map to the four provided options.
### 1) Your YouTube idea wasn’t adopted
**Best:** Ask your manager for feedback, clarify goals/constraints, and propose a small experiment or document the idea for later; stay aligned with team priorities.
**Worst:** Become disengaged, undermine your manager publicly, or try to bypass them to force adoption.
**Why:** Shows maturity, collaboration, and learning rather than ego/resentment.
### 2) Buying a tool where your friend’s startup is a vendor (conflict of interest)
**Best:** **Disclose the relationship immediately** and follow procurement policy (recuse yourself from final decision if required); ensure a fair evaluation with multiple vendors and documented criteria.
**Worst:** Steer the deal to your friend secretly, share inside budget/requirements unfairly, or choose them to “save” their company.
**Why:** Procurement integrity and conflict-of-interest compliance are non-negotiable.
### 3) New PM is mocked for weak technical knowledge
**Best:** Intervene professionally (redirect conversation, set norms), offer support (pairing, onboarding resources), and if behavior persists, raise it with the manager/HR.
**Worst:** Join the mocking, ignore repeated harassment, or spread it further.
**Why:** Anti-harassment and psychological safety; also helps team effectiveness.
### 4) Friend at competitor asks for important customer info
**Best:** Refuse, explain you can’t share confidential information, and if necessary report the request to your manager/security/compliance.
**Worst:** Share any non-public customer lists, contract terms, roadmaps, or “just hints.”
**Why:** This is a direct confidentiality breach and potentially illegal.
### 5) System credits coworker’s work to you during performance review
**Best:** Notify your manager/review owner and correct the record; ensure the coworker gets proper credit.
**Worst:** Stay silent because it helps you meet the bar, or actively take credit.
**Why:** Integrity is central; keeping unearned credit is unethical and risky if discovered.
### 6) Customer verbally promised purchase; you need it to hit goal
**Best:** Follow standard sales/legal process: document the conversation, confirm in writing, involve sales/account team, and forecast conservatively until signed.
**Worst:** Misrepresent the deal as closed, pressure the customer improperly, or bypass approvals/terms.
**Why:** Revenue recognition, legal exposure, and trust matter more than quotas.
### 7) New teammate is mocked for not fitting in
**Best:** Same pattern as (3): stop/redirect, support inclusion, escalate repeated behavior.
**Worst:** Participate or tolerate a hostile environment.
**Why:** Workplace conduct + retention and team health.
### 8) Customer gives an expensive gift
**Best:** Follow gifts policy: decline politely or return; if refusing is culturally difficult, disclose and ask compliance for approved handling (e.g., donate/raffle).
**Worst:** Accept privately, especially while negotiating contracts/renewals.
**Why:** Avoid bribery/appearance of undue influence.
### 9) Use code from coworker’s previous competitor employer to meet deadline
**Best:** Refuse to use it; ask them to stop sharing it; build/replace with clean-room code or open-source with proper licensing; inform manager/legal if IP exposure occurred.
**Worst:** Copy/paste competitor code or ship it because “we’re late.”
**Why:** IP theft and licensing violations can be catastrophic.
### 10) Discuss confidential report; coworker only has personal computer
**Best:** Don’t share via personal devices; wait or use approved secure access (managed device, VPN, MDM, secure viewer) per policy.
**Worst:** Email/Slack the confidential report to their personal email or let them download it to a personal laptop.
**Why:** Data loss prevention and compliance.
### 11) Need manager approval to send confidential info; manager offline; deadline near
**Best:** Do not send without approval; use approved escalation path (on-call manager, delegated approver) or adjust timeline with customer.
**Worst:** Send confidential info anyway and “tell the manager later.”
**Why:** Authorization controls exist to prevent accidental leaks.
### 12) Manager wants to discuss confidential info while you’re in a coffee shop
**Best:** Move to a private place or switch to secure messaging later; avoid speaking details where you can be overheard.
**Worst:** Discuss sensitive details loudly in public.
**Why:** Real-world “shoulder surfing” and eavesdropping risks.
### 13) Competitor sends you a full-time offer
**Best:** Follow your employment policies: avoid sharing proprietary info; consider informing your manager only if required/appropriate; keep discussions professional; check non-compete/conflict rules if applicable.
**Worst:** Use company time/resources to interview heavily, or share current employer confidential info to negotiate.
**Why:** Offers are fine; confidentiality and ethics still apply.
### 14) Friend asks to borrow your work laptop for personal email
**Best:** Decline; offer alternatives (your phone/hotspot if appropriate, or direct them to use their own device); never share credentials.
**Worst:** Hand over a managed corporate device or log them into a browser session.
**Why:** Device security, access control, and policy compliance.
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## Common “most likely” signals vs “least likely” signals
**Most likely actions** usually include: disclose conflicts, seek guidance, document facts, correct mistakes, protect data, intervene against harassment, and escalate through proper channels.
**Least likely actions** usually include: sharing confidential info, bypassing approvals, copying competitor IP, accepting valuable gifts secretly, retaliating, or letting deadlines override policy.
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## Pitfalls to avoid in your explanations
- Saying “I’d keep it quiet because it helps me/my friend.” (integrity failure)
- “I’d do it once to hit the deadline.” (policy + security failure)
- “It’s not my problem.” when harassment is happening (culture/safety failure)
Use clear principles: **protect users/company, act with integrity, follow process, escalate appropriately, and treat people respectfully.**