September 2, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Squeezing the DBA
September 2, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Hi Steve
Interesting read..
Here in South Africa the economy is also in it's worst state at the moment, in the middle of a "technical recession".
Difficult to say what one would actually do in a situation like this. At the end of the day being honest, keeping your integrity, and sticking to your values would be the safest bet.
The trouble for participating in illegal action like this would be worse than losing your job, and fighting it in court afterwards.
Cooking figures goes against all ethics DBA's "vow" to.
We are supposed to be the keepers of all private information. These kind of actions would affect more than initially involved, and could bring a business to its knees given the worst cicumstances.
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This thing is addressing problems that dont exist. Its solution-ism at its worst. We are dumbing down machines that are inherently superior. - Gilfoyle
September 3, 2009 at 12:48 am
You may be able to head these types of request off at the pass by building the right kind of reputation. People wont ask you if they think you wont do it, or if they think you are likely to blow the whistle on them.
September 3, 2009 at 3:54 am
Not participating in the act will cause you problems I think, and if you quit because of that, it will effect your future careers.
The best thing i can think of is to have some emergency that will take you away from work for a some time. Look for a new job, and give a different excuse to quit (related to the emergency).
September 3, 2009 at 4:30 am
Very good editorial.
The thing that most people forget is guilty by association, the fact that you were aware but not directly or indirectly involved, can has serious reprecussions on your future career. Most financial organisations, have an ethics committee or confidential helpline.
Even if you have a sniff of something you are concerned about, it is your duty to report it. and that comes direct from the employees handbook. if it is found out after the fact that you did nothing. you can lose your job and even be barred from working in the industry.
In my opinion, always report anything you are unhappy about. I have worked enough in the financial industry to know how ruthless people/management can be, when they need to be.
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September 3, 2009 at 6:20 am
That's a tough question. There are so many comparisons these days between our current financial situation and the Great Depression. I don't think most of the comparisons hold up, but we are in tight financial times, as they were then. In the book "Forgotten Man," a great history of the Depression, the statement was made, "The depression wasn't so bad if you had a job." Since upwards of 70% of people were employed, even during the depression, most people did OK. My wife and I just watched a documentary, Girl 127. It was all about how a young girl was raped by a studio exec and it was covered up by the studio with the help of the doctors, lawyers, and even the girl's mother, all of whom owed their living to the studio during the depression. The one guy that really stood out was the parking lot attendent who witnessed the rapist running away. He helped the girl, filed a report with the police, but then, the studio offered him a better job with a lifetime contract. His story changed. Everyone thinks they would act in a moral fashion in any given situation, but until you're there... you never know.
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September 3, 2009 at 6:34 am
Grant Fritchey (9/3/2009)
That's a tough question. There are so many comparisons these days between our current financial situation and the Great Depression. I don't think most of the comparisons hold up, but we are in tight financial times, as they were then. In the book "Forgotten Man," a great history of the Depression, the statement was made, "The depression wasn't so bad if you had a job." Since upwards of 70% of people were employed, even during the depression, most people did OK. My wife and I just watched a documentary, Girl 127. It was all about how a young girl was raped by a studio exec and it was covered up by the studio with the help of the doctors, lawyers, and even the girl's mother, all of whom owed their living to the studio during the depression. The one guy that really stood out was the parking lot attendent who witnessed the rapist running away. He helped the girl, filed a report with the police, but then, the studio offered him a better job with a lifetime contract. His story changed. Everyone thinks they would act in a moral fashion in any given situation, but until you're there... you never know.
I fully agree with you Grant. We all might say but we will take the morrally correct thing until we come to the point where we now stand before a decision: standup to corruption and lose my job or keep my job and do the corrupt thing. I think in times like these we will prove our real value.
:-PManie Verster
Developer
Johannesburg
South Africa
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Holy Bible
I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. - Everett Mckinley Dirkson (Well, I am trying. - Manie Verster)
September 3, 2009 at 7:14 am
My economist of choice, Robert Frank conducted a study of economists found in his book Passions Within Reason and found that they are less cooperative than average. In cooperative games, they decide to act in their own self interest more often. Frank suggests that the immersive study in materialism shapes the perception of the economists. They start thinking that everyone is materialistic and self-interested and nobody cooperates. So they don't cooperate either.
The takeaway is that the perception of what other people are doing has a strong effect on a person's decisions. It would be too bad if the "economist effect" started to happen in the DBA profession.
I think I know many people who would do the right thing even if it hurt them financially or in some other way. The truth is, many people out there don't act in a strictly materialistic fashion. They give to charity without people knowing about it, they donate blood, they pay their taxes, they raise children in a responsible way, the list goes on. So if you find yourself in the bind that Steve talks about and do the right thing, you're in good company.
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September 3, 2009 at 7:19 am
Grant Fritchey (9/3/2009)
Everyone thinks they would act in a moral fashion in any given situation, but until you're there... you never know.
Fully agree with that. It is very easy when you're looking at someone else's situation, or a hypothetical one, to say with confidence what you would or wouldn't do, but it is very different when you're confronted with the reality.
September 3, 2009 at 7:20 am
Failure to report a known crime is conspiracy, which can actually be worse than committing the crime in some cases. In most cases, conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor is a felony.
In that kind of situation, I'd report it the moment I knew about it, or suspected it and had any data to back that up. My ethics are more important to me than my paycheck.
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September 3, 2009 at 7:26 am
Been there, done that. In the early 1990s, I was confronted with a situation in which I discovered that the two highest paid officers of the company for which I worked were doing things that were in violation of the regulations that governed our industry. I was serving at that time in a high, non-technical capacity and was the third highest paid officer in the company. I knew what consequences could result from their actions, and I disagreed with their actions in a very loud and long argument. The next day, under the premise that the company could no longer afford to keep me, I was fired. The real reason was that I knew too much. My computer access was shut off, and I was escorted out the door, cardboard box in hand.
The first action I took afterward was to start my own business. It was tough, and the income was not the six figure income I had been accustomed to making, but it was a business that I enjoyed and one that made me proud of what I did and what I produced. The second action I did was to respond to a demand to meet on the part of regulators who were pursuing my former employers. That cleared the air with regard to my involvement in the misdeeds of my previous company. Incidentally, the company went out of business only a few months after my departure.
Was the my choice right? Well, it did cause hardship for my family, and it did reduce my income; however, remaining true to one's principles has no price tag. At the end of the day when you are trying to go to sleep, you have to live with yourself and your own approval or disapproval of your actions. I am a believer in the notion that there is a clear distinction between right and wrong. Sometimes the price of being right is high, but it is the only right option.
From a legal point of view, collusion with a person who is attempting to "cook the books" can result in the same punishment as that meted out to the primary malefactor, perhaps even more since the knowledge, expertise, and intention to defraud are necessary elements to make such a plan succeed. Spending several years behind the bars of a jail cell's door are never worth criminally convoluted attempts to keep one's job.
Fear of losing one's job is never justification for cooperating in crime. At some point one has to stand up and be a man (or woman) of integrity and say, "Not on my watch!" It sounds a bit Pollyannaish, but principled behavior is the only antidote to the growing trend of cybercriminality and diminished business ethics. It lets employers know that they didn't hire people lacking a backbone.
September 3, 2009 at 7:33 am
Maybe there is another way to look at this....
Go to jail with the suits or even worse, become their scapegoat, or blow the whistle.
Not such a hard decision after all. :w00t:
September 3, 2009 at 8:05 am
As I watched the Frontline special on the "Madoff affair" I learned that for years, this crook was printing and mailing out trade confirmations and false statements. I had to wonder; 'There must be a database somewhere that is being tweaked with false information, and what DBA is involved in that and the publishing of false reports?'. We never hear about those kinds of deeper level stuff - but I do wonder if there is some DBA under some indictment for such behavior.
On the other hand, yesterday, drug maker PFizer admitted to fraud and 6 "whistle blowers" will split a share of the 102 Million Dollar settlement for reporting this crime. I truly hope one (or more) of those people might be a DBA who came forward when he or she saw data was being played with.
When I went to school for my degree and post-grad degree, it was very normal for people in the IT field to take Ethics classes, and more than once we were given the axiom "Do no harm" when managing data. Today, I don't think Ethics courses are even required - but they should be.
The role of a DBA in part at least, is to 'shepard' data. They should always be honest, even if it means reporting any abuses. Those who delve in the "dark side" with false reporting, lying or such shenanigans should be banned from the IT field for life. No amount of money is worth lying - and as we have seen eventually, anyone who thinks it is gets caught.
Do no harm.
September 3, 2009 at 8:16 am
In August 1945 my country dropped two atomic bombs on Japan killing by conservative estimates over 300,000 people and causing the linger deaths or illness of many more. Smart, able people debated the issues for and against this action. In the end it was decided the deaths that happened would be far less than deaths that would have happened if this strategy was not used. After reading others thoughts here I am hoping that the deciding vote was not cast by a person who job and career was threatened by his vote. I guess "the end does justify the means," or does it?
-bnp
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"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
-- Mark Twain
September 3, 2009 at 8:24 am
Ethics ought to be a core course for everyone.
It is hard to know what you'd do, but you ought to at least document your case, and not go along.
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