Alistair has been employed for a number of years by Incognito Partners, a small firm of investment advisers, where his role required him to take professional examinations as a part of his training programme.
Having found his threshold competence examinations quite taxing, and with a heavy workload, Alistair is none too enthusiastic about the increased examination requirement arising as a result of the Retail Distribution Review although the firm has allowed him time off for study and sent him on a training course.
Alistair is aware that Gordon, one of the partners in the firm is a keen supporter of the local branch of his professional institute and is a member of the review panel for the key examination, which Alistair is sitting this year.
Alistair receives a phone call from Gordon, who is out visiting a client at their office close by, telling him that he has forgotten some key papers, which he has left in the top drawer of his desk. He asks Alistair to find them and bring them straight round to the client’s office.
Alistair, keen to oblige hurries into Gordon’s office and starts going through his desk drawers looking for the file, as instructed, but can find nothing in the top drawer and begins to look more widely when his eye is caught by a folder labelled “Investment Institute 2009 Summer Examination.”
His heart skips a beat and as he takes it out of the drawer he sees underneath it the file containing the papers which Gordon had asked him for. He drops the examination folder back in Gordon’s drawer, puts on his jacket and hurries over to the client’s office. Having handed the client file to Gordon, Alistair makes his way back to the office and, as he does so wonders what the folder that he saw in Gordon’s desk might contain. Would it be the exam questions and answers?
Alistair spends the rest of the morning wrestling with the temptation to nip into Gordon’s office to have a look in the folder and becomes rather distracted from his work, until Gordon returns from his client visit and Alistair becomes caught up in the administration resulting from it.
At the end of the day, Alistair chats with his colleague Hazel, who is also taking her exams but, unlike Alistair, seems to have no difficulty in studying or passing her exams. Alistair mentions to Hazel what he had seen in Gordon’s desk drawer that morning and says how tempted he had been to have a quick look at the contents of the folder and she smiles sympathetically saying how much easier it is to pass exams when you know the answer!
Examination day arrives and Alistair struggles with the paper, later admitting to Hazel that he found it really tough and the outcome was “in the lap of the gods”. Hazel is rather more sanguine about her chances saying that the paper seemed to play to her strengths and she anticipates a good result.
Some weeks later the dreaded results day dawns and Alistair anxiously arrives in the office early, to access his result. He is somewhat surprised to find Hazel and Gordon there already, particularly when he hears Gordon congratulate Hazel on her Pass with Credit, adding “it looks like the help I gave you really paid off”. Seeing Alistair come in, Hazel blushes as she thanks Gordon, and immediately asks Alistair how he fared. Alistair logs in to his computer and accesses his Institute record where, with his heart pounding he opens his record to be greeted with a result of Grade D-marginal fail.
Understandably, Alistair is upset and at the end of a difficult day he heads for the pub, inviting Hazel to join him “and help drown my sorrows and drink to your success”.
Although he tries not to focus on his exam result, Alistair is unable to avoid the subject and particularly Gordon’s comment, which he overheard. When he asks Hazel what help Gordon had given her, she is very cagey and says that he simply helped her understand some of the investment concepts that she was having trouble with and, as a member of the exam panel, he provided a good understanding of the way the examiner thinks.
The Dilemma
Alistair feels aggrieved that Gordon felt able to help Hazel, who appeared to him to have no trouble with the subject, whereas he received no offer of help, Gordon having told him that as a member of the exam panel, it would be improper for him to coach members of staff. As the evening wears on Alistair becomes more despondent as he contemplates the prospect of further months of study, whereas Hazel becomes more relaxed, particularly when other friends join them and, in an apparent effort to enliven Alistair, says to him with a laugh “do what I did, get Gordon to leave the paper lying about!”
Alistair smiles ruefully thinking “I wish it were that simple” but, as he lies awake that night he wonders whether Hazel was serious and whether that was what Gordon meant by his overheard remark. But is there any truth in it and what should he do?
Options
In this instance, Alistair has some suspicions of malpractice by Gordon, who as a member of the exam panel has a duty of confidentiality to the Institute and appears also to have deliberately favoured one member of staff over another. However, he has no direct proof of anything. Consequently, it is imperative that he does not make rash accusations against either Gordon or Hazel, particularly since there is a danger that he is viewed as being motivated simply by jealousy.
Consequently Alistair has four main options:
- Immediately contact the Institute and report his suspicions.
- Discuss the matter with his firm’s senior partner and seek his support in approaching the Institute about the matter.
- Approach Gordon direct and tell him that he is aware of what he has done.
- Do nothing.
Contacting the Institute, either in person or via a “whistle-blowing” address, immediately raises the stakes and, assuming that Alistair’s story is taken seriously has potentially profound consequences for both Gordon and Hazel. If an investigation determines that Hazel cheated and was helped by Gordon, disciplinary action is likely, which could result in both of them losing their careers.
Discussing the matter with the senior partner is a sensible course of action. It gives Alistair the opportunity to air his concerns with a third party who may either support his view, including taking further action, or by looking at the situation from a different perspective, come to a different conclusion.
Approaching Gordon directly is not likely to achieve anything beyond a flat denial that he has done anything wrong, albeit that he may be embarrassed if he did provide help to Hazel, having told Alistair that he could not do so. As Alistair works for Gordon, this is not a good move
Doing nothing may now seem quite attractive. Whatever action Alistair takes, he has not passed his exam and this is not going to change. Making life difficult for other people with whom he works may be viewed by them and other colleagues as unnecessarily vindictive, with only negative consequences for all concerned. So what will Alistair have gained? He may consider it better to let sleeping dogs lie.
Verdict
This is very much a case of thinking before you act. Our recommendation is that Alistair should first discuss his concerns as dispassionately as possible with a close colleague and then, if he still believes that he should take action, Alistair should approach his senior partner. It should be accepted that his senior partner may not be supportive of Alistair, preferring either to ignore the matter, or telling Alistair to leave it to him to tackle Gordon. This may leave Alistair feeling that he will contact the Institute anyway.
Further reading