Scenarios (English)

Andrei's Printer Problem

Andrei is a manager in a newly established unit and is responsible for selecting and purchasing all the office equipment for the unit. After narrowing his selection to two vendors with similar products and pricing, he learns that one of the vendors offers a free printer for bulk purchases. Feeling inspired by the prospect of a free printer, he focuses his efforts on this company and ends up negotiating a large discount...

Cliff's Consulting

Cliff is a junior faculty member in the History department who was recently hired to teach multiple sections of his specialty, Greek history. Cliff is also a talented web designer, and to make extra money, he recently entered into an outside consulting agreement with a company to design its website. The extra work is keeping him up very late at night, and to meet the company deadlines, he also uses many of his office hours to work on the website. Cliff is so tired that he is barely able to stay focused when lecturing. His students have been complaining that he is falling behind with...

Election Day


Professor Nancy Simon, a faculty member in the public policy department, is planning to study the effect of electronic voting machines on the accuracy of election results in California. Under the project she will review current voting trends and evaluate the utility and efficacy of voting machines produced by two of the largest machine manufacturers. Professor Simon does not own stock in either company. However, for the...

Favor for Frank

Associate Director of Facilities Teresa retired last year and Director of Facilities Dave needed the position filled quickly. Rather than publicly posting the position, Dave contracted with Frank, his former co-worker from a previous job. Dave knew that Frank had the basic qualifications for the position and wanted to work for the UC system. Meanwhile, several employees in the department were hoping to be considered...

Grant Shell Games

Jessie is a researcher paid 100% on a grant fund in a small laboratory that is struggling to stay funded. Meredith, the principal investigator of the lab, asks Jessie to stop working on the project in order to work on a proposal which will help keep the lab afloat financially. Hayden, the departmental manager, notices that Jesse has been assisting with developing the proposal materials and inquires about the situation. Jessie confides that he is concerned that the workload associated with generating the proposal for the new project is preventing him from completing the work on the grant...

Green or Forester

Dr. Forester, a professor in the College of the Environment and Natural Resources has just received a three-year grant from the NSF to study the impact of bark beetle infestation on old-growth forests in Oregon and Washington. For the past ten years, Dr. Forester has been paid $11,000 a year to serve as a consultant to one of the largest lumber companies in the Pacific Northwest. The consulting work involves advising...

Ingrid's Interests

Ingrid is a budget officer in the School of Engineering. She would like to serve on a committee that will select a company to provide consulting services to the School of Engineering. Ingrid’s husband works for one of the companies bidding on the work. However, he won't be working on the proposal, and if his company wins the bid, he wouldn't be part of the consulting job.

Which of the following statements are true?

A. Ingrid's participation in a decision that involves her husband’s company violates University policy and state law.
B. Because Ingrid’s husband’s company...

Surly Sue

Gretchen and Sue work together in the financial aid office. When Gretchen is forced to reschedule a meeting, Sue gets upset and yells at Gretchen for not giving her more notice. This is not the first time that this has happened. Sue has a well-known temper and has yelled at Gretchen before. Gretchen is uncomfortable around Sue and nervous about not doing anything to upset Sue. Gretchen has asked Sue not to yell but...

Tsunami Test

The University has received an NSF grant to support a study to develop a low-cost seismographic instrument to predict tsunami events caused by earthquakes. Professor Richter, the principal investigator, has been working on a conceptual design for this instrument that he will continue to develop under the NSF grant. He also believes that this project would be a perfect test for a similar instrument being developed by...