Choose best/worst actions in workplace ethics scenarios

This is a situational judgment test (SJT). Each scenario below comes with four possible actions. Choose:

• 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. Base your answers on professional ethics, confidentiality, conflict-of-interest rules, and respectful workplace behavior.

Scenarios

1. You proposed product/UI ideas for YouTube that you believe are strong, but your manager did not adopt them.
2. You are in charge of purchasing a company tool. A close friend’s startup sells a comparable tool, and that startup may soon fail without a large customer.
3. A newly hired PM is struggling technically and coworkers are mocking them.
4. A friend at a competing company that is near bankruptcy asks you to share important customer information.
5. During annual performance reviews, you discover the company system mistakenly credited a coworker’s achievements to you, and you are barely meeting expectations.
6. During annual performance reviews, a customer verbally promised to buy your product, and you need this deal to meet your goal.
7. A new teammate is struggling to fit into the culture and coworkers are mocking them.
8. A customer offers you a costly gift.
9. Your deadline is approaching. A coworker suggests using code they wrote at a 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 a personal computer.
11. A deadline is approaching. 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 by phone.
13. A competitor 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 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 that reference principles such as protecting confidential data, avoiding conflicts of interest, integrity, anti-harassment, and proper escalation.

Overview: This question tests workplace ethics, confidentiality handling, conflict-of-interest recognition, anti-harassment awareness, integrity, and escalation judgment for software engineers.