AN APPLICATION OF PROBLEM-SOLVING METHODS: BRIBERY/ACCEPTANCE OF GIFTS
AN APPLICATION OF PROBLEM-SOLVING METHODS: BRIBERY/ACCEPTANCE OF GIFTS One of the many gray areas of engineering ethics is the acceptance of gifts from ven- dors or the offering of gifts to customers to secure business. The diffi culty here comes because of the potential for gifts to become bribes or to be perceived of as bribes. Frequently, engineers fi nd themselves in the position of either dealing with vendors who wish to sell them products for incorporation into the engineer’s work or acting as vendors themselves and working on sales to other engineers or com panies. In this section, we will look at what bribery is and see how some of the problem-solving tech- niques developed in this chapter can be used to decide when a gift is really a bribe.
Bribery is illegal in the United States and, contrary to popular opinion, is also illegal everywhere in the world. There are some places where bribery may be over- looked, or even expected, but it always takes place “under the table” and is never a legitimate business practice. Moreover, United States federal law forbids American businesses from engaging in bribery overseas, regardless of the local customs or expectations. In many cases, there is a fi ne line between bribery and a simple gift. Sometimes, the distinction has to do with the value of the gift. Always, it has to do with the intent of the gift. It is important to ensure that no matter how innocent the gift may be, the appearance of impropriety is avoided.
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