John is a co-op student who has a summer job with Oil Exploration, Inc., a company that does exploratory contract work for large oil firms. The company drafts, tests, and writes advisory reports to clients based on the test results. As an upper-level undergraduate student in petroleum engineering, John is placed in charge of a field team of roustabouts and technicians who test-drill at various sites specified by the customer. John has the responsibility of transforming rough field data into succinct reports for the customer. Paul, an old high school friend of John’s, is the foreperson of John’s team. In fact, Paul was instrumental in getting this high-paying summer job for John. While reviewing the field data for the last drilling report, John notices that a crucial step was omitted, one that would be impossible to correct without returning to the site and repeating the entire test at great expense to the company. The omitted step involves the foreperson’s adding a certain test chemical to the lubricant being pumped into the test-drill site. The test is important because it provides the data for deciding whether the drill site is worth developing for natural gas protection. Unfortunately, Paul forgot to add the test chemical at the last drill site.
John knows that Paul is likely to lose his job if his mistake comes to light. Paul cannot afford to lose his job at a time when the oil business is slow and his wife is expecting a child. John learns from past company data files that the chemical additive indicates the presence of natural gas in approximately 1 percent of the tests.
Class Discussion: Should John withhold the information that the test for natural gas was not performed from his superiors?
Should the information be withheld from the customer?