Engineering Ethics Reimagined Scenarios

Please read the Engineering ethics scenario (with two different versions) on Professional Communication and Reputation [Source] and evaluate your reasoning. Your responses will remain anonymous and will not be saved.

Version A: Non-LLM Published

You are an engineer working on a project that requires expertise from another region.

To find a suitable professional, you contact a representative from a regional engineering society, who recommends a qualified engineer.

You proceed to hire this recommended engineer.

During the project, you become dissatisfied with the engineer’s performance due to:

Lack of regular communication
Concerns about overall service quality

Instead of raising these concerns directly with the engineer, you:

Contact the society representative who made the recommendation
Express your dissatisfaction with the engineer
Indicate interest in hiring a different engineer

Later, the engineer you hired contacts you and expresses strong dissatisfaction, stating that your concerns were shared without giving them an opportunity to respond or improve.

Reference: Source

What would you do in this situation?

1. Communicate concerns directly with the engineer before involving others
2. Report dissatisfaction to the recommending body without informing the engineer
3. Raise concerns with both the engineer and the recommending body simultaneously
4. Replace the engineer without providing detailed feedback

Version B: LLM-Enhanced (Human-Reviewed)

You’re leading a distributed engineering project with contributors across multiple countries.

One engineer—recommended by a regional society—has been missing updates and delivering work that doesn’t quite align with expectations.

You’re frustrated.

Instead of addressing it directly, you message the recommending contact:

“This isn’t working—we may need someone else.”

A day later, the engineer messages you:

“I wish you had spoken to me first.”

You realise:

In their professional culture, direct feedback is expected privately—not through third parties
Your approach may have caused a loss of trust or reputation

Reference: This scenario was enhanced using ChatGPT version 5.3

What would you do in this situation?