How To Manage Conflict Of Interest At Workplace

Project Management / By

A conflict of interest is when a person put his/her personal interests above the interests of the organization he/she is working for. Or when a person uses his/her influence to cause others to make decisions in one’s favour without regard for the project outcome. In other words, one’s personal interests take precedence over his/her professional obligations, and the decision results in allowing the individual to personally benefit regardless of the project’s outcome.

Conflicts of interest plays an important role in an individual’s life both personally and professionally. It can cause great harm to one’s career and/or reputation if not addressed carefully. To manage it carefully it is important for you to understand what comes under conflict of interest. Below is the list of some examples

  • Hiring your relative or family friend over better candidates short-listed for the same profile.
  • Sharing confidential information with a vendor, who is your friend or friend’s relative.
  • Taking part in vendor selection when your spouse or close relative is taking part in the bidder conference.
  • Accepting expensive gifts from vendors. On certain occasion it is a custom to offer gift, but then you need to check your company’s policy before accepting any favour or gifts from any client or customer
  • Praising your friend or relative so that they can be awarded the new contract.
  • Assisting or guiding your friend or relative in business, who is your employer’s competitor in the market.
  • Accept the offer to go to your wife’s company to conduct audit.
  • Favouring supporters and misusing authority by giving support, protection or favours based on loyalty rather than ability.
  • Making work-related decisions in favour of a family member or any other close personal relationship regardless of merit.
  • The risk of actual or perceived favouritism in merit selection, promotion, performance management, salary and bonus decisions. 
Example

Peter was the project manager for a network upgrade project for her organization. The project was planned to be outsourced and Peter was a member of  the selection committee.John was the vendor with whom Peter had worked in the past. John wanted to win this bid. He goes to Peter’s office one day  shortly after the RFP (Request for Proposal) was posted.He said that he has a great news to share. His company had selected 10 lucky clients for a  conference followed by a trip to Switzerland. Peter replied “Thanks for considering and selecting us. But you and I both know this isn’t a conference. I  wouldn’t feel right about accepting it.”

John tried hard to convince him by mentioning the names of other top companies agreed to participate in this conference. Also about other benefits  and outcomes of the conference, but Peter replied “I appreciate the offer, thanks for selecting us, but no thanks. Your company is in the list of our new  contract and I’m in the selection committee for the RFP. It would be a conflict of interest if we accept your offer to attend this conference. Besides, the  value of the conference is exceeding our company policy for accepting gifts from vendors.”

In the above example Peter must be feeling relaxed as he could award the contract purely based on the merit of vendors. If he would have accepted  John’s offer and later awarded him the contract, this probably would have been a conflict of interest. This violates PMI guidelines and doesn’t look good  personally either.


Using the “I was not aware there was a policy” reasoning probably won’t save you in case of conflict of interest. Ensure to find out whether the organization has a conflict of interest policy and understand it.

In case your organization does not have any policy regarding vendor favours and gifts, suggest the concern department to set certain limit depending on the situation. It is always safe to decline a gift you are not sure about than to accept it and later lose your credibility and reputation because of an incorrect judgement.

About Aditi Malhotra

Aditi Malhotra is the Content Marketing Manager at Whizlabs. Having a Master in Journalism and Mass Communication, she helps businesses stop playing around with Content Marketing and start seeing tangible ROI. A writer by day and a reader by night, she is a fine blend of both reality and fantasy. Apart from her professional commitments, she is also endearing to publish a book authored by her very soon.

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