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Describe
a difficult situation you faced (either at work or elsewhere).
Discuss how you thought about and managed the situation.
To
my understanding, a difficult situation is not so much a
physically difficult situation as a morally difficult situation.
There are times when people are faced with a moral dilemma
and at such moments their conscience and other aspects of
human nature are put to test. In the face of temptation
and when caught in moral conflicts, the borderline between
the right and the wrong often seems blurred, one tends to
oscillate and the ability to choose the morally correct
course of action is truly an act of sound moral judgment.
I worked as a self-management trader at the Securities
Headquarters of China Economic Development and Credit Investment
Company during 1999 to 2001. The self-management trading
refers to the practice of buying or selling a certain number
of stocks at a designated account. For the matter of convenience
in operation, our company allowed each trader several self-management
accounts. But lack of efficient control occasionally creates
the possibility that a certain number of stocks remain un-liquidated
in some accounts that have been registered for nullification.
At one point I discovered, to my surprise, that in one of
my account numbers that has been registered for nullification
there were stocks worth 200,000RMB (approximately 25000
US Dollars). I was the only person who knew this and if
I sold out the stocks the money could be transferred to
my private bank account without anyone’s knowledge. I could
quit the job upon completing the transaction. Greed could
have tempted me to do so. Furthermore, my mother, who was
then suffering from cancer, was being hospitalized. I could
use the money to elongate, if not save, her life. For an
entire day and night, the demon of greed and the angel of
conscience were both trying to win me over. I found myself
in a cross-section of moral choice and it was a truly agonizing
experience to argue, within my own mind, for and against
the temptation.
Ultimately, my conscience and the
sense of credibility prevailed over the demon of temptation.
The next day, I reported the issue to my superior who in
turn praised me for my credibility. This incident won his
trust because before long I was assigned to be the manager
of the risk control department. My mother did not have time
to hear of my promotion but she could feel proud of her
daughter who has won respect and trust of her superiors
and colleagues. |
