conflict-of-interest

Vocabulary Word

Definition

'Conflict-of-interest' is when someone is in a situation where what they personally like or want affects their ability to make fair decisions. It's like a teacher grading their own child's test. They might not be able to be completely fair because they want their child to do well.

Examples in Different Contexts

A conflict of interest in ethics arises when a person's personal interests could interfere with their professional responsibilities. An ethics officer might say, 'Identifying conflicts of interest is crucial for maintaining trust and integrity in any organization.'

Practice Scenarios

Academics

Scenario:

Professor Johnson, your personal relationship with the author of this textbook needs to be disclosed before approving it for the curriculum.

Response:

I completely agree. We need to avoid any disagreement over conflict-of-interest in our academic decisions.

Tech

Scenario:

The new app review team seems to predominantly feature those who have friendships with app developers. This could potentially compromise our reputation for fair assessments.

Response:

Yeah, we can't afford any perception of conflict-of-interest in our app review process, we will need to look into this.