Introduction to Potential Conflicts of Interest and Conflicts of Commitment

Why do you use the term potential conflict of interest and potential conflict of commitment?  Don’t some potential conflicts become actual conflicts? 

We use the word potential because a lot depends on the circumstances.  In the illustration about the expensive bottle of scotch, for example, if you were to inform the appropriate person at the University (you’ll learn more about this later in the tutorial) and then return the gift, this would eliminate what was a potential conflict of interest even though you’d received the gift.

However, if you were to keep the gift and not inform the appropriate UM individual about it, and if UM were to hire the candidate, your actions would create the appearance of a conflict of interest regardless of whether you perceived yourself as having influenced the hiring decision because of the gift.