Assignment
Review the Case Study "A Late Night Surprise" and answer the five questions within "Thinking it over" 1-5.
Case: A Late-Night Surprise
This case, written by Carole L. Jurkiewicz, originally appeared in PA Times in 1998. The readers' responses appeared in subsequent issues of PA Times.
Dennis, the city manager of a financially strapped municipality, is working uncharacteristically late at night. The offices are empty and quiet as he is leaving. He notices a sliver of light coming from the door of the new budget director, Susan. He decides to stop and praise her for her excellent report in which she discovered errors that will save the city millions of dollars, projecting a budget surplus for the first time in many years. As he approaches her office, he can see through the few inches the door is open that she is in a passionate embrace with Gary, the assistant city manager. Employment policy strictly forbids dating between employees, threatening dismissal to those who do.
Dennis's code of ethics requires him to enforce this policy, yet at the same time, he does not want to lose either or both of his valuable employees. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to bring in someone else with their experience and credentials for the money the city can pay. What should Dennis do? Should he report Susan and Gary per the policy? Should he overlook the situation, believing the city will be best served in the long run?
Should he speak to each of them and threaten to tell them if they don't end the relationship?
Reader Responses
[Dennis, the city manager,] should look outside the current policy box and analyze his alternatives. If legislating morality worked, there would be no need for vice squads. You should not come between two people who are in love or falling in love, even if they are public officials. Instead, if he feels he needs to do something about Susan and Gary, he should work to change the policy prohibiting dating between employees. Is an embrace in a public office after hours in the bowels of a government building considered dating, or is dating seen as an open affair in public? Either way, who cares? The ethical thing to do is to have the guts to eliminate a staid and outdated policy. Ethics is a matter of judgment about doing the right thing and having the courage to take responsibility for your actions and stand behind your decisions.
The assistant city manager and finance director are vital members of the city's executive management team. They and the city council set the tone for city employees and the public's perception of what behavior standards are acceptable for the organization.
The city manager must, at a minimum, notify the assistant and the finance director in writing that the behavior will cease immediately and result in termination if it occurs again. The notice and counseling should focus on the employees' excellent work records and [their] value to the city. But their responsibility for setting behavior standards takes priority over their administrative competencies.
It is too easy for the city manager to overlook behavior by the executive team that line employees do not tolerate. Being "valuable" to the organization should not be a license to deviate from behavior standards. If anything, they should be held to a higher level since they set the standard for other employees and send a message to the employees about what is acceptable. The manager needs to think about what type of message he wants to send down the line!
Dennis did not speak to them directly. He used the next staff meeting (with Susan and Gary in attendance) as an opportunity to discuss the policy. He introduced a hypothetical situation for discussion that closely mirrored the one he was in. After discussing alternative approaches to handling the case, the staff agreed that they would tell if in the same position. Business went on as usual, and he never again encountered Susan and Gary in a romantic embrace. He doesn't know if they understood the veiled warning he was trying to give them or if they ended the relationship. He's generally happy about the outcome.
Reader Response
This solution...has several problems. First, leveling discipline (warnings) upon the whole to reach the few may be a diplomatic and perhaps innovative solution. Still, it may open the manager to unexpected consequences and organizational resentment, impacting the agency's morale. It occurs to me that the age-old management tool of bringing the offenders to task, given the existence of the rule forbidding dating, would be to present his hypothetical case in private to the offenders.
Second, honesty or the fear of confronting issues head-on may be problematic. Using my approach leaves no doubt in anyone's mind about appropriate behaviors and would have involved as few people as possible in resolving a disciplinary issue.
Regardless of which approach might be taken, consider what might happen to employee morale should the following also have occurred: the city manager was not the only late-night worker to observe the passionate embrace, and the word gets around about the romance [and] neither of the top managers is fired.
Task
A. Explain how framing and anchoring shape "rational" decisions unconsciously?
B. The mayor tells you to delay the release of sensitive information to the city council until after its next meeting. Use the Decision-Making Checklist (Exhibit 6.1) to work through the issues in such a request.
C. "Do good" and "do no harm" are both essential ethical duties for public servants. Give one policy or administrative example of the tension between the two tasks.
D. Why does corruption capture the headlines when it is often the same old story with different actors?
E. Review at least three online reports on Hurricane Katrina from credible sources (such as the Government Accountability Office). What identified shortcomings in governmental performance raise ethical issues or implications?