E. Rey Garcia, MPA CandidateApril 7, 2015PUBA 6303: Ethic in Public AdministrationCase Study #2 Odd One Out: Confronting Corruption in the Workplace

Case Study #2 suggests many unfortunate ethical questions. Was Jenny

treated fairly during the hiring process? Was it wrong of Jenny to report

that grant funds were being mismanaged and misallocated by the county?

Was it wrong that county employees were using county-owned property for

personal use? Were the hiring practices morally wrong?

It appears that Jenny was treated fairly during the initial hiring process,

however, once hired she was told to keep her mouth shut and look the other

way. This type of management by Matt, her boss, violates HR policies in

regards to bullying and making threats by intimidation. Using grant money

for other than the reason those funds were allocated for is unethical and

shows a total lack of respect to the grantor, who expects those funds to be

allocated to the proper cause. County employees using county-owned

property for their personals use also violates HR policies in regards to

personal usage. Finally, the hiring practices used by this employer were

morally wrong. To hire friends may or may not be unethical, depending on

the scenario, but to allow employees to cheat on tests violates both HR

policies in regards to hiring process and is unfair to other applicants, who

had to study and work hard for their grade.

Kohlberg Stage of Moral Development: Stage two (self-interest

driven) expresses the "what's in it for me" position.

E. Rey Garcia, MPA CandidateApril 7, 2015PUBA 6303: Ethic in Public AdministrationCase Study #2 Odd One Out: Confronting Corruption in the Workplace

As the Moral Agent(s) did they: Jenny acted with integrity, provided

high standard service, promoted trust, respect and took

responsibility. Unfortunately, Matt, her boss was neither and

probably led Jenny to seek employment elsewhere.

What would you have done? Report it to Administration and the

media. Once the media gets ahold of this kind of corruption, the

public would be kept informed.

Alternative Action: Separate grants could have been allocated to other

funding that was needed instead of using unallocated funds. A policy

could be put into placed that allows employees to use country

property for personal use only during business hours and with

restrictions. As far as the hiring practices is concerned, perhaps an

open book policy may need to be implemented that allows employees

to use their notes and books during testing. This would allow all new

hires to be treated fairly.