Management in the Public Sector

Introduction

Alex Washington was appointed by the governor as a commissioner for the public service department and he was the second governor who had been appointed in his first term. However, before Alex was offered this position, he came to know about the problems that the department was facing. Moreover, he had also heard many rumors. However, he figured that criticisms were mainly due the changes that had occurred in the department. Since Alex had already worked in different organizations, he was sure that he will be able successful in this challenge too.

Besides this, Alex was also alerted about the complaints and unsigned letters but he did not use them as a basis of conducting an investigation (Joseph, pp. 285).

Letters

After working for six weeks in the department, Alex received more letters from which three caught his attention. The first letter was signed by members of the “Veteranos of Foreign Wars”. They alleged that veterans were not getting additional five points which were to be given to them by law since they passed the civil service exam. When Alex investigated about this issue, it was revealed that a significant decline in the appointment of veterans has been observed in the last six years.

The second letter was from an unemployed citizen of the State who alleged that the current rules with reference to layoff were ignored during the last reduction. However, the rules stated that employees who served at the provisional titles will be returned to permanent title. Moreover, the people serving in the career positions will be released from the service. After investigating, Alex came to know that some titles were changed after the layoff was announced. However, this also resulted in the demotion of some individuals who deserved to remain at the same title.

The third letter was written by a Professor in the capital city. The professor regularly provided consultation to the state. However, this letter was most disturbing for Alex. This was because of administration's strong commitment to fiscal conservatism. It was also alleged that money had been squandered on some projects because the consultants had provided the same reports which had also been written before. Moreover, it was also said by the Professor that these consultants had made contributions to the fund-raising activities in order to win the contracts. However, two important issues that rose due to this were fiscal responsibility and raised serious ethical issues (Joseph, pp. 285).

Honesty

In terms of administrative responsibilities, when this case is discussed, the first thing that comes in mind is honesty. All the three letters that Alex received from different people were of concern and this was because the implementation of laws was not being done properly. Initially when Alex was told about the rumors, he did not pay heed to it. However, later onwards, when he himself received the letters, he was very much concerned and this showed his honesty towards his work.

Trade-offs

Alex was very loyal to his work ...