CASE STUDY

Case Study: Department of Housing and Urban Development

Case Study: Department of Housing and Urban Development



Questions1: Based on what you have learned about ethics, why do you think that employees at HUD, and presumably elsewhere, misuse official telephone lines?

Answer

The particular ethical issues you may face a range from matters of individual integrity to those that derive from the special value commitments associated with working in the public interest. Most of the latter are associated with the tension between efficiency and responsiveness that seems to pervade government organizations. That tensions, as well as issues of accountability and responsiveness to public demands, are especially intense in the relationship between administrators and the employee (John, 2003).

Employee misuse telephone line at HUD because knowing the proper and correct course of action is not enough. You must act in a way that is consistent with what you consider being right. (After all, we describe people as having integrity not merely on the basis of what they believe, but on the basis of how they act.) This concern is especially significant for a public manager (or, for that matter, any other professional) who wishes to act ethically. Questions of ethics in the public service arc not abstract; they are real. They have immediate and sometimes serious human consequences. It is thus important to consider how we ensure moral actions in government organizations.

Question 2: Considering what you have learned about what motivates people to act unethically, what, if anything, could be done to limit such excesses?

Answer

For the purpose to limit employees making unnecessary telephones call (misuse of telephone, following strategy can be followed to limit such excess.

Internal Whistle blowing

According to David and Noman (2003), internal whistle blowing means that a current or former employee reports an illegal, immoral or unlawful activity to members of upper management ...