Ethical Decision-Making Models in Guerilla Government Research Paper

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Introduction

Public administration is a sphere of undertaking challenges. The work of any manager is marked with a range of doubtful decisions and contradictory questions. The problem within the public administration sphere arises when the manager, supported and assisted by guerilla government, takes the actions that stand in conflict with the principles of ethics or embraces guerilla tactics himself. According to Terry Cooper (2012), ethical issues arise when “competing or conflicting ethical principles or values are embedded in a practical problem” (p. 85). Naturally, such ethical issues concern both the employers who feel their absolute power and the employees who are afraid to contradict their managers’ decisions.

Main text

In his book on guerilla government, professor Rosemary O’Leary (2014) illustrates several cases in which guerilla employees tend to give up on their responsibilities and obligations for the sake of retaining their posts. For instance, the author describes many stories connected with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Seattle Regional Office, specifically with the guerilla government working within it. One of such cases concerns John Spencer who headed the mentioned establishment in 1981-1983.

At the time of his directory, John Spencer committed several illegal actions as a public administrator. First, he used to take some trips to Alaska at public expense. Second, Spencer ordered the services of a private driver, which contradicted the agency’s policy. Besides, the administrator launched some changes in the Environmental Protection Agency office building, which was forbidden by the General Services Administration. Therefore, one of the staff members of the agency filed an anonymous complaint against him. However, the director of the Management Division who held responsibility for the review of similar reports did not react to the alarm. According to him, the subordinate workers had no right to disagree with the rules that were established by the management. Consequently, he decided to ignore the complaint (O’Leary, 2014).

In this case, one may view the example of how the guerilla employee committed a harsh violation of federal law in an attempt to cover up his manager’s illegal actions. Specifically, the director of the Management Division broke several principles of ethical conduct outlined by federal law. The rules that were violated are the following: “public service is a public trust, requiring employees to place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws and ethical principles above private gain”, “employees shall act impartially and not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual”, “employees shall protect and conserve Federal property…” (An Ethics Pamphlet for Executive Branch Employees, 2000). The major reason the director chose to embrace guerrilla tactics, in this case, is his striving to retain the position, while Spencer’s ‘reign of terror’ seemed threatening for him. Consequently, could not dare to interfere with the administrator’s decisions. Moreover, through absolute obedience, the guerrilla employee was trying to get an advancement on his post. His attempt was successful as one can deduce from his resume: in 1984 the worker was promoted from the position of Deputy Director to the post of Director of the Environmental Services Division. One should consider, though, that the politics of reticence is the politics of destruction: its consequences always reveal themselves and inflict inevitable punishment: in 1992 the guerrilla employee was reduced on his post to the special assistant (O’Leary, 2014).

The results of guerilla government politics always influence the organization. In the case that was described by O’Leary (2014), the tactics of the employee damaged the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget and slowed down the track of payments within the company. To prevent the consequences, the Director of the Management Division was supposed to inform the highest federal structures about the illegal politics of John Spencer immediately. On this occasion, the director could be dismissed from his post. Moreover, such an act could become a crucial lesson for the staff of the Environmental Protection Agency, while it would prove that any employee has an ethical obligation to protect his/her rights at the workplace as well as report upon any violations committed by administrators.

The issue that often contributes to guerilla politics’ distribution is the managers’ habit to avoid decision-making. According to R. Jackall (2010), “decisions are only made when they are inevitable” (p. 89). This matter is one more reason that explains the manager’s behavior in the case with John Spencer. It seems easier for any employee to discard the problem to avoid the responsibility for its outcome. Nevertheless, the issue of ethical responsibility can not disappear together with this problem. It stays with an employee and destroys his working environment. To mind the ethical side in one’s work, one can apply Cooper’s decision model that turns to be successful in similar matters. This model can encourage an employee to establish long-term ethical decisions for future work (Bradley, 2012). Considering the consequences of one’s own decisions provides excellent guidelines on how one should approach the challenges at work thoughtfully and efficiently, without the application of guerilla tactics.

Conclusion

Finally, to avoid the usage of guerilla politics within one’s work, it is crucial to realize what one’s primary vocation is. In his article, Chad Newswander (2014) points out: “employees must accept that their initial title or role is that of a citizen” (p.126). Thus, it is a direct responsibility of every employee and employer to serve the state, instead of separate individuals or organizations.

References

An Ethics Pamphlet for Executive Branch Employees. (2000). Web.

Bradley, J. (2012). How to Apply the Cooper’s Decision Model. Chron. Web.

Cooper, T. (2012). The Responsible Administrator: An Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role. NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Jackall, R. (2010). Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers. NY: Oxford University Press.

Newswander, C. (2014). Guerilla Statesmanship: Constitutionalizing an Ethic of Dissent. Public Administration Review, 75(1), 126-134.

Oleary, R. (2014). The Ethics of Dissent: Managing Guerilla Government (2nd ed.). Washington DC: CQ Press.

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