Ethical dilemma in Sunville's Department of Transportation leadership

Trash or Treasure - Case Study Ethics is an important issue in the field of public administration since it provides accountability between the administration and the public. To enhance accountability, public administrators, public service leaders, and other stakeholders in this field are required to adhere to a code of ethics. The code of ethics gives these professionals guidelines for integrity in their work and helps to ensure the public receives its needs in a fair manner (Academic Partnerships, 2016). However, not every professional in the field adheres to the code of ethics because of various factors such as corruption and greed. This paper analyzes the ethical dilemma in the City of Sunville that has left the Deputy Director of Transportation torn apart on what to say during the regularly scheduled monthly City Council meeting.

General Statement of the Ethical Dilemma The ethical scenario in the City of Sunville is whether the Deputy Director of Transportation should share his findings regarding the lost inventory or refuse to offer any information regarding the investigation.
Key Actors
The key actors in this ethical dilemma scenario are Commissioner Richard Mitchell, his wife, Director of Transportation, Nick Kellogg, Deputy Director of Transportation, the City Council, Department of Transportation staff, and the public. These key actions in the scenario have different roles that can further be described through the following table.
Actor
(#2) Actor Relationship
(#3) Roles
(#4) Values

Commissioner of the City, Manager of a shelter for pregnant substance abusers
Providing foster children with a loving and supportive home
Honesty, transparency and fairness

Mrs. Mitchell
Mrs. Mitchell – Wife of Commissioner Richard Mitchell
Works together with her husband in taking care of foster children
Honesty, fairness and transparency

Nick Kellogg
Nick Kellogg – Director, Department of Transportation
Manages day to day activities in this department
Honesty, accountability, fairness, and transparency

New Deputy Director (me)
Deputy Director – Mitchell, City Council
Subordinate of Mr. Kellogg, a friend of Mr. Mitchell, and member of the City Council
Honesty, transparency, accountability, fairness, and integrity

City Council
City Council – Department of Transportation, City officials
Holds regular meetings to evaluate public service delivery
Transparency and accountability

Department of Transportation staff
Staff – Director of Transportation, Deputy Director, Department of Transportation
Handles daily activities in this department
Transparency, accountability, honesty, fairness, and devotion to duty

The Public
The City
Expects better public service that meets their needs
Transparency and accountability Roles Among the Key Actors Commissioner Richard Mitchell and his wife manages are competent and philanthropic individuals who run a shelter for pregnant substance abusers in town. Mr. Mitchell has assisted the Deputy Director of Transportation to get his new job at the City of Sunville. The Director of Transportation, Nick Kellogg manages everyday activities in this department in collaboration with his deputy and other leaders. The new deputy director of (me) has secured the job based on my record when working for the city of Middleton and through Mr. Mitchell’s assistance. The City Council holds regular meetings to discuss the activities and operations of the city. The Council also supervises the decisions and actions of the city’s leaders. The Department of Transportation staff handle issues relating to transport across the city to ensure the public has efficient services. The public expects city officials to provide excellent public service in relation to their needs such as efficient transportation services.

Values Surrounding These Relationships As shown in the table above, the code of ethics for city officials and general ethical principles govern the values surrounding the relationships between the key actors and their respective roles in the public sector. The code of ethics for city officials and general ethical principles emphasize transparency, honesty, fairness, accountability, and devotion to duty. According to Whitton (2001), the minimum set of ethical principles for public service includes transparency, fairness, legitimacy, integrity, serving public interest, and efficiency and effectiveness. These values are critical for city officials and staff since they are the premise for the delivery of better public service to the city. The City Council expects all officials and public servants to demonstrate integrity, fairness, honesty, and justice as they fulfill their various responsibilities. The Deputy Director of Transportation and the City Council are keen to uphold these values. On the contrary, Mr. Kellogg, Mr. Mitchell, and the Department of Transportation staff do not demonstrate values expected of them as public servants. Their lack of commitment to these values has resulted in lost inventory and potential losses for the city.

Essential Facts One of the essential facts is that the City of Sunville has lost inventory from the Department of Transportation over the last five years. Thousands of dollars’ worth of property removed from the offices of the Department of Transportation over the last five years have not been delivered to the warehouse. This has attracted the attention of the City Council that has resolved to prosecute anyone involved in the theft to the full extent of the law. Secondly, Mr. Kellogg is in serious danger of losing his job and faces charges of grand theft that is likely to result in jail time. He faces these challenges despite stating he had no knowledge of the lost inventory although it was worthless. Third, the shelter for pregnant substance abusers has witnessed impressive success in recent years at it relies on many anonymous donations. Fourth, a review of the shelter’s computer inventory list shows that repaired furniture and equipment is the city property from the Department of Transportation.

Missing Facts and/or Implied Facts One of the implied facts, in this case, is that Mr. Mitchell is seemingly collaborating with other city officials or staff in the Department of Transportation to redirect inventory from the offices. The lost inventory from the City could not have found its way to the shelter for pregnant substance abusers in the town without collaboration between city officials/staff in the Department of Transportation and managers at the shelter. Secondly, the Department of Transportation staff could have been involved in this scandal in order for Mr. Kellogg to be removed because of his poor social skills. They could have acted in a manner that would paint Mr. Kellogg as a corrupt and greedy manager and justify his removal from the position. However, one of the missing facts is whether the City Council had information in the Deputy Director’s possession regarding lost inventory. While the City Council has asked the Deputy Director to share any information relating to the investigation, it is unclear whether they already have the information. The second missing fact is the potential ramifications the Deputy Director is likely to face for failing to share information in his possession.

Behavioral Issues One of the behavioral issues presented in this case is Mr. Kellogg’s limited social skills despite being a competent manager and an honest man. These poor social skills have affected staff morale in the department by making many job duties unnecessarily complex and laborious. Secondly, inventory from the offices of the Department of Transportation is re-directed to the shelter rather than the Sunville Physical Plant surplus warehouse. Since this has continued for five years, it is seemingly an acceptable practice within the department. Third, the re-direction of the inventory has seemingly been going on without the knowledge or involvement of the Director, Mr. Kellogg. He acted in surprise and has reiterated his lack of knowledge and involvement in the issue.

Ethical Issues One of the ethical issues in this scenario is the unethical practice or re-directing inventory to the shelter program rather than the designated surplus warehouse for the city. Officials/staff from the Department and the shelter have engaged in practices that have encouraged unethical behavior with regards to the city’s lost inventory, which has occurred over the last five years. The potential collusion between the Department and the shelter has resulted in this unethical practice that could result in the loss of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money. Through this unethical practice, city officials have failed to act in an honest, transparent, and fair manner. In essence, they have violated professional ethics, which affects public service delivery (Kure, 2017). The second ethical issue is the dilemma facing the Deputy Director of Transportation on whether to share his findings or refuse to do so.

Ethical Issues Analyzed Collusion between the Department and shelter managers/officials to defraud the city inventory worth thousands of dollars is a violation of professional ethics. Professional ethics are primarily values and principles that act as the internal objectives of a profession (Kure, 2018). As a result, these values and principles have significant impacts on public service delivery. Public officials involved in this situation violated public professional ethics. The dilemma facing the Deputy Director of Transportation also relates to professional ethics and ethical standards in public service. If he fails to disclose his findings, the Deputy Director would have acted unethically. On the contrary, he is likely to uphold professional ethics and standards like integrity by disclosing information in his possession. Therefore, he has to choose whether to act unethically or uphold ethical standards of integrity, accountability, and transparency.

Action to be Taken The Deputy Director should say, “After learning of the lost inventory, I was suspicious that the shelter for pregnant abusers could have been involved given their impressive success in recent years. I embarked on a journey to determine whether my suspicions were true and the shelter’s potential involvement. I reviewed the shelter’s computer inventory list and found that its equipment and repaired furniture is the city property from the Department of Transportation. I suspect Mr. Mitchell has colluded with some officials in the department to re-direct the city’s surplus inventory to the shelter. However, I do not know any specific official involved in this illegal and unethical practice.”

Possible Consequences of the Action First, the action would affect the good relationship between the Deputy Director and Mr. Mitchell. They have enjoyed a good friendship that could be affected if the Deputy Director exposes Mr. Mitchell’s illegal and unethical deeds. Secondly, the City Council is likely to initiate a probe that could help identify city officials who could be involved in the lost inventory. Third, the Deputy Director is likely to be viewed as a man of integrity by the City Council and other city officials.