Reference no: EM131406680

CASE :ANOTHER DAY IN CIUDAD JUAREZ

For the past decade or longer, the Mexico-America border has become a war zone between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels. Ciudad Juarez is a large border town of 2.5 million people that has become known as the homicide Capital of the world. In some years the number of murders has exceeded 2,000. Just across the border lies the American city of El Paso, Texas. El Paso stands stark contrast to the poverty and war on the Mexican side. El Paso is one of the safest cities for its size, and it is home to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). The university occupies a hillside overlooking the border and Ciudad Juarez. UTEP is a beautiful campus with Tibetan-inspired architecture and is a major research institution. Less than one-quarter mile away, the homes that face the campus are ramshackle, shot full of bullet holes, and many lack even basic necessities such as running water and indoor plumbing.

Capitals Fabian Aguirre-Chavez is a Mexican Federal Officer who was born in Ciudad Juarez. All of his family, including his seven children, live in the city. The Capitin's wife works in one of the maquiladoras, or foreign-owned factories, as an accountant.

Today, like most days, Capita Aguirre-Chavez is on patrol with his unit. The patrol officers ride in militarized vehicles with automatic machine guns mounted on top of the unit. The federal officers assigned to the border work undercover. They not only wear protective gear such as bulletproof vests and helmets, but also hide their faces with riot masks so as not to be identified by members of either cartel. The cartels not only fight among themselves, but also fight against the police, and if they learn the identity of an officer's family, the family is often killed to encourage the officer to quit the force.

As Capitan Aguirre-Chavez is riding in the back of the patrol vehicle he says to his gunner Marco Blanco, while looking across the border toward UTEP, "Tan cerca de los Estados Unidos, tan lejos de Dios!" The comment translates as "So close to the United States, so far from God." Officer Blanco asks why the capital' remains on the force after so many years and so much bloodshed, and with such a risk to his family. Blanco knows that Aguirre¬Chavez's wife has been pestering him for years to retire and take a "safe" job in one of the maquiladoras. Most Federales in Juarez, like Officer Blanco, are young and single. They are attracted to the job because of its risk and glory. However, once they marry and have children, most leave the force and relocate to more stable cities in the interior of Mexico. Aguirre-Chavez replies, "This is my home; these are my people. How could I abandon them? Every day is a gift from God and it is in service to our fellow men and citizens that one achieves his highest humanity."

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What style of leadership is captain Aguiree-Chavez using? Is there more than one style at work here? Support your answer using the IRAC method.

2. What theory of ethics is being employed in this case? support your answer using the IRAC method.

3. How should one deal with conflicting obligations? In this case, Aguirre-Chavez has obligations to his country, his fellow citizens, and his family. How should these conflicts be resolved? Do any of the theories of ethics or leadership provide an answer?

CASE : RECORDS CHECK

Becky was the personnel specialist assigned to the Parks Department. On her way to visit some hiring supervisors there, she stopped by her supervisor's office to check on an issue that had been troubling her. "When you get the chance, Damon, I need to ask you about something."

"Sure, go ahead."
"You know how we get the background checks from the State Bureau of Investigation for our potential hires."
"Yes."
"And how one of our duties is to prescreen these so that the hiring supervisors won't be unduly biased by arrest records."
"Right, because an arrest is not a conviction," said Damon.
"Yes, and also because certain minority groups are disproportionately arrested."
"We also have policies that allow us to hire a convicted felon under certain conditions and we don't want the hiring supervisors to start out with that information because it might jaundice their decision," Damon added.
"Yeah, but I'm not going there," said Becky. "What I'm getting at is we have a set of applicants for the temporary positions in the Play in the Park program. It really is a glorified day care so that working moms can drop off their kids while school's out for the summer.
"It's extremely popular with city council. I know the program."
"Two of these applicants have odd notations," Becky explained. "One is a deferred sentence for child molestation and the other is a suspended sentence for drug trafficking. Ultimately, neither one of these is considered to be a conviction. I'm letting you know that I'm going to find some other excuse not to pass these two individuals along to the Parks Department. If it wasn't so unsupervised and it wasn't dealing with kids, I'd have a lot less qualms about this."
"This goes against policy."
"That% why I'm telling you as my supervisor. The fact is, I'm not comfortable signing off on these. So, if you feel strongly about the policy, then you should sign off on these and forward them to Parks."
"No, I think I agree with you. Let's just say that 'Other candidates more fully met our needs at this time."

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Is it ethical to go against policy in a case like this? Which ethical principles, if any, are violated? Are there any ethical principles that could serve as a basis for Becky's actions?

2. Out what legal basis would you defend Becky and Damon if applicants challenged their decisions? What is the personal risk to an official who ignores policy, particu¬larly when doing so works to the detriment of a particular citizen's interests? Would Becky and Damon face any risks if they simply followed policy?

3. Discuss the merits and inadequacies of the personnel policy. What improvements, if any, would you suggest as steps toward striking the best balance of applicant interests and public safety?

4. From a larger ethical perspective, should the city government be running a program for kids that is so "unsupervised" in the first place? Does its popularity with voters and the city council make a difference? Are there ways to make the program safer without costing too much more money?

CASE: THE CORRECTIONS OFFICER SELECTION VIDEO

Over half of the correctional officer cadets were leaving within six weeks after their initial assignments within the state prison system. To be assigned in the first place meant completion of a six-month training program in the academy. Each of the 100 correctional officer cadets were paid $16.00 per hour during the training period and that didn't include the competitive package of health and other benefits. Anna Lippert, the Director of Public Safety, had once again appealed to the state legislature for supplemental appropriations for the state's overstretched prison system. She was successful-at least for the moment, but she knew that the Corrections Department had to do something before she came back with hat in hand for more money. The prison system already had challenges but these personnel costs were bleeding the Corrections Department dry. State Senator Greg Fry, the chair of the powerful appropriations committee, quietly warned Anna in the hallway outside the meeting room, "You need me. I stuck my neck out for you today, but your department better deliver. Next time I might not be so generous."

After meeting with her staff, Alan Swope from the Corrections Human Resources Division recommended that the department look into a video-based testing module.

"The research shows that a well-produced video selection system actually increases test validity, but the best part is," he paused for dramatic effect, "the candidates get a very realistic preview of the job. They get a chance to discover,Hey, that's not for me! and voluntarily drop out of the process before too much is invested in their selection and training."

Anna looked over at james Boyer, the corrections administrator. As a former FBI agent, Anna knew that her knowledge on corrections was limited and she had learned to trust James's judgment. He shrugged, smiled, and then untitled his approval.

She turned to Alan. "Let's try it on a trial basis with the next Academy."
Alan went back to his office and charged his team with researching all the tpl tons. They finally determined that BRK Assessments had produced the best Ideo-based testing program for correctional officer cadets. In almost all of the nil isdictions that had previously used the BRK Assessment system, turnover Lacs were cut in half and the remaining cadets proved to have much better performance evaluations. In addition, the assessment modules were reasonably priced and could be uploaded on PCs for distribution around the state's remote testing sites.

After full implementation, the results came in even greater than their own high expectations. At this early stage, turnover was nearly zero and the academy instructors said that they had the best class that they ever had. Even after their assignments to their respective prison facilities, the correctional officer cadets from this class maintained a strong commitment to their new careers, and their productivity by all measurements was at an all-time high.

Anna received the reports on their success in selection, training, and placement and remarked, "These numbers are almost too good to be true." In fact, the Corrections Department had reached the middle of the fiscal year and, for the first time since anyone could remember, was not scrambling to make ends meet. Anna crossed off her calendar another scheduled appointment to ask the legislature for more money.

Then the bomb dropped. First, she got a call from Senator Fry, who said he was getting a lot of vicious phone calls, emails, and letters from his constituents about the disgusting videos they had to watch while applying to be correctional officer cadets. Next, her secretary came in and told Anna to turn on the television. The early news was doing a story on the reaction of several citizens to "Anna Lippert's porn flicks."

"What in the heck is going on?" She called her team together and they informed her that some of the applicants became upset during their video-based test. Some of the video vignettes contained shocking scenes depicting graphic violence, extremely strong language, drug abuse, homosexual relation¬ships, prisoners throwing feces and urine at guards, and one scene which all but showed a prisoner masturbating.

"Let's all remember now that the reason this video has been so successful is because it doesn't sugarcoat the realities behind prison walls," Alan said. "If they can't stand the heat, they shouldn't go into the kitchen-that's the whole point!"

James added, "We've been doing this test for almost a year now, and this is the first complaint I've heard. My sources tell me that this 'mass protest' is being orchestrated by an opportunistic preacher at a church near one of ourprisons. Our test monitors are trained to let the applicants know that what kinds of scenes the video will depict and there's a big bold warning at the beginning of the video. They can't say that they weren't warned."

Alan interjected again. "Well, maybe it's just not worth it. There is a more tame video available. The only problem is that it has a much lower validity coefficient and it's correlated with a much higher rate of turnover than what we've been experiencing with our current BRK product."

"Thanks for coming in everyone," Anna said. "I think I'll take a few more of these phone calls and watch the state's editorial pages for the next few days. I'll get back to you on my decision."

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Should Anna have more closely reviewed the video selection system? Should she have discussed it with the state's political leaders in order to gain "buy-in"?

2. Is such a video program really necessary? Is it ethical to show such disturbing material? Why or why not?

3. Are there other alternatives to the video program such as the use of psychological testing? Is such testing on people ethical? Why or why not?

4. Should the news agencies have contacted Anna and informed her they were going to do a piece on the video testing program so they could get her side prior to running the story?