Reference no: EM132308077

Fact Scenario:

You work in the County Clerk's office. Your department shares office space with the County Code Enforcement Department.

You see a woman come into the office who has an issue regarding a code enforcement matter. The County is issuing daily fines because it has said her property is not up to code. She speaks English, but it seems this is a second language for her. The County is threatening legal action which will affect her job status. She claims that if her employer finds out about this, she could possibly lose her job. She also claims to be a single mom with two kids, and is very upset.

She says she has no idea what the issue is all about and is trying to explain that perhaps the County has made a clerical error and transposed her address with another address. She is asking for someone to investigate this for her.

The Code Enforcement personnel are all too familiar with this type of stalling technique and have given her a form to fill out. You know that is the proper procedure for that department to do, and they are under considerable pressure to get code violations cleared up. Citizens have complained about lowered property values due to code violations that their neighbors continually ignore.

You also know that it will take that department approximately three weeks to get to her form. She did not come to the office in a timely manner. She has been receiving letters about this matter for the past three months. She claims she didn't think this had anything to do with her, and she says she did not understand the meaning of the letters that had been sent to her.

She has proof of her address on several current bills, and even brought pictures of what she says is her house showing no code violations. You know it would only take you about 30 minutes to figure out if indeed a mistake has been made, and you are not busy at the moment.

Assignment:

EXPLAIN and APPLY the Threshold Test in this situation to see if you should let this take its official course within the Code Enforcement Department, or should you take it upon yourself to try to help this woman.

Remember, you are applying THIS test. In so doing, you may come up with an answer you are not happy with. That is OK. This answer is not about your opinion. I want you to just apply this test to the facts. Don't assume anything. Just look at the facts as they are laid out.

Be sure and read the scenario carefully. Really dig into the different nuances of the situation.

Be sure and show me your analysis of the application of this theory. You are not only going to explain the steps of the test, but you need to fully explain your thinking as you work through the test in a systematic fashion.

If you want to offer in your two cents AFTER going through the test and answering the question, that is fine. Just make sure it is a separate part of the answer.