Unit 4 Discussion Question
Consider a dilemma: You’re the director of a community-based human services organization that includes sites in several towns. A state budget crisis is threatening to reduce your funding by 30%. The head of the state funding agency suggests to you that you simply close down a site. That means both laying off dedicated staff members and denying services to a community and a group of people that has come to rely on you. Perhaps more important, it means deciding among several communities, to all of which you’ve made a commitment. How do you handle the situation?

This situation, in my opinion, doesn’t allow for simple solutions. If faced with this dilemma I’d refer to my organizations vision and mission statement in hopes of finding the ethical solutions necessary to handle the task at hand. I’m sure there are ways to create funding to help offset the 30 percent budget cut, but I’d need to do this in a manner that will uphold the organization’s vision and my integrity.
Understanding that I have to close a site, I know that people and communities will be hurt no matter what other decisions are made. The questions now becomes, how can I accomplish this and still be fair to each community I serve and have made promises to? I would hope that my ethical standards would be such that I would be able to present solutions that would be fair to all the people. To assure that my organization presented our best efforts, I would establish a team of dedicated employees and board members to assist me in making these tough decisions. Once decisions are made, and questions began to arise, I would be willing to explain the framework that lead to our ethical decisions and stand by what I believe in.

Complete
Case Study: Case Study: Tyco International: Leadership Crisis
(located at the end of Unit 4 READ)
Summarize Tyco of ten years ago as