Withholding Information: When Is It Ethical or Unethical

Using Theological Reflection Exercise: For Better or Worse!Anderson, The Soul of Ministry,What action would you take or recommend in this situation?
August 8, 2020
Describe the database and its purpose in a word document and explain each of the parts of the database.
August 8, 2020

Withholding Information: When Is It Ethical or Unethical

Imagine you are an inspector in the Village Engineering Department and have the responsibility to inspect the sidewalks of residents whose streets are being resurfaced. The village policy is clearresidents who live on streets that are partially resurfaced must pay up to $1,000 per home for their sidewalks to be replaced. But, residents on streets that are fully resurfaced are not required to pay. Your job is to determine how much a resident who lives on a partially resurfaced street must pay to replace the sidewalk. The technical criteria to determine the cost difference between a full resurface and apartial resurface are murky. Moreover, as the inspector, you have found itfrustrating to try to explain the system to residents who are impacted. Moreover, it is your strong belief that the required fee is too great of a burden, particularly for a large percentage of the residents who are retired. After years of expressing your frustrations to the director of the engineering department and having them ignored, you decide to take the matter directly to the mayor.The engineering director does not find your conversation with the mayoramusing. Indeed, he becomes quite angry with you for going around him tothe mayor and having his policy decision questioned. He instructs you to proceed with collecting money from residents and lobbies the mayor to support the current policy. You continue collecting checks and contracts from residents but decide not to cash them or process the contracts because you feel the mayor will rule in your favor. And, you are right. The mayor concludes the system is unfair, and resident contributions are eliminated for all sidewalk replacement projects.On hearing the mayors decision, you return the unprocessed checks anddestroy the contracts. The director, not having budgeted for the change, instructs you to continue with the old policy for the upcoming constructionseason and to initiate the new policy the following year. Concerned aboutlosing your job, you lie and say that you had not collected any money. Youfeel it would be impossible to collect the money for the upcoming projectyear as the change in policy had already been announced in the local press.In the meantime, the director investigates and finds that the money had indeed been collected and subsequently returned. In his opinion, this action was contrary to a direct order. You admit lying but claim that you had merely 50 followed the wishes of the elected officials. The director gives you a pink slip, thus terminating your employment with the village. You decide to appeal the decision to the assistant administrator.Questions1. Imagine you are the assistant administrator. What should you do?2. Was the director right to fire the employee for her behavior? Was thedirector acting out of his anger at having his decision overturned?3. Did the inspector exhibit moral courage? Did she act in the bestinterest of the community?4. Is it ethical to disobey an order when you feel it is the right decision?Should the inspector be disciplined?