Columbus Park-Waste Treatment Case Study

The case of Columbus Park-Waste Treatment Facility is a study of ethical issue in the management's decision making. Ann Paxton is the manager of the Columbus Park-Waste Treatment Facility. She is in the process of preparing an annual expense budget for next year. The budget prepared by responsible managers will help the company to properly allocate expenses and predict profitability. Ann's major concern is that if her budget is below the actual cost, it will negatively impact her chance of getting a promotion. And there are signs that there might be costs increases for the upcoming year. As Ann prepares the budget, she wants to best utilize this opportunity to maximize her chances for a promotion next year.

While it is not uncommon to submit higher cost budget to ensure sufficient coverage for the department to operate, it is usually with the best interest of the department and company. In Ann's case, she does have some valid reasons and concerns to submit a higher budget. Using current year's cost information, the budget for next year should be $4,200,000. Taking into consideration of the potential factors that might increase the cost for next year, the increased budget Ann should submit for her department is $4,600,000. However, Ann believes that her budget will be reduced by 10%. Therefore, a $4,900,000 submitted budget will give her $4,410,000 to cover next year's costs. This is still lower than the potential new costs of $4,600,000 she might have to cover.

In theory, Ann Paxton is doing the right thing as she is planning her cost coverage based on information and forecast she has for next year. However, in reality she did not do it solely for the department and company's best interests. Ann Paxton is using the budget planning & preparation process as a vehicle to increase the chance of her getting a promotion next year. This makes her action unethical.

It is understandable that employees would want to show case their best performance to increase chances of promotion and moving up the corporate ladder. However, gaining advantage by taking advantage of the process rather than actual performance is not exactly the right way of moving up the corporate ladder. In Ann's case, I'd recommend that she submit $4,600,000 as her budget and state the reasons and concerns together with her budget proposal. This would show that she is a forward thinking manager that is looking out for her department. This is a good trait for a manager. In addition, her reasoning and concern are all valid and convincing.