Abstract:
A reform-minded director of one of the largest human services agencies in the United States brings an aggressive, entrepreneurial approach to his task. In his first two years on the job, Gregory Coler appears to awaken a slumbering agency, ushering in new computer systems and new programs with a high public profile. His career in Florida is forever changed, however, when one child is released by department social workers in the custody of his natural parents--and is brutally murdered. Coler finds that he must not only defend his agency's actions in relation to that incident but that, suddenly, his general approach to running the agency has become a target of negative publicity. The case is designed both to illuminate the dynamics of interaction between government and the press and to frame the question of how Coler might best have handled the situation he confronted. Hitchner Case Prize Winner, 1992.
Learning Objective:
The case is designed both to illuminate the dynamics of interaction between government and the press and to frame the question of how Coler might best have handled the situation he confronted.
