Trapped in a Dysfunctional Family

Abstract:
This human resource/career management case focuses on a newly-promoted mid-level manager in the US Social Security Administration who finds that what he thought was good news--his appointment as director of the administrative and matching staff in the Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Finance, Assessment and Management--actually leads to tension with his superiors and concerns about the future of his career in the agency. The case highlights how appointments are made in a major public bureaucracy and the difficult interpersonal issues that can arise in their wake. Those issues include, in this case, a number of interracial and inter-ethnic tensions encountered by the employee on whom the narrative is centered, as well as the question of how to manage employees whose competence and integrity are questionable.

Learning Objective:
This rich case provides a window into the subtle political and interpersonal issues with which public employees must deal.