Abuse of Position

Answer

Ethical Essay: Abuse of Position

Introduction

In leadership, reputation is everything and acting according to the principles of ethics as well as respecting the rules of law does not only progresses the activities of an organization but also develops one’s leadership career. As study conducted by Alias et al (2019) reveals that ethical practices or doing the right thing is vital for any leader since they assist in maintaining great reputation and assist to avoid legal and financial issues that ultimately benefit everyone at workplace. Most importantly, acting right assist in developing personal and professional career. In order to maintain a good reputation devoid of legal, financial , and unethical issues, leaders or managers must comply with the rules of the organizations as well as application of ethical principles so that they aspire to do the right things in their day-to-day activities. The essay describes unethical activities of Truscott, a TFA employee who unethically acted in a public office by using the office for private gain and wasting government resources.

Use of office for Private Gain

One of the unethical acts that has been demonstrated by Truscott, ATF chief is use of government office for private gain.  According to the act 2635.702, any public officer is not allowed to use his/her public office for personal gain. This is not unethical but also violates the laws of public office. The law further states that a public office should not be used for endorsement of any service, product, and enterprise for private gain of relatives, friends, or another individuals whom the officer is affiliated to.  Particularly, Truscott has used one of the staff members to assist his nephew in his daily activities including tours and accomplishing other activities such as emailing (Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure, 2016). The employee in this case is a member of public office who must only deliver activities that align to the functions of the office. Additionally, he has also used the materials such as typewriters that belong to the office to accomplish the mission of the nephew. Basically, it is an abuse of not only the office but also the position.

Government Resources

Truscott has wasted the resources of the government. One of the oaths that is taken before resuming the office is the protection of government resources hence failure to which is considered not only unethical but also violation of laws. According to Bowman and West (2018), one of the five principles of public service ethics is safeguarding public resources and acting with integrity. One of the most important resource in any organization is human resource. In this case, Truscott has given his nephew public officials who spend most of their times accomplishing the duties of the nephew instead of people they are employed to serve. Secondly, Truscott allowed him to use ATF equipment, including the ATF’s film studio, cameras, and tele-prompters to film interviews (Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure, 2016). These are property of the government and should only be used to accomplish agenda of the government to serve the public interest but not for personal or private gain by other individuals. It is in this context that Truscott has failed to maintain integrity and abuses his position as well as the office because of inability to protect the public resources.

Conclusion

Truscott acted unethically according to rules of most organization particularly, TFA by using the organizational office for private gain and also wasting the government resources such as using government employees and resources to achieve personal objective. In order to achieve the milestones in professional and personal development, people should act or work according to the requirements of the law and principles of ethics that demands that at all times people should do the right thing. Notably, being fair, honest, and ethical are some of the basic human needs that should be emulated by all people.