Monopoly Money The article I choose to use came from The Washington Post and was titled Smithsonian Documents Detail Chief’s Expenses. The author, James Grimaldi, analyzes the financial report provided by the inspector general detailing expenses “deemed by the Smithsonian Board of Regents as authorized and “reasonable” under the terms of Small’s employment agreement.” The article revealed that Small was the eleventh secretary at the Smithsonian, earning more than 900,000.00 a year in compensation, 500,000.00 more than the president. “Under the terms of his housing allowance, Small was allowed to be reimbursed for half of his actual housing cost, up to 150,000.00 for the first year. He was required to provide receipts of his expenses, but the inspector general in her review found that he was allowed to stop filing receipts after a few months for “administrative ease.” Every year of his tenure, Small has collected to maximum reimbursement, which has grown to 193,000.00 this year.” The inspector general also found unauthorized expenses from 2000-2005 including: charges for chartered jet travel, a tip to Cambodia for Small’s wife, hotel rooms, luxury car service, catered staff meals, and expensive gifts. Small spent nearly 160,000.00 redecorating his office, buying 2000.00 chairs, a 13,000.00 custom built conference table, and spending 31,000.00 for upholstery. After being presented with this information, the Smithsonian Board of Regents met again and decided to establish an Independent Review Committee (ICR) to review the findings and management practices and to make recommendations. The Independent Review Committee reported that the Boards actions or lack there-of were the key to understanding the need for reform. Most significant of the findings was the clear need to “correct the underlying deficiencies in its organizational structure, decision making, and financial controls that allowed inappropriate management conduct to go undetected” (ICR report 2007). This report emphasized that “failures of governance and management” were the “root cause” of: an “antiquated” governance system and insufficient oversight of management (ICR report 2007). But was this the real “root cause” of the problem? When asked, how could this problem be avoided, I have to reflect on last week’s forum and say ethical development. In this same article The Washington Post quotes Roger Sant, the chairman of the executive committee of the Board of Regents, saying, “He has raised 1.1 billion, and contributed more than half a million dollars himself. “I don’t think he does this job for the money. He has been generous with his own money and he’s gotten other people to be generous with their own money.” What does this comment imply? To me it sounds as if he’s saying, because Small was a good fundraiser his misconduct should be received with a favorable eye. Even if it was found that Small was great at his job, that he transformed the Smithsonian, he is not entitled to spend public funds frivolously. As I look at this issue, I agree, failures in governance and management were the root cause of the problem but it was not due to a lack of policy or rules. “Rules may give us a general orientation, but how to apply them remains up to us” (Weston p. 26). The article referenced several instances where there were direct policy violations but these “rules” were either overlooked or simply not enforced; they were not perceived to be unethical. That is what needs to be addressed. Everyone in an organization must first understand what is defined as unethical conduct. Then there must be continued training and workshops to develop ethical thinking and behavior. The Smithsonian displayed a dyer lack of ethical practice.

Reference:
Grimaldi, J. (2007, March 19). Smithsonian Documents Detail Chief’s Expenses. The Washington Post.
Smithsonian Institution. (2007). A Report to the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington, DC: The Honorable Charles A. Bowsher
The Honorable Stephen D. Potts, A.W. “Pete” Smith, Jr.

Weston, A. (2011). A practical companion to ethics. New York: Oxford University Press