Creating a new effective organization to reflect the current financial reality is not without its challenges. Leadership skills, management practices, and ethical principles all must be sharp and aligned to effect change.

At the ICMA Annual Conference in Phoenix, city and county managers will have an opportunity to present case studies on ethical issues they encountered as they re-envisioned and restructured their organization. An audience of MPA students will discuss the issues, propose solutions, and critique the final decisions.

If you have an ethical challenge to share, submit your case study by September 7. Case descriptions should be brief (preferably two pages or less) but sufficiently detailed to provoke discussions of one or more ethical issues encountered by the manager or staff in budget preparation, budget adoption, or budget implementation. Facts should be accurate, but names of people and governments can be changed at the author’s discretion. A brief summation of the decision made should also be appended.

Submit your case study by September 7 to Professor James M. Banovetz, preferably by e-mail at jbanovetz@frontier.com; or by mail to Professor James M. Banovetz,  Division of Public Administration, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115. Questions can be directed to Professor Banovetz by e-mail or phone, 815-761-0967. If your case is selected, you will be invited to participate in case study discussions with the MPA students at the conference.