Write ONE of the following: (Either the Case Analysis or the Public Values Analysis)
Write ONE of the following: (Either the Case Analysis or the Public Values Analysis)
Case Analysis (8-9 pages).
The primary task of case analyses is to improve your skill at ethical analysis and reasoning. Analyze a problem that resulted from a situation arising in the public, not-for-profit or health sectors that you have either personally faced or witnessed. An actual experience you have had, first hand, or at least heard about is preferable. If you are unable to come up with either first hand or second hand experience, you may draw from a secondary source, such as a movie, a play, a book or a case study. An example might be John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage, C.P. Snow’s Corridors of Power, or many others. Be sure to change names, places, etc., if you use an actual experience. Please let me know what you are planning to do for your case analysis. Setting up an appointment to discuss it with me is preferable.
A. The following format should be used for the Case Analysis:
1. Problem/Situation Statement.
2. Key Players – titles, roles, etc.
3. Issues related to the ethical dilemma — separate paragraph for each.
4. Principles of Ethics Applied to the problem/situation
5. Normative Theory that describes the problem/situation
6. Conclusion.
Public Values Analysis (8-9 pages) [Due: June 11]
The general idea behind this assignment is to gain insight into how value-laden, and therefore, how ethically-loaded, our public policies are. Not only are the public policies themselves value-laden, but our means of analyzing them, and of making choices about policy options are likewise value-laden. Policy analysis is often presented as an “objective” or even a “scientific” activity; it is often thought to be and described as “value-neutral.” This assignment asks you to turn those assumptions into questions, and to think carefully about them. Specifically, the assignment calls for you to:
1. Choose a public policy about which you have some general knowledge and/or access to enough information to analyze the values involved. A good choice of policy is one that you are both interested in and have done some prior study on. For example, a public policy that you have written a paper on for another class is fair game.
2. Choose a public policy, not an organizational policy. For example, a prohibition against smoking in a building is an organizational policy, but a law or regulation that prohibits smoking in all public buildings is a public policy because it effects the citizenry in general. If you have any doubts about your chosen policy, ask for clarification!
3. Please answer or address the following points:
a. What is the “problem” that the policy is intended to resolve or address?
b. Statement of the current public policy (sometimes there isn’t one, or there may be several partial policies; it is up to you to construct a coherent statement even if the policy areas is confused or inconsistent).
c. The public values at issue in this policy area: Are there “sides” — two or more — to this issue? What values are represented on these “sides”? Are these competing values — partially or completely incommensurable? Mention all directly relevant values, but focus on those most central, and tell why those values are most central.
d. What are two or three alternative policies that could have addressed the same problem? What values are reflected in the alternatives? How are they different/similar to the values reflected in the current public policy?
e. Discuss the degree to which your own analysis has been value-laden.
Answer preview to write ONE of the following: (Either the Case Analysis or the Public Values Analysis)
APA
