Helen Miller's Case Summary

Summary:

Rusty City is a Strong-mayor form of government and has a population of approximately 500,000. For the past fifty years the Democratic Party has governed it politically. The mayor, Me. Hartman, has the ability to create new or special positions and has appointed each department head. Several managerial positions and supervisors were hired as a result of political patronage. Mr. Hartman was elected after running an independent campaign. Shortly after being elected Mr. Hartman was approached by a prominent chairperson, who requested that he hire her daughter (Helen Miller). Mr. Hartman felt that he could use this opportunity to achieve three goals: 1) rebuild a bond within the partly, 2) express his concern for energy conservations, 3) bring a talented and educated woman into a midlevel

Helen Miller was assigned to a position within the Public Works department. Ms. Miller was provided no directions from her superiors, many of whom provided her no support or backing. During a recent budget meeting, she was unable to fund and implement new projects that would save the city money. Ms. Miller was assigned to a cubical next to the Public Works director, who smoked cigars. In the end she sued the director for polluting her airspace. Ms. Miller was then reassigned to the Parks department. She made recommendations on minor repairs to save the City money, but met resistance and sometimes even hostilely Ms. Miller was building a reputation as someone who many could not get along with, so the mayor assigned her to his office. Where she alienated several managers and humiliating the mayor’s staff by accusing them of an energy policy cover-up and reporting it to the U.S. Department of Energy. Determined to keep Ms. Miller on the staff the Mayor assigned her to the Building Management department, where issues had been stirred as well. Lastly, Ms. Miller was assigned to the Department of General Administration, under the supervision of director Gloria