D.B.A.  Baker College (Michigan), 2011.
Specialization: Ethics. 

Government ethics: The ethics of using formal bureaucratic rules to block accountability
219 pages. UMI #: AAT 3459775
Bibliographic Record in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database

A number of cases have been well documented over the past 15 years in which government employees, both civilian and military, have alleged mistreatment by the government because of discrimination or retaliation for whistleblowing. Many of those cases were dismissed on a technicality, such as the State Secrets Privilege and were never heard in the court system. Little research has been done that examines how those individuals who have alleged mistreatment experienced their treatment by the government. An interest in the topic resulted from the author's own case. As a civilian United States Army engineer, he was accused, in February of 1997, of being a spy for Israel. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of those individual government employees who alleged mistreatment by the government in order to understand the factors they believed influenced the outcome of their case and the meaning they gave to that experience. The researcher performed bracketing interviews prior to interviewing individual government employees to reduce the likelihood of researcher bias. Three former government employees were interviewed for this research. They were; Mark Mallah, a former special agent for the FBI; Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator; and Russell Tice, a former intelligence analyst for the NSA. The employees used specific statements to describe their experience. The results showed that themes emerged from these statements which described a lived experience that develops over time. These themes appeared at different times for different subjects but were common to all. These themes were also found to be similar to the seven stages of the grieving process. Each of the participant interviewees 'felt' the emotions which are akin to the steps described in the grieving process. The results from the interviews, with their emergent themes, show commonality between the three participant interviewees in their emotional pattern and their connection. This research has shed important light on the experiences of individual employees and the meaning they derived from those experiences. In addition, the researcher attempted to advance a theoretical understanding of what role personal ethics and formal procedures and policies play in the adjudication of employee complaints in the government.

• John Vinton, Ph.D., Chair
• Helen Bojarczyk, Ph.D.
• Mary Dereshiwsky, Ph.D.