Scenario: Time, Results, and Fairness at NDHQ

Group Size: 4-15

Scenario

At National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) in Ottawa, Lieutenant-Colonel (LCol) Paula Ali runs a unit comprised of Department of National Defence (DND) employees and Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members. The organizational chart is layered. Some CAF members report to DND employees and some DND employees report to CAF members. The office provides an internal client service open daily from 0700-1700.

The two client service agents who respond to inquiries are DND employees. They have staggered work and lunch breaks, of a half hour each, to ensure that there is always someone available to respond to inquiries.

Frank Chu, a program manager, supervises both the client service agents and Major (Maj) Penny Pod, supervises a report-writer. Frank works 0800 to 1600 but lately he’s been staying until 1700 and working on weekends to keep up with the workload.

Maj Pod works from 0700 to 1500. She spends one and a half hours in the gym every morning, takes an hour for lunch, and teleworks on Mondays. One of her children has behavioural issues and she occasionally must leave work abruptly to go to his school. She doesn’t go to all military events that she is expected to attend and doesn’t return to work after weekly Friday lunches at the mess.

Karl Klass, a program analyst, works from 0800 to 1600. He reports directly to LCo Ali and has no staff to supervise. He frequently attends off site meetings and, due to the nature of his work, can do most of his work remotely. He does not often spend a full day at the office. LCol Ali is satisfied that he is getting the results needed.

Corporal (Cpl) Ahmed Hassan, a Human Resources Administrator, spends a lot of time chatting with people in the office. He volunteers on all committees, including the charitable causes. Some people say that he talks too much and is a bit peculiar, but they know that some of the committees probably wouldn’t exist without him. He reports to Maj Pod, who seems to have no problem with his schedule. Maj Pod is the only one who is aware of Cpl Hassan’s mental health issues.

Cpl Hassan is chatting with one of the client service agents, Marta, one day. “You seem pretty busy lately, Marta, with the spike in requests!” he says. “It must be hard to relax when you only have half an hour for lunch. I know that the Public Service employees have collective agreements for you folks that state how long you can take on breaks but it’s interesting how other employees who work here seem to be free to take longer lunches. I think the managers really ought to have a meeting with everybody and remind them of the agreement, because we need to share the workload more fairly in this place.”

Categories

• Principles: Respect the Dignity of all Persons, Serve Canada before Self, Obey and Support Lawful Authority
• Values: Excellence, Stewardship, Integrity, Courage
• Cultural themes: Leadership, Teamwork
• Misconduct types: Employment Inequity
• GBA Plus themes: Culture
• Audience: Defence Team

Facilitator’s Guide

Learning Objectives

• Discuss the need for collective understanding and transparency for military and civilian work forces.
• Discuss the ethical principles to “Respect the Dignity of all Persons,” “Obey and Support Lawful Authority” and “Serve Canada before Self”, as well as the ethical values off excellence, stewardship, and integrity in this setting.

Facilitation Questions

1. What is the problem in this scenario?
   • Open group discussion.
2. What are the facts? What are the assumptions?
   • Open group discussion.
3. What are some courses of action (COAs)?
   • Open group discussion.
4. Which principles, values and results are at play for each option, including the option to do nothing?
   • Open group discussion.
   • Discuss “Respect the Dignity of all Persons”, “Serve Canada before Self” and “Obey and Support Lawful Authority.”
   • If the audience includes both Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and DND members, ask what Serve Canada before Self means members of each group?
     Discuss courage, stewardship, and excellence in this scenario.
   • Discuss professional expectations such as teamwork, leadership, readiness, and discipline.
5. What would you do to address this situation? Why?
   • Open group discussion.
   • Discuss the different norms and policies related to work between CAF members and DND employees (e.g., DND employee collective agreements, working hours, CAF members fitness requirements (re: working hours devoted to physical training).
   • Discuss with reference to Defence Ethics, the military ethos, and relevant policies.