CPM Public Sector Leadership & Ethics 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A city department head learns that a vendor who just won a large contract donated to the mayor's reelection campaign. The most ethical response is to:
- Proceed with the contract since the procurement process was followed
- Disclose the relationship to the ethics officer and request an independent review (Correct answer)
- Cancel the contract without review to avoid any appearance of impropriety
- Ignore the issue because campaign finance is a separate legal matter
Correct answer: Disclose the relationship to the ethics officer and request an independent review
Even when procurement rules were followed, potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed and independently reviewed to protect integrity.
Question 2: Which model of ethical decision-making asks managers to test a decision by imagining how it would appear on the front page of a newspaper?
- The utilitarian calculus model
- The newspaper front-page test (Correct answer)
- The categorical imperative model
- The stakeholder analysis model
Correct answer: The newspaper front-page test
The newspaper front-page test is a practical heuristic that asks whether a decision could withstand public scrutiny if reported by the press.
Question 3: In the context of public sector leadership, 'upward communication' is important primarily because it:
- Allows top executives to micromanage frontline employees
- Gives leadership accurate information about operational realities and staff concerns (Correct answer)
- Replaces the need for formal performance evaluations
- Ensures all decisions are made at the executive level
Correct answer: Gives leadership accurate information about operational realities and staff concerns
Upward communication channels ensure leaders receive unfiltered feedback from the field, improving decision quality and organizational health.
Question 4: A public manager faces pressure from a city council member to hire a specific applicant for a vacant position. The manager should:
- Hire the applicant to maintain a good working relationship with the council
- Evaluate the applicant through the standard merit-based process and document all interactions (Correct answer)
- Reject the applicant automatically to avoid any appearance of favoritism
- Transfer responsibility for the hire to another department
Correct answer: Evaluate the applicant through the standard merit-based process and document all interactions
Merit principles require fair evaluation; the manager should document political pressure and proceed with a standard, defensible process.
Question 5: Which leadership competency involves understanding one's own emotions and how they influence behavior and decision-making?
- Social awareness
- Self-regulation
- Self-awareness (Correct answer)
- Relationship management
Correct answer: Self-awareness
Self-awareness, a core component of emotional intelligence, is the ability to recognize one's own emotions and their effect on others.
Question 6: When a public manager uses 'participative leadership,' they primarily aim to:
- Retain sole authority over all decisions while informing the team afterward
- Involve employees in the decision-making process to improve buy-in and outcomes (Correct answer)
- Assign decision-making entirely to the team without providing direction
- Focus exclusively on achieving short-term performance targets
Correct answer: Involve employees in the decision-making process to improve buy-in and outcomes
Participative leadership engages employees in decisions, increasing commitment and drawing on frontline expertise for better results.
Question 7: A newly appointed public manager inherits a team with low morale and poor performance. The best initial leadership approach is to:
- Immediately restructure the team and reassign underperformers
- Assess root causes of low morale by meeting with staff before taking action (Correct answer)
- Implement strict performance metrics without seeking staff input
- Report the situation to HR and request a team replacement
Correct answer: Assess root causes of low morale by meeting with staff before taking action
Effective leaders diagnose root causes through listening before prescribing solutions, building trust and gathering accurate information.
CPM Public Sector Leadership & Ethics 3
A city department head learns that a vendor who just won a large contract donated to the mayor's reelection campaign.
The most ethical response is to: