Morality of firing someone over a mistake

[Saphire]

Wow,I also searched the Net but my search skills are not as good to find that there was a credible eye witness. The eye witness was right to report the incident. I did, however, find an article that eluded to there being an eye witness, but it did not read true enough for me to make a decision. I am NOT questioning puzzleannie’s information, btw. But, I do believe Joe Paterno should have have spoken up about Sandusky being allowed the liberties to continue to be present within the athletics facilities.

I also worked at a university and spoke against a director to administrators because he was firing people whom he found to be “hostile.” Of course, he did not like these employees I know because I sat outside his office and the walls were thin enough for me to hear his loud voice. I could not use this against him because I was told it was “heresay.” The rumor was “he was let go because he mismanaged the department funds.” This was all turned against me and I was let go because I spoke out against the bullying of my co-workers. I was told that I was “hostile” and interrupted the work progress of others trying to get their work done, and of course a “friend” to whom I confided in, repeated to the new director what I had said. I did mention to the new director that this friend did say to me that she “talked to the director, and I’m sorry, but it’s either you or me.” The director said that statement was “neither here nor there.” I don’t if this consequence is following me because curiously, I can’t get hired for the last 4 1/2 years. I keep telling myself “it’s the economy.” Oh, and btw, he was rehired by the director who replaced him, and I found out by a recruiter that "they said they thought you were not allowed to work there again.

Anyway, I wonder if maybe that’s why so many people who had knowledge and authority at Penn State did not not come forward to voice there concerns. They may not have wanted to face any consequences to their standing within the university and their pension plans and their retirement benefits and their medical insurance. Of course those are my imaginations and accusations I’m not wanting to make. I’d rather think that they don’t want to rush into judging until they are certain. These kind of scenarios confuse me as to what would be the moral thing to do when there is so much he said/she said, but at least Sandusky was arrested and I think the eye witness should be held accountable as well though I don’t have an idea as to how this should be done. And, in the end, I would not have fired Joe Paterno. Yes, I would have mercy on him. I hope he finds peace.

 

[hockeyfan]

Colleges are businesses. Firings are about saving face.

Unfortunately, your probably right. I think that may even be true about a good deal of firings, not just the high profile ones like Penn State.

The politics of hiring and firing a person from their job are too complex to answer the question “To what extent should someone be fired from their job for making a mistake?”. Most often the firing and hiring is left up to the hiring manager. If the hiring manager believes the person in question is an asset regardless of a “flaw” of character, the person will be hired, even if the manager’s director disagrees. The gravity of the mistake and number of mistakes are of the opinion of the manager. If a grave mistake brings a “negative public response to the organization”, a director or someone in a higher managerial position will fire the person in question regardless of what any supervisor may believe and with or without forgiveness. It could also be that the person doing the firing could have been a victim of a grave crime or has deep reservations of crimes against persons and practices a policy of no tolerance. I hope I have not upset anyone by asserting such knowledge I am in possession of. This is the best generalization I can contribute.

As a generalization that should be true. It may be my tainted experience talking, but I don’t think that is always the case. I have watched a lot of worthy people go because of internal political reasons. I have also seen a lot of people who were doing major damage to my company stick around for similar reasons.