Ethics Case Spring 2016 Facts Article XVII Of The 2012 DSI C

201004 Ethics Case Spring 2016factsarticle Xvii Of The 2012 Dsi Const

201.004 ETHICS CASE SPRING 2016 FACTS ARTICLE XVII of the 2012 DSI Constitution states “…no part shall be amended or annulled except by written ballot sent to all Members.†ARTICLE VII of the DSI Constitution states that the Board includes one representative elected by each Regional Subdivision and an equal number of Vice-Presidents elected at Large. The 2012 DSI Constitution includes 9 regionally elected Vice-Presidents and 9 At Large Vice-Presidents elected by the entire DSI membership. In December 2012-January 2013, the Decision Sciences Institute, Inc. (DSI) held electronic balloting to amend the 2012 DSI Constitution without amending ARTICLE XVII to permit electronic balloting and without placing ARTICLE VII on the ballot.

The balloting was conducted by sending e-mails to Members on the DSI e-mail list in which Members were asked to follow a link to a “Survey Monkey†ballot. After the ballots were cast, Survey Monkey closed automatically without giving Members a way to preserve copies of their ballots or access copies of their ballots in electronic form. Members are required to give their physical addresses but not their electronic addresses for privacy reasons. There are 18 fewer Members on the DSI e-mail list than on the official DSI written membership list and several Members reported that they did not get to vote because their junk mail filters sent their electronic ballots to trash. About 500 of about 1,400 members cast ballots, but there is no information on how many members actually received ballots.

Citing the 2013 balloting results as its authority, the DSI Board removed nine duly elected Vice Presidents from the Board before they had an opportunity to serve the second year of their two-year terms of office. Over the past 40 years, the Regional Subdivisions have served the professional development needs of about 68,000 faculty members in their annual meetings, while the Institute has served the professional development needs of about 44,000 Members in its Annual Meetings. Unfortunately, the unilateral actions taken by the DSI Board have caused many Members to resign and the Regional Subdivisions to reconsider their allegiance to the Institute. Members have called you in as a consultant and you are now being asked to determine the legality of the balloting and the ethical issues raised by the Board’s actions.

Paper For Above instruction

The case surrounding the 2012 Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) constitutional amendments presents a complex interplay of legal and ethical issues that merit thorough exploration. The primary concerns hinge upon whether the electronic balloting process adhered to constitutional mandates and the ethical implications of the Board’s unilateral removal of duly elected Vice Presidents based on the questionable legitimacy of the electoral process.

Legally, the cornerstone of the issue resides in ARTICLE XVII of the DSI Constitution, which explicitly states that "no part shall be amended or annulled except by written ballot sent to all Members." This clause underscores the importance of ensuring that amendments and nullifications are conducted through explicitly authorized procedures, safeguarding the rights of members to a fair and transparent decision-making process. In the 2012-2013 balloting, the Institute bypassed this requirement by conducting amendments electronically via Survey Monkey without formally amending ARTICLE XVII to explicitly permit such procedures. This procedural deviation raises significant legal questions regarding the enforceability and validity of the amendments achieved through this process.

Moreover, the procedure for distributing ballots in the electronic balloting process seems to conflict with the constitutional requirement for "sending" ballots to all members. The fact that several members did not receive the ballots, either due to email filtering or mismatched email lists, compromises the principle of equal and fair participation. The absence of a mechanism to verify receipt or to offer a means of ballot preservation undermines the democratic intent of the constitutional stipulation and potentially invalidates the legitimacy of the results. Furthermore, the lack of transparency—cases where members claim not to have received ballots and where there is no clear record of who received or returned ballots—raises questions about whether the process genuinely reflected the will of the membership.

Ethically, the DSI Board’s actions of removing nine elected Vice Presidents based on these contested ballots significantly undermine the principles of fair representation and due process. The unilateral removal without clear, constitutional backing or a verified majority of valid votes invokes ethical concerns about governance, accountability, and respect for the electoral process. Such actions can diminish trust among members, erode institutional legitimacy, and provoke reputation damage, which is evident in the subsequent resignations and reconsideration of allegiance by regional subdivisions.

From an ethical standpoint, governance should prioritize transparency, fairness, and adherence to constitutional procedures. The apparent bypass of constitutional requirements and the use of electronic voting without proper safeguards violate these ethical standards. Ethical governance in organizations emphasizes accountability—ensuring that decisions such as removing officials are carried out based on correct, verified, and constitutionally compliant procedures.

In conclusion, the legality of the 2012 electronic balloting process appears questionable, given the lack of adherence to constitutional mandates requiring written ballots and the failure to ensure all members received voting materials. Ethically, the Board’s unilateral actions and apparent disregard for due process and member fairness threaten the integrity of the organization’s governance. To rectify these issues, it is crucial for DSI to establish transparent, constitutionally compliant voting procedures and uphold ethical standards that restore member trust and organizational legitimacy.

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