This study provides a detailed, in-depth analysis of a single incident rooted in the effort of a group of professional employees to serve the public welfare. It reveals in microcosm the interplay of political forces, economic interests, personal ambition, organizational structure, and professional ethics that culminated in an act of whistle-blowing. The incident took place during the final construction phase of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART), designed to be America's first attempt at space-age mass transportation. Three BART engineers, convinced of the lack of responsiveness of management to their concerns about the system's safety, were fired for insubordination and other organizational sins. Based upon repeated interviews with the engineers, with BART managers and directors, and with the professional societies involved, as well as upon an extensive body of documents and court depositions, legislative reports, media reports, and institutional memoranda. Divided Loyalties sets a theoretical context for the issues, traces the incident from its beginning, examines the aftermath of the engineers' dismissal, and concludes with a set of recommendations that should be considered by public and private organizations, professional associations, agencies of government, and individual professional employees.
Contents
Acknowledgments
1 Organizations, Professions, and the Public Interest: On the Social Control of Public Sector Organizations
Part I Preconditions
2 Creating the Organization: The Directors' View
3 The Grandness of the Dream: Management's View
4 Working for BART: The Engineers' Experiences
5 Protecting the Public Interest: The Role of the Technical/Professional Societies
Part II Crisis
6 The Gathering Storm: The Engineers' View of the Clash Between Professional Responsibility and Organizational Authority
7 Management's Defense of Bart: The Firing of the Engineers
8 Division on the Board: Management is Attacked and Defended
9 Defending Professional Ethics: Confused Role of Professional Societies
10 Management Faces Public Scrutiny
11 The Board of Directors: A Changing Role
12 The Aftermath of the Firing: for the Engineers: Consequences and Reflections
13 Politics and the Professions: The Limited Power of Professional Societies
Part IV Summary
14 Conclusion
Appendixes
Appendix A BART Board of Directors
Appendix B Partial Table of Organization
Appendix C List of Persons Mentioned in Text
Appendix D Code of Ethics
Appendix E Court Deposition
Appendix F BART Chronology
Bibliography