Pentagon uses mistake stories to teach ethical behavior

The Pentagon's Encylopedia of Ethical Failure is one of the inspirations for this site. I first read about it in this Wall Street Journal piece from 2007.

Here are a couple of stories from the book:

Failure to Report Gifts From Abramoff Gets DOI Official Two-Years of Probation.

A former Department of the Interior Officer who accepted Washington Redskins tickets, which cost over $2,000, as well as other gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, was sentenced to two years of probation, and to pay a $1,000 fine. Abramoff was seeking official action from the officer when he gave the officer the gifts. The officer failed to disclose these gifts on the required financial disclosure report (Form 450), and after being investigated in connection with the Abramoff scandal, he pled guilty to making a false certificate or writing. Public officials who are required to file a Form 450 must disclose gifts that exceed a minimum value. Bottom line: if public officials keep secrets about the gifts they receive from sources like lobbyists, they will receive a gift from the federal government that they cannot keep secret—probation.

Government Parking

The Inspector General received a report that an officer had been using a Government vehicle parking pass to park his personal vehicle while he was at work. The report indicated that on several occasions other employees were forced to pay for parking a Government vehicle because the officer’s personal vehicle was using the parking pass. The subsequent investigation revealed that the officer had been using the pass for parking his personal vehicle, and that his superior officers had not been informed or given him permission to do so. Although the officer advised that he only used the pass when going to work, and did not use it when he believed a Government vehicle would need it, he received a letter of counseling.

According to the WSJ, the book's originator Stephen Epstein, at the time a Pentagon attorney,

was inspired to create the Encyclopedia by a Navy magazine that used humor to discuss aviation mishaps. He recalls an account of a fighter pilot who took off, only to realize that his plane's wings were still folded. "These were stories that got your attention and had a strong message, a parable," he says.

The Encyclopedia's users are sold on the concept that stories can educate better than rules:

Patrick Carney, assistant general counsel for ethics at the Federal Communications Commission, draws on the Encyclopedia for training and encourages his staff to read the document online because the "bite-size examples are more entertaining than reading the statutes" themselves, he says. In quarterly internal FCC "Ethicsgram" newsletters, Mr. Carney includes items from the Encyclopedia. "Everyone around town is looking for ways to get the word out on ethics, and Steve's material is often used," he says.

Mr. Epstein provides a good example to others trying to convey increasingly complex ethical principles to their employees. Rulesbooks are either far too detailed or too sketchy to provide guidance.

Mistake stories, on the other hand, are better at helping us avoid ethical Scyllas and Charibdises. The entries in the Encyclopedia are extreme and funny, and so are engaging. But meanwhile, they get people thinking about these ethical areas and are effective in helping them modulate their own behavior.

You can download the Encyclopedia (it's a Word Document) from this link.