When young, a former mining executive with no previous experience of elected office is elected mayor of the city of La Paz, Bolivia, in 1985, he expected to attack the notorious inefficiency and overstaffing aggressively. But, in a few weeks, Mayor Ronald MacLean said that although he is faced with some predictable antagonists, such as public sector unions are resistant to cuts staff, he is also facing difficulties in understanding even the work of the government of the city. McLean eventually realizes that he has trouble than these inefficiencies, the more powerful antagonists: corruption. This case describes the efforts of Mayor MacLean, to understand how and why corruption has taken root in the government of La Paz and to develop a strategy to eradicate it. The second part of the case specifically the approaches that flow from faith McLean that corruption is not so much a reflection of the cultural and ethical issues than one poorly designed systems that provide an environment for corruption to take hold. McLean progress in fighting corruption is described as a recurrence after leaving McLean from office. The case is well suited to discuss organizational changes, but is best suited for a specific discussion of corruption in developing countries, and the ways in which progress against it can be institutionalized and sustained. HKS Case Number 1523.0 "Hide
by Esther Scott, Merilee Grindle, John W. Thomas 13 pages. Publication Date: September 1, 1999. Prod. #: HKS064-PDF-ENG
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