Ethics - Chapter 1 PDF

**Chapter 1: Introduction** **1.1 The Public sector** The public sector or the state is the government with all its ministries, departments, services, central/provincial/local administrations, public enterprise, and other institutions. The public sector is composed of two core elements; at the pol...

**Chapter 1: Introduction** **1.1 The Public sector** The public sector or the state is the government with all its ministries, departments, services, central/provincial/local administrations, public enterprise, and other institutions. The public sector is composed of two core elements; at the political level there are the political institutions where policies are formulated and the (major) decisions are made, and at the administrative level there is the public sector administration, which is in charge of implementing these policies and decisions. This implementing level is also called the civil service or state administration or bureaucracy. Ethics is a natural concern in the discussion on the actual role of the politicians and the state administration. No matter how big and what role the state is playing (and supposed to be playing), both politicians and civil servants have discretionary powers; they make decisions that affects a lot of people. Therefore, these decisions ought to be based on some form of ethics. For instance, the public (a nation's citizens) will normally expect the country's politicians and public servants to serve in the public interest, and to serve in a rational and efficient way. They will not want them to pursue narrow private, personal, or group interests. Public sector ethics of professional public servants and politicians are somewhat different from the personal ethics of individuals. In addition to the personal ethical values and principles of individuals (like respect for others, honesty, equality, fairness, etc.), the professional public servant faces another context and an additional set of values and principles. There are also some differences between public sector ethics and private sector (business) ethics. The aim of the private corporation or business is, in general, to make money, whereas the public sector is meant to perform functions for the society as a whole, according to general and political priorities. For instance, a private company can choose to donate some of its profits to charity, but a public agency may be prohibited from such largesse with public funds (without a specific mandate to do so). The context is different, and the principles of operation between the public and business sectors differ. According to Kinchin (2007), the ethics of public service is (should be) based on five basic virtues: fairness, transparency, responsibility, efficiency and no conflict of interest. There are, however, other principles in operation, and public servants face several dilemmas, for instance when the bureaucrats' private ethics collide with his professional public work ethics or organizational cultures. Public sector ethics emanates from several different sources. These sources range from the private ethical character of the individual public servant, via the agency-internal regulations and culture of the agency and national legislation, to international conventions with written standards and codes of conduct. 2. **Definitions of ethics** The word ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos which means way of living. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with human conduct. It consists of a code of conduct of human beings living in a society. Ethics examines the rational justification for our moral judgments; it studies what is morally right or wrong, just or unjust. Ethics is a set of standards that society places on itself and which help guide behavior, choices and actions. Ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness or specific virtues. It also imposes the reasonable obligations to refrain from doing certain wrong things. Ethics are standards of conduct. These standards can be applied to personal behavior. Ethics can be conceived as a science of morals (meta-ethics), and as a system of morals which defines or states the code or set of principles by which men live. As a science of morals, it investigates the nature, sources and fundamental principles that should guide human actions. **1.3 Administrative ethics** Administrative ethics refers to the ethics or moral values of persons who occupy career leadership and staff positions in government and nonprofit organizations. Administrative ethics applies both to those who work in government and in nonprofit organizations. Because, according to "new governance" public needs are addressed by organizations in both the public and nonprofit sectors (Kettl 2002). Administrative ethics refers to moral values or characteristics that are present in an organization or are exhibited by its employees and certain morals that are upheld within an organization or a particular administrative system (Ezeani, 2006, 381). Ethics in administration essentially refers to customary values and rules of conduct in public administration. A society looks for moral values like professionalism, selflessness, integrity, justice, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership among the institutions and individuals those are entrusted with administrative responsibility. The task of administrative ethics is to make clear distinction between right and wrong standards and values. Thus, organizations are perceived as always ethical, differing only in the form that ethics are presented. To this extent, an administrator could be regarded as unethical if he/she deviates from the moral norms or codes of the organization. Thompson (1985) sees administrative ethics as involving the application of moral principles to the conduct of official responsibilities and duties. Agara and Olarinmoye (2009) considered ethics as the application of moral standards in the course of official work. In essence, civil servants are expected to bring to bear in the discharge of their duties, certain ethical considerations especially where they are to make value judgments, which may have a direct relationship with their professional standing. **1.4 Ethos or ethical standards Grounding administrative ethics** Two ethos or generalized moral patterns are currently in contention in the field of administrative ethics: Bureaucratic Ethos and the Democratic Ethos. **Bureaucratic Ethos** Bureaucratic ethical standards such as efficiency, competence, expertise, loyalty, and accountability form the substantive content of ethos of the administrative ethics. The Bureaucratic Ethos characterizes public administration. The Bureaucratic Ethos is most often described in classic Weberian ethical standards and seems to reflect the standards and values that public managers act upon to operationalize the functions of government. **Democratic Ethos** Democratic values such as equality, law, justice, rights and freedom have moral connotations and require a strong commitment from civil servants. Civil servants are duty bound to uphold these values. The Democratic Ethos is more difficult to characterize because it is vaguely defined. Four types of ethical standards constitute Democratic Ethos: public interest, social equity, regime or constitutional values, and citizenship. **Regime value** In public administration this general stream of ideas is most clearly associated with the work of John Rohr. Rohr maintained these regime values are to be found in Constitution and Supreme Court's interpretations of it. The three regime values he identified are freedom, equality, and property, although he indicated this is not an exhaustive list. Rohr called for public administrators to steep themselves in this evolving tradition of constitutional values because when one accepts employment in a regime, it is extremely important to be clear about its core values and whether one can uphold them. **Citizenship theory** Also historical in its approach, this body of thought generally views the citizen's role in the American political tradition as providing the normative foundations for public administration. The public administrative role is viewed as derived from that of the citizen, thus making administrators representative citizens, professional citizens, fiduciary citizens, or citizens in lieu of the rest of us. Public administrators hold the role of citizen in trust as they conduct the public business previously done by citizens, but now handed over to professional citizens who have the time, technical training, and resources to carry it out. Their ethical obligations are associated with the good citizen. Thus, there is discussion of the importance of being responsive to citizens, encouraging their participation, being accountable to them, viewing them as the locus of ultimate administrative loyalty, respecting the dignity of the individual, fostering reasoned deliberation, and encouraging civic virtue and concern for the common good. Administrators may be employed by the police department, the water department, the health department, or the public schools to undertake certain specialized tasks, but they work in those places on behalf of the citizens they represent. Administrators work in bureaucratic organizations where hierarchical bonds and obligation are important, but they also need to cultivate horizontal bonds and obligations among the citizenry for whom they are surrogates. **Social Equity** This single ethical principle was the normative perspective around which administrative ethics as a field of study was first focused in the early 1970s. John Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971) argued that justice is the central organizing principle of government and set forth a fully developed argument for specific criteria for establishing social equity. The New Public Administration movement, which found its first organized expression at the Minnowbrook Conference in 1968, claimed Rawlsian social equity as its core ethical principle (Marini 1971). **The Public Interest** This is probably the most widely recognized and most generally espoused normative touchstone for public administration ethics. The public interest has a place in the construction of a normative administrative ethic as our moral compass, orienting us to a fundamental obligation. It serves a symbolic purpose by raising an important question before every administrative and policy decision: "Are you acting on behalf of broad shared interests or limited particular ones?" The public interest concept is most useful in reminding us that as public managers, our ethical obligation is to the former rather than the latter. It is often raised retrospectively when it is clear that something has gone seriously wrong in a particular situation and we are trying to redefine what should have been done in the past and what should be done in the future. When confronted with scandal and gross misconduct, the idea of the public interest provides an intuitive navigational beacon that points us in the right direction. **1.5 Dimensions/sources of administrative ethics** An important source of ethical standards is philosophy and its major theories of ethics. Hence, there are four dimensions or sources of ethical standards in public administration, one based on the nature of public service and three based on the philosophical perspectives to ethics: 1. **Duties:** The behaviors expected of persons who occupy certain roles; that is, the obligations taken on when assuming a role or profession. The ethics derived from the nature of the administrative position itself; in other words, the standards and expectations that are based on a duty to serve the public. 2. **Virtues:** Qualities that define what a good person is; moral excellence 3. **Principles:** Fundamental truths that form the basis for behavior; "kinds of action that are right or obligatory" (Frankena, 1963: 49) 4. **Benefits to society:** Actions that produce the greatest good for the greatest number Each of these dimensions can be expressed in a basic question: - What are the expectations of persons holding public offices? (duty) - What are the qualities of a good person? (virtue) - What is the right thing to do? (principle) - What is the most beneficial action to take? (consequences) For persons who work in government and nonprofit organizations, duty has a special importance. They must serve the public, fulfill the expectations of public office, and be trustees of public resources. These are the actions required by their occupation or role independent of---but reinforced by---other ethical considerations. The ethics of public administrators begins with and is grounded in duty. Duty is an old-fashioned term that at first glance may seem too narrow to be more than the starting point for developing administrative ethics. In a narrow view, duty implies the restricted range of actions one is required to take without question, as in the phrase "It is my duty to...". Ethics implies a broader range of expected behaviors and reflection about what should be done, and definitions of duty can encompass such views. Duty means the "action required by one's business, occupation, or function" but also "the action or behavior due by moral or legal obligation." Thus, duty implies obligations, responsibilities, and meeting expectations that are imposed on the individual from outside sources. This is the tradition of external control that was promoted by Finer (1941), who argued that elected officials should exercise minute control over administrators. In this view, the most important duty is to obey authoritative orders. Duty, however, also entails choice on the part of the officials who accept the norms established by others and augment them with their own commitment. Thus, duty as an internalized set of values as the foundation for accountability. Duty is an orientation that draws out a broad range of responsibilities. The duties of public officials are not simply to be passive instruments in policy-making but to work actively in establishing goals for public policy in their area, and in advocating those goals among the people who share their responsibility. In short, they have the opportunity and duty to conceive of and pursue the public interest. Thus, duty entails not only internalized standards but also the responsibility to take actions, such as making proposals or investigating problems, to advance the public good. Public administration ethics is rooted in duty in the sense that persons who seek positions in government or nonprofit organizations (or who pursue educational programs to prepare themselves for such positions) are commonly motivated by a sense of duty to serve, sometimes called the public service motivation (Perry and Wise 1990). They wish to help others, to benefit society, or to serve the public interest. The public service motivation is indicated by an "attraction to policy making" and the political process; "commitment to the public interest/civic duty," for example, doing "what is best for the whole community"; "compassion" or being "moved by the plight of the poor"; and "self-sacrifice" that is indicated by a commitment to work "for a cause bigger than myself" or being "prepared to make enormous sacrifices for the good of society" (Perry 1997, 187). The indicators are not ethical commitments in themselves, but they provide the basis for ethical values rooted in duty. **1.6 Importance of ethics in administration** Individual is the basic unit of society. Individual behavior determines the nature and structure of society and the values surrounding it. Here comes the role of ethics which guides the human action to establish peaceful, cooperative and healthy society. The importance of ethics in administration can be explained in the following manner: - To check the arbitrary actions of Civil Servants - To promote the sense of administrative responsibility - To establish and promote the good relations between the citizen and civil service - To preserve and promote social wellbeing , public interest, and common good - To control that part of administrative power and discretion which cannot be controlled by formal laws methods and procedures - To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative process - To strengthen the legitimacy and credibility of public administration - To foster and maintain high morals among all categories of civil servants **1.7 Determinants of public service conduct** The levels of ethics in governance are dependent on the historical, social, economic, political, legal-judicial factors of the country. Ethics evolves over a long period of time and is influenced, during its nurturance and growth by a variety of factors. **1. The historical factors** The history of a country marks a great influence on the ethical character of the governance system. The long legacy of unethical practices in governance is likely to enhance the tolerance level for administrative immorality. The forces of probity and immorality co-exist in all phases of human history. Precedents and traditions set by the top administrators, ministers and legislators also play an important role. **2. The socio-cultural factors** The administrative class emerges from the society itself. Naturally, therefore, the mores, values and behavioral pattern prevalent in the society are likely to be reflected in the conduct of administrators. It is unlikely to expect the administrators will be insulated from the orientations and norms evidenced in society. The family system and the educational system are influential instruments of socialization. If these institutions underscore honesty and ethics, the impact on the mindset of citizens is likely to be highly positive and powerful. Religion also plays significant role in influencing the work ethics of its people. **3. Legal-Judicial factors** A neatly formulated law, with a clear stress on the norms of fair conduct and honesty, is likely to distinguish chaff from grain in the ethical universe. An efficient and effective judiciary with fast-track justice system will prove to be a roadblock to immorality in public affairs. Conversely, a slow moving judiciary with a concern for letter rather than the spirit of law will dither and delay and even help the perpetrators of crimes by giving them leeway through prolonged trails and benefits of doubt. **4. Political factors** The political leadership is a single most potent influence on the mores and values of citizens. The rulers do rule the minds, but in a democracy particularly, all political parties, pressure groups and the media also influence the orientations and attitudes on moral questions. The administrative system cannot remain immune to the levels of political morality. Criminalization of politics and politicization of bureaucracy is the root cause for the decline of ethical standards in administration. **5. Other factors** In addition to the above mentioned factors the following factors also play an important role in influencing the ethics in administration. - Communication patterns in the administrative system - Effectiveness of disciplinary action on the civil servants - Ethical standards and values existing in the society - The soundness of service conditions of civil servants particularly salary - Dynamics of internal relations - Soundness of training programs organized to promote the professional consciousness among administrators - Attitude of general public towards the administrators **1.8 Moral, value, law, and ethics** **Value** Values are what an individual believes to have worth and importance, or to be valuable. Values provide direction in the determination of right versus wrong or good versus bad. As such, morals are values that an individual attributes to a system of beliefs that assist the individual in defining right from wrong or good from bad. **Moral** The word morality originates from the Latin word moralis, which means traditional customs or proper behavior. Therefore, fundamentally, morals refer to a set of rules defining what is considered to be right or wrong. These rules are defined by (although not typically written down or "defined" by writing) and accepted by a group or society. The group or society can include peers, educators, religion, media, and the family unit. If someone within the group or society breaks one of the rules, then they are typically considered to have been "bad" or "immoral." **Ethics** Ethics, which has as its core the Greek word ethos (Merriam-Webster.com), refers to the "moral character of an individual." The Greeks believed that ethos included an emphasis on an individual's character as well as including the citizen as a component of a greater community. Ethics and morals are intimately related. Moral standards are expressed in terms of values as a framework that should be endorsed and followed. Ethics are based on morals and they provided specific norms that should guide one's conduct in concrete interactive situation. Morality describes what is. Ethics describes what ought to be. **Ethics Versus Morals** ------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- **Morals** **Ethics** Derived from Latin word moralis, meaning "traditional customs" Derived from the Greek word, ethos, meaning moral character Typically associated with personal behavior Typically refers to professional practices and behavior Customs or manners practiced in any given community or culture Conveys sense of stability/permanence May be different from culture to culture An absolute standard of behavior May change as acceptable social behavior as the culture(s) change Standard is universal and immutable (not subject to change) An action is ethical in accordance with the accepted principles of right and wrong governing the conduct of a group/organization, or the rules or standards governing the conduct of the members of a profession. These standards are accepted by persons who seek entry into the group/organization or profession and apply to all persons encompassed by the organization. Ethics refers to the standards of right and wrong behavior that are voluntarily accepted by persons who choose to be part of a professional group, including the profession of public administration. When one accepts membership in a profession or accepts a public service position, the ethical standards become binding. **Law** Law is the moral minimum. It is the minimum level of conduct that we as a society can agree to impose on all of us through the threat of force and sanctions. Ethical considerations are often involved in deliberations about proposed legislation, but once crystallized into law, the conduct prescribed is assumed to be backed up by the coercive power of government. However, from an ethicist's point of view, law must always stand under the judgment of ethics. Sometimes laws may be deemed unjust and therefore unethical. Morals and ethics should be distinguished from law as well. Simply because something is legally permissible does not mean that it is morally and ethically permissible. And, just as legality does not suggest morality, illegality does not imply immorality. **1.9 The Emergence of Administrative Ethics as a Field of study** The study of ethics has been with us since the beginning of civilization, but the emergence of administrative ethics as a specialized field of study with a group of scholars devoted to its development, a significant and continuing stream of scholarly literature, conference presentations, and academic courses is far more recent. Administrative ethics as a significant field of study is dating from the mid-1970s, largely instigated by the work of the New Public Administration, and reflecting developments in thought about public administration dating back into the 1930s. During these few decades, scholarly work on administrative ethics and its application to practice have expanded with enormous speed and rich diversity, both in the United States and around the world. Through the 1990s the field of study has continued to develop rapidly, as reflected in the literature produced, treatment in conferences, and the creation of new institutions. Empirical research on administrative ethics has expanded, but still represents the area of the field of study needing the most development. The late development of ethics as a subfield of study in public administration is related to the development of the field of public administration itself. By the beginning of 20^th^ C. two major events occurred: First, Woodrow Wilson and Frank W. Goodnow advocating separation of administration from politics as the single most essential reform in achieving efficiency and removing the objectionable and immoral practices of spoils and patronage besetting the democratic system of governing. In Woodrow's words 'administration lies outside the proper sphere of politics. Administrative questions are not political questions' (Wilson, 1887). While Wilson expounded his theory on separation of administration from politics in 1887, Frank Goodnow reiterated similar views in his book, politics and administration, published in 1900. The politics administration distinction was further strengthened when the first two text- books on public administration by **(1) L.D. White (Introduction to the study of public administration, 1926); and (2) W.F. Willoughby (Principles of public administration,** 1927) were published. Through these, and by subsequent writings of scholars such as Luther Gullick & Herbert Simon, the discipline of public administration came to be viewed where 'the politics- administration dichotomy was assumed both as a self-evident truth and as a desirable goal; administration was perceived as a self-contained world of its own, with its own separate values, rules, and methods' (Sayre, 1958). Politics, then, come to be viewed as the domain of values, whereas administration was considered as the universe of fact, enshrined in a value free environment. Thus, a stage was set in the education and training programs and courses of public administration for the exclusion of ethical issues and value questions. The second event which further strengthened the neglect or deliberate elimination of ethics from public administration programs was the rise of scienticism in the field. Two core elements of scientific methods, rational objectivity and quantification, started influencing the philosophical and human sciences. The main purpose of these scientific elements was and still is to remove biases and fallacies of human thought by searching for 'hard data', which can be measured, and then presented in an objective and rational manner. In this context, students and practitioners of public administration are considered to be applied scientists who remain disproportionately aloof from that subjective (and therefore irrational) realm of values and ethical issues. As the result, teaching, training, and research in public administration tend to treat the question of values peripherally or dismiss it all together for several decades.