CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Ethics and Accountability in the Public Service PDF

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE Learning Objectives At the end of this module, the following learning objectives will be attained by the students: 1. Explain the concept of ethics, control and accountability 2. State and explain the impact of control and a...

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE Learning Objectives At the end of this module, the following learning objectives will be attained by the students: 1. Explain the concept of ethics, control and accountability 2. State and explain the impact of control and accountability as applied to public administration. 3. Analyze the functions of the different organs of the government in the present 4. Explain the relationship between ethics and morality 5. Identify the different ethics and organizational behavior. INTRODUCTION Ethics is said to be “knowing or doing what is right or wrong”. It assumes that all people know what are the right thing to do and what is not, based on their own principles and judgment. It gives them the decision as to what must be or should be an acceptable act in the eyes of other people. People may have different notion as to what is right and what is wrong because it depends on how he was raised and how his/her environment influence his principles, judgment, conscience and decisions. I – ETHICS AND MORALITY The term ethics is a difficult term to define. The approaches to ethics and the meanings of related concepts have varied over time among philosophers and ethicists. The meaning, nature and scope of ethics have expanded in the course of time. APPROACHES TO ETHICS: OBJECTIVIST & INTERPRETIVIST There are two main approaches to the teaching of ethics. The two approaches are the objectivist, and the interpretivist or subjectivist. The objectivist approach is also known as deontological theory. The interpretivist approach is often called teleological theory. In reality, the two theories come together to help apply general principles to concrete situations, or to reflect broadly on this particular situation. ETHICS DEFINED Scholars often call ethics “moral philosophy.” Ethics is a branch of classical philosophy dealing with morality. It should not be surprising, then, to discover that there is no single definition of ethics. These definitions have their roots in the two basic philosophies of objectivism and interpretivism. Ethics refers to well-based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of duties, principles, specific virtues, or benefits to society. This definition identifies four dimensions or sources of ethics, namely: 1) Duties, 2) Virtues, 3) Principles, and 4) Benefits to society. DEFINITION OF MORALITY Ethics focuses not only on human action but also on its morality. Morality involves the examination of human action to decide if it is good, bad or indifferent – to figure out if it is right or wrong, good or bad. It is an important function of ethics to figure out whether particular human actions are moral or not. HUMAN ACTIONS Ethics suggests that it focuses on human actions and their morality. It is concerned with the morality of human behavior. The major focus of ethics is on actus humanus (deliberate human action) and not on actus hominis (undeliberate action). Three requirements must be concurrently present for any action to be human: 1) Knowledge involved, 2) Voluntariness present and 3) Freely done. The purpose of human action a) Pleasure: eat, drink, and be merry. b) The cultivation of the mind or control over knowledge. c) Acquiring material goods. d) Achieving prosperity and progress for the human race. e) Association with the Supreme Being. Impediments to human action ⚫ Ignorance: the absence of knowledge in a subject capable of having knowledge, or lack of knowledge in a subject who should have knowledge. Types: 1) Ignorance of law, 2) Ignorance of fact, 3) Invincible ignorance, 4) Vincible ignorance. ⚫ Fear: a mental trepidation or an emotional reaction arising from an impeding danger. ⚫ Violence: an external physical force exerted on a person. ⚫ Pathological states OBJECT, END, AND CIRCUMSTANCE: THE DETERMINANTS OF MORAL ACTION OBJECT OF HUMAN ACTION The object of an action is the first part of any action in a morality assessment. The object of any action is its essence. It is that which makes an action be what it is and not something else. Every action has an object. The object distinguishes the act from every other act. That object can be neither something good, bad or indifferent – that is, neither good nor bad. Lying and telling the truth are examples of two actions that are distinguished from each other according to moral criteria. CIRCUMSTANCES OF A HUMAN ACTION Circumstances are those qualities that make an abstract concrete and individual. Circumstances include such things as the act being done at a particular time, in a particular place, by a particular agent, in a particular manner. THE END OR PURPOSE OF A HUMAN ACTION The end of a human action is the purpose the person had in mind while doing act. It is the intention. People can have only one purpose or have a variety of purposes in doing a particular act. II – ETHICS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION The relationship between “accountability” and “Ethics” has long been a concern among students of public administration. Accountability has traditionally been regarded as the means used to control and direct administrative behavior by requiring “answerability” to some external authority. In public administration, ethics has most often been associated with standards of responsible behavior and professional integrity in light of the growth of administrative state and the expansion of discretionary powers to public sector bureaucracies. The subject of ethics, governance, and accountability in public administration is complex. Fair-minded people sometimes have significant differences of opinion regarding what contributes ethical behavior and how ethical decisions should be made. The overall objective of ethics in public administration is to ensure ‘Good Governance’ with a prime concern for ethical principles, practices, orientations and behavior. The ethics in public administration are enumerated here: 1. Maxim of Legality and Rationality 2. Maxim of Responsibility and Accountability 3. Maxim of Work Commitment 4. Maxim of Excellence 5. Maxim of Fusion 6. Maxim of Responsiveness 7. Maxim of Utilitarianism 8. Maxim of Compassion 9. Maxim of National Interest 10. Maxim of Justice 11. Maxim of Transparency 12. Maxim of Integrity