Management Ethics, Approaches, and Principles PDF

Management ethics, Approaches and Principles ETHICS OXFORD DICTIONARY: Moral principles that govern or influence a person’s behaviour, a system of moral principles or rules of behaviour. Ethics are based on a set of coherent and generally- accepted prin...

Management ethics, Approaches and Principles ETHICS OXFORD DICTIONARY: Moral principles that govern or influence a person’s behaviour, a system of moral principles or rules of behaviour. Ethics are based on a set of coherent and generally- accepted principles such as honest, justice, fairness, avoiding harm to others, and taking responsibility for your actions.  ETHICS Cont…. PURPOSE OF ETHICS: Improvement of service delivery Improvement of standards of living Provide guidelines in public decision-making Enhancement of loyalty and happiness of officials  ETHICS Cont… The Triangle of Ethics GOOD MYSELF OTHERS ETHICS Cont…. Ethical behaviour, in its simplest terms, is knowing and doing what is right to your self and others. What sort of behaviours constitute an unethical conduct in the public institutions?  ETHICS Cont…. Importance of Ethics Ethics play a major role in the prevention of fraud and corruption. Prevention of fraud and corruption is a shared responsibility among the members of the community. It can contribute to the building of reputation of public administration. It creates a culture of trust through accountability, openness, transparency, consultation, competence, and integrity. It is the cornerstone of good governance. ETHICS Cont…. Small and Dickie (1999) “Managers who demonstrate values such as integrity, trust and justice become the most beneficial to an organisation in the long term”.  ETHICS Cont…. Case Study of Ethics At a function organised by your company in your company premises, shortly before the end of the function, you notice that your manager is putting cartons of drinks into the boot of his car. In that split of a second; he glances at you, smiles and says; ‘what the company doesn’t know wouldn’t hurt the company; erase this from your memory’. Then your manager says his goodbyes to everyone including you, and he drives out of the premises. What do you do?  ETHICS Cont…. Interpretation of Ethics Situational Ethics : What is right depends on the context of situation. What is right in one situation may be wrong in another. Cultural Relativism : Whatever a culture deems right is ethical for that culture. No one has a right to judge the ethics of another culture. Professional Ethics: many professions such as law and medicine – have their own specific code of ethics which all members of those professions are expected to abide by. Rule-Based Ethics: if you follow the rules – of your organization, your peer group, your culture, religion, etc – you are behaving ethically.  ETHICS Cont…. Theories of Ethics Form foundations of ethical analysis. Each theory emphasis particular points such as predicting behaviours; They are directed towards a common set of goals. Categorised into three, namely: - Theory of Deontology - Theory of Consequentialism - Theory of Virtue Ethics  ETHICS Cont…. Theory of Virtue Ethics Virtue-based ethical theories place less emphasis on which rules people should follow and instead focus on helping people develop good character traits, such as kindness, respect and generosity. These character traits will, in turn, allow a person to make the correct decisions later on in life. Virtue theorists also emphasize the need for people to learn how to break bad habits of character, like greed or anger, and they stand in the way of becoming a good person.  ETHICS Cont…. Theory of Consequentialism (Consequences) Consequentialist ethics focusses on the outcome which benefit the largest group in the community and which also results in the least harm (McGill 2010:1). The idea of consequentialism is commonly encapsulated in the English saying, "the ends justify the means", meaning that if a goal is important, any method of achieving it is acceptable. Nothing is forbidden for the consequentialist, all that matters is the consequences of what is done.  ETHICS Cont…. Theory of Deontology (Actions) A most primitive theory based on individual obligations. An action is morally correct if it produces good results. It is mainly concerned with what people do, not the consequences of their actions. McGill (2010:2) affirms that deontological theory is a duty-based approach, which focuses the individual’s ethical decisions on duty to others.  ETHICS Cont…. Ethics, Ethical Dilemmas and Public Service The reputation and success of governance depends upon the conduct of public functionaries and how the public judge their conduct. It is therefore necessary that public functionaries act justly and fairly in discharging their responsibilities. It is imperative that all public functionaries upon accepting government employment recognise that they have duty to be open, fair and impartial in their dealing with society. Personal self-interest or self aggrandizement should be subordinate to the public good in all circumstances.  ETHICS Cont…. Ethical Dilemmas faced by Public Servants Some of the most common ethical dilemmas with which public servants are confronted, revolve around aspects such as: = Fraud and corruption = Conflict of interest = Nepotism = Unauthorised disclosure of information. = Collusive tendering process = Failure to disclose gifts and benefits = Sexual harassment = Plagiarism = Maladministration = unprofessionalism  ETHICS Cont…. Strategies to Enhance Ethics Within the Public Sector. (i) Education and Training on Ethics = Educational Institutions such as universities can play a prominent role in enhancing ethical knowledge, skills and attitudes of public officials. (ii) Developing Public Trust and Loyalty = Organisations can build trust in 6 steps: negotiation, accountability, competence, participation, openness and dialogue. (iii) Whistle-Blowers and Hotlines = Whistle- blowers should be protected and this should be enforced by law. (iv) Code of Conduct = Code of conduct is an internal document designed to make officials explicitly accountable to the organisation and the law. = it includes sections such as conflict of interest, declaration of gifts and benefits.  ETHICS Cont…. (v) Ethical Auditing = Internal ethical auditing should be done on a regular basis. This ensures that there is no deviation between the rules of the organisation and behaviour of officials.  ETHICS Cont…. Legislative Framework Directing Ethical Behaviour of Public Officials. (i) Constitution of RSA, Act 108 of 1996 The Constitution envisages that the actions of public officials be in line with the values of public administration These values in particular enhances ethical conduct of public officials and include the following: = A high standard of professional ethics must be promoted and maintained. = Public Administration must be development-oriented. = Services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitable and without bias. = People’s needs must be responded to, and the public must be encouraged to participate in policy-making. = Public Administration must be accountable.  ETHICS Cont…. (ii) The Public Service Act 103 of 1994 The Act promotes high standard of ethical behaviour and further stipulates procedures to be followed when dealing with ineffective and inefficient official. Section 20 of the act deals with misconduct and is a prime example of the efforts to limit corruption and maladministration. (iii) The Public Audit Act 25 of 2004 = The Act encourages the Office of Auditor General to function independently from government administration. = Act further discourages any political involvement of any personnel from the Office of Auditor General.  ETHICS Cont…. (iv) The Public Financial Management Act 1 of 1999 The Act addresses ethical bahaviour in financial matters by encouraging transparency and accountability. It further promotes the sound management of expenditure, revenue, liabilities and assets. (v) The prevention and Combating of Corruption Activities Act 12 of 2004. The Act focusses on measures to prevent and combat corruption in order to enhance ethical conduct of municipal functionaries and councillors.  ETHICS Cont…. Challenges in Addressing Corruption in the Public Sector There are still many legislative gaps in South Africa with regard to the management of conflict of interest. Only 40% of public administration departments have anti-corruption policies of reasonable quality. Public administration departments are often lenient to officials found to be associated with corruption. There are also challenges around the investigative capabilities of the law enforcement agencies. Poor financial management, lack of financial control, non- adherence to labour policies are features of the majority of municipalities.  PROFESSIONALISM DEFINITION: The level of excellence or competence that is expected of a professional. There are 6 main dimensions which characterise professionalism, namely: (i) A passion for excellence (Motivation) (ii) Competence (Initial and ongoing training) (iii) A professional awareness (Sense of public service) (iv) Effectiveness (Work ethics) (v) Experience in the field (individually and through others) (vi) Altruism (social welfare/love for the society)  PROFESSIONALISM United nations (2000) “Public service professionalism embraces the notion that those people who join the public service need to be inculcated with shared values and trained in basic skills to professionally carry out their professional duties”.