Representative Government Ethics

Accountability is what establishes public trust. Public administrators should expect to be held accountable for what they say and what they do. Serving the public means being transparent, not keeping secrets. Citizens expect that public administrators and organizations are working on their behalf. They expect that the employees and the organization are providing programs, products and services that are in the best interest of the communities and the individuals that the organization supports. Ethics serve as the bridge for accountability between the administration and the public. Ethical practices create an environment of trust. The trust that the public places in these organizations is the cornerstone for the building and maintaining of communities that thrive. It’s important to note that organizations are only as good as the people that are in them. The people that are in them look to their leadership as a guide for what they do and how they do it. Leaders that exhibit moral conduct, honesty, integrity and transparency will set the foundation for the organization and the employees within it and these values will even penetrate throughout the citizenry and the community. (IACP, n.d.) This will have a direct impact on potential issues, hopefully minimizing

The paper explores the United States Government’s efforts to put in place laws that guide the ethical behavior of its civil service employees. From the founding of the nation, ensuring ethical behavior by government employees has been a recurring theme, and legislation, laws, and executive orders have been implemented at each stage of our government’s growth to guide federal employees in the ethical administration of their duties. However, at what point do the laws become too restrictive on the very citizens who have sworn to uphold our nation’s democratic values? A history of legislation, laws and executive orders is given along with

Personal ethics is the generally accepted principles or practices of right and wrong governing the conduct of individuals. To be simple, personal ethnic is the internal guide that tells us what is right and wrong. They drive our actions and emotions on o daily basis. Some people may be appearing similar set of personal ethics, but some people may have completely different sets. There are five major influences of personal ethics are: family influences (people), religious beliefs (religion), culture, experience (law), and internal personal reelection (philosophy). On the other

You get your values from your family, community, church and school. This makes up your beliefs. It is the way you determine what is important to you. Mariotti (n.d.), "This is what forms the basis of ethics, a set of moral principles that govern decisions and actions. To act ethically is to behave in ways that are in keeping with certain values” (What are Ethics?). Most people chose to conduct themselves ethically because it is merely the respectable thing to do. Mariotti (n.d.), . Dr. Walsh (2003), “Ethics is about choices, dilemmas and grey areas. It explores the question of what we ought to do, rather than simply discuss what people could do or actually do”. (para.

The roll of ethics in public administration is based on the administration; administrators should be value-free when they implement public policy. I will discuss why ethics should be based on the administration and, why it should not be based on each individual worker in the administration. I will discuss Weber’s stance on values in bureaucratic organizations, what Macintyre suggests, and what Hummel and Goodsell would conclude about values in public administration. Most people do not understand what an administration deals with everyday on an individual basis. They might think that an administration is supposed to make the best ethical choices, but that is not the case. People who are outside the administration might think that administrators are supposed to use everyday values when implementing policy, but that is also not the case.

Our moral beliefs influence our behavior, whether we are conscious of not. Ultimately, our beliefs shape and define our character. Moral character is the existence or lack of virtues such as honesty, integrity, courage, loyalty, respect, and strength; just to name a few. "Morally good" is how individuals describe people of good character. Pursuing attributes associated with upright moral standards, allows for the acquisition of virtues. Is important to understand the criteria for choosing our actions; nevertheless, one must also have the wisdom to apply what he/she knows. “Moral Philosophy is the love and pursuit of wisdom, and although it cannot be “taught”, as is the case with other subjects, it can be encouraged in everyone and nurtured in those who actively seek to understand morality and its place in human life. Also, it can help in one’s deliberations about what constitutes the wise conduct of life”. (insert teacher name here “The Nature of Ethics”). Established rules, principles and conventions, collectively serve as guidelines by which one can use to determine whether their mode of conduct is moral. If the action/conduct is “right” or “good”; then those actions are moral. This type of behavior (conduct) is often praised or rewarded. On the other hand, actions (conduct) that are contrary to what is established as “right” or “good” as

Ethics are a vital part of our everyday lives, even in the field of public officials. There always a time in someone life where their face with a decision they feel is right or wrong, but they have to what they feel is appropriate for the public as a whole. A personal ethics statement demonstrates the values and expectations of the duties of public officials. The codes of ethics don’t require formal punishment but more of the fear of the organization falling apart. Which insinuates that values are needed, because as public officials, we need to know how to handle challenges issues and situations. Values can simply be looked at as the guideline and rules to in organization and public officials. According to Svara, “Administrative ethics refers to well-based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what public administrators ought to do in terms of duty to public service, principles, virtues, and benefits to society” (Svara, 2015). Public official’s primary duty is to serve to public, the values of these officials can create confidence and trust from the public. Public Administration is set up to maintain and organize humans in an organization, as well as having an overall mission, and systematic system set up to attain that overall goals within an organization. This consist of the formulation of policies within an organization, as well as focusing on the managerial view of an organization which is key to focusing on why on-the-job experience is an important

Ethics is an important characteristic to have in today’s society; many people lack ethics or lack the understanding of what ethics is. It can play a valuable role in your everyday lives and activities. Ethics is a culture where people can distinguish right from wrong and make knowledgeable decisions based on the fact and not a personal belief. Public administration ethics is described as the representative’s administrator’s duty to the public to make considerate decisions based on the information that is provided for the public that he/she represents. These decisions should be made based on what the public that they represent views as correct. Ethics is usually what is right in the eye of the beholder or the one making the decision. A well known ethical theorist, Terry L. Cooper has suggested, the public administration literature over the past three decades generally has reported on administrative ethics using one of at least five theoretical approaches: (1) ethics as virtue; (2) ethics as regime values, constitutional theory, and founding thought; (3) ethics as citizenship; (4) ethics as social equity; or (5) ethics as the public interest, (Martinez, 2009).

We are not born with ethical principles; they are thrown together over time by our elders and those that influence us. Over time, these principles make up who we are and what we believe in. This process shapes us into the individuals we will become as well as developing our norms. Once these norms are imprinted, they govern our way of looking at the world around us as well as helping us distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. This process is also developed into our conscience as a guide which governs the rest of our lives.

According Thornhill et al (2014:15) Public Administration is a study that ensures that there is a governing body or a course of action that is in place to ensure that the people in the institution or organization perform the very work or duties that are assigned to them, and if one does not perform his or her duties to the fullest capacity one will be held

-ethics are the fundamental principles, morals and values that a person lives by on how to conduct themselves in different environments. They determine whether a

Public administration often suffers from an image problem. Society has constructed a caricature of stuffy bureaucrats who are only concerned with restrictive and complicated procedures just waiting to obstruct efficient government, however, this caricature couldn’t be further removed from the reality of the work of public administration and administrators.

The ethical values are part of every person in all countries around the world. Each society has its own culture, beliefs, values, customs or habits that tend to shape the population that reside or were born in the country. Individuals tend to learn their ethical values at a pre-conventional period, during childhood and at that time, the beliefs of what is wrong or right start to be shaped inside them. Ethics, as a study, is an area of philosophy that deals with what is considered morally wrong or right. So, in general, are the rules of behavior, based on a system of moral values, which are considered correct universally or within a society or a

To become a public administrator, you must have the ability to work with different people from different background, different age groups, and various economy classes. A Public administrator cannot be biased towards one group of people and turn around and be favorable towards the other. As an administrator, you have to be transparent to everybody that you encounter, even people that you will be working with, and people that you are working for. According to the publication, “Ethical Dilemmas in the Public Service,” by the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management, describes that the ethical issue that government officials face in any organization is nepotism and bias. The reason why this event occurs is that some of the individuals in the public administrative positions are not transparent in the workplace and are also influenced by personal gain.

Everyday in our lives we have to make many decisions every day. Whether to go through the yellow light or stop, to pay for the bus or ride for free, or to make our bed. All of these decisions require us to use ethics, which is the study of our concepts of right and wrong conduct. It is derived from the Ancient Greek word “ethikos” meaning habit or custom. Besides knowing what is right and what is wrong, as humans, we have to use our conscience to tell us what to do. Our conscience is our inner feeling or voice, almost like a moral compass that we use to guide us. Throughout our lives, ethics is used to form our conscience with vices and virtues and by directing our objects and intentions to become a fuller person.