The Normative Foundations Of Public Service Ethics

Ethics is the guiding force in any respectable organization. With a moral compass, especially in the leadership of organization, a company can become compromised and fall into a quagmire of legal issues, a tarnished reputation, and devaluation of company stock if it is a publically traded company. In pursuit of examine my own ethical lens I will analyze the ethical traits of an admired leader, my own traits as exhibited in the Ethical Lens Inventory, and how I make a decision concerning a particular ethical dilemma.

This paper will first discuss briefly what ethics are and provide the definition for an ethical issue. An ethical leadership issue is identified and explained for this author’s practice area. We will then identify and discuss key strategies for leadership that are pertinent to the ethical issue. Next, empirical evidence which supports the strategies discussed will be analyzed. Then, the impact and importance of the strategies will be stated. The final step will be to provide a conclusion to the reader that summarizes the content and strategies.

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.

No matter what profession is there are always a few who do not tend to their job in the appropriate manner. However, few positions have authority over the general public. It is important to make sure that any person who holds a position of authority in the American government has a great character. Good Ethics are a great foundation for this concept.

I agree with the author that any public official must have good moral and ethical standards so that he can work for the betterment of the people entrusted in his care, however it would be naïve to assume that he would never have to sacrifice on the ethical front for the “greater good.”

Smith, you must promote ethical behavior based on the unified ethic system. You must first seek to understand the unified ethic system and then provide training for all employees regarding the system. This will enable them to learn that the unified ethic allows one moral structure to be applied across all situations encountered in either the private or public sector. Your experience gained from the private sector will aid you in understanding and relating the compatibility of private and public morality under this system. This is important to note as you transition to public service. Geuras and Garofalo (2011) state, “...one morality is applicable in both public and private affairs. The apparent difference is not in the moral systems, but in the additional factors that a public official must consider by virtue of the responsibilities of public service” (p. 241). Application of one moral system will be key in unifying the ethical decision making process within the city’s

****Granted, every quality associated with transactional and transformational leadership may not easily serve the needs of the ethical public-sector leader. For example, risk-taking and commitment are elements of transformational leadership; however, Dobell (1989) argues that there are systemic reasons as to why public-sector leaders tend to avoid risk and sustain the status quo, and also that the attempts by public officials to satisfy various groups may be perceived as a lack of commitment and inconsistency. Nonetheless, other qualities such as honesty, optimism, fairness, inner direction, and the motivation of followers can add to the ethical climate of public-sector organizations. Thus, a public-sector leader who focuses on specific aspects of both

In Feldheim’s article he shows the difference between the modern public servant compared to a public servant in the 90’s. There was the rational public service approach, which focused on economic results. Feldheim’s writes “The rational approach to motivation is based on utility maximization with individuals oriented toward economic self-interest focusing on economic rewards”. (p.11) Feldheims explains that there needs to be change involved in how we serve the public in government. This is where the normative approach comes into play. This approach focuses on serving the public interest first. Making government workers the voice for the citizens. Feldheim calls this the public servant ethics. Were you put the citizens thought first compared to your own needs and wants, when it comes to running the government. As it places values in “stewardship, honesty, integrity, social equity, and democratic participation in all aspects of

Past poor moral choices, then, should be considering in evaluating a public official’s moral character especially if those choices were made after his or her adolescent years. By that time period, one should already understand wrongs from rights to not make poor moral choices. The amount and types of poor moral choices should also be analyzed as well. Depending on the situation, some poor choices can be overlooked if it was not one that inflicted much negative impact upon others. Looking at the frequency of when these choices were made is also important, as it may be a predictor towards similar poor choices in the future. An important factor to also consider is if whether the person learned from the previous choices; if the poor choices

However, some public officials may conduct unethical behavior despite of their ethical competence training. Some well-trained officials may “choose not to act in accordance with their training. They fail to act ethically in some instance as expected, because in particular cases, officials lack the skill of dealing with “moral context”. Accordingly, the problem of unethical

It is essential for ensuring of ethical behavior in the decision-making process in public administration to rely on the complex system of external and internal controls. An example of external control can be a professional code of ethics. This form of external control is a representation of values and norms of conduct common for the certain professional group and promoted by professional associations. These norms can be enforced by a different level of sanctions or be more descriptive and possess space for discretion. The professional code of ethics can regulate the areas of moral responsibilities that cannot be directly enforced by law due to the difficulty to clearly define and prove a violation, intention to harm, etc. For instance, The

In their personal and professional lives, people can and, unfortunately, sometimes do go against their moral and ethical standards. Ethical standards are what it means to be a good person, the social rules that govern our behavior. Ethics in business is essentially the study of what constitutes the right and wrong or the good or bad behavior in the workplace environment. A business is an organization whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit. The organization has a group of people that work together to achieve a common purpose. The moral challenges that these men and women face each day along with a whole range of problems that could occur, are why ethics plays such an important

Generally, the issue of ethics especially in the business world is very complicated. Accordingly, many scholars have tried to explain the rationale behind being ethical. For instance, early scholars such as Milton Freidman and Adam Smith explains this issue by exploring on the social responsibilities of corporates, as well as in the theory of incentives whereby the rationale is driven by the needs of either the firm or an individual who is profit maximization and maximization of utility by households. This paper critiques two articles on professional ethics in public administration.

Thompson asserts that, “Administrative ethics involves the application of moral principles to the conduct of officials in organizations” (1985, p. 523). In order to ensure an administrator is acting morally, they must seek out the policy which best serves everyone’s interest. Thompson claims however, that in order to ensure administrative ethics we must reject both the ethic of neutrality and the ethic of structure in order for administrative ethics to be remotely possible.

I will examine the importance of personal ethics in leadership and how ethics produce effective leaders in organizations today. The importance of understanding ethics, motivation to act as a role model and developing a plan of action for an organization are discussed because of their importance regarding development of good leadership. These key points suggest personal ethics positively affect leadership and when made a priority for leaders will produce ethical and effective leadership. With so many definitions of leadership, the question evolved from “what is the definition of leadership?” to “what is good leadership” (Ciulla, 2004, p. 13). To develop a system of values one must compile a list of the most important instrumental values and terminal values. These lists are unique to every individual because they are determined by personal importance. Instrumental values, such as honest, helpful, ambitious, responsible, etc. should reinforce terminal values. Once a leader’s means are consistent with desired goals, their value system is unified and they have climbed the staircase from the lobby to the first level of values. The climb from the first floor to the second floor results in a person incorporating principles into their newly developed values. Although values act as the bedrock of ethics, principles are required because alone, “values are far too vague to have much meaning in ethical analysis” (Cooper, 1998, p. 12). Morals are ideals that help us decipher between right