Ethics in Public Administration

Categories: Ethics

"The objective of every political constitution is, or ought to be, initially to get for rulers guys who have many knowledge to discern, and a lot of virtue to pursue, the typical good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effective safety measures for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust. The elective mode of acquiring rulers is the characteristic policy of republican federal government. The means counted on in this type of government for preventing their degeneracy are various and various.

The most effective one, is such a restriction of the term of appointments as will preserve a correct duty to individuals.1".

How does one preserve proper obligation to individuals? Public Administration is a significant contributor to democratic life. Its success advances to the structure and maintaining of public trust developed in democracy2. One of the biggest obstacles a public administrator is confronted with are political and personal obligations. Friedrich believes that political and personal responsibilities are obtained through reasoned interaction based upon scientific knowledge3, while Finer argues that strict obedience to political administration superiors are ones political and personal responsibilities4.

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Finer also concerns if there is such thing as being extremely educated, and if those that are highly informed being frightened away from governmental positions, hence leaving sub par people to take those roles5. The idea is that if there were better workers in government positions than there would be a better political system; therefore a more ethically likely system.

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Eric Raile agrees with Friedrich's approach of reasoned interaction; being informed on ethics through training, individual interactions, and viewed understanding will affect perceptions of ethical climate6. An interesting discovery though was that work period actually minimized the understanding. This believed procedure of education is thought about to be public principles. Public ethics is the belief that results are gained from experience from care-oriented tasks7. Experience compared with an individual's age to the length of time he/she has actually been in workplace.

The government has two types of approaches to determine ethics through efficiency and performance versus legal and democratic values. These two approaches are the legalistic approach and the managerialistic approach. The legalistic approach is just that, based on law. It relies on law-based priorities and processes to balance discretionary innovation and accountability. The managerialistic approach relies on innovation and efficiency to balance discretionary innovation and accountability.

Whistle-blowing is an area of ethics that is often the most intimidating. While an employee is supposed to be protected it is not often guaranteed. There is a huge risk for not only the employee who reports perceived unethical behavior, but also to the company involved. Since there is always a question of whether one should report unethical behavior it is also interesting to examine what makes a person choose whether or not to report those behaviors. One study revolved around auditors, but its conclusion shows how the findings can be applied to public administration: to determine the likelihood of a person to report unethical behavior one must examine that person's professional commitment and the organizations commitment versus colleague commitment and moral intensity of the unethical behavior9. The findings in the study of the auditors showed that moral intensity relates to both; higher level of professional identity increases as the commitment to the organization provides motivation.

Another study showed results for where an employee is likely to report these incidences to: executives of larger organizations showed a higher level of employees voicing concerns to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and external whistle-blowing. Executives with union workers showed a higher level of employees voicing concerns to EEOC, the media, and external whistle-blowing. Executives in the manufacturing industry showed a higher level of employees voicing concerns to OSHA10. While the results are not one hundred percent, and further investigation needs to be done, this study showed that employees are more likely to voice concerns to outside parties, rather than internally.

Bibliography:
Barnett, Tim. (1992). “A Preliminary Investigation of the Relationship between Selected Organizational Characteristics and External Whistleblowing by Employees.” Journal of Business Ethics. 11. Brady, F. Neil. (2003). “'Publics' Administration and the Ethics of Particularity.” Public Administration Review. 63. Christensen, Robert K., Holly T. Goerdel, and Sean Nicholson-Crotty. (2011). “Management, Law, and the Pursuit of the Public Good in Public Administration.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 21. Finer, Herman. (1936) “Better Government Personnel.” Political Science Quarterly. 51. Finer, Herman (1941). “Administrative Responsibility in Democratic Government.” Public Administration Review 1. Fredericksen, Patricia J. and Daniel Levin. (2004). “Accountability and the Use of Volunteer Officers in Public Safety Organizations.” Public Performance and Management Review. 27. Gobert, James and Maurice Punch. (2000). “Whistleblowers, the Pulic Interest, and the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.” The Modern Law Review. 63. Goodsell, Charles T. (2006). “A New Vision for Public Administration.” Public Administration Review. 66. Grant, Ruth W. and Robert O. Keohane. (2005). “Accountability and Abuses of Power in World Politics.” The American Political Science Review. 99. Huang, Yi-Hui (2001). “Should a Public Relations Code of Ethics be Enforced?” Journal of Business Ethics. 31. Huddleston, Mark W. and Joseph C. Sands. (1995). “Enforcing Administrative Ethics.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 537. Jos, Philip H., Mark E. Tompkins, and Steven W. Hays. (1989). “In Praise of Difficult People: A Portrait of the Committed Whistleblower.” Public Administration Review. 49. Kettl, Donald F. (2009). “Administrative Accountability and the Rule of Law.” PS: Political Science and Politics. 42. Kim, Seok-Eun. (2005). “Balancing Competing Accountability Requirements:
Challenges in Performance Improvement of the Nonprofit Human Services Agency.” Public Performance and Management Review. 29. Luo, Yadong. (2006). “Political Behavior, Social Responsibility, and Perceived Corruption: A Structuration Perspective.” Journal of International Business Studies. 37. Madison, James. (1788) “The Alleged Tendency of the New Plan to Elevate the Few at the Expense of the Many Considered in Connection with Representation.” New York Packet. The Federalist. McNamee, Michael John and Scott Fleming. (2007). “Ethics Audits and Corporate Governance: The Case of Public Sector Sports Organizations.” Journal of Business Ethics. 73. Plant, Jeremy F. (2011). “Carl J. Friedrich on Responsibility and Authority.” Public Administration Review. 71 Raile, Eric D. (2013). “Building Ethical Capital: Perceptions of Ethical Climate in the Public Sector.” Public Administration Review. 73. Rodgers, Robert and Nanette Rodgers. (2000) “Defining the Boundaries of Public Administration: Undisciplined Mongrels versus Disciplined Purists.” Public Administration Review. 60. Sayre, Wallace S. (1948). “The Triumph of Techniques over Purpose.” Public Administration Review. 8. Shanahan, Kevin J. and Michael R. Hyman. (2003). “The Development of a Virtue Ethics Scale.” Journal of Business Ethics. 42. Smith, Robert W. (2003). “ Enforcement or Ethical Capacity: Considering the Role of State Ethics Commissions at the Millennium.” Public Administration Review. 63. Smith, Rogers M. (2008).“Religious Rhetoric and the Ethics of Public Discourse: The Case of George W. Bush.” Political Theory. 36. Stensota, Helena Olofsdotter. (2010). “The Conditions of Care: Reframing the Debate about Public Sector Ethics.” Public Administration Review. 70. Taylor, Eileen Z. and Mary B. Curtis. (2010). “An Examination of the Layers of Workplace Influences in Ethical Judgments: Whistleblowing Likelihood and Perseverance in Public Accounting.” Journal of Business Ethics. 93. Thompson, Dennis F. (1985). “The Possibility of Administrative Ethics.” Public Administration Review. 45.

Updated: Jul 06, 2022
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Ethics in Public Administration. (2016, May 10). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/ethics-in-public-administration-essay

Ethics in Public Administration essay
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