Professional Ethics

Introduction
Importance of Ethics in Public Administration
The study of the foundations of ethical administration is an important topic to explore when working in a public organization, especially when pursuing a future role as a public administrator. Ethics in public administration is not a transient concept but has proven to be an approach which has shown a great deal of sustainability which is fundamental to the area of public administration. Ethics is gaining prominence in the discourse about governance today. Public organizations and public administrators should strive for high ethical standards and an ethical workplace. “The general goal of identifying ethical precepts is relatively straight forward—to develop standards of “right conduct” that are known and knowable beforehand and apply to more or less everyone—but maddeningly difficult to specify with precision, an even more onerous to practice (Martinez, 2009, p.1).”
Organizations need to abide by ethics or rule of law and engage themselves in fair practices and competition; all of which will benefit the public and organization. Ethics is important because of the following: satisfying basic human needs, creating credibility, uniting people and leadership, improving decision making, long term gains, and securing the public. Ethics tries to create a sense of right and wrong in the organizations and often when the law fails, it is the ethics that may stop organizations from harming the society or environment. Ethics has now come into an important light due to administrative evils that continue to occur.
Ethics in Public Administration
Ethics, the moral concept, concerning what is right or wrong generally, or in a given situation, or perhaps always, is both an accepted notion in society and an expected and standard code of conduct in public service (Cooper, 2012). Historically the foundation of what is ethical was based on principles of reason, truth, context, and a sense of a fixed right or wrong. Overtime, relativity and world views have influenced these principles and shifts to include credibility, justifiable consequence, and multiple cultural traditions have shaded the conversation. Ethical reasoning needs to be nurtured, developed, and expanded over time. In public service there needs to be an on-going commitment to ethical practice. The scope of ethics is broad, indeed ethical judgments can concern potentially anything: Not every question is an ethical one, but any question can become an ethical one. “Ethical inquiries often are vague, amorphous, and open to multiple interpretations (Martinez, 2009, pg. 21).” The major determinants of administrative conduct in the public sector include: political construct of which public administrators are a part; legal framework; administrators and public employees who are responsible for the provision of public services; and the citizens and users of public services that are a part of the civil society (Cooper, 2012).
Public administrative ethics has five major theoretical approaches: “ethics as a virtue; ethics as regime values; constitutional theory and founding thought; ethics in citizenship; ethics in social equality; and ethics as the public interest (Martinez, 2009, p.7).” There are some common ethical principles we consider in determining the public interest: avoiding direct harm to the extent possible; accounting for the likely implications of government actions on others including the most vulnerable in society; acting within the spirit of major laws; and considering the impact of decisions today on future generations. Originally, the ethics framework identifies general core values. These values are: the rule of law, impartiality/ objectivity, transparency, accountability, professionalism, duty of care, reliability, and courtesy (Martinez, 2009).
First, the determinants of ethics in public administration with regard to the individual attributes of public/civil servants include: ethical decision-making skills, mental attitude, virtues, and professional values. Second, the organizational structure dimension is explained by: clear accountability, collaborative arrangements, dissent channels, and participation procedures. Third, the political organizational culture includes: artefacts, beliefs and values, and assumptions. Leadership is important in the development, maintenance, and adaptation of organizational culture. Ethical behavior is encouraged when organizations have a climate where personal standards and employee education are emphasized, where supervisors stress the truth, and where employees regularly come together to discuss ethical problems. Finally, societal expectation includes public participation, laws, and policies (Martinez, 2009).
Public Administrative Responsibility
The role and responsibilities of a public administrator in democracy can be defined as a guide that is responsible for taking the efficient bureaucratic organization through the moral aspects of a responsive democracy. The role that public administrators should play is to have: responsibility, accountability, transparency, and maintain the “public trust”. Being a public administrator embodies a specialized skill that is capable of creating results that are both usable and pleasing to behold. Specific objects are created and tasks performed, yet in ways and with consequences that establish in the minds of both creator and audience a sense of intrinsic satisfaction, above and beyond the utilitarian purpose at hand. There may be hundreds of roles fulfilled by Public Administrators. These roles include guides that lead the organization on a path that serves the people: Actors, who are to put personal issues aside for the sake of performance; Guardians, who care for and act on behalf of the helpless; Surrogate decision makers, who utilize discretion concerning issues that affect the lives of the disenfranchised; Villains, when things go wrong, heroes when things go right; and Artisans, who utilize artistic talents and craft objects that bring forth satisfaction. These roles give the field of Public Policy and Administration romanticized features that most would not recognize when thinking about bureaucracy. Administrators can be seen as daring, compassionate individuals who take on the difficult task of being the problem solvers in society. The two essential responsibilities that administrators must adhere to are accountability and ethics (Cooper, 2012).
The three aspects of the public policy process where ethical issues arise are: representation, education, and implementation. Public administration provides numerous services to the public and serves their interests in many ways. The real core of administration is the basic service which is performed for the public. It is the administration which ensures the security and protection of life and property of the members of the society by maintaining proper law and order (Menzel, 2012).
In the modern state, the role and scope of public administration is ever expanding and all encompassing. We are way past the laissez-fare state which was responsible for maintaining law and order only. The modern state which expects government to provide much more has seen the role of public administration change dramatically, since those times. There is an increasing awareness amongst the citizens of a country regarding their rights and the duties of the Government. Thus, the role and functions of public administration has also become quite dynamic in nature and is constantly evolving in response to the changing needs and demands of the society. Technological intervention, incorporation of new management principles, taking into accounts the needs and aspirations of the end customer are some of the new trends in the areas of public administration (Menzel, 2012).
Securing Ethics in Public Organizations
“Organizational integrity is based on the concept of self-governance in accordance with a set of guiding principles…The task of ethics management is to define and give life to an organization’s guiding values, to create an environment that supports ethically sound behavior, and to instill a sense of shared accountability among employees (Menzel, 2012, pg.55).” Public administrators can do several things to secure ethical behavior within their organization. Things that help to maintain an ethical organizational culture are: clarity of ethical standards, ethical role modeling of management and supervisors, capability to behave ethically, commitment (of managers and employees) to behave ethically, visibility of unethical behavior, openness (managers and employees experience in their organization) to discuss ethical issues, and reinforcement of ethical behavior (Asencio, 2013).
It first and foremost important for administrators to be a good ethical role model. It is important to always emphasize the importance of ethical behavior. It is important to have ethics training and to revisit ethics training to emphasize its continual importance. It is important to have good policies and guidelines in place that hold employees accountable to maintaining ethical behavior. Having a rewards and punishment system in place to make sure ethical behavior is maintained. This is important that when employees are doing well that they are praised and when they are not there are actions taken so this does not occur again and other associates know that there will be consequences. Ethical behavior can also be monitored by having a system of checks in place such as performing periodical internal or external audits. Audits have great importance to maintain accountability. Internal and external audits are continual in our organization to maintain compliance and maintain ethics. I think it is a great tool in assisting to do this. “Ethically viable organizations are those in which interactions among organizational members are robust: they are easy and frequent; information is accessible; individuals are free to openly correct mistakes, ask questions, doubt, and learn; and individual differences are not merely tolerated but engaged (Asencio, 2013).” There are some key elements that leaders can encompass to assist in cultivating an ethical culture: Appropriate vision and principles for the organization; Leadership that believes in and exemplifies the vision and principles; Consistent effort through the organization to transmit the vision and principles; Opportunity to voice concerns, question practices, disagree, and generally employ ethical reasoning; and, to build an ethical culture, people need to practice and to continue to practice working through examples.
Those who serve the public trust must take special care to ensure they make ethical and responsible decisions. Yet the realities of bureaucracies, deadlines, budgets, and demands for quick results make the pay-offs for dealing formally with ethics seem unclear. First in the hiring process it is important to measure potential administrator candidate’s level of ethics. This can be done with assessment tests and also in interview to provide scenarios, which test ethics and see how the person would handle the situation. Also, reference and background checks of course are important. Once a candidate is selected there should be a formal training completed on the expectations of the organization, as well as an ethics training completed. Lastly, monitoring administrators while on the job and holding them accountable for their decisions and actions is very important (Cooper, 2012).
Traditional approaches usually involve a listing of do’s and don’ts; the setting of norms and standards of behavior; and the establishment of institutions and mechanisms to monitor and compel compliance and impose punitive measures when such norms and standards are transgressed. There should be: a system of checks and balances, oversight institutions, and laws and codes of conduct. For a system of checks and balances, within the government itself, ethical behavior is directly enforced by independent constitutional commissions performing specialized oversight functions. In effect, these oversight agencies watch the mainstream agencies of government in defined areas of concern. For oversight institutions and laws and codes, administrators are to conduct set forth parameters of ethical behavior for government officials and employees. Simply put, these laws and codes specify what can and cannot be done in the course of official duties. Also audits are important to conduct to make sure administrators are remaining complaint (Cooper, 2012).
Internal and External Controls
Internal and external controls are means to secure responsible behavior in a public agency. External controls are a “response to the discovery of breaches of ethical conduct is to adopt new legislation, make new rules, or issue new regulations. And perhaps the second common recourse is to rearrange the organizational structure or create new organizations to establish more careful monitoring (Cooper, 2012, p. 149).” Internal controls are a response to ethical scandals where there is “an attempt to cultivate and strengthen the professional values and standards of people in public service through training and professional socialization (Cooper, 2012, p. 150).”
Internal responsibility involves a number of elements: peer review, internal ethics, public sentiment, and traditional public responsibility. Key points to monitor external controls are: external responsibility, appropriate roles for each, political responsibility, political neutrality, education and training, ethics legislation, code of ethics, and performance accounting. All of these topics mentioned I believe are great recommendations to maintain responsible behavior (Cooper, 2012).
First and foremost, there needs to be a clear and effective working system in place to monitor responsible behavior in a public agency. “Conflicts of responsibility…should not be resolved in an idiosyncratic fashion. If public administrators are to be responsive to the wishes of a democratic citizenry, their general course of conduct toward serving the public interest must be guided by established policies that should enforce and reinforce prescribed public service values (Cooper, 2012, p. 148).” I would recommend that as an administrator external and internal factors both play an essential role to maintain responsible behavior. It is important as an administrator to continually practice and maintain a good system in place at their organization. Employees in an organization need to understand policies in place and that actions will be taken if policies are not adhered to. Policy is essential in having an effective system in place to maintain responsible behavior. There also not only needs to be a system and policy in place, but more importantly a policy that is monitored accordingly (Cooper, 2012).
Second, there needs to be accountability. In a democracy, the public has a right to expect some consistency and predictability in the actions of its employees. It is entitled to public service that can be held accountable for carrying out the designated mission. It should be able to expect its administrative corps to conduct itself in accordance with the explicit and implicit obligations of a position. The development and maintenance of the organization’s external and internal controls will help to ensure accountability. I believe audits definitely are an integral part to accountability. External audits are important, because there is someone outside the organization monitoring and making sure the organization is doing what it is supposed to be doing. It is also just as important for administrators of organizations to conduct internal auditing to make sure their employees are being held accountable for their jobs and providing services to the public (Cooper, 2012).
Code of Ethics
The code of ethics reflects the basic common values and standards which member states consider important for the proper functioning of public service. It comprehensively discusses the general core values, specific standards of conduct, actions to safeguard integrity and measures on handling situations where there has been possible violation of ethics. It helps to structure the discussion on public-service ethics and it serves as a toolkit or general guideline for the development of codes of conduct at a national and subnational level (Cooper, 2012).
The American Society of Public Administration has a code of ethics for public administration with eight standards: advance the public interest, uphold the constitution and law, promote democratic participation, strengthen social equality, fully inform and advise, demonstrate personal integrity, promote an ethical organization, and advance professional excellence. Within each of these broad concepts are more specific elements designed to help guard the public servant in moments that require ethical actions. Advance the public interest is to promote the interests of the public and put service to the public above service to oneself. Uphold the constitution and the law concerns itself with: understanding legislation, regulations and laws and the policies and procedures used to develop such. In addition, the administrator is committed to protection of public interest, funds, privileged information and citizen rights. Promote democratic participation is to inform the public and encourage active engagement in governance. Be open, transparent and responsive, and respect and assist all persons in their dealings with public organizations. Strengthen social equity is to treat all persons with fairness, justice, and equality and respect individual differences, rights, and freedoms. Promote affirmative action and other initiatives to reduce unfairness, injustice, and inequality in society. Fully Inform and Advise is to provide accurate, honest, comprehensive, and timely information and advice to elected and appointed officials and governing board members, and to staff members in your organization. Demonstrate personal integrity is based on standards of truthfulness, honesty, respect, responsibility and to avoid partisanship and conflict of interests. Promote ethical organization is a concept designed to ensure that the organization has principles to guide its purpose such as: open communication, loyalty, accountability, due process, avoiding arbitrary actions and a periodic focus on ethics. And lastly to strive for professional excellence is to strengthen the professional development of others by encouraging competence, currency within the profession, professionalism and service to the emerging professional (American Society of Public Administration, 2013).
Ethics Education
“Personal responsibility begins with the education and upbringing of the individuals who eventually will work in public organizations. It is important to stress the right conduct does not occur unless and until individuals understand the expectations for their behavior and can problem solve when faced with ethical choices. Education is a crucial component of administrative ethics (Martinez, 2009).” With ethics there are measures that can be taken to try to preserve this. The truth of the matter is that ethics is a function neither of laws nor Codes but of an individual’s environment. The value of laws such as the Code of Ethics is that they serve as guideposts to moral-ethical behavior so that government employees will have a clear and distinct idea of which is the correct path. But the critical issue of whether they will choose to take the correct path is a matter of individual’s choice and such a choice will be shaped by the individual’s environment, more than anything else. In this connection, the limitations of moral-ethical training programs are quite evident. Such training programs can only hope to explain the guideposts to moral-ethical behavior. By themselves, the training programs cannot be expected to automatically inculcate moral-ethical behavior to participants at the end of the training program. In this light the answer clearly does not lie in having stricter laws or Codes of Conduct with even stiffer punishments. Nor does the answer lie in the establishment of oversight institutions nor in the conduct of still another training program in ethical behavior (Martinez, 2009).
Decision Making
“The administrative role requires tough decisions and a balancing of one’s role and one’s commitment to ethical behavior. Administrative responsibility is not an easy task, but it is critical to the work of a practicing administrator. The central thesis of Cooper’s book is that it is through ethics as an active process of defining professional responsibility in specific, concrete administrative situations that an operational ethic is developed (Cooper, 2012).” Cooper goes over four levels of reflection to describe how the active process occurs: expressive, moral rules, ethical analysis, and post-ethical. There are models to assist in the ethical decision making process: descriptive, prescriptive, and design approach. Martinez discusses decision making for the ethical administrator and goes over stages: one, the larger context; stage two, the scope of a public administrator duties: role morality; stage three, the content of acceptable ethical standards; stage four, the nature of the ethical conflict; and stage five, taking action to resolve an ethical conflict. “These steps are the components of deliberative process that must exist so that a public administrator can appropriately assess the ethical questions and chart a satisfactory means of moving from the recognition of an ethical problem to a decision on how to proceed (Martinez, 2009).”
Public Service Ethics: Modernity, Technical Rationality, and Administrative Evil
Adams and Balfour discuss three different types of ethics that are likely to reduce administrative evil within public organizations: teleological, deontological, and virtue. First, teleological moral systems are characterized primarily by a focus on the consequences which any action might have. Thus, in order to make correct moral choices, we have to have some understanding of what will result from our choices. When we make choices which result in the correct consequences, then we are acting morally; when we make choices which result in the incorrect consequences, then we are acting immorally. “Public servants are also encouraged to pursue the greater good by using discretion in the application of rules and regulations and creativity in the face of changing conditions, teleological ethics (Adams & Belfour, 2009, pg. 167).”
Deontological moral systems are characterized primarily by a focus upon adherence to independent moral rules or duties. Thus, in order to make the correct moral choices, we simply have to understand what our moral duties are and what correct rules exist which regulate those duties. When we follow our duty, we are behaving morally. When we fail to follow our duty, we are behaving immorally. “Deontological ethics are meant to safeguard the integrity of the organization by helping individuals conform to professional norms, avoid mistakes, and misdeeds that violate public trust and assure that public officials are accountable (Adams & Belfour, 2009, pg. 167).”
Virtue based ethical theories place much less emphasis on which rules people should follow and instead focus on helping people develop good character traits, such as kindness 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. These are called vices and stand in the way of becoming a good person.
Challenges with Ethics in Public Administration
Menzel discusses the challenges with privatization, the information age, globalization, and ethics education challenges. He then discusses the new ethics, new generation of leaders, and staying on the ethical course. He concludes that current challenges with ethics is that there is not a “one size fits all” approach. First, ethics issues and efforts to deal with them are not limited to the American experience. Second, building organizations of integrity is an ongoing process. Third, a compliance approach to building an organization to integrity is not sufficient. Lastly, there is no checklist for building organizations of integrity (Menzel, 2012). The advanced set of fundamental principles or criteria that integrate the process of dealing with ethical dilemmas in public administration are: Democratic accountability of administration; Rule of law and the principle of legality; Professional integrity; and, Responsiveness to civil society (Menzel, 2012).
Public servants are asked to take on new and sometimes conflicting roles, there is a need for a cost-effective structure and an encouraging culture to enforce standards and guide their behavior. Cooper discusses the conflicts of responsibility in responsible administration. He goes over: conflicts of authority, role conflicts, and conflicts of interest. Conflicts of interest goes over the following areas of challenges: bribery, influence peddling, information peddling, financial transactions, gifts and entertainment, outside employment, future employment, and dealings with relatives. Cooper also discusses the challenges with maintaining the public trust due to past administrative evil (Cooper, 2012).
Unfortunately, in the past there have been cases where administrators act unethically. This creates scandals that not only make the individual look bad, but also takes a toll on the organizations reputation. “Incidents of wrongdoing in the United States and abroad have drawn increasing public and media attention (Menzel, 2012, p.7).” There is a perception that standards in public life are in decline. This raises questions about the costs of misconduct on the part of those who have been entrusted with guarding public interest and resources. These costs are losses in trust and confidence in public institutions and losses in precious resources which were meant to support the economic and social development of nations and peoples. There is a move worldwide to restore a measure of trust and integrity in public institutions and officials, to safeguard democracy and promote better governance. When ethics are compromised it ultimately has a negative impact on the overall good of public interest. It could be argued that the perception of a fall in public standards is linked to the shifting role of the state, which is undergoing tremendous reform. Globalization, technological advances, spreading democratization and fiscal crises are challenging states to deal with strong external forces, be smart in serving its citizenry, devolve power, and divest itself of obsolete activities. As a result, the public service, as an institution, is under pressure to transform itself to respond to these changes (Menzel, 2012).
Conclusion
Ethics is such an important topic to explore in all the dimensions of what it takes to be a good public administrator today. Unfortunately, it is not an easy topic to grasps and there is no clear cut explanations of what the best answers, methods, and theories are. There is no "one size fits all" approach for how to establish and maintain ethics in public organizations. Ethics is a crucial area that public administrators must study to incorporate in public organizations. It is important to learn effective methods, theories, and tools that can be used as leaders to utilize in public organizations to promote and create ethical culture. Over this course, we have gone over great tools that can assist in creating an ethical culture in public organizations, leading in an ethically, and assist us in making ethical decisions. It is very helpful to also go over current public administration challenges and what tools are available to overcome these areas. I also have enjoyed reading the cases that discuss what has and has not worked for other organizations in the past. This is a great tool to assist with the diversity of how to handle ethical dilemmas in public organizations. It is important to have strong ethical leaders as role models that have the skills to manage and lead organizations to an ethical culture. As well as allowing individuals within the organization to also be held accountable to ethical responsibilities as well. Ethics are a critically important concept in society, business, and public service. What is ethical may change based on circumstances, context, or local convention. Public servants have a high standard of expectation from society, but also as a part of self-regulation of the profession.

References
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Asencio, H.D. (2013). Securing Responsible Administrative Conduct: The Role of Moral
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