ethics essay
Chapter Five
Ethics in Public Administration: Chapter Five
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Conflicts of Responsibility
Chapter Three describes the nature of roles in modern and postmodern society.
Chapter Four discusses objective and subjective responsibility.
We have many roles, each of which consists of many sets of obligations and interests.
Therefore, conflicts can be frequent, even between the roles of citizen and administrator.
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Conflicts of Authority
Conflict between objective responsibilities imposed by two or more sources of authority
The law
Superiors
Politicians
The public
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The Major, the Captain, and Corporal Montague
What are the facts: law, superior’s orders, impact on subordinates?
What are the Principles: personal values, beliefs?
What alternatives do most justice to both objective and subjective responsibility
May need to subordinate orders to law, principle
May not be one easy answer
May be painful but the pain is understood
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Role Conflicts: Inside vs. Outside
Politics and Toilets
Public health officer
Duty to citizens
Duty to Director
Leader in National Public Health Association
Champion of high standards
Writer of Guidelines
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Raising Salaries or Raising Hell?
Loyalty to staff vs. solidarity with management
Responsiveness to staff vs. authority of management
Union interests vs. department interests
Role Conflicts: Inside vs. Inside
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Consequences of Role Conflicts
Moral deterioration: frustration and inability to make decisions
Sense of responsibility reduced: pressure and chance determine decisions
Withdrawal: resignation, leave of absence, retirement
Avoid responsibility: avoid conflict and difficult decisions
Develop problem-solving ability: alternatives that satisfy desires and requirements without violating codes
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“Moral Creativity”
Understand facts of situation
Understand roles, values, codes
Consider all possible alternatives
Project consequences on roles and codes
Anticipate self-satisfaction level
Justify chosen alternative in terms of principles and consequences
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That model again
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Conflicts of Interest
Public role vs. self interest
Broader than just economic interest
Broader than what is or isn’t legal
“Situation in which a public employee has a
private or personal interest
sufficient to influence or appear to influence
the objective exercise of his official duties.” Institute of Public Administration of Canada
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Types of Conflict of Interest
Bribery
Influence Peddling
Information Peddling
Financial Transactions
Gifts and Entertainment
Outside employment
Future employment
Dealings with relatives
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Maintaining the Public Trust
National Academy of Public Administration (after Watergate):
The officials in this political scandal did not understand that
“their obligations to the public as a whole
entail an additional and more rigorous set of standards and constraints associated with the concept of public.
Many practices which are permissible, even normal, in the private sector are, or should be, forbidden in government.”
Even the APPEARANCE of a conflict is interest is problematic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVrGZSxpBEA
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