lesson2.docx
LESSON 2: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATORS
Introduction
Topics to be covered include:
Public Service
Values
Public Service and Democracy
Ethical Behavior
Privatization
E-government
Lesson 1 introduced public administration and explained that public administrators are not elected officials. Rather, they are government employees who are appointed or hired to work in specific positions. Lesson 1 also mentioned that public administrators are sometimes called public servants. This lesson will take a closer look at public service, explaining why some individuals choose to work as public servants.
Lesson 1 also briefly introduced the concept of privatization. This lesson will take a closer look at privatization, explaining how it is sometimes used to provide government services.
To improve customer service, many government agencies in all levels of government have established websites. These provide information, as well as offer citizens the option of handling certain transactions online. This lesson will review the concept of e-government and how it has changed the way some government agencies deliver services to citizens.
Public Service
As explained in Lesson 1, public administrators, as well as elected politicians, often are called public servants. Public service refers to the work that is done in government as well as work performed in service organizations, such as homeless shelters. Generally, public service involves work that is performed with the goal of helping people as opposed to earning a profit.
Some scholars, such as Mosher (1968) and Perry (1996), argue that individuals who work in public service do not have the same values and they are motivated differently than their peers in the private sector. Mosher (1968) claimed that public servants have a greater sense of civic duty, and Perry (1996) described public service as a calling for some individuals.
If public service is a calling, what motivates those who pursue it? According to Perry (1996), the following four elements generally motivate public servants:
They are attracted to public policymaking, which, as explained in Lesson 1, is an important part of public administrators’ work.
They are committed to the public interest, which, as explained in Lesson 1, refers to the welfare of the general public, or society as a whole. According to Perry (1996), this commitment includes the desire to provide services that enhance social justice and equity.
They have compassion or benevolence, which means they care for others and wish to ensure that their rights are protected.
They are willing to make self-sacrifices, which Perry (1996) defined as “the willingness to substitute service to others for tangible personal rewards.” (p.7)
Values
If public servants have values that are different from the values of their cohorts in the private sector, what values are important to public servants? Molina (2015) researched this question. He defined values as being complex and cognitive-emotional preference for something such as an object, a quality, or a characteristic. Values serve as either a means to an end (i.e. instrumental values) or an end in itself (i.e. terminal values). Values also can be regarded as broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of action or outcomes that reflect a person’s sense of right and wrong or what should be.
Molina (2015) argued that in public service, values are the character traits that public servants are expected to have, and these values grow as attitudes, skills, and behaviors grow in a way that is crucial for serving the public in an appropriate manner. In his research, which involved surveys and interviews with 100 public administrators, Molina (2015) found that the values that appeared to be the most important to public administrators were honesty, integrity, lawfulness, benevolence, and accountability.
Molina grouped these into four categories of values that seem to motivate public administrators and create their desire to work as public servants. These categories can be defined as follows:
ETHICAL VALUESConcerned with how individuals practice ethics. In addition to honesty and integrity, ethical values include ideals such as social justice and impartiality.
PROFESSIONAL VALUESConcerned with how individuals approach their work. Professional values include dedication, effectiveness, and efficiency.
DEMOCRATIC VALUESConcerned with respecting and promoting democracy and treating citizens fairly. Democratic values focus on ideals such as responsiveness and transparency.
HUMAN VALUESConcerned with respecting individuals and protecting individual rights. Human values include humaneness and collegiality.
According to Molina (2015), public administrators are guided by these values as they conduct their work using one of the four ideal-type administrative roles, which include the following:
STEWARDSIn the stewards role, public administrators are protective and responsible managers. They focus on being professional and competent as they achieve organizational goals. They also strive to be frugal with an organization’s financial and other resources.
MAGISTRATESIn the magistrates role, public administrators are more concerned with the law, focused on ensuring that citizens are treated fairly and consistently.
ADVOCATESAn advocate is someone who is supportive and promotes persons or causes. When they act as advocates, public administrators seek to develop positive relationships with citizens. They also make it a priority to protect the public interest and be highly responsive to citizens’ needs.
MEDIATORSA mediator is someone who acts as a go-between when parties are engaged in a conflict, working to help the parties resolve the conflict. When public administrators act as mediators, they deal with the conflicts that arise in government operations, striving to resolve these in a way that is fair and effective, while also enabling them to maintain personal credibility.
When taken together and viewed collectively, these four ideal-type administrative roles and the values emphasized by each represents the standards of excellence (both goods and ends) that are integral to the practice of public administration. In total, they represent a public service ethos. (Molina, 2015).
This discussion implies that all public administrators working as public servants are good people who hold themselves to a higher standard and strive to always do the right thing. While this is true for most public administrators, it does not apply to all of them. Some people are attracted to public administration for unsavory reasons, and some of them practice unethical, and even criminal, behavior as they perform their duties. As Downs (1967) explained, while the pursuit of public service is primarily an altruistic endeavor, the field of public administration does include workers who have purely selfish motives.
Public Service and Democracy
Scholars such as Waldo (1948) and Mosher (1982) argued that public service can be effective only when it is based on democratic principles and focuses on serving the public interest. As Mosher (1982) explained, public administrators make decisions and take actions that are significant and greatly influence society. Since public administrators are not elected, they are not directly accountable to the people.
Mosher (1982) argued that public administrators’ values, educational backgrounds, current associations, and other personal attributes determine the nature of the decisions they make and the actions they take in the course of their work in government agencies. They may not always take actions that support and promote democracy. But, according to Mosher (1982), since public administrators have unique competence and specialized skills that are not possessed by elected officials or the general public, government organizations and agencies must depend on them to manage government’s work.
Meier and O’Toole (2006) agreed with Mosher, arguing that the typical public administrator makes decisions and performs government work according to his or her value system. Values derive from personal attributes such as gender, race, and social class, and vary among public administrators. When making decisions, public administrators choose options that align with their personal values. Meier and O’Toole (2006) argued that these values, more so than organizational policies and procedures, often guide policy outcomes, determining how citizens will be treated and what government services they receive.
Downs (1967) noted that even public administrators motivated by altruism and striving to serve the public interest may struggle to achieve this goal. Downs (1967) argued that this occurs for several reasons, including the following:
In government work, it is almost impossible to avoid ethical dilemmas, which can be defined as situations that require individuals to weigh competing values and make choices that are not clearly ethical.
Sometimes, public administrators make needless mistakes that they think must be concealed to avoid seeming incompetent.
Sometimes, public administrators lack information, which leads to unavoidable errors.
Public administrators may be pressured to generate rapid results and to accomplish this, they may cut corners and do sloppy work.
Because of these situations, Downs (1967) argued that every leader must ultimately take acts they would rather not make public. To assist public administrators as they strive to do their work appropriately and serve the public interest to the best of their ability, various scholars, such as Frederickson (1997) and Cooper (2006) stress that public administrators must make ethics a priority in their work.
SCHOLARS DEFINE ETHICS
LEYS (1943) Ethics is the “art” of making wise/smart choices.
FREDERICKSON (1997) Ethics is abstract as it refers to the world of philosophy, values and morals. Administration, however, is the actual decisions and actions.
BRUCE (2001) Ethics is the study of the nature of morals and moral choices. It is also the study of rules that govern a profession (i.e. professional conduct).
COOPER (2006) Ethics considers the principles of justice, veracity, or the public interest. It also considers the implications for conduct/actions in any particular situation and arguments that can be made for one particular decision over another.
Ethical Behavior
For a simpler definition, Johnson (2009) argues that judgements about the rightness or wrongness of human behavior are the definition of ethics. From this perspective, ethical behavior can be defined as conduct that is considered “good” or “right” in a particular setting (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005).
According to ethics scholars such as Madsen and Shafritz (1992), Dobel (1993), and Cooper (2006), government organizations and agencies have many ways to promote ethical behavior among public administrators. These include the following:
1)Promote ethical leadership
Government organizations and agencies should be directed by individuals who practice ethical leadership and make it a priority to create an ethical organizational culture, providing examples of ethical behavior for subordinates to imitate.
2) Develop codes of ethics and codes of conduct
All government organizations and agencies are subject to ethics laws and regulations. To further promote ethical behavior among public administrators, government organizations and agencies should develop codes of ethics and codes of conduct, outlining in written statements the organization’s values and principles and the conduct expected of public servants as they perform their work.
Code of Ethics – A written document that outlines an organization’s mission and values. It explains the ethical principles that the organization promotes based on its mission and values. It also details the standards of professional behavior that employees are expected to maintain, including how they should approach problems.
Code of Conduct – A written set of rules that delineates the specific types of behavior that employees are expected to practice at work. This includes specifying norms for on-the-job behavior, particularly as they pertain to each job. A code of conduct is related to the code of ethics, but it is more detailed and specific.
3) Train public administrators
Government organizations and agencies should require public administrators to undergo training about ethics. Such training should provide instructions on the behavior public administrators should practice as well as the conduct they should avoid. This training also can help public administrators acquire the moral reasoning abilities necessary to resolve ethical dilemmas.
4) Perform periodical ethics audits and evaluations
Periodically, government organizations and agencies should undergo ethics audits and evaluations to determine if a government organization or agency has an organizational culture that promotes ethical behavior. Verschoor (2007) recommended that ethics audits should check the following:
The effectiveness of written materials, such as codes of ethics and codes of conduct
Whether management has communicated this information to everyone in an organization
Whether management has investigated ethics violations and handled them appropriately
Whether whistleblowers have been treated appropriately, without retaliation
Whether improvements have been made when issues have been discovered
Privatization
As noted in Lesson 1, in the 1990s, governments at all levels were influenced by then Vice President Al Gore’s book, Reinventing Government (1993), which promoted privatization as an alternative way for accomplishing government business. Privatization refers to the process of transferring government property, programs, and/or operations to the private sector, allowing private entities to assume control of government business.
Whether or not governments should privatize their operations is a source of debate. Some of the reasons for privatization include the following (Savas, 2005):
COST SAVINGSPrivate sector organizations may be able to deliver the same services for a reduced price.
SERVICE DELIVERYFor some services, such as those that require specialized equipment, the government may not have the resources needed to provide the service. Rather than purchasing the necessary equipment and other resources, it may be more cost effective to hire a private company to provide the service.
EXPERTISE AND EXPERIENCEFor some services, the government may not have employees with the expertise and experience needed to provide the service. Rather than hiring such employees, it may be more cost effective to hire a private company to provide the service.
TIMELINESSSometimes, the government needs a project completed or services provided more quickly than it is capable of doing. In such instances, relying on a private entity to handle the work can ensure it is done in the required timeframe.
TRANSFER OF RISKGovernments may find it advantageous to let private sector organizations handle projects, such as road construction, that are threatened by risks. This enables governments to avoid the risks should they occur.
REVENUE SOURCESometimes, the government has land, buildings, equipment, and other resources that it is not using. By contracting these out to private entities, the government can use these resources to generate revenues.
If a government decides to privatize, it has several options for how to approach privatization. These include the following (Savas, 2005):
FULL PRIVATIZATIONFull privatization occurs when governments sell assets or relinquish programs, giving total control to the private sector.
CONTRACTINGContracting occurs when governments enter into contractual agreements with private entities, giving them authority to provide services on the government’s behalf in exchange for a fee that is paid by the government.
OPERATIONAL PRIVATIZATIONOperational privatization occurs when governments hire private entities to handle operations at government facilities. For example, when governments own convention centers used for concerts and other events, they often hire private companies to manage activities such as ticket sales and food concessions.
FRANCHISINGFranchising occurs when governments award private entities the right to collect user fees from citizens to provide certain services, such as trash collection, within the government’s jurisdiction.
E-government
In recent years, as technology has advanced, governments at all levels have begun practicing e-government. This refers to the process of using information and communication technology to manage government operations and to provide services to citizens. In government’s daily operations, this has led to computerization, such as the electronic maintenance of paperwork and management of government’s finances, including budget processes. This also has led to the use of email and other electronic means, such as online chatting, to communicate among government agencies as well as to communicate with citizens and others outside of government.
E-government has also led to the establishment of government websites, which offer citizens the opportunity to gather information online as opposed to calling or visiting a government agency to request information. In addition, many government websites offer citizens the opportunity to handle certain transactions online. For example, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) accepts tax payments online, and some motor vehicle departments allow citizens to renew car tags online.
E-government has the goal of making government services more efficient and effective, while also reducing costs. This includes improving services to citizens, making citizens’ interactions with government more user friendly and convenient.
Governments participate in e-commerce, which refers to commercial transactions that occur electronically, using the Internet. Such transactions may involve any level of government—federal, state, and/or local—and cover any business dealings that governments have, including the sales of goods and/or services. The categories of e-commerce that involve government organizations and agencies include the following:
BUSINESS-TO-GOVERNMENT
GOVERNMENT-TO-CITIZEN
GOVERNMENT-TO-EMPLOYEES
GOVERNMENT-TO-GOVERNMENT
Conclusion
Public administrators participate in public service. The reasons they do this are varied, but scholars generally agree that those who chose to be public servants, rather than working in private enterprise, are often motivated by values such as the need to protect the public interest. But, this does not mean that all public servants are ethical individuals. To ensure that public administrators behave appropriately, protecting the public interest and democracy, government organizations and agencies must promote ethical behavior and establish organizations that have an ethical culture.
As part of their work, public administrators may be involved in privatization. They also may be involved in e-government and e-commerce.
References
Bruce, W. (2001). Classics of Administrative Ethics, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
Cooper, T.L. (2006). The Responsible Administrator: An Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role, Fifth Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Dobel, J. P. (1993). “The Realpolitik of Ethics Codes: An Implementation Approach to Public Ethics.” In . H. George Frederickson (Ed.) Ethics and Public Administration (pp.158-174). New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
Downs, A. (1967). Inside Bureaucracy. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.
Frederickson, H. G. (1997). The Spirit of Public Administration. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Johnson, C.E. (2009). Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or Shadow, Third Edition, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc.
Leys, W.A.R. (1943). “Ethics and Administrative Discretion,” Public Administration Review, 3:1, 3-12.
Madsen, P., & Shafritz, J.M. (1992). Essentials of Government Ethics. New York: Penguin Group.
Meier, K. J., & O’Toole Jr, L. J. (2006). Bureaucracy in a Democratic State: A Governance Perspective. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Molina, A.D. (2015). “The Virtues of Administration: Values and the Practice of Public Service.” Administrative Theory and Praxis. 37 (1), 49-69.
Mosher, F.C. (1982). Democracy and the Public Service. New York: Oxford University Press.
Perry, J.L. (1996). “Measuring Public Service Motivation: An Assessment of Construct Reality and Validity.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 6 (1), 5-22.
Savas, E. S. (2005). Privatization in the City: Successes, Failures, Lessons. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
Schermerhorn, J.R. Jr., Hunt, J.G., & Osborn, R.N. (2005). Organizational Behavior, Ninth Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Verschoor, C.C. (2007). Ethics and Compliance: Challenges for Internal Auditing. Altamonte Springs, Florida: Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation.
Waldo, D. (1948). The Administrative State: A Study of the Political Theory of American Public Administration. New York: Ronald Press.
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