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Safeguarding Ethical Autonomy and Applications of the Design Approach

Ethics in Public Policy and Administration

Luisa Enriquez, Paul Fields, and Jared Smith

Individual Ethical Autonomy/ Components of Individual Autonomy

➢ Ethical Awareness - know yourself, love what you stand for

➢ Role Evaluation & Recognize limits within the organization

➢ Understand the consequences of whistleblowing and recognize the ambiguity of effectiveness

➢ Agentic Shift - carrying out orders, no personal responsibility

Organizational Remedies/ Individual Responsibilities ➢ How do we encourage employees to exercise ethical

autonomy? ○ Create Channels of Dissent ○ Collaborative Decision Committees ○ Forums for discussion ○ Policies and Procedures ○ Training, training, training

Our something new: Whistleblower Policy Sample

https://www.opm.gov/our-inspector-general/whistleblower-protection-information/

● Types of Whistle Blowing ● Process for filing a complaints - Channels of Dissent (Hotline, Office, Forms,

Committees) ● Protections for 3rd party whistleblowers (contractors) ● Limits on coverage periods ● Process for investigating and responding to complaints

The Design Approach to Public Admin. Ethics

➢ Begin with an assumption of uncertainty, acknowledge ambiguities

➢ Addressing fundamental factors involved ○ Avoid defining problem narrowly

➢ Take into account constraints in time, consider multiple solutions

➢ Organization setting may encourage or impede ethical conduct

General Application

➢ Abu Ghraib ○ Org. structure

➢ Challenger/ Roger Boisjoly ○ Org. culture/dissent channels

➢ Columbia ○ Org. structure/culture

➢ City of Bell, California ○ Defending decisions

● Consider org factors that encourage or impede what you are proposing

● Work through decision making model

● Define ethical problem ● Considering intervention

strategies to make org supportive of ethical conduct

1st Step

2nd Step

3rd Step

4th Step

“The Favorite Contractor”