Ethics In Public Administration

Front 1

Low Road of Compliance
-Three Roads to the Future-

Back 1

-Designed to spur obedience thru control and formal rules
-Adherence to formal rules
-Focuses on staying out of trouble
-Meeting minimum standards of conduct

Front 2

High Road of Integrity
-Three Roads to the Future-

Back 2

-Ethics in the raw
-Relies on moral character
-Counts on managers to reflect, decide and act based upon integrity
-Behavior draws on values and principles learned from upbringing
-Rejects administrative realities & accountability

Front 3

The Fusion Road
-Three Roads to the Future-

Back 3

-Fusing two standard approaches and moving on both fronts at once
-Moderation, adaptation, and compromise

Front 4

Taking the Job and the Pledge

Back 4

Taking an oath of office, or a promise to legal compliance. The foundation of duty in public service.

Front 5

Abusing Public Office for Personal Dissent

Back 5

-The idea of using a public office for the ability to break the law for moral reason
-Undermines public trust
-Resignation is the moral road

Front 6

Conflict of Interest

Back 6

-Obligated to act thru their public position on behalf of the public interest
-Expected to have personal interests, but are ethically constrained but using public office to pursue them
-Bribery, Nepotism
-Ethical requirement to act on behalf of the public interest

Front 7

Impartiality

Back 7

-Managers are ethically obligated to promote the public interest
-Rejects bias in action or decision making for certain reasons
-Perception of being unbiased and objective

Front 8

Appearance of Impropriety

Back 8

Managers are expected to attend to the public's perception of the way their activities and decisions look and the public's response
-Must look right, feel right, smell right
-Look good as important as do good

Front 9

Hiding Behind Our Boss/Desk to Escape Responsibility

Back 9

-Acting on directives from superiors does not free us from responsible unethical behavior
-Obeying authority but ignoring what is right or wrong is unethical
-Mindlessly following orders is not ethically responsible

Front 10

Hiding Behind Our Ignorance

Back 10

-Ethical people make mistakes
-Carelessness, thoughtlessness, lack of competence = inexcusable ignorance
-Ignorance undercuts professionalism
-Knowing the law is standard required knowledge

Front 11

Means and Ends

Back 11

-It is wrong to use immoral means to obtain moral ends
-More wrong to use moral means to preserve immoral ends
-Discretionalry authority can be used to promote public interests

Front 12

Incompetence is Abuse of Office

Back 12

-Today's public office is based on competence
-The quality of task effects the quality of life
-Pursuit of excellence means striving to be as good as possible

Front 13

Common Sense and Character in Decision Making

Back 13

Ethical choices are made in the pit of the stomach, automatically, reflexively, by common sense
-Going with how it feels is suitable for making choices between right and wrong

Front 14

Commonsense Approach

Back 14

Belief that a warning bell, itch, uncomfortable feeling is wrong

Front 15

Principle-Based Approach

Back 15

Belief that right and wrong never change, human life must not be compromised; the way to do something is more important than what we do

Front 16

Results-Oriented Approach

Back 16

Belief that we need flexibility to respond to changing situations, what matters is people, government should be efficient and effective, must be practical when spending taxpayers money