Public Administration Slides on Ethics & Accountability

Public Administration, Ethics & Accountability

Defining ethics

The concept Ethics is not:
The same as feelings. Feelings provide important information for our ethical choices.
Religion: because many people are not religious but ethics applies to everyone.
Following the law: a good system of law does incorporate many ethical standards, but law can deviate from what is ethical
 
Following culturally accepted norms
A science: just because something is scientifically or technologically possible, it may not be ethical to do it.

What then is ethics?

Ethics is about standards of behavior that tell us how human beings ought to act in the many situations in which they find themselves as:
Friends
Parents
Children
Citizens
Teachers
Professionals and so on.
It is a body of principles or standards of human conduct that govern the behavior of individuals and groups

Ethics originate from the idea that there are certain moral principles that are common to all human beings.
There is therefore difference between ethics and morals
Morals are defined as those actions which are considered “right behavior” in any society.

Universality of ethical values

These values include, trustworthiness, integrity, fairness, and caring.
It is the universality of such ethical principles and values that gives support to the notion of moral absolutism.It is based on the assumption that there are eternal principles that exist beyond time and are always and everywhere applicable

Issues in Administrative Ethics

Some of the issues are-

• Recruitment and selection
• Disciplinary action or termination of appointment
• Patronage vs. merit systems
• Whistle-blowing
• Covering for the boss or colleague
• Conflict of interest
• Nepotism and patronage
• Use of public property for private use
• Gift giving and expectation

Ethical challenges in public administration in Ghana

Conduct of PA and affairs in Ghana is characterized by: an elite mentality, displaced sense of purpose, nepotism, distrust, disregard for time, absence of loyalty, paternalism, and gift giving and expectations.

An elite mentality – the perception of performing roles which were previously a preserve of the European

Causes of low moral standards:

 1. Society

It is not possible to have moral public service from immoral society.
This is because the public servant is recruited from the society so if the society is corrupt then the public servants will logically be corrupt.
Secondly, the public service engages in constant interaction with the society. i.e. there is organic linkage source is corrupt then public servants would always be corrupt.

2. Economic condition

The difficulty of economic environment.
The economic conditions are bad the competition to survive is lowering the moral standards in society. There is therefore the conflict.

3. Competition
 
There is much stress to succeed in life by cutting corners/short circuiting the system.
This can create a situation of lowering standards in ethics.

4. State of political ethics

We are not sure and do not see anything wrong with people using political office to favor their near and dear ones.
 There is political corruption and loss of control in government due mainly to bad supervision

5. Greed/selfishness/pleasure for profit
 
There is desire for gain because there is worship of money as a measure of success.
There is lack of personal integrity and moral life. Because integrity doesn’t allow for partiality-It involves wholeness

Drivers of high moral standards

Public disclosure: Publicity, wide media coverage and better communication. There should be “sunshine effect” as in the USA. Under this, because people wouldn’t like their actions to be given wide coverage or exposed and on that basis avoid such behavior.
Increased public concern: Public awareness and education is very important because sometimes people do not know the implications of their behavior. A better informed public therefore lowers unethical behavior and raises moral standard.

Societal pressure:
 Society must be organized in such a way that people would feel ashamed when caught involved in unethical behavior rather than today that when people are sacked for misappropriating the society still respects them most especially when they can support groups and individuals financially.
Government regulation: There must be legislation and government intervention though one cannot legislate against However, there is the need for some kind of law.eg.on the sale of expired drugs, the use of bromide e.g. Should be punished
Openness: The public must have access to officials files because without the public having access to document covering the issues like declared assets, officials mail conceal private gains

No gift policy - Gifts may be offered in good faith. Or they may be given in the hope of attaining special benefit either presently, the future or even used as a reward for past experience. In all cases, all gifts must be refused. We need to use common sense and judgment to depart from the rule of life. “BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT GIFTS CORRUPT”.
Improved conditions of service: People who are fairly compensated develop a feeling of their  worth as well as receiving tangible indication of the community’s estimations of their work. If  salary is low people can easily be influenced and corrupted which suggests that paying respectable salaries may help officials to resist bribes/gifts.

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