Public Service Ethics

Individual and Institutional Responsibilities

James S. Bowman, Jonathan P. West

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000433647
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Politik & Internationale Beziehungen
• Subtopic: Öffentlichsarbeit & Verwaltung

The study and practice of ethics, in all its exemplary and execrable forms, matter now more than ever. It deals with one of the most gripping questions in life: "What is the right thing to do?"

Public Service Ethics: Individual and Institutional Responsibilities, Third Edition, introduces readers to this personally relevant and professionally challenging field of study. No matter the topic—the necessity of ethics, intriguing human behavior experiments, provocative approaches to decision-making, new theories to understand ethical actions, the role of ethics codes, whistleblowing incidents, corruption exposés, and the grandeur as well as decay of morality—there is no shortage of controversy. This book discusses these issues, explains how they arise, and suggests what can be done about them. The authors make the narrative user-friendly and accessible by highlighting dilemmas, challenging readers to resolve them, and enticing them to go beyond the text to discover and confront new issues. New to this Third Edition:

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• Exploration of fascinating and important new topics such as the Green New Deal, Black Lives Matter, oaths of office, classroom dishonesty, state corruption, the Biden administration, and the ethical challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and response.

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• In-depth profiles of newsworthy figures, including Michael Flynn, Alexander Vindman, Anthony Fauci, and John Lewis.

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• All new case studies drawing on actual and hypothetical events to give students an opportunity to apply concepts and analytical frameworks.

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• All new end-of-chapter discussion questions and exercises to encourage students to think more deeply about ethical issues.

The authors' conversational writing style invites readers to annotate pages with their own ideas, experiences, comparisons, and insights, bolstering students' confidence and ultimately preparing them for the ethical problems they will face in their own careers. This lively and thorough new edition is required reading for all public administration and public policy students.

PART I
Foundations of Public Service Ethics

1
Pertinence, Practicality, and Poppycock

DOI: 10.4324/9781003203148-2

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

—Mark Twain

This chapter—the first of three that explore the foundations of public service ethics—explores the multiple rationales for examining ethics as well as reasons behind the reluctance to discuss ethics in policy and administration. Knowing why one is undertaking an activity is the first step to understanding any situation. The chapter objectives are to

• appreciate personal reasons for studying ethics;
• recognize the pervasiveness of ethics;
• acknowledge that professional public service has never been solely a technical enterprise;
• understand that the exercise of power is immediate, real, and vital;
• distinguish the costs associated with ethical pitfalls; and
• evaluate credulous poppycock that claims ethics is impossible, unnecessary, and simple.

PERTINENCE: REASONS TO STUDY ETHICS

There is no guarantee that anyone will make more effective choices by studying ethics. But such study helps to contemplate them on your own and to speak intelligently about ethical matters with others. Reflecting on ethics issues encourages the recognition of moral duty and obligations. Ideally, it serves to make prudent judgments that can be publicly justified. This understanding is the basis for at least five reasons to explore ethics: It is personal, pervasive, professional, powerful, and full of pitfalls where the costs of ethical failure are high.

Personal

While the word “ethics” may provoke fear and loathing as a dull topic, or one that takes people out of their comfort zone, in fact, it stimulates thinking on life’s most compelling questions—those that deal with what is right and wrong, good and bad. As Thomas Schelling (1984, 38) writes, “Often the question is not ‘Do I want to do the right thing?’ but rather ‘What is the right thing to want to do?’” The initial observation, then, is that humans are the only creatures that are struck by the difference between is and ought, and wonder about what sort of creatures they are and could be. Homo sapiens are, in other words, unique moral agents because they have the capacity to think about thinking, to ponder about what is “right” and “proper” and “fair” (Wilson, 1993).

In public service, the “what is” question seeks to discern what is actually occurring in a particular setting. This seemingly obvious factual or descriptive question aims to better recognize or make judgments about ethical behavior. However, describing “what is” is complicated by the varying perceptions, beliefs, values, and biases found at the individual, organizational, and societal levels. The “ought to be” question is normative and focuses on what should be done in a given situation (e.g., how to treat a long-time employee when downsizing). The issue for managers and leaders is how to get from “what is” to “what ought to be” in practice. It is challenging because it requires weighing what can be done with what ought to be done. This is where you come in.

You count, and you can make a difference in the movement from “what is” to “what ought to be” by adding to—or subtracting from—excellence and joy in the workplace. What you do matters. This book is aimed squarely at readers, inviting everyone to actively engage ethics—to take it personally. It will help prepare for the day when you are called upon to juggle these considerations and then decide: “This is what should be done, this is why it should be done, and this is how it will be done.” When that time comes, it will be important to be confident that the action taken is ethically feasible and desirable.

This leads to a second observation: People unabashedly make decisions about what is best. Henry Ford said, “Believe in your best, think your best, study your best, have a goal for your best, never be satisfied with less than your best, try your best—and in the long run, things will work out for the best.” You need to know what is right and that the choices you make are good. If an unexamined life is not worth living, following Socrates, then, an examined life is lived for a good reason. Every act of every person is a moral act, to be tested by moral criteria; to study ethics is to learn not only how people make good judgments but also why they make bad ones. Readers are bid to probe the empowering, if inherently controversial, choices about meaning and value in public service. Administrators and employees without a carefully considered set of public service values are likely to be poor decision makers; they are inclined to dither when confronted with decisions presenting ethical implications.

The third observation of a personal nature is that individual values are the final standard, as there are many, sometimes conflicting, determinants of action. “To the question of your life,” wrote Jo Coudert in Advice from a Failure, “you are the only answer. To the problems of your life, you are the only solution.” Individual responsibility and accountability, therefore, are inescapable (notice the “i” in “ethical”). But note that people typically perceive themselves as more ethical than others and that consensus regarding proper behavior diminishes when proceeding from abstract to specific circumstances. Actual human contact can change everything, clarifying some issues while confounding others. Black and white can, in fact, look like two shades of gray.

The implications of the personal reason for studying ethics are that they can be both enabling (it is not mere sentimentality) and debilitating (being questioned about ethics can strike at the core of one’s moral being). Either way, how you handle an ethical dilemma may be the only thing remembered about you (“The decision of a moment,” it has been said, “lasts a lifetime”). The question, in short, is not whether we will die but how we will live. Existence is defined by choices, as French philosopher Albert Camus asked, “Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?”

Pervasiveness

Not only is ethics a highly personal concern, but it is also a pervasive one. It is part and parcel of the activities of everyday life, encompassing and affecting almost everything that happens. Indeed, as technology has further interconnected with others around the globe, it has also made us more ethically interdependent. Ethics is a fundamental, familiar component of all walks of life: business, government, religion, sports, academe, and nonprofit organizations. Newspaper headlines, television and radio broadcasts, and Internet coverage provide story after story of wrongdoing in business, government, and nonprofit sector organizations. Heroes and heroines plummet from their exalted status by making poor choices. Likewise, organizational brands are tarnished by immoral actions. In both, citizen trust is lost and financial resources are squandered for short-term gain. Ethical leadership is lacking and sorely needed, particularly in the civil service where public-regarding ethics is so central to the core of democracy: government by, for, and of the people.

And ethical concern is probably greater than ever before as ethical issues have a tendency to be magnified and expanded today for three interrelated reasons:

• The scale effect: Modern technologies make it possible to do misdeeds on a massive scale.
• The display effect: Communications systems (particularly the advent of social media) can dramatically package, instantly distribute, and repeat incidents.
• The PR effect: Public communication has become professionalized public relations as a result of polling, focus group research, image management, news event “spin,” “damage control,” “spontaneous” grassroots mobilization, and related marketing techniques.

(Adapted from Heclo, 2008, 26–28)

Velocity, in short, can readily trump veracity. As Mark Twain said, “A lie can travel halfway round the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

Additionally, as the postindustrial service economy shifts emphasis from products to people, higher moral standards are expected. People have learned to become sensitive to the natural environment, and today they are also becoming sensitive to the ethical environment. Yet while a broader range of activities are seen as unethical today, conditions for employee abuse continue to grow, exacerbated by rapid societal change.

Professional

Public servants, accordingly, must not only do technical things right but also do ethically right things. Professional work is value intensive as it focuses on goals, synthesis, and priorities; leaders take responsibility for what is done as they serve as models and represent others. Someone without basic ethics skills is professionally illiterate. Indeed, ethical competence encompasses technical competence. The classic definition—and often oath—of a professional is someone who shows leadership in technical ability and ethical character. A professional is not a professional merely because of her expertise but also because of her adherence to ethical standards. The ability to contemplate, enhance, and act on these faculties is the essence of professional life. It is unthinkable for a professional not to do her best; it is her duty (consult Appendix 1.2, Book Chapters and NASPAA Professional Competencies in Public Administration).

This is what makes scandals so devastating. Scandals result when professionals in a variety of fields have demonstrated a lack of understanding of this basic precept—namely, the question “Management for what?” seems to have been misunderstood. Management is not an end; rather, it is a means to an end. Thus, while process and policy often overlap, the ethics of process—regardless of the policy issues involved—is key. If process is ably done, policy is likely to be ethical as well. A focus on “why” when making decisions may lead to recognition of ignorance, followed by the acquisition of knowledge, resulting in expansion of moral imagination. The aptitude for critical judgment is the sine qua non of a professional. Those who treat management and ethics apart will never understand either one.

One attempt to keep management focused on ethics is the appointment of a chief ethics and compliance officer in an organization. Criticized by some as window dressing, while praised by others as a way to highlight ethical issues and promote right behavior, these officials have become commonplace in large firms, nonprofit organizations, and governments (see Exhibit 1.1 on a week in the life of Marisol Lopez, an ethics and compliance officer). A critical question is whether these positions have the power and resources to make a difference (see Chapter 8).

EXHIBIT 1.1 A Week in the Life of Ethics Officer Marisol Lopez

Marisol Lopez is an ethics and compliance officer for XYZ, a large nonprofit organization in a big southeastern city. Like most nonprofit ethics officers, Lopez faces a thorny set of issues that creates challenges, threats, and opportunities for her and for her charitable organization. Her work is complicated by the coronavirus, the downturn in the economy, declining charitable donations, a rapidly changing workforce, an increasingly cumbersome legal and regulatory environment, pressures for higher productivity, and pending layoffs. Lopez earned her MPA degree with a concentration in law and ethics more than 20 years ago. She has been working in the nonprofit arena since that time, progres...