Background
In the postmodern era, a marked interest has been demonstrated in the area of ethics of sovereign good; the placement of ethics as an agenda of public administration has been inspired by the paradigm shift within the new civil service administration (Ramlall, Alqurashi & Sindi, 2014). Philosophical and ethical dilemmas relating to the subject matter have been explored in numerous studies highlighting the conception of ethics in public administration. Thus, emphasis on the subject is due to its remarkable significance in administration (Osmani & Bashi, 2014). Pragmatic utilization of moral standards in governance in the civil service is the core of ethical practice (Gueras & Garofalo, 2010). According to Gueras & Garofalo (2010) the concept of ethic is not a novel terminology in United States, it is dated back to the times when the foundation of the Republic was being laid all the way through to the 19th and 20th century, an epoch characterized by multiple reformation, up to its current application in the modern America. Succinctly, constellation of codes defining the moral conduct of particular group basing it on a specified ideology constitutes the notion of ethics. It encompasses how a person feels about behaving properly; it is about values and their application in a given context (Osmani & Bashi, 2014). The civil service’s ethics is fundamentally dependent on the existing political milieu which offers the structure for civil service in addition to coordinating its practice. The aim of this paper is to offer a detailed and critical analysis of ethical issues with law enforcement in the context of public administration.
The Rational Of Ethics in Public Administration
The significance of ethics is underscored in the achievement of effective public management. Integration of codes of ethics in public administration initiates and upholds accountability between the administration and the public. It also provides guidelines upon which an administration operates and facilitates fair delivery of what is needed to the public. Consequently, the public’s trust is fostered by such integrity. Moreover, professionalism in the practice is enhanced owing to the existence of these codes of ethics (Sirswal, 2015). Nonetheless, attaining these standards of accountability is not a smooth sailing; numerous challenges are implicated in the practice of public administration.
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Managers in the public offices have to confront various ethical dilemmas in their service of being effective leaders. Scholars in addition to practitioners in the public administration have engaged their professional focus on the implementation of ethical public administration while navigating the challenges surrounding accountability, bureaucratic atrocities and other choices. Given such issues, Geuras & Garofalo (2011) assert that federal ethics has been painted by creation of interim or permanent Independent Counsel through the Ethics in Government Act, the Office of Federal Ethics, ethics commission on the state and local levels, and ethic advisors in addition to designated agency ethics officials (DAEOs).
An initial step in achieving compliance is the recognition of the value of public ethics (Geuras & Garofalo, 2011; Sirswal, 2015). Ultimate principle governing the manner in which a business is conducted is compliance. The federal government has since its inception emphasized adherence to ethical standards to attain accountability. Therefore, as far as the American government is concerned, accountability is paramount. The problem, however, pertains the nature and level of accountability. The fundamental issue is whether compliance to the set statutes and regulations has been achieved by the nature of the prevailing accountability or should public practitioners be expected to apply independence of mind by exercising discretion or judgement in attaining their moral obligation as civil servants (Geuras & Garofalo, 2011). Evidently, the latter is feasible in ideal situation where mature, experienced or rather responsible practitioners are involved as Sirswal (2015) calls them. With the existing bureaucracies, this is a rare and almost a near impossibility.
The art and science of practicing public administration has been enhanced by the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). ASPA owns the mandate of developing accountable professionalism within its jurisdiction. They are also responsible for increasing the awareness and adherence to ethical standards and codes among all the civil servants in the US soil. The society pledged a commitment to defend and sustain the following codes of ethic: advancement of the interest of the public by upholding the constitution and law; promotion of democratic participation; boosting social equity; disseminating information and advising accordingly; demonstrating individual integrity; supporting ethical institutions; and advancement of professional conduct ("American Society for Public Administration Code of Ethics", 2018).
An Analysis of the Dilemma
Geuras & Garofalo (2011) assert that the public administrator is a moral agent. Notably, an ethical agent is obligated to undertake his assigned role ethically irrespective of whether the duty being performed has moral importance . Nonetheless, a moral agent is driven by and chases a moral value. Public service by design is a moral initiative devoted to social good. Moreover, the public administrator is an expert in his or her professional field (Geuras & Garofalo, 2011). In addition to the ethical professional decisions, public administrator is mandated to make other judgements professionally.
A moral conflict usually arises prima facie following amalgamation of public organization and private enterprise owing to the fact that a public administrator is a moral agent while the private worker is not. If the decision maker in an outsourced organization is not a moral agent, he lacks the responsibility inherent in public service. However, if he is considered to be a moral agent basing it on his role in the public interest, his mandate to the enterprise that hired him is compromised. The public administrator in the modern era is held in dilemma between responsibilities and loyalties. He is torn between public interest and role to his institution. The temptation therefore, is to favor the loyalties of the institution at the expense of public interest. Nevertheless, a hybrid organizational administrator faces more of moral dilemma. On the other hand a private corporation administrator contracted to carry out a public mandate has double loyalties, to the public and shareholders of the corporation (Geuras & Garofalo, 2011).
One might object that to impose his own morality on the public is to reject his charge, as a de facto public administrator, to act in accordance with the will of the people. Despite the fact that both are in favor of compromise, there is no clear distinction between the charge and willing of the people. At the core of a public servant resonates the big question: Should I obey the public’s opinions on policy issues or should I make my own judgement as a professional on the public’s behalf?
Notably, the moral equation is altered in two ways by the hybrids despite the fact that public administrators have to make moral decisions. Foremost, in the de facto sense, the figure of public administrators are increased by hybridization. Hybrid organization administrator makes decision in place of the public hence are public’s agents. Second, a new dilemma is introduced by hybridization at least prima facie. Hybrid organization administrator has initial duties both to the public and to the institution. Moral judgement has to be exercised owing to the conflicts arising from such double responsibilities. Those moral judgment have to be different from that of a private organization executive without public attachment (Geuras & Garofalo, 2011).
A crisis in leadership is a central issue in the world’s current order. A humanitarian global mindset of managers is lacking in the modern time ( Sirswal 2015 ). This is pertinent to the crisis surrounding ethical values and humanity. Alluding to the terminologies applied in policymaking, ethics is likened to preservation of nature or provision of equitable opportunities. Nonetheless, basing the argument to the knowledge of public managers, it is one thing to offer such opportunities; it is quite another to handle the particulars of either (Geuras & Garofalo, 2011). In spite of the recognition of the benefits acquired from such affirmative actions, there are deep-seated discords among Americans relating to the particulars avenues of attaining such opportunities. This analogy is relevant in the case of ethical practice. Clearly, most people are pro ethical standards, but when it comes to actual doing, adhering to ethics particularly at work place, is another problem. Pertinent questions tied to the subject matter of this paper are: what is the meaning and interpretation of ethics in the pragmatic field of public administration? What does it mean to adhere to ethical standards at work? Perspectives according to the party involved bears diverse meaning to these questions. Notably, irrespective of the meanings from different perspectives, the mode of practice in public administration is geared towards compliance or legalism (Geuras & Garofalo, 2011).
In public management, leaders are confronted by choices that demands a twofold approach: compliance to ethical standards and judgement involving discretion. These situations necessitates that a balance is arrived at by the public manager since one cannot choose either (Geuras & Garofalo, 2011). Exercising independence of mind is a challenging in the practical world of public administration especially if such independence is not the norm of a given organization. The permissibility of independence is pegged on acceptable policy and institutional structure. These include an assemblage of traditions, technical necessities and assumptions linked to a specific mandate of an agency (Geuras & Garofalo, 2011). In essence, thinking out of the box is not an option. Thus, the concept of ethics construed in this sense entails a paradox; it defends the customary culture of accountability yet simultaneously promoting independence of mind and judgement in the setting of impartial moral standards. This projects a difficult situation to public managers who are professionally preoccupied with demanding and challenging choices (Geuras & Garofalo, 2011).
Decision-Making Approach Utilized
The notion of privatization has been encouraged worldwide in current public administration. This conception is viewed to promote efficacy thus facilitating delivery of quality public services (Osmani & Bashi, 2014). An illustration is made to United Kingdom, a governance that incorporated privatization. This new paradigm shift transformed both cultural and institutional needs (Osmani & Bashi, 2014). These reformation were meant to reduce the cost resulting from government acts and identify ways of minimizing the direct influence of actions of public servants. Notably, privatization identified the means of operating outside the good judgement on the servant in addition to challenging the present realities related to public administration ethics.
Significance was tied to reinventing the government that was seen in Bill Clinton’s administration. During his tenure, novel concepts of public administration were promoted in two different areas, that is, identification of factors which promoted the productivity of governance and secondly, setting a new vision and mission policy (Osmani & Bashi, 2014). Adoption of more ethical measures was meant to increase productivity while the public’s needs were to be satisfied through application of new mission policy. Compared to privatization of governmental institutions, these measures were considered less radical (Osmani & Bashi, 2014).
The paradigm of novel public management systems was responsible for the changes in the responsibilities and scope of public administration. In addition to privatization, such systems includes debureaucratization, citizen partnership and decentralization (Osmani & Bashi, 2014). These are relatively novel managerial practices attributed to private enterprises which have gained a global focus. Ethics is central to these new concepts unlike the case of traditional public administration. Huge organizations have been split into smaller institutions that are manageable hence permitting independent operation constituting the new economic paradigm (Osmani & Bashi, 2014).
Resolution
Perception of diverse ethical practices offers a general bearing for citizens and managers. Following the recognition of these bearing, public managers are capable of reflecting on trending practices critically to identify areas that need adjustments to attain greater degrees of efficacy and improve workers productivity. Bylaw evaluating professional performance is included at federal, state and local level assessing the public service employee. Consequently, yearly preparation of report is essential documenting employee’s performance, behavior and conduct at work place (Ramlall, Alqurashi & Sindi, 2014). Employees to be punished if the components enshrined within the bylaws are violated like bribes, abuse, forgery or fraud. Violation of such standards should not only be monitored by the federal authorities but an inclusion of control bodies in the monitoring process is necessary. Examples include human right authority or federal authority that fights corruption.
The general efficacy of service performance can be promoted through training conducted by government authorities. Such developments can promote overall performance (Ramlall, Alqurashi & Sindi, 2014). The federal government should establish diverse process which can be controlled and supervised to ensure that accountability is promoted in the ethical (Osmani & Bashi, 2014).
Adherence to codes of ethics is paramount in any milieu where business are expected to succeed. Enormous interest has geared towards understanding the concept of ethics. It is a practice that dates back at the inception of America as a republic. Central to the subject are standard norms that govern the operations of public administration. Dilemma surrounds the conception of ethics. In the setting of public-private hybridization ethical dilemmas emanates. Privatizations is entailed as measures applied to improve efficacy in the public administration on top of upholding ethical practices.
References
American Society for Public Administration Code of Ethics. (2018). Public Administration Review , 78 (3), 334-334. doi: 10.1111/puar.12941
Geuras, D., & Garofalo, C. (2011). Practical ethics in public administration (3rd ed., p. 464). Vienna, Va.: Management Concepts.
Osmani, S. E., & Bashi, S. E. (2014). Ethics in Public Administration. Journal of Public Administration and Policy Research , 4 (1), 201-215. Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JPAPR DOI: 10.5897/JPAPR11.049
Ramlall, S., Alqurashi, S., & Sindi, T. (2014). A Critical Review of Ethical Practices in the Public Sector of Saudi Arabia. British Journal Of Economics, Management & Trade , 4 (3), 366-371. doi: 10.9734/bjemt/2014/7248
Sirswal, D. R. (2015). Public Service Values and Ethics in Public Administration.
