Discussion Board: The Ethics of Public Administration
According to Plant (2018), ethics in public administration is a continual balance between a moral approach to decision-making and external demands of politics and rule-determined behavior. Political influence includes the democratic will of the people, the influence of legislators and legislation, as well as a necessary negotiation between different factions, including other administrators and lobbying groups. Traditional views of ethical administration have stressed the need for the bureaucrats to use intelligence and expertise to make decisions during such negotiations, for example, in setting standards for drug approval or safety standards for flying on airplanes, while still following the letter of their defined responsibilities, or a balance between strict obedience-based responsibility and professional discretion and judgment (Plant, 2018, p.S38). This harkens to the Biblical dictate of the letter of the law kills, versus honoring the spirit behind the law, or the notion that spirit and letter are often not the same and can even seem in conflict. Even civics textbooks emphasize a balance the need for a legal compliance, human development, or a hybrid approach to ethics in organization (Bowman, Berman, & West, 2001, p.198).
A good administrator, in other words, cannot simply go rogue and do what he or she likes, particularly within a bureaucratic structure, but, on the other hand still has responsibilities to act in a human fashion. Additionally, as noted by Hijal-Moghrab & Sabharwal (2018), the...
…management is needed for peoples interests to be protected. Additionally, the idea of public administration operating in a hermetically sealed vacuum from political interests is not a realizable ideal, and it is better to reflectively consider when to allow such influence to permeate the organizational structure and when not to do so. A public administrator should have a strong sense of both personal ethics and the ethical responsibilities of the agency the administrator serves. When there is conflict, this may require some soul-searching. Doing ones duty is important, but it is equally important as well as honoring principles of efficiency to ensure that the ultimate aim and purpose of the creation of the agency one is working for…
References
Bowman, J.S., Berman, E. M. & West, J.P. (2001). The profession of public administration:An ethics edge in introductory textbooks? Public Administration Review, 61 (2):194-205. https://www.jstor.org/stable/977453Hijal-Moghrabi, I. & Sabharwal, M. (2018) Ethics in American public administration:A response to a changing reality. Public Integrity, 20(5): 459-477DOI:10.1080/10999922.2017.1419053Plant, J F. (2018). Responsibility in public administration ethics. Public Integrity, 20: S33-S45.
DOI: 10.1080/10999922.2017.1413927
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