Ethics in Public Services

As public body managers, you are tasked to deliver your services to the public and hence you have the responsibility to ensure that the services you provide are not only effective, efficient, reliable but also that their delivery is free from corruption and malpractice. People must get a clear understanding of the important functions of public bodies and the obligations of your organization and yourselves as stipulated in the law.

Important functions of public bodies like your organization, a considerable number of institutions are scheduled by law as public bodies. They are designated as such because their operations and services have important bearings on the interests of the public and society as a whole. For example, they are the:

Major services providers given a monopoly/ franchise/license by the government like: bus companies, railway companies;

Organizations spending/disbursing substantial public funds e.g. universities, hospitals;

Organizations performing public regulatory functions e.g. regulatory bodies of the financial sector and real estate industry;

Organizations performing other important public service functions e.g. housing and land development bodies, charitable organizations; and

Major mass media organizations e.g. television and broadcasting stations.

Public management is public trust. As public body managers, you must ensure that your operations are conducted in a fair and responsible way and your staffs maintain a high recognizable standard of conduct so that public trust is upheld and public interest protected.

Ethics and values should be taught in public administration schools. Some argue that ethics principles and values can be taught about but they cannot be taught in the same manner as we teach skills and knowledge of budgeting, information technology, personnel management, policy analysis, and so forth.

The debate continues with little evidence of a consensus emerging anytime soon. Nonetheless, it is imperative that the debate move faster rather than slower least the profession languish in the fields of careerism, technical rationality, and moralist.

The second great war of the 20th century brought the mythology of the politics/administration dichotomy to its knees and was the beginning of the end of the prevailing orthodoxy that administrators are and should be passion less dispensers of public goods and services, thus freeing up a renewal of public administration.

The New Public Service advocated by Denhardt and Denhardt (2000). Their vision is one in which public administrators return to their roots as guardians of democracy.

They further enunciate seven principles that, individually and collectively, provide a normative framework for the professional public administrator.

Nonetheless, renewal will not be an easy task for professional associations, public administration educators, or those who toil in the day in and day out work of making their communities a better place to live, work, and play. Some albeit limited help might be found in a recently published collection of essays and articles.

Rediscovery and renewal, as this discussion highlights, is certainly fermenting within the academy. Adams and Balfour call for unmasking administrative evil has not gone unnoticed. Nor has Frederickson challenge to put the public back in public service or the Denhardt vision for a New Public Service been lost in the early years of the 21 st Century. Yet the findings reported by Light cannot be dismissed lightly. What then can and should we expect in the years ahead? Where do body and soul of public administration reside? If not in or among professional associations or in the workplace, must we conclude that our search is in vain? No. Two significant events are most revealing the tragedy and triumph of September 11 th 2001 and the financial and organizational meltdown of corporate titans such as Enron, WorldCom, AOL Time Warner, and Arthur Anderson.

The culture of self enrichment embedded in the business executive corps that has sapped employees, shareholders, and the American public speaks volumes to the culture of greed and self serving. An ethical meltdown comparable to that in the corporate world borders on the unimaginable if not unthinkable in all but a few American cities and states. Even more dramatically, the tragedy of September 11 brought forth in clear view for the world to see the triumph of goodness in the courageous efforts by passengers and crew members on the ill fated United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed into Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and the fire, police, and military men and women who rushed to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to preserve life and property.

These deeds in the air and on the streets of New York and Washington remind us that public service is truly about caring for others and this is the essence of public administration. The body and soul of public administration reside in service to others whether on the street, in a distant region or location around the world, or in the offices of thousands of public agencies.

Still, there is a substantial need for greater awareness of and commitment to the idealism of public service. Can do must be exalted by should do. Public service is, as so often uttered but so seldom heard, a noble calling. Perhaps we should remind ourselves of this day in and day out and draw on this feeling to animate our work as educators and public administrators. The result may well be a true and profound rediscovery and renewal of public administration as a field of study and practice.