Introduction Public Administrators face an extreme and challenging difficulty when it comes to ethical decision making. Their values and morals come into play and they must stay committed to the public. They must also deal with the fact that no two men think alike and that all men cannot be fully satisfied. Ethics of decision makers or public officials is the backbone of their job and there are levels of morality that have been identified for public officials. There are a total of six levels of morality including basic honesty and conformity to law, conflicts of interest, service orientation and procedural fairness, the ethic of democratic responsibility, the ethic of public policy determination and the ethic of compromise and social integration.
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By being upfront and honest you eliminate the potential for a large number of wrongdoings in the public sector and in life in general. Being honest is one of the most if not most important values to have as a human being. It is what ethical administrators strive to be and is very important. With all that said there are still many who are dishonest and many who do not abide by the laws. Of course many try to conceal their dishonesty and lack of respect for the law in order to get by with things here and there policy wise. It is a game to some to see how much they can get away with. But laws are in place to prevent such behavior and if caught offenders can get into big trouble. Public officials also pay a steep price if they get caught since they are often in the limelight. Public officials also have more responsibility when it comes to this moral code; they have more resources, more access and more power to do good or bad. Laws are the very essential tools that a government uses to manage a society and following them is the basis for a operable society. It is also the lowest level of morality that one can come …show more content…
People rely on the very decisions you make and they must live with the results. Implementing public policy is a duty that should be performed under the code of ethics, morality, justice and responsibility. Determining what policy should and should not pass is the job of the administrator. With every decision comes an outcome and judgements must be made whether the outcome be good or bad. When a dilemma is at hand and a decision is made two considerations about the result can be made 1-cost benefit analysis and 2- the distributional problem (who wins who loses). (Pg.107) Generally we accept that policy that does not provide equal treatment for all is inequitable. At the same time there is justifiable discrimination and a general understanding that there are people in need. This level maintains that a decision must be made whether it is good or bad. An example of public policy determination is a city council approval of allowing a new Triple-A baseball stadium and team to come into a city. The council made a judgment and the public must live with the results, whether it produces revenue for the city or whether it turns out to be a
By being upfront and honest you eliminate the potential for a large number of wrongdoings in the public sector and in life in general. Being honest is one of the most if not most important values to have as a human being. It is what ethical administrators strive to be and is very important. With all that said there are still many who are dishonest and many who do not abide by the laws. Of course many try to conceal their dishonesty and lack of respect for the law in order to get by with things here and there policy wise. It is a game to some to see how much they can get away with. But laws are in place to prevent such behavior and if caught offenders can get into big trouble. Public officials also pay a steep price if they get caught since they are often in the limelight. Public officials also have more responsibility when it comes to this moral code; they have more resources, more access and more power to do good or bad. Laws are the very essential tools that a government uses to manage a society and following them is the basis for a operable society. It is also the lowest level of morality that one can come …show more content…
People rely on the very decisions you make and they must live with the results. Implementing public policy is a duty that should be performed under the code of ethics, morality, justice and responsibility. Determining what policy should and should not pass is the job of the administrator. With every decision comes an outcome and judgements must be made whether the outcome be good or bad. When a dilemma is at hand and a decision is made two considerations about the result can be made 1-cost benefit analysis and 2- the distributional problem (who wins who loses). (Pg.107) Generally we accept that policy that does not provide equal treatment for all is inequitable. At the same time there is justifiable discrimination and a general understanding that there are people in need. This level maintains that a decision must be made whether it is good or bad. An example of public policy determination is a city council approval of allowing a new Triple-A baseball stadium and team to come into a city. The council made a judgment and the public must live with the results, whether it produces revenue for the city or whether it turns out to be a