Ethics of Public Service and Professionalism - Assignment Example

Ethics of public service and professionalism Student’s Name Course Tutor Date Q. Have public accountability, audits and performance-based indicators undermined the 'ethic' of public service and professionalism? Are these tools necessary for maximizing efficiency and cost effectiveness? Introduction Unethical practices involving public servants have made headlines all over the world in the recent times. Most of the malpractices are due to the diminishing ethical standards of public servants as they indulge themselves into all manner of corruption. It is therefore in order to demand that government as well as private sector institutions should scale up transparency, ethics, accountability, integrity and professionalism so as to adequately protect public resources and ensure sound performance of the public sector. This discussion paper is therefore based on the concepts and needs of accountability, ethics, integrity, and transparency to maintain high levels of professionalism in the public sector (Ahmed, 2004). There is also an attempt to explain some malpractices that undermine the ethical requirements and expectations from public servants. It is a fact that the mentioned concepts are much interrelated thus there is no distinct boundaries between them hence lack of any of them have to either positively or negatively impact on the whole system. This demonstrates that civil servant of character and virtue should practice all the concepts. Essence of the concepts in professionalism Ethics Even though there is no agreed definition of ethics. The fundamental need of ethics is as old as human beings. Ethics basically concerns conduct and character of morals. It therefore evaluates conduct in relation to some parameters and hence put positive or negative values on it. Ethics has been fundamentally defined as the main principles of the right action as well as rules of conduct. Ethics can be found in written form such as circulars and legislation or through interpretation by a person concerning what may be acceptable and what may not. For instance, the Charter for most public service in the world refers to ethics as standards that guide the actions and behaviors of people working in the public institutions. The ethical values that defines most of the public service charters in the world include but not limited to professional efficiency, discipline, equity, fairness, dignity, equity, impartiality and courtesy in the dispensation of professional duties. Public service ethics therefore defines how public servants should exercise discretion and judgment in going about their mandated duties (Ahmed, 2004). Accountability Although it broadly believed to be very essential in the public service, the concept is more often used in an abstract way. Accountability may be defined as the process through which people who are vested with power are able to demonstrate that they exercise their mandate and discharge the given duties in the right way. Accountability is also regarded as a total commitment expected from public servants both at the individual level and group level to accept public responsibility as if they are their own. Accountability in the public sector is very broad in the sense that there is stratification of accountability that stretches from the minister to employees and finally to the citizens who use the services of the state. Therefore accountability for performance compels the civil employees to give proper explanations in relation to exercise of authority, power, and resources that are in their jurisdiction on behalf of the public. Accountability is therefore an obligation to make sure that the assigned duties are done in a responsive and responsible way and consequently being held answerable for any failure or success. Public service accountability calls for transparency in every level in the organizational hierarchy thus public servants should be accountable to their seniors and vice versa. Accountability is therefore a virtue of ethics as it concern rules and principles that govern the moral composition and value of the behavior of individual’s thus improving ethics is very critical in the enhancement of accountability (Kuye & Mafunisa, 2003). Transparency Transparency generally refers to communication and accountability. In relation to public service, it ideally means that public servants should be as open as possible about the professional actions and decisions they take. They are therefore mandated to give valid reasons for every decision they make. Fruitful transparency in public service calls for carrying out decisions in the open. For example, the decision regarding any decision making process should be made public hence administrative decisions should be carried out in a simple, transparent and understandable procedures without compromising accountability. Integrity According to Kernagham and Langford (1990), integrity comes in handy in the public service sector as the concept concerns consistency of values, actions and principles amongst others. Integrity has been widely considered as a quality that calls for sense of truthfulness and honesty in relation to the motivations for an individual’s actions. It is therefore stressed that the concept of integrity concerns personal honesty hence acting according to fundamental values and beliefs at any given time. In view of public service, integrity puts more emphasis on the intactness of a moral attitude that also includes commitment. When it comes to the issue of accountability, at the forefront is integrity, which serves as a measure of complete willingness for the adjustment of value system for the maintenance as well as improving consistency. Public officials should therefore regard integrity as a vital virtue necessary for moral responsibility. A public servant should therefore have dedication in pursuing intellectual and moral well-being as they go about their public service duties. Integrity calls for three fundamental steps thus: The ability to distinguish between what is right and wrong Openness in action Ability to analyze an issue in a critical manner What undermines the 'ethic' of public service and professionalism? Corruption has been a major vice that puts many hurdles on the economic and political advancements of many nations, especially the developing ones. Conflict of interest, illegal deals and bribery deals economic growth a heavy blow on the economic growth and as well undermines the public’s confidence in public institutions. Corruption generally refers to intentional abuse of power entrusted on an individual for personal selfish motives Hughes, O. (1998). It then follows that public servants who subscribe to the vice of corruption have perfected the following acts, thus: The parties involved in a transaction grossly downplay the ethical virtues of doing work. The conflict of interest should be intentional. There must be existence of some benefits to enable both parties to take part in the violation. More often than not such benefits may include favoritism and monetary in nature. Corruption is therefore one of the most significant unethical practices that seriously undermine confidence and trust of public servants. Reclamation of public confidence does not come easy and if any can only happen through establishment of reputation of integrity. In essence both the general public and the state bear the cost of corruption through: Resource Misallocation In many developing nations where mechanisms of fighting corruption are weak, resources that should be channeled to productive uses clandestinely channeled to conduits of corruption. Companies mostly waste a lot of time and nurturing relationships with officials thus spending on bribes. State officials are therefore known to make uninformed decisions such as in investment that are not in conformity with the interest of the public thus it is the general public to meet the cost of such corrupt deals. Lower investment Both domestic and foreign investors usually get scared off by undefined business environments. Entrenchment of corruption is a clear indicator to would be investors that the system is very weak hence no regard to the rule of law which makes any investment to be prone to collapse. It is the government that determines the course of investment thus if the state has no stringent policies on corruption among public servants then the economic growth has to snail pace. Reduction in efficiency, competition, and innovation Irrational treatment of people and businesses by the civil servants demonstrates that favored individuals and firms do not compete fairly with others that have no favors thus in the long run it is the consumers to bridge the gap by paying dearly for compromised services. Poor administration and unresponsive policies Compromised civil servants help in perpetuation of corruption hence use the vested authority to involve in unethical behaviors. In most countries where corruption is the order of the day in the civil service most people are not held responsible for what they do and instead get incentives for delay of service delivery in order to take bribes. Lack of ethics is a recipe for corruption and therefore lowers the potential of growth for there are no checks and balances hence citizens have very poor access to public services such as education and health (Weller, 1991). Why corruption in the civil service? Corruption has numerous origins, but can essentially be attributed to lack of quality design of public and private sector institutions. Some of the causes of corrupt dealings include complex and changing laws of the land, thus when laws are contradictory, the vested powers of public officials are amplified hence increasing the potentiality of making self-serving and arbitrary decisions. When laws are characterized by uncertainties, people do not know their fundamental rights and obligations hence cannot fully comply or mount the necessary self-defense against illegal behaviors by public servants. It is in this aspect that corruption therefore becomes a means to perpetuate inefficiency as well as arbitrary actions. As is the case, core values and standards may not be significant in channeling the behavior of public servants unless the system used in channeling them is effectively communicated and disseminated. In organizational management systems, the most effective and preferred method of communicating values and standards is induction training when an individual gets recruited in the public service. However, it is unfortunate that most of the induction programs are inadequately carried out. Studies have shown that in many of the public service jobs in the developing world such as Africa, first values and standards are improperly communicated following the basic induction training offered to the newly recruited officials. It has emerged that the inadvertent violation of ethical standards has been given a raw deal through ethics advice (Hughes, 1998). The need for integrity procedures and strategy According to Davis, Weller and Lewis (1989), proper management of the conduct of state employees calls for having in place an integrated system of national integrity strategy, comprehensive human resource management practices, and procedures of disclosure. It has been shown that even though some nations embrace the strategy of national integrity, very few have put proper mechanisms of management. In the same way, necessary measures to act as guiding and managing principles governing the behaviors of state officials require stringent procedures of enforcement. The state as the principal employer should in essence have an appropriate way of enforcing adequate standards, not only for the punishment of violations but also to serve as a deterrent to others who might contemplate carrying out similar actions. Management of the conduct of public servants generally calls for having the ability to closely monitor the individual behavior and thus having the necessary tools to detect any malpractices that may permit high levels of misconduct. In order to curb unethical practices amongst public servants, many governments have initiated monitoring mechanisms such as the parliamentary Public Accounts Committees (PAC), Auditor General and office of the Ombudsmen amongst others. Such state initiated institutions are very instrumental in monitoring the issue of ethics in relation to the behaviors of the public officials. Such government institutions are expected to have very strong institutional capacities and mandates in order to perform their duties. Unfortunately, this is seriously lacking in most developing nations as such institutions do complain of insufficient state funding and lack of staff (Brown & Jackson, 1990). The foundations of preparing an ethical and professional public service are mostly found in transparent human resource policies. When the human resource management (HRM) upholds the principle of merit through recruitment of public servants and promotions, selection process transparency and sound management of performance, then it is obvious that ethical environment has to thrive. In addition, well articulated and fair policies of human resource regarding further training, remuneration, and procedures of disciplinary if correctly implemented can lead to the promotion of professionalism. The main objective of the HRM efforts should be to instill public confidence as far as the integrity of the state officials is concerned (Wanna, O'Faircheallough, & Weller, 1999). Conclusion In conclusion, a common system of approach in having ethical public servants is to introduce mechanisms of prevention, and this includes rules and regulations. Such approach is mainly designed to act as an indirect approach for preventing something from occurring. For example, a regulation that prohibits the receipt of gifts from the general public is purposely designed to curb influence that may be gained through receiving gifts or presents. However, it should be understood that the perception of influence that is being obtained from accepting a gift may also significantly undermine confidence in the dispensation of public service. Public confidence of public service officer who accepts gifts have to be undermined hence a big blow to impartiality in serving the general public. Lack of clearly stipulated and enforced policies for the promotion of professionalism in the public service is a recipe for creation of unethical behaviors that yields malpractices at the place of work. Public servants should therefore adhere to the code of ethics that defines the way work should be done for purposes of integrity and ethics. The implications of lack of ethics mainly reflect in lack of integrity which jeopardizes state of public service professionalism. References Ahmed Sakr Ashour (2004) Transparency and Accountability in the Public Sector in the Arab Region. UNDESA RAB/01/006. Brown, C.V., & Jackson, P.M. (1990). Public Sector economics (4th ed.) (pp. 210–215). Oxford: Blackwell. (Dixson 336.41 B877). Davis, G., Weller, P., & Lewis, C. (1989). Corporate management: Background and dilemmas (pp. 1–16). Corporate Management in Australian Government. Sydney: Macmillan. (Dixson 354.94075/C822). Hughes, O. (1998). Public management and administration: An introduction (Chapters 2 and 3). Melbourne: Macmillan. Kernagham, K & Langford J.W (1990) The responsible public servant. Canada: Institute of Research on Public Policy. Kuye J. O. & Mafunisa M.J (2003) Responsibility, Accountability and Ethics: The Case For Public Service Leadership. Journal of Public Administration Vol 38, No. 4 pp 421 - 437. Wanna, J., O'Faircheallough, C., & Weller, P. (1999). Devolution, discretion and delivery. Public Sector Management in Australia, (2nd ed.). Sydney: Macmillan. Weller, P. (1991). Financial management reforms in government. Canberra Bulletin of Public Administration, 67 (November), 9–17. Read More