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MSU PRR 370 - PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND ETHICS

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The Aspirational Approach and the Appeal to PrincipleCharacter Ethics-Some Virtues and VicesPublic Service VirtuesPublic Service VicesMaking Ethical DecisionsEthical Reasoning and JudgmentElements of Ethical Decision MakingSummaryReferencesChapter FortyPROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND ETHICSCarol W. Lewis and Bayard L. CatronPublic service is a public trust. If there is anything unique about public service, it derivesfrom this proposition. The idea goes back at least to Thomas Jefferson in this country, and it can be traced to other historical periods and other cultures as well. For example, ina seventeenth-century Chinese manual on local administration (Huang, 1984), the author, himself a local administrator, describes the inauguration of a new magistrate, listing his duties and emphasizing that “he should conduct public business with complete objectivityand with no interference from his personal preferences” (p.146). Buddhism teaches a similar lesson: “If an important minister of state neglects his duties, works for his own profit or accepts bribes, it will cause a rapid decay of public morals” (Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, 1987, p.468).For a public administrator, upholding the public trust means faithfully executing one’s duties, as determined through the political process, in support of the public interest or the collective good. The first provision in the federal Principles of Ethical Conduct for Government Officers and Employees (Office of Government Ethics, 1992) (first issued by executive order in 1989) is “Public service is a public trust, requiring employees to place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws and ethical principles above private gain” (p.1).Public administrators spend public dollars, and they wield the power of the state in carrying out their role. Because of this, it is often said that they should be held to a higher standard than others. Numerous opinion polls confirm that the public does hold government officials to a higher standard (for example, see Bowman, 1990). They also suggest, however, that in the minds of the public, government officials do not necessarily meet that higher standard. Over many years, Gallup polls have asked respondents to rate various professionals’ honesty and ethical standards (“Survey Data on Ethics,” 1993, p.29). Only 14 percent of respondents rated state officeholders’ standards as high in 1993, compared to 11 percent in the initial poll in 1977. Comparable figures for local officeholders were 19 percent in 1993 and 14 percent in 1977. A majority of respondents ranked both state and local officials’ honesty and ethical standards as average in 1993.Judging from our own experience in conducting a large number of ethics training programs, public administrators agree by about three-to-one margin that they should be held to a higher standard. This does not imply a different standard of morality but rather a more scrupulous adherence to accepted standards. On the whole, administrators and citizens share the same fundamental ethical values and perspectives (see Goodsell, 1994, pp.103-131; Lewis, 1990), although their relative importance does vary.In this chapter, we will discuss a number of values and principles that are particularly important for public service. First, we clarify two basic approaches to government ethics – legal compliance and the “aspirational” approach, which involves anappeal to ethical principles. Next we discuss character ethics and some key virtues and vices. Then we describe ethical decision making, which, we argue, makes use of all theseapproaches but must ultimately depend on ethical reasoning and judgment. We conclude with some practical suggestions for improving ethical conduct in public agencies.Two Approaches: Compliance and Aspirational EthicsFrom the founding of the republic, it has been accepted that we need both virtuous public servants who aspire to the highest norms of conduct and also control mechanisms to ensure accountability and the satisfaction of some minimally accepted standard (Thompson, 1985). This dual goal is reflected in the founders’ reliance upon formal government arrangements to supplement personal virtue. In a famous quotation, James Madison (Federalist 51) noted, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls would be necessary. In forming a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”The Compliance Approach and the Rule of LawThe compliance approach to ethics in government provides controls on the conduct of public officials; thus, it serves as an important check on the substantial power they wield. All federal officials take an oath to uphold the Constitution, and all public officials at every level explicitly or implicitly agree to act in accordance with the law. To act otherwise is widely regarded as an abuse of office (see Lewis, 1991, pp. 38-40). Thus, legal compliance as an ethical obligation draws upon such virtues as truth-telling, promise-keeping, and fidelity.In the two decades since the Watergate scandal, and especially during the past decade, there has been a veritable explosion of so-called ethics laws at every level of government, creating more and more stringent conflict-of-interest, financial disclosure, and other requirements applying to more and more public servants (Congressional Research Service, 1994).Conflict of interest, perhaps the most generic type of public corruption, is typically proscribed by both professional and government codes and statues. According to a survey conducted by the Council of State Governments (1993), many specific forms of conflict of interest are proscribed by a majority of the states. Prohibitions against bribery, using public position for personal benefit, and misuse of confidential governmentinformation are among the most frequent. A majority of states limit outside income in some way, and in 1990, limits were added to the federal Principles of Ethical Conduct as well. Postemployment restrictions (limitations on what public officials can do after leaving government work) are also becoming increasingly common.One interesting provision that is appearing increasingly in ethics laws in the admonition to avoid the appearance of impropriety. While


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