Ethical Management For The Public Services

This is an accessible introduction to the role of ethics in public services management. It is written for new and experienced managers, undergraduate and postgraduate students of the public services. Ethical Management for the Public Services: * deals with key issues for public services managers * integrates theory and practice throughout * uses vignettes, case studies and original research from various countries to illustrate the issues * helps managers identify ethical dilemmas * provides ethical frameworks to support managers in their practical decisions * explores ethical relationships between managers and a range of stakeholders including politicans, citizens and clients * locates ethics at different levels: the individual, the organizational, and the societal

Public services are delivered through an often bewildering range of agencies and amidst this constant change, there are fears that a public service ethos, a tradition of working in the public interest, becomes blurred. This book covers important themes reflecting current thinking and illuminates the practical decisions made by public officials. Replete with international case studies and vignettes, this easy-to-use textbook is a definitive guide for postgraduate students of public sector ethics, as well as students of public management and administration more generally.

The groundbreaking "Ethics in Public Administration" set the agenda for a decade's worth of research in the theory and practice of ethics in the public sector. This long-awaited follow-up volume represents the state of the art in research on administrative ethics. It features all new contributions by many of the leading figures in the field, and addresses both the managerial and individual/moral dimensions of ethical behavior as well as new challenges to administrative ethics posed by globalization. A detailed introduction, opening passage, and conclusion lend context to each of the book's four main sections. "Ethics in Public Management" is must reading for any graduate level course in public sector ethics.

Ethics Management in the Public Service offers a new perspective for ethics management in the Public Administration. The traditional approaches, relying on codified rules, regulations, and guidelines, have not yielded the results expected of them and have not managed to serve as an effective tool in the hands of public administrators struggling with ethical and moral questions. Unlike Code-based training strategies, focusing on the written word and its application in real-life situations, the authors introduce a sensory-based strategy to sharpen public administrators’ senses. This type of training would first aim to help the public administrators become conscious of the use of their senses in a routine manner, not necessarily limited to ethical issues. Once an individual becomes more conscious of his or her acts and thinking process, they can better understand their motives, and again attempt to modify their conduct if and when necessary. This book holds that sensory-based metaphors are an important device in applying the hermeneutic approach to ethics management in the public service, as they can enhance new understandings about the extent to which particular ethical principles might be disabling. Using metaphors as a management tool of public service ethics helps to communicate public values and ethical guidelines to public administrators.

This thoroughly revised and updated third edition of The Ethics Challenge in Public Service is the classic ethics text used in public management programs nationwide. It also serves as a valuable tool for public managers who work in a world that presents more ethical challenges every day. It contains a wealth of practical tools and strategies that public managers can use when making ethical choices in the ambiguous pressured world of public service. The book contains new material on topics including social networking, the use of apology, ethics as applied to public policy, working with elected officials, and more.

Ethics and accountability have become important themes for modern government, as in most of the countries there is a severe crisis of legitimacy. Increasingly there is a feeling that performance management alone will not solve this crisis. Citizens also expect from politicians and public servants ethical responsible conduct. As to the ethics, however, there is a problem. Governance and new public management have raised new problems which cannot be solved by referring to the traditional bureaucratic ethics. Devolution and decentralisation processes have enhanced the responsibility of public servants. The increase of transparency and openness and the service orientation of public organisations have challenged the traditional values of discretion and equality before the rule. The growing interaction between the public and the private sector have raised the question of integrity. In light of these developments, it is important to update the ethical system, or reversibly, the traditional values of the public service can question some actual evolutions in government.

The purpose of this report is to help the public service to rediscover and understand its basic values and assist the public service to recommit to and act on those values in all its work. It discusses the following issues: accountability and responsible government; downsizing, public service organization, and non-partisanship; new versus old values; new ethical challenges; leadership.

This title was first published in 2003. Over the past two decades in Australia and other developed nations, public sector management philosophies and how the public sector is organised have changed dramatically. At the same time, there have been many demands, and several attempts, to preserve and promote ethical behaviour within the public sector - though few go much beyond the publication of a Code. Both developments require an understanding of how public organisations operate in this new environment. Organisational and management theory are seen as providing important potential insights into the opportunities and pitfalls for building ethics into the practices, culture, and norms of public organisations. This book brings together the experience and research of a range of 'reflective practitioners' and 'engaged academics' in public sector management, organisational theory, management theory, public sector ethics and law. It addresses what management and organisation theory might suggest about the nature of public organisations and the institutionalisation of ethics.