Ethics in Government, Essay Example

Introduction

Often too many times it is seen in public government there is corruption where ethics and honour are thrown out the window for zealous under the table takings by political officials and the corruption monopolizes through so many facets of government that is very difficult to weed out the core of the inefficiencies. Open corruption has been prevalent since the 1880’s and is still in existence today. Often too much Congress and the Presidency are focused on with relation to ethics infringements rather than public administration ethical violations. Wilson wrote “favouring a centralized public authority has contributed to public government corruption forming a philosophy that business was becoming too strong.” (Wilson, 1887, p. 200). Wilson’s followers were strong believers of reforming centralized government through the reformation of the government by making it practical and more efficient. They were masters of the study of the law, justice and public affairs. The key was to operate with efficiency in relation to democratic values as set by the law. Valuing the commitment to operating by democratic values is the key to running a country ethically and accordingly. The will of the people will prevail in a democratic society. Often it is assumed governments do not abide by ethical means because they do not follow a certain democratic policy because they possess different meanings of what a democracy is. In the United States a democracy stands for freedom of choice, free will, freedom of assembly, etc. whereas in the Soviet Union democracy stands for carrying out situations in the interests of the people but not necessary the will of the people.

Summary

In a democratic society, the people exercise a higher level of power and control over the government in relation to carrying out policies and procedure that govern the people. It is through exercising inalienable rights that the country remains democratic. These inalienable rights are afforded through the United States Constitution. Ethics in public administration is also based on democratic equality. This is not simply to say that we are all equal but to say that we all “have equal claim to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The final contribution to ethics is democratic self-determination. All people should have the right to make choices in life and have the right to make their own choices of how they wish to accomplish them. This is a system where one can actively participate in his/her own life’s choices rather than passively sitting back and waiting for situations to occur.

The legislative and judicial roles of government have a very strong and lasting role on public administration ethical standards of American government. The executive function of government is in effect related to the managerial approach of ethical function. This section of the government is essentially concerned about the efficiency of the government sector. The second function of public administration with relation to ethics is the legislative commitment. Legislative is concerned with effectiveness of ensuring laws are adhered to. The third function of government related to public administration is the judicial branch. The judicial is concerned with the legal aspect of government with its relation to applying the law and the adjudicatory role in government.

The role of public management means that one must act within the best interests of the public sector and act within the realms and scope of the law. Public administration has roles at the federal, state and local government. The chancellor of a university or the mayor of a town all has significant roles in government. With those roles come the responsibility acclimated to upholding a highly ethical role according to the rules and policies of the American Society of Public Administration. Even political administrators at a lower level in positions such as bank administrators, historical preservation leaders, United Way mangers and other have a role to lead in an ethical manner. Loan officers work in the public capacity and ethically have to follow rules governing the management and provisions of administering loans to the public. Through the practise of intellectual and practical experience a public administrator in government can adhere to ethical decisions and practises with ease. “Woodrow Wilson was the founder of the study of public administration and its practicality to government.” (Wilson, 1887, p. 210).  He felt that public administration lied outside the realm of politics but we see today that that is not true. Politics sets the groundwork for public administration work and ethics. Legislative bodies often looked to public administration to lay out the sticky ground work for help interpreting the law. The judicial further looked to administrative bodies to help with administering and enforcing the law. Administrators are accountable to the legislature who is then accountable to the people. It is through this accountability that this system of checks and balances ensures that ethics are practised. Accountability can be seen through a professional set of standards or through informal administrative practises such as public opinion polls.

When examining ethics and public examination we must examine bureaucracy and the role it plays with politics. Democracy is interested in the moral value of humans and suggests that all persons are equal. The ideals of bureaucratic management are set against the principles of democracy. Research shows that large corporations were actually built upon the principles of bureaucracy rather than the principles of democracy. Bureaucracy is simply a different way of ‘organizing work’ in the business world. The principle was to bring several individuals to accomplish a larger goal in the business world. Bureaucracy assumes the power of an organization flows from the top to the bottom whereas democracy assumes the power is equally distributed amongst all involved. As managers move up the ladder they must possess higher levels of personal ethics and their character must reflect those standards. Top executives are expected to be leader driven, goal oriented, organized and with high morale. Public service motivation and P-O fit are essential skills that managers possess with relations to public service ethics in organizations. Understanding workers views and leading with the utmost ethical behaviour will ensure the success of any company.

There is a federal agency that ensures all facets of the executive branch adhere to strict ethical codes of conduct. Under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 the Office of Government and Ethics currently oversees the training and promotion of all ethical standards in cooperation with the rules and policies set forth. The program and Act is in place to ensure all government business is conducted with impartiality and integrity. The President of the United States appoints the director of the program to the position for a five year term. Marilyn Bennett is currently serving as Acting Chairman and the permanent seat is vacant.  Under this seat falls the Budgeting Committee and the General Office of Counsel and Legal Policy (OGE). “Ethical issues typically dealt with by OGE include: gifts, conflicting financial interests, impartiality, seeking employment and post-employment, misuse of position, outside activities, financial disclosure, and recusals, waivers and trusts.” (Longley, 2005). “The past decade has been marked by many incidents of U.S. corporate corruption, insider schemes, and ethical violations. For example, Enron and WorldCom fell into bankruptcy, depriving their employees of jobs and destroying the life savings of employees and investors alike. The scandals reinforced many people’s distrust of large corporations, even those innocent of any wrongdoing.” (Hawkins, 2007). Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was enacted to put a check and balance system to ensure corporate accountability. The Watergate Scandal was a classic situation of lobbyist unethical scandalous behaviour. EDUCAUSE was created to enforce the highest educational standards with relation to university and college attacks of scandal. “NASFAA was criticized for not having a code of ethics, perhaps in the belief that such a code might have reduced the potential for misconduct. Many organizations have articulated codes that spell out beliefs; however, codes cannot govern an individual’s actions—only the individual can do so. Many colleges and universities have codes of conduct that define appropriate and inappropriate behaviour for their employees, taking into account the local context.” (Hawkins, 2007).

Dual federalism is the clashing over policy regulations within a government. In federalists societies the state works together to make policies and works jointly to solve problems. “Cooperation was most pronounced during the New Deal between the 1930s and the 1950s when the Great Depression and World War Two spurred states to seek large scale federal assistance including emergency economic measures and job creation, civilian defence, wartime rationing, and the like.” (“Bureaucracy”).

Politics, democracy and ethics all have separate roles but are systematically connected to ensure our country is operated in an effective and honourable manner with altruism and true desire for the best interests of the citizens at heart. It is through a sound system of checks and balances that public administration is able to ensure ethical codes of conduct are adhered to and policies are followed. When the United States Constitution was drafted and ratified the desired was to have a completely federalist nation where the states would be a union and all work together with one law enforce but that did not happen. Each individual state made their own laws and answered to one central government. The Constitution did serve it’s purpose as providing the solid ground of which our nation would grow. Dual-federalism is proscribed as the states and federal government have different powers and the federal government overreaches in some facets and the state courts overreach in other instances. “In order to understand what the legal ramification of dualist theory, one must first understand its interpretations of the Constitution. The dualist approach requires an exact and strict interpretation of the enumerated powers given to the national government by the Constitution and rejects the idea that the Necessary and Proper Clause should be used to enhance or augment the enumerated powers granted by the Constitution. Dual Federalism also relies on the notion that in a court of law, the Tenth Amendment gives the states enough support to declare unconstitutional any act of the national government that infringes on the reserved powers given to the states. In Hammer v Dagenhart, 247 U.S. 251, the Supreme Court relied on the dualist approach used in its decision in the E.C. Knight Co. case. Here the Supreme Court began to separate economic functions between what was under state control. Using a narrow approach, the court ruled that mining, agriculture and manufacturing were out of federal jurisdiction and that any law made in reference to these methods would be unconstitutional.” (“Competing Ideologies: Dual Federalism v Cooperative Federalism”).

Conclusion

Ethics seems to hold rule over the concept of utilitarianism. Ethics deals with hearing something and deciding how we will interpret the speech and act on it based on our own system of beliefs. Ethics is more the morality of aspiration motivated by the principles of philosophy that guide us through life. “The doctor’s Hippocratic Oath is one of the most famous examples of a professional code of conduct. Often recited by medical students upon graduation, this Oath usually contains a promise to help sick persons to the best of one’s ability and to avoid harm whenever possible.” Government ethics, therefore, involves rules and guidelines about right and wrong behaviours for a host of different groups, including elected leaders (such as the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers), elected representatives (such as Members of Parliament), political staff, and public servants.” (Makarenko, 2007). Keeping a high standard of ethics in government ensures there will be minimal corruption within the government offices and the people will maintain the democracy as righteously given to us by our founding fathers. Establishing clear rules and clear penalties if the rules are broken is a clear example of accountability principles to establish ethical standards in government. The government is responsible for handling millions to billions of dollars of taxpayer’s monies as well as handling public services, police forces, national security, social services and many other important services that are necessary to our citizens for survival and their safety. Without accountability through ethics the safety and security of our citizens would certainly be in turmoil and at risk through the hands of one or more individuals which would be a ‘ticking time bomb’. Ethics is also a protective means of government wastage as well as proper public administrative services.

I spoke in detail about unethical behaviours so let’s speak about some types of behaviours in government that would be listed as unethical. Theft and public fraud is perhaps one of the most prevalent crimes that public officials commit. This can be a minor offense of removing without authorization a simple office supply to stealing land or stealing or misappropriation of funds from a government account. Theft by deception (fraud or trickery) is very common in the government workplace. This often occurs when a government employee falsifies an invoice or inflates an invoice with the intent of gaining profit from it. Another crime is using government property for personal use such as vehicles or telephones. Bribery and influence peddling is using one’s position in the government to influence a decision and accepting a bribe for doing so which is usually in the form of a money or large gift such as a vehicle. When an official takes a bribe she/he is no longer acting in the best interests of the public because he/she is taking for his/her best interests. Another crime is self-dealing when the public official may have a company and chooses his/her own company to deal with to gain some personal benefit. A government official may not divulge any confidential information learned on the job or it is a criminal offense. Improper conduct after release from employment is strictly prohibited under contract. Any immoral conduct whilst on the job subjects the employer to immediate termination of employment contract.

References

Denhardt, R. Denhardt, J. Public Administration: An Action Orientation New York: NY Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2008.

Longley, R. (2005) Who Oversees Ethics in Government? Retrieved December 3, 2009 from, http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/aboutethics.htm

Hawkins, (2007) Accountability, Ethics and Conflict of Interest Retrieved December 3, 2009 from, http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume42/AccountabilityEthicsandConflic/162063

Makarenko, J. (2007) Ethics in Government: Concepts, Issues and Debates Retrieved December 3, 2009 from, http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/ethics-government-concepts-issues-debates#introduction

Bureaucracy (2009) Retrieved December 3, 2009 from, http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/8_keywords.html