Educating Public Administrators about Ethics

Abstract

Considerable debate encompasses the contents of public sector ethics presently. There are different schools of thought about what ethics comprises: is it mainly rules and regulations specifying the preferred behavior of civil servants, or is it the obligation to work toward the realization of a different, better life for citizens? In addition, what should be the appropriate behavior for civil servants in various contexts? These differences have engendered a lot of contradictory and imprecise disputation; the result leaves few clear signposts for avoiding moral dilemmas. Educating prospective public administrators about making sense of, and trying to survive in, such an uncertain world begins with aiding them to understand, albeit imperfectly, the often contradictory nature of that world, especially the forces shaping their behavior. This usually comes down to a question of judgment when contradictory or ineluctable values, not to mention obligations, clash and choices have to be made. Early awareness of the inevitability of such choices, and approaching ethics as an important feature of administrators' basic training, can facilitate their learning to anticipate the diverse value contexts that will likely define their public careers.