This study compares the ethics management strategies of large cities and firms with the purpose of examining whether public-private sector differences that have been hypothesized in the literature are reflected in ethics management practices. The findings suggest that differences between the public and private sectors are minimal; however, cities use more regulatory-based strategies, and large firms use code-based strategies. Moral leadership by senior managers is the most important strategy for improving ethics in both sectors. Concerns about litigation, public complaints, and promoting good public relations are important reasons driving concern with ethics in both cities and firms.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allison, G. T. , & Liebman, L. M. (1990). Lying in office. In A. Gutmann & D. Thompson (Eds.), Ethics and politics: Cases and comments (pp. 40-45). Chicago: Nelson Hall.
2.
Andrews, K. R. (1989). Ethics in practice. Harvard Business Review, 67(5), 99-104.
3.
Baldwin, J. N. (1987). Public versus private: Not that different, not that consequential. Public Personnel Management, 16, 181-193.
4.
Baldwin, J. N. (1990). Perceptions of public versus private sector personnel and informal red tape: Their impact on motivation. American Review of Public Administration, 20, 7-28.
5.
Baldwin, J. N. (1991). Public versus private employees: Debunking stereotypes. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 11(1, 2), 1-27.
6.
Beauchamp, T. L. (1993). Business, society and ethics. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
7.
Bonczek, S. J. (1992). Ethical decision snaking: Challenge for the 1990s: A practical approach for local government. Public Personnel Management, 21, 75-88.
8.
Bowman, J. S. (1990). Ethics in government: A national survey of public administrators. Public Administration Review, 50, 345-353.
9.
Bowman, J. S. (Ed.) (1991). Ethical frontiers in public management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
10.
Bozeman, B. (1987). All organizations are public: Bridging public and private organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
11.
Brumback, G. B. (1991). Institutionalizing ethics in government. Public Personnel Management, 20, 353-364.
12.
Cadbury, A. (1987). Ethical managers make their own rules. Harvard Business Review, 65(5), 69-73.
13.
Dean, P. J. (1992). Making codes of ethics real. Journal of Business Ethics, 11, 285-290.
14.
DeGeorge, R. (1990). Business ethics (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.
15.
Edwards, G. , & Bennett, K. (1987). Ethics and HR: Standards in practice. Personnel Administrator, 32(12), 62-66.
16.
Ethics Resource Center . (1990). Ethics policies and programs in American business. Washington, DC: Author.
17.
Hartley, R. F. (1993). Business ethics: Violations of the public trust. New York: Wiley.
18.
Knott, J. H. (1993). Comparing public and private management: Cooperative effort and principal-agent relationships. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 3, 93-119.
19.
Lan, Z. , & Rainey, H. (1992). Goals, rules and effectiveness in public, private and hybrid organizations: More evidence on frequent assertions about differences. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 2, 5-28.
20.
Mainzer, L. C. (1991). Vulgar ethics for public administration. Administration & Society, 23, 3-28.
21.
Menzel, D. C. (1992). Ethics, attitudes and behaviors in local government: An empirical analysis. State and Local Government Review, 24, 94-102.
22.
Menzel, D. C. , & Benton, J. E. (1991). Ethics complaints and local government: The case of Florida. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 1, 419-436.
23.
Murphy, P. E. (1988). Implementing business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 7, 907-915.
24.
Nalbandian, J. , & Edwards, J. T. (1983). The values of public administration: A comparison with lawyers, social workers and business administrators. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 4(1), 114-129.
25.
Pearl, D. K. , & Fairley, D. (1985). Testing for the potential of nonresponse bias in sample surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 49, 553-560.
26.
Perry, J. L. , & Rainey, H. (1988). The public-private distinction in organizational theory: A critique and research strategy. Academy of Management Review, 13, 182-201.
27.
Pugh, D. L. , (1991). Origins of ethical frameworks in public administration. In J. S. Bowman (Ed.), Ethical frontiers in public management (pp. 9-33). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
28.
Rainey, H. (1979). Perceptions of incentives in business and government: Implications for civil service reform. Public Administration Review, 39, 440-447.
29.
Rainey, H. (1983). Public agencies and private firms: Incentive structures, goals and individual roles. Administration & Society, 15, 207-242.
30.
Rainey, H. (1991). Understanding and managing public organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
31.
Rainey, H. , Backoff, R., & Levine, C. (1976). Comparing public and private organizations. Public Administration Review, 36, 233-244.
32.
Rainey, H. , Traut, C., & Blunt, B. (1986). Reward expectancies and other work-related attitudes in public and private organizations: A review and extension. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 6(3), 50-72.
33.
Stewart, D. W. (1988). The decision premise: A basic tool for analyzing the ethical content of organizational behavior. Public Administration Quarterly, 12, 315-328.
34.
Stewart, D. W. (1991). Theoretical foundations of ethics in public administration. Administration & Society, 23, 357-373.
35.
Tabachnick, B. G. , & Fidell, L. S. (1989). Using multivariate statistics. New York: Harper & Row.
36.
Tranter, R.A.F. (1988). Ethical problems today. In International City/County Management Association (Ed.), Ethical insight, ethical action (pp. 147-153). Washington, DC: Author.
37.
Truelson, J. A. (1991). New strategies for institutional controls. In J. S. Bowman (Ed.), Ethical frontiers in public management (pp. 225-242). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
38.
West, J. P. , & Berman, E. (1993). Human resource strategies in local government: A survey of progress and future directions. American Review of Public Administration, 23, 279-297.
39.
West, J. P. , Berman, E. M., & Cava, A. (1993). Ethics in the municipal workplace. In International City/County Management Association (Ed.), 1993 municipal yearbook (pp. 3-16). Washington, DC: Author.
40.
Zimmerman, J. F. (1987). Preventing unethical behavior in government. Urban Law and Policy, 8, 335-356.
