Topic > Review of literature on ethics in Public Administration

IndexReview of literatureEthics in the old public serviceEthics in the old public serviceEthics in the old public serviceEthics in the new public serviceEthics in the new public serviceEthics in the new public serviceNeed for ethics in Public AdministrationNeed for ethics in public administrationNeed for ethics in public administrationNeed for ethics in public administrationLiterature reviewWithin my first section of this literature review, I aim to provide an overview of the findings already conducted regarding my topic of ethics in public administration. More specifically, how ethics has evolved in recent times in the areas of Public Administration. Familiarize my audience with the old public service system regarding ethics and moral decision making. The next section of this literature review aims to offer insights regarding the new era of public service ethics. Show internal changes and views of these systematic changes. Finally, the final section will examine the need for such ethics and the meaning of progress in these fields based on a new ethical vision of Public Administration. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Ethics in the Old Public Service The National Performance Review (NPR), is an agency that aims to reform the functionality of the federal government. This agency is driven by the motivation to create a government that works better and costs citizens less. According to Riccucci: “The NPR fails to account for crucial differences between government and the private sector and, in particular, ignores the constitutional premise that government is based on the rule of law and not on market-driven mechanisms.” (172) (Riccucci, 2001). This quote exemplifies the old system of Public Administration, a practice focused more on market-driven mechanisms and personal interests than on service to populations and ethics. Although this old management and administration system began in the late 1960s, criticism and doubts have followed it ever since. Much criticism comes from NPR itself, which defends the old style of these positions (Riccucci, 2001). NPR went so far as to say that bureaucrats are good people, trapped in a bad system. Ethics can get somewhat trapped in positions like these, even with the use of moral administrators, the system will always prevail. The implementation of the old form of public management and administration presents problems with the system. The approach adopted before the 1960s favored hasty decisions that did not take into account the populations served. Rather, personal gains were the first priority in these years. Ethics was not a thing of the past, but rather a new futuristic movement. The importance of integrating diversity into research methods for administrators is essential. This article was not necessarily an experiment with variables and so on, but rather a comparison between the two forms of management (Riccucci, 2001). Ethics in the old public service Traditional public administration was more concerned with trusting governments rather than questioning them. During this era, before the 1960s, the public held government officials and their decisions in high regard. However, this old form of public administration thought about the public in three ways; voters, customers and voters. Little sympathy or empathy was given to their situations or circumstances. Little guidance has been given onhow to raise issues, rather just help them. Old forms of public administration were considered to have little ethics and proposed more political solutions and respect for government (Bryson, Crosby, Bloomberg, 2014). Bryson, Crosby, and Bloomberg listed several related topics and compared them to traditional public administration, new public management, and finally the emerging (current) approach. Some of these issues included role of politics, role of citizenship, key objectives and key values. Analyzing each category, it is easy to conclude that traditional forms of Public Administration had objectives of efficiency rather than effectiveness. Objectives driven by politics, rather than by the public. This shows that personal or political objectives take precedence over what is the best interest of the public. This reveals to the public that little ethics took place in this traditional form, which can most likely be related to the corrupt decision-making processes of several positions during this time period (Bryson, Crosby, Bloomberg, 2014). Public values ​​should certainly be the primary concern for those in such positions. This requires the most basic form of ethics. These positions are created to implement policies that benefit those in need, not to consider the government wholeheartedly satisfying each distinct issue. The traditional form of PA represents a system for the government, not for the public. Efficiency is not always better than effectiveness, and suffering populations deserve humanity, not politics. This old system has hindered necessary changes, which can be answered in the research questions towards the end of this journal. Public interest should always be above government interest, because in Public Administration the majority should govern (Bryson, Crosby, Bloomberg, 2014). Ethics in the old public service Changes in view of government duties are what promoted a new reform of Public Administration. Peters and Pieere said the public began to view states and governments as empty. This distrust of previous forms is what led to the development of the new system. A system for the people and not for the government. This idea has led to the terminology of having a government without being governed, an ideal form of Administration. Networking has greatly influenced several changes within these systems. Collaborations between public and non-public employees were often used. This has led to the reevaluation of public needs compared to governmental ones (Peters, Pierre, 1998). Previous ideas of governance without government never emerged, mainly because they were unheard of. Government bodies were the dominant bases on all decision making. Even those who worked in public administration had little say or control over what these entities said. Compared to traditional ethical frameworks, it is easy to say that those working in such positions have a longer leash to enforce the policies they desire. This makes for a more difficult decision-making process. That is, since no one tells you what decision to make, you have to use your own consent and judgment. Nowadays ethics is certainly more priority and intertwined in the areas of Public Administration. Not only has the system become more personalized, built on the foundation of public interest, but workers will incorporate good ethics or bad ethics (some worse than previous government decisions) (Peters, Pierre, 1998). Public ServiceFrom the previous section we can conclude that traditional forms of Public Administration have not been strongly influenced by ethics. Thistraditional scheme of things is often responsible for the current state of such positions and the stigma towards government jobs in general. Denhardt and Denhardt postulate that government belongs to its citizens and not vice versa. These authors also concluded that traditional public service positions steered the boat, rather than rowed it. Gearing is different from rowing, because it is targeted in a certain way, regardless of the course or other circumstances. But rowing takes time and is well planned. While rowing is a good thing, a better method should also be used. Which means abandoning the government boat and focusing on the needs of the people, because that is what this work intended to do, even with such a loss of focus (Denhardt Denhardt, 2000). Some main characteristics of this new public service system include: civil societies, organizational humanities, communities, and the help of various postmodernist public administrations. These postmodern workers have helped create a climate that makes sense in modern times. These efforts deserve credit for creating a more ethical practice for Public Administration. Serving, rather than ruling, was the primary ideology of this newly implanted system. Serving populations should be the guiding principle in positions like these. According to Denhardt and Denhardt: “In this process, the role of government transforms from that of control to that of agenda setting, bringing the right actors to the table and facilitating, negotiating or brokering solutions to public problems (often through coalitions of agencies public, private and non-profit)” (p.553). Traditional systems consisted only of government influence and efficiency. The new form encourages ethical decision making and the merging of government and agencies to identify solutions (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2000). Ethics in the new public service According to Maesschalck: “here there is a significant change in the ethical standards of the public service and, subsequently, in (un)ethical behaviour” (p.465). This article goes against the grain of the others reviewed on this new form of administration. Apparently, these new designs are causing a lot of scandals, even though this is what the new design was trying to solve. However, every plan is not scam-proof. This article talked about the traditional method and how this has left the organization to the Public Administration and so on, because the government has canceled all ethical decision-making. It left little room to skew one way or the other, it was consistent with one person making all ethical decisions (Messchalck, 2004). There is already a typology that helps public employees in ethical decision making. It describes many climates, actions and behaviors to adopt in many situations. However, the ethics of this book are even questionable. Ethics vary greatly from person to person, making typologies like this somewhat difficult to use. Not all situations have the same variables and choosing to simply follow what this novel states would be ridiculous (Messchalck,2004). system. If the ethics of this system has increased, or has decreased. Hopefully the following article will clear up this confusion. Kothoff, et al. stated:” On the one hand there is the vision that can be summarized in two statements: “The moral dimensions and criteria can be applied to all types of organizations”36 and “Business ethics and public sector ethics they share fundamental values ​​and norms (9) . This article, just like the one above, talks a lot about these ideas of serving and not governing. This point is very specific for the new form of public service (Kolthoff, Huberts,.,1998).